The "eL" Word

The local public transit train here in Chicago is called the "eL" as in "elevated" from the road-it runs above ground-and off of the ground instead of underground like subways.



I got a five day pass for public transportation while I'm here so I can ride the train and buses as much as I'd like for five days. It is interesting to ride the train in Chicago.


I rode today from downtown Chicago on Merchant Mart Plaza to University and 55th Street. The ride was only one transfer and then a walk to a bus. I was going to visit McCormick Theological Seminary where I'm determining whether to attend for my Doctor of Ministry degree.

The financial divide between the North Side and South Side of Chicago is visible as you ride the train. The homes decline in appearance and the people on the trains have something in common even if it isn't skin color-its what appears to be a lack of hope-or vitality. I'm sure I was projecting this onto folks-but many either out of habit of protection in a larger city or maybe just not having slept the night before sat with blank stares and seemed sad.


I tell you the neighborhood we arrived in when I got off of the train at Garfield was straight off the set of an episode of Shaft in the seventies. There was a male prostitute wearing a bright new Chicago Cubs jacket who solicited the guy walking across the road just in front of me.

There was a woman who smelled heavily of rum or some strong liquor. She stumbled up to each one of us waiting on the bus at Garfield and asked us if we could give her money for a loaf of bread. I felt so sad for her. If I hadn't been so uncertain about catching the bus on time I would have gone into a store and bought her a sandwich-but I'm pretty sure she didn't really want the bread. And she didn't appear gaunt or underfed-she probably weighed about what I do-over 250. So at least I know she isn't starving.


Then I got on the bus and made it to the campus. The staff was very friendly and I understand that Barak Obama's home is only two blocks from the campus. If I didn't think and hope that he's going to be in the White House I guess that would've been a selling point. I'm not certain that I can enroll in a D.Min. program any time soon though with my parents so far gone.


I think maybe if all of us privileged folks were made to live in Harlem in Chicago or in New York or the Tenderloin in San Franscisco etc. that we would find a way to address poverty. Better yet-congress and these corporate CEOs should be forced to spend their terms in the projects they fund in D.C. so that they can understand that government assistance is not a ticket to wealth and fame.

I am continually amazed at how many people are not just apathetic about the poor in our nation-but have palpable CONTEMPT for people living in poverty as though living on food stamps and getting a check from the government supports a lavish lifestyle. I read a bumper sticker that said something like "Work harder-people on welfare need your money". Such a complete lack of insight into the real issue of structural and cultural imbalance of wealth. Hating the poor for getting "welfare" is sort of like hating children for having to eat. Can you imagine anyone going up to a child when they're hungry and saying "Why don't you get a job and quit being lazy". Public assistance is not an indication of personality type-it may be linked in some cases-but in general the problem isn't the person receiving help from the government-its the system that creates such enormous poverty in the first place and doesn't provide a means of getting out of poverty into a financially soluble situation.

I don't mean to say that all folks who are poor are good and virtuous people and pat them on the head "Awww I feel so sorry for you poor folks. At least you've got your faith and your high standards". That's garbage.

Nor do I want to imply that those with wealth are all full of venom or virtue.

I just want to say that our system is so broken-our economic system and our social system-it's SO broken that I know only God can redeem us. It is easier for me to see when I am outside of my typical context because the differences are maginfied and multiplied. The wealthy are wealthier than ever-and the poor are poorer than ever-when you see the difference in a tangible way on a railway car over the course of three stops-it is difficult to ignore.

I pray that God gives me insight into how I might be part of the catalyst for change in Springfield where I am and in ways that go beyond my community as well. I have to start with me though-"elevate" my thinking if you will. Elevate my expectation of hope not only in my life and context-but in the lives of others by the Grace of God. It is my prayer that as Christians we can be agents of change and healing in a stagnant and wounded reality that is human existence.

God lift us up from the miry pit and place our feet on solid ground each day-every day fill us with your LOVE.

Thank you Jesus.

Amen.

Dwight

Down time

Tomorrow my sermon is about Sabbath.

Perhaps one of my more hypocritical sermons because one would hope that when a preacher delivers a message that it at least has a grounding in the faith practices of the one who is doing the preaching. In short I could be doing better at Sabbath observance.

I've learned more about Sabbath from the time I was leaving seminary to the present. I do remember some things about Sabbath when I was a child. I remember my parents complained that the pharmacy WASN'T open on Sundays because of the blue laws (for those under 38 that's when stores were required to close because Sunday was "The Lord's Day"-this of course assumes that all days aren't the Lord's and that Sunday itself was actually the true Sabbath).

Seventh Day Adventists have Saturday as the Sabbath, as does the Jewish Faith Tradition. We Christians observe Sunday as the Sabbath-sort of. I know preachers who wouldn't cut their grass on Sunday-not because they wanted to spend more time honoring God-but because it seemed more righteous to live by the letter of the law rather than the Spirit of the law "Remeber the Sabbath Day and Keep it holy." being one of the top ten commandments NOT written by a team of writers working for Letterman.

They also encouraged people not to shop on Sundays-because in so doing-they were supporting the sin of those having to work on the Sabbath.

Orthodox Judaism observes Sabbath from the sunset of Friday through the Sunset of Saturday evening-and they take it to heart-letter of the law not to do any work or activity that is not completely necessary (see Leviticus for a list of things you can do on the Sabbath like "get your ass out of a ditch"-meaning your wild beast not coloquial for your own hind quarters).

But what I've learned-or think I've learned is that Sabbath isn't a set day-it's actually a way of being. It is a state in which a person chooses consciously to disengage from all that is worry driven and laden with responsibility in order to contemplate sometimes the Holy, but sometimes just the belly button. Jesus said in response to those who criticized his disciples for picking grain on the Sabbath as breakers of the law and thus sinful people ignoring their relationship with God. Jesus tells the critics "The Sabbath was made for humanity, not humanity made for the Sabbath."

So resting, spending quiet time-not necessarily prayer and Bible reading-but that can be part of it-spending time just BE-ing. Not moving necessarily, maybe counting breaths, maybe just holding on tightly to your loved ones in a hug, or smelling the flowers in your back yard, inhaling the air intentionally from a breeze-it is in short an awareness that all is not centered on you-and that you in fact are part of something-a reality much bigger than yourself-and that the world and all the planets will go on spinning even if you decide to stop and do something to care for yourself.

So perhaps the definition of Sabbath I believe is: The act of caring for oneself as a response of gratitude for the grace and love God has shown us in an active or passive way of being-happening during a set period of time-at least twenty four hours in length and having at least some connection to the awareness that there is a God and it is not you. It may require being by oneself, and also can include those who nourish and build you up and require from you only that you be your authentic self.

So I hope for my sake-and the sake of all who read this-that I am able to observe Sabbath faithfully to honor God-and to honor the gift of who I am. It is in our honoring of our authentic selves that we bring glory to God for having created us in the way that God did.

Much grace to you and yours,
Dwight