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October 2007 Newsletter

GOOD FRIDAY WALK 2007

In April 2007, for the second consecutive year, members of the Christian community walked through downtown Dallas carrying Jesus' words, from Matthew 25, the Sermon on the Mount, along with a verse from the Psalms that reminds us that the earth and all that is in it belongs to God. Reflections along the walk, carried out at the four cardinal directions, were delivered by four powerful speakers whom we are fortunate in the Dallas community to have among us. The focus of the walkers, as was Jesus' mission, was on the poor, the hungry, the stranger, peacemaking and care for creation.

EAST, where the sun rises on this day of Jesus' suffering and where wars rage.

J.D. Allen, Grace Christian Church, Frisco: On Good Friday, we look to the East reflecting on the violence gripping the world. We reflect on the prophets who spoke of God’s people willfully laying down their arms and turning swords into plowshares; transforming weapons of death into the tools for life-giving food. We reflect on the teachings of Jesus who called us to be peacemakers. We reflect on how Jesus, on that first Good Friday, exposed the powers of the world in all their violence by laying down his life without arms. In his death, the way of the kingdom of God was revealed. In his resurrection, the victory of the kingdom of God was revealed.

Peace was the way. It was the way of Jesus. The way of the apostles. The way of the early church. For centuries, the church refused to take up arms against their fellow man. Then, came Constantine. Christianity was no longer in the place of oppression. Instead, Constantine gave the church power and powerful leaders began to accommodate violence. The way of Jesus, that way of peace, was lost to many.

On Good Friday, we seek to return to our roots by returning to Christ by laying down arms and taking up the mantle of peace.

NORTH, from where power flows in the city of Dallas and where some of our neighbors work to exclude their neighbors, the strangers among us.

Joerg Rieger, PhD, Professor of Systematic Theology, Perkins School of Theology, SMU: "Love God and love your neighbor as yourself." This is how Jesus describes what matters most. Good Friday reminds us of this love, but also of the cost. Jesus was in solidarity with God and with the sort of neighbors that the religious in his day (as well as churches today) often overlooked. This is still a challenge for us today.

While we tend to focus on ourselves and people like us, Jesus reminded us not only of the existence of our neighbors; he reminded us that your neighbors are part of who we are. We cannot be fully human in isolation.

People in the North cannot exist without people in the South. People in the United States cannot exist without people in Mexico, and so on. Our neighbors are part of who we are, we simply need to recognize it: "Love your neighbor as yourself."

Realizing that our neighbors are part of who we are goes against the grain. We are not supposed to pay too much attention. We are not supposed to understand what it is they are going through. Nevertheless, that is exactly what Jesus did. He understood that our neighbors suffer from oppression. He understood that the religious and the political establishments sought to hold them down for their own benefit. No wonder that these forces conspired to nail him to the cross.

Let us remember this love for God and neighbor and the consequences on Good Friday. But let us also not forget that Jesus' story does not end there.

WEST, where the Trinity flows and where a community has suffered from environmental injustice

Rev. Wally Chappell, Associate Pastor at First United Methodist Church, Dallas:  Rev. Chappell spoke about the second Genesis creation story, specifically, God giving humankind dominion over all creation, plants and animals.  This does not mean free reign to do whatever we want with it.  It does not give us permission to destroy the atmosphere, oceans, green spaces just because our creature comforts mean more to us.  God's creation is ours to tend, care for, praise, and wonder upon. This is the true meaning of stewardship. Creation is ours only for safekeeping.
 

SOUTH, the southern sector of Dallas and the southern hemisphere, both challenged by the burden of economic oppression, both hopeful for the resurrection to come.

Dr. John Holbert, Professor of Homiletics, Perkins School of Theology, SMU: One of the most misused passages of the Bible is that familiar line, attributed to Jesus, 'The poor you always have with you.' The line is quoted often with the connotation that Jesus somehow affirms the reality of perpetual poverty, with the further assumption that there just is nothing we can finally do about it. Such a claim is foolish and little short of blasphemous. Jesus, following on the prophets of the Hebrew Bible, found poverty a symptom of a greedy society, one bent on individual gain to the exclusion of many who have limited access to the goods and services the society offers. The poor are in fact with us because we, the "us," tend to hoard more than our share of the resources, leaving less for our brothers and sisters. How we use what we have, what we buy, where we buy it, down to the smallest of our purchases, inevitably has a direct effect on the economy for all. Economics always has a moral dimension; our budgets are moral documents.
 

Photos courtesy of Gene Lantz