Tuesday Reflection for Week 10 November 30, 2006

I have been looking forward to talking about modernity and post-modernity in class, terms that I hear thrown around a lot, but previously haven’t felt like I had a thorough grasp of them.

 Without knowing it, I think I have been personally fighting against a “modern” frame of mind for the last few years. I used to be a huge list writer and a much more efficient time manager. I think I used to be more “successful” in the amount of work I got done. But my calculable strategies and systems, my predictability, my desire to control my environment and myself began to feel more and more out of line with who I was made to be. I felt God nudging me out of my own control and into His.

The modern era seems to be one long cry of humans for control. We have wanted to control our own destinies, our own mortality, every moment of our lives, down to the last detail. We have wanted to be God.  As the church takes a hard look at itself and the degree to which it embraces this modern world view, I think it needs to be humble enough to release control.

Tuesday Reflection for Week 9 November 28, 2006

This weekend I watched Fast Food Nation, a fictional story built around the facts and concepts introduced in the book by the same title. It weaves the story of one highlighted fast food company and their meat processing company with the stories of some of the families affected by the company practices. It exposes the underside of the industry- where the bottom line is all that matters at the expense of public well-being.

 

I saw so much of the shift in mentality that the Mcdonaldization of America has brought- the need for efficiency, predictability, control, and calculability (people just come in to fill a defined role- they can be replaced by anybody). This movie especially highlighted the use of Mexican illegal immigrants to work in the meat packing company (which raised cattle and made hamburgers) as replaceable, easily procured “pieces” to the larger machine. If they had to work under unsafe conditions and lost a leg, who would really notice? 

The irrationality of rationality came across vividly. The seemingly rational large demand for hamburgers and high profit margins, and therefore control, predictability, and calculability resulted in irrationality after irrationality. Because the meat production line had to keep moving at such a fast pace, the meat was not adequately cleaned, resulting in contamination. Workers worked in unsafe conditions resulting in serious injuries. Not to mention environmental and international issues.

 

I was ready to denounce meat after this movie and as I contemplated dinner, vegetarianism was looking pretty good!  Well, I may not be able to give up on meat entirely, but I am going to think twice about where I choose to get my food fast- Amy’s instead of Burger King, the local farmer’s market instead of Ralph’s. I will hunt for independantly owned businesses where I can get closer to the source of my food. It admitedly seems like a small token in the face of a giant, but its what I can do right now.

Thursday Reflection for Week 8 November 21, 2006

I really enjoyed the Queries Wess led us through at the beginning of class. In our fast-paced culture, we forget so often to slow down, stop, reflect, and listen. Within the church we can be the worst at this, letting our busyness and “doing” overtake all our time, without taking time out to simply recieve.

As we talk about transforming culture, I think its easy to get overtaken by the passion, by all the things it seems we should do. This redeeming the powers of the world business is hard work- a 24 hour-a-day job it seems. So many organizations and movements we could get involved in, so many changes to inact in our local church. It’s easy to get a “savior” mentality, at least for me, and want to take it all on, or swing the pendulum the opposite way and feel paralyzed with the enormity of it all and not even know where to start.

I think Wess gave us a good reminder in the Quaker tradition, to temper all this action with silence. To balance all of our opinions with questions. To hold humility and passion simultaneously. We need to realize our own need before we can ever attempt to share Jesus with others in their need.

Tuesday Reflection for Week 8 November 16, 2006

How often in Christianity do we market the next “new” idea in a book, curriculum, ideology. We take what has been effective in one context, put it in a nice, neat package with a bow on top and spread it around. It intrigued me to know that the church in England (St. Thomas Crooks’s, I believe) is marketing thier idea of “up, in, and out” in curriculum even here in the states.

As I look to research and write curriculum for children in different cultural contexts, I struggle with this idea of trying to create a “one size fits all” document. Can quality Christian curriculum teach more of a methodology instead of a prescribed step-by-step prescription?  How can we train people to evaluate what will work in thier unique contexts within the context of over-arching truths? I don’t think there are any easy answers.

Thursday Reflection for Week 7 November 14, 2006

I really enjoyed all of the Children at Risk Missiology lectures. This is my SIS concentration and a topic close to my heart as I look at bridging my experience in primary education with children at risk globally.

 I had an opportunity to go to Dr. McConnall’s (dean of the SIS) house for dinner on Wednesday evening with a handful of students and several of the lecturers (Dr. Greener, Dr. Segura-April and Phyllis Kilbourn, well-known author and activist in this field). It was amazing to sit in a room rich with experience, insight, and passion and hear the perspectives of seminary students, professors and experts interplay.

 One thread of conversation especially struck me. Phyllis Kilbourn began her work as a missionary many years ago and she spoke about the shift within her mission agency and the church in general in its definition of “church”. With so much emphasis on numbers and church growth and church planting, she had a hard time getting “permission” to serve in a social justice capacity, working with children at risk. Later she went and visited a missionary who had created an orphanage and was serving a large group of children. She attended thier in-house church services and said they were amazing.  Afterward, she was talking to the missionary who was lamenting that he had not planted a church yet and didn’t know how he could. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing- that the definition of church was so narrowly defined that these children could not count.

 It was wonderful to talk with people who are living out this transformation of culture, especially in an area that is so close to my heart.

Thursday Reflection for Week 6 November 7, 2006

It was good to spend some time discussing two of our books (Claiborne’s Irresistable Revolution and Klein’s Doors and Windows). We compared them to Jesus’ ministry- to his actions and sayings and to each other.

It seems that Claiborne and Mother Teresa and issues of social justice are popping up a lot in my life lately. At church on Sunday during a sermon on social justice, we watched a video clip of him talking about his work and his visit to Calcutta.  Again, he quoted Mother Teresa’s admonition for us to “find our Calcutta.” I feel like I have heard this idea so much in the last month, and wish I had more of a clue about my own Calcutta. My impatient nature doesn’t want to wait, but I am also reminded lately of how long Mother Teresa herself waited after feeling God’s call on her life, before jumping into action.  May I find a balance between waiting and doing.

Book Review: Jeff Goodwin and James Jasper, The Social Movements Reader, 2006 Blackwell November 6, 2006

If you feel passionate about changing the world, but don’t know where to start, Jeff Goodwin and James Jasper have shed some insight into the history and characteristics of social movements in The Social Movements Reader. They are both well-renowned authors on the topic of organized social movements and Goodwin also serves as Associate Professor of Sociology at New York University. They bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to this book, creating a very thorough and well-organized overview.

            The Social Movements Reader is by nature a textbook- laying out a foundation of facts through a collection of essays on the history, organization, and causes and effects of social movements. The editors are not advocating for any particular movements or causes; they are simple reporting the facts.  Because of that, this book can seem dry at times, certainly lacking the passion found in Shane Claiborne’s Irresistible Revolution or Kalle Lasn’s Culture Jamming. But if you are curious about sociology or how political and moral changes happen, or if you want to start a revolution yourself and gain some wisdom from those who have gone before, this book is a good start.

 

What is a social movement?

According to Goodwin and Jasper, a social movement is “a collective, organized, sustained, and non-institutional challenge to authorities, power holders, or cultural beliefs and practices” (3). Although movements are very diverse, they are more than isolated protests or disgruntled conversation. This book is filled with real life examples from movements such as Civil Rights, Women’s Rights, Gay Rights, Environmentalism, and Anti-Corporate Globalization.

 

Why do they start?

The study of social movements changed greatly in the 1960’s with the Civil Rights Movement, as highly educated and upper class individuals joined movements to fight for justice. Before this, theorists would have described the start of movements as entirely negative, with the intent of preventing them. Today we see their causes as extremely diverse politically, economically, demographically, and culturally.

 

Who are the participants?

After the 1960’s participants have been seen in a much more complex light as well by analyzing the way they think and feel, with a variety of psychological reasons for joining and recruiting. Also, in order for a movement to be successful, it often takes years of time, in which participants must stay committed. “We all care about something deeply enough that, under the right circumstances, we could be drawn into a movement that addresses it” (131). Goodwin and Jasper include essays that explore what draws some into movements and why they choose to stay or leave. 

What do they consist of?

Maybe one of the biggest changes after the 1960’s was in the acknowledgement that social movements are highly organized. This looks very different in various circumstances, but is necessary if the movement is to be effective and lasting. Goodwin and Jasper argue that “tactical decisions are the real ‘stuff’ of social movements” (221). This section is especially practical, with essays outlining strategies and tactics used in various movements, with implications to be carried over to new movements.

 

Are they effective? 

Perhaps the most important question this book addresses is what actual changes social movements bring about. A movement’s effectiveness must be measured against its goals, which can be quite varied and multi-tiered. The facts speak, however, that certain social movements over history have been extremely effective in political and social change- movements such as the Civil Rights Movement or the Women’s Movement.

 

Why should we care?

As Christians passionate about transforming culture and society around us, we can glean a lot of wisdom and knowledge from a book like this. We can infuse the truth of our mission into the method of social movements, redeeming the very movements themselves as they bring about change.

Tuesday Reflection for Week 6 November 2, 2006

I am so glad we are getting into the “meat” of the class- looking at Jesus words and actions and applying those to our lives today in this culture. While we’re talking about and reading books about the big picture (transforming political, economic, policies, etc.), I can’t help but struggle with what this means for my life today in all its little details. Today my to-do list is very full of seeming non-negotiables, but what would a “redeemed” version of my to-do list look like with redeemed priorities? Or how would a”redeemed” attitude change the way I go about my day? How would it change my interraction with the Target check-out lady, the car wash attendants, the children I tutor? As we shift into a more corporate way of looking at faith, at redeeming society as a whole instead of faith being so completely independant, I don’t want to lose sight of my idividual responsiblity- the way God want to redeem my individual life so that I can participate in a corporate redemption more fully.