Pensamentos no 4 de Julho – Dia da Independência dos EUA

Como muitos que  lêem este blog já sabem, passei a maior parte dos primeiros 16 anos da minha vida no Brasil. Não foi até os meus 40 anos que percebi que, culturalmente, sou profundamente brasileiro. Embora eu tenha nascido nos EUA (saí quando eu tinha 2 meses de idade), recordando a minha re-chegada aos EUA na minha adolescência, me reconheço essencialmente como um imigrante da primeira geração à esse país. Levou anos, mas no final uma identidade autêntica dos EUA foi moldada para que eu posso me sentir confortável socialmente e culturalmente nessa sociedade. No mesmo tempo, tenho que admitir que a minha maior fidelidade é com o Brasil, meu “país do coração”. Sempre que vou para lá, me sinto relaxado e em casa de maneiras que nunca sinto nos EUA.

Tambêm sou super crítico do papel dos EUA como império no mundo. As escolas, a mídia e a religião neste país ensinam e apóiam e até exigem lealdade a uma mitologia do excepcionalismo e benevolência dos EUA que qualquer observador objetivo vai perceber com facilidade que é patentemente falso. Ao contrário do mito, os EUA tem feito muito mais mal do que bom no mundo. Em contraste com a maioria dos cidadãos dos EUA, pessoas de outros países reconhecem prontamente esse fato. Embora eu seja crítico em relação aos EUA, também desejo que meu "país de nascimento" seja melhor do que é, para ser o melhor que pode ser. Algo nos moldes de um país como previsto e descrito em declarações e documentos oficiais promulgados pelo Papa Francisco seria o ideal.

Então, neste dia 4 de julho (Dia da Independencia dos EUA), enquanto desfruto dos fogos de artifício, não tenho grande entusiasmo patriótico, e nenhuma bandeira dos EUA acena na frente da minha casa ou do meu carro. (Eu digo “bandeira dos EUA”, não “bandeira americana”, porque o posteriór é um equívoco. A América inclui tudo, desde os confins do norte do Canadá e Alasca até a ponta mais meridional da Terra do Fogo na Argentina.) Alguns podem me considerar antipatriótica e, como eu escrivi, não tenho nenhuma forte lealdade aos Estados Unidos. (O momento atual em que estamos presenciando o desenvolvimento de um fascismo entrincheirado neste país - assim como no meu “país de coração, Brasil tambêm - é especialmente difícil.) Por outro lado, ser honesto sobre os pontos fortes e as fraquezas de uma nação, não sendo enganado pelo mito, mas disposto a desafiar as falhas e lutar para que a nação seja a melhor possível - talvez isso seja a maior forma de patriotismo.

Feliz 4 de Julho!

THOUGHTS ON THE 4TH OF JULY

As many of you who read this blog know, I spent most of the first 16 years of my life in Brazil. It wasn’t until I was in my early 40s that I realized that, culturally, I am deeply Brazilian.  Although I was born in the U.S. (left when I was 2 months old), looking back on my re-arrival in the U.S. in my teens, I have come to understand myself as essentially a first-generation immigrant to this country. It took me years, but eventually an authentic U.S. identity was shaped so that I am comfortable socially and culturally in this society.  However, I must admit that my greater allegiance is to Brazil, my “heart country.”  Whenever I go there, I feel relaxed and at-home in ways that I never feel in the U.S.

I am also very critical of the U.S. role as empire in the world. Schools, the media, and religion in this country teach and support and even demand allegiance to a mythology of U.S. exceptionalism and benevolence that any objective observer will clearly see is patently false. Contrary to the myth, the U.S. has done much more harm than good in the world.  In contrast to most U.S. citizens, people from other countries readily recognize and acknowledge this fact. While I am critical of the U.S., I also desire for this, my “birth country,” to be better than it is, to be the best that it can be.  Something along the lines of a country as envisioned and described in statements and official documents promulgated by Pope Francis would be ideal.

And so, on the 4^th of July, while I enjoy the fireworks, I feel no great patriotic enthusiasm, and no U.S. flag waves in the front of my house or off my car. (I say “U.S. flag,” not “American flag,” because the latter is a misnomer.  America includes everything from the northern reaches of Canada and Alaska to the most southern tip of Tierra del Fuego in Argentina.) Some may consider me unpatriotic and, as I’ve said, I hold no strongly felt allegiance to the U.S. (The present moment in which we are witnessing the development of an entrenched fascism in this country – as well as in my heart country of Brazil - it is especially difficult.)  On the other hand though, being honest about the strengths AND the weaknesses of a nation, not being taken in by the myth but being willing to challenge the faults and strive for the nation to be the best it can – perhaps that is the greatest form of patriotism. 

Happy 4^th!

TRINITY

So, today is what is called, in the liturgical calendar of the Christian church, Trinity Sunday – a day when we recall the divine as imaged in Christian tradition. Not only for those who were not formed in this tradition but for those who were, it is a bit of a puzzle.  God is one but at the same time three,  named Father, Son, and Holy Spirit;  or Creator, Savior, and Spirit. 

Those of us in Christian communities are offered a variety of images to help us understand this conundrum. I remember as a child being told that I could image the Trinity as an egg.  There is shell, white and yolk, and yet the egg is one. This morning projected on the screen at the front of the church was another common image – three overlapping circles. 

I could recite other examples as well but these don’t really work because, in the end the shell, white, and yolk are actually distinguishable and separate things.  The circles, although joined, are in fact three separate circles. But according to the tradition, the three of the Trinity are not exactly three, but One, a tri-unity!

The ancient theologians worked out the formulae: “three persons, one substance;” or, as stated of Jesus in the Nicene Creed: “God from God, Light from Light, True God from True God . . .” The intent is to ensure that we do not understand that there are three Gods.  Although there are distinct and seemingly separate functions, and although Jesus makes reference to the Father and the Spirit as though they are distinct from himself, the tradition insists that there is but one God. Confusing enough?

Hmm!! So why am I writing about this? My purpose in this blog is to articulate, as best I can, where I stand - where I am coming from in terms of faith and understanding - and to suggest how faith and understanding connect with real-world practice, particularly in a practice that aims toward creating a world of greater justice and equality. So, if I were left only with the logical conundrum of understanding the Trinity I probably would have left the notion of Trinity behind long ago.  But, in fact, I have come across ways to approach this concept of God that I do in fact find fruitful.

 

One of the best studies I have read on this subject is the book by Brazilian liberation theologian Leonardo Boff, titled Trinity and Society.  Boff offers a rich reflection on the historical stages and development of the doctrine of the Trinity, which helps bring clarity to the process even if it does not satisfy the conundrum.  However, the insight that Boff provides that I find most valuable is to see the divine as not a lone, isolated, caught-up-in-itself, solitary, figure (Gollum of “Lord of the Rings” comes to mind) but rather as a relational, communal reality within itself. 

Now, I recognize that that does not resolve the logical challenge.  But if one believes in a reality greater than the universe perceived by our five human senses – which I do – and if one agrees that somehow the ideal toward which we are called is one of peaceful, just, community and that somehow this calling is embedded in the very nature and substance of our World (with a big “W”), then it make sense that the Over-arching Reality, call it the Divine, be itself relational and communal. Boff argues that part of the genius of the Christian faith is to have recognized this inter-personal, relational, community quality of the divine.  Personally, for me – David Crump – this is what is valuable.  The metaphors of “Father,” “Son,” and “Spirit” are useful and, as someone whose first faith (as in first language) was Christianity, I find personal and emotive meaning in them but as someone who recognizes that Truth is represented in many and varied ways within human religious and cultural experience, I am not limited to the trinitarian paradigm of Christianity.  However, I value the sense that the Foundation, the Great Mover, the Creator, the Spirit – whatever name one uses – is relational and communal within itself.

Andrei Rublev's Sanctissima Trinitas

A second fruitful reflection for me on the Trinity comes through an ancient visual image, the icon titled “Sanctissima Trinitas,” painted by the Russian monk, Andrei Rublev, in the fifteenth century.  The image features three figures – representing the three traditional persons of the Trinity - sitting and in conversation at a table.  Again, this does not solve the three-in-one conundrum.  In fact, the image suggests three rather than one. But the richness of this image comes in something else for me.  Henri Nouwen, one of my favorite spiritual writers provides a beautiful, prayerful meditation on the icon in his book Behold the Beauty of the Lord: Praying with Icons.  He points out that, as we approach the painting, we see an open space before us at the front of the table, and if we reflect on this we can come to understand that we are being invited to “participate in the intimate conversation that is taking place among the three . . . and to join them at the table.”(p. 20)  One tradition concerning this icon says that the painting originally featured a mirror in the space at the front of the table, so that when the worshiper approached the icon they would actually see themselves reflected in the image. So, the relational communion within Spirit itself becomes an invitation for us to be a part of that holy communion and, in a bigger sense, we are invited to form and join one great communion with all of humankind, our sisters and brothers.

Bringing out the historical context of conflict and destruction taking place in fifteenth-century Russia, Nouwen offers that part of the intention of the icon is that, as we are drawn ever more deeply into this mysterious place of communion, “we come to understand how to be committed to the struggle for justice and peace in the world while remaining at home in God’s love.” (p. 27)

So, on this Trinity Sunday, I am not so concerned about figuring out the logic of three and one, but I open myself to the vision of a holy communion gathered and committed to working together to create a world more in the image of the Holy One, a world of true community, justice, and peace. 

SIGNS OF THE TIMES: THE WORLD IS ABOUT TO TURN

In my first post on "signs of the times," I offered a reflection on the meaning of the phrase. Referring to the work of liberation theologian, Ignacio Ellacuría, a distinction was made between signs of  “sin” - those things which on both a personal and social or structural level negate life, and signs of “grace” – those things that both personally and structurally give life.

So, in considering our world today and in reflecting on where we are called, as people of faith, to make our stand, the questions we must ask are:  Where are the places and what are the actions and structures that negate life, that literally kill, in our world?  And where are the places and what are the actions and structures that support and bring life in our world?  I suppose that there are many responses that could be given to each of these questions.  Here I highlight some that come to mind.

Much of our society, worldwide it would seem, is driven not by a concern for people but by a primary commitment to the all-powerful dollar. And so, in the U.S. we have people in power who deny that humans are contributing to global warming – not because they don’t know better (regardless of what they may claim), but because affirming that premise threatens their short-term wealth accumulation.  It amazes me that even though this position could very well spell death for their own children and grandchildren, they somehow cannot let go.  This same driving force leads to wars as well that, contrary to the official storyline (from both political parties in the U.S.), are not about fighting for democracy and freedom but are about petroleum and minerals and economic advantages and control.  Similarly, global economic decisions are driven by the insistence on never-ending growth, access to and growing new markets, and protecting and growing profits without regard to any potential “collateral damage.” Built on this premise of the primacy of the dollar and of profits (for the few), i.e., the value center of global capitalism, we see death reflected in many ways.  People are dying because of racist prejudices and social structures.  People are dying because of anti-immigrant attitudes and policies.  People are dying because dollars are prioritized for war, at the expense of healthcare, education, and services to support and make life abundant.  The flip side of that coin is that people are dying because of wars – the war machine that destroys cities, and countrysides, and nations, that results in young men and women returning to their homes in body bags, that results in non-combatants literally dying or having their life and livelihoods completely destroyed.  People are dying, fleeing from violence, war, and economic disaster; seeking safety or a better life and being refused by nations who stereotype their presence. People are dying because our global system ensures advantage for a few to maximize their gain (the 1%) at the expense of the rest of us, resulting in a rapidly-increasing gap between the rich and poor, and in an increasing poverty around the world.  Although we have the resources to feed the entire world today, millions go to bed hungry each day and millions die of hunger every year.  These are just a few examples of what I see as acts and systems in our world today that are, in the words of Ellacuría, objectifying the power of sin, that are the vehicles of that power against humanity, against human life; in other words, vehicles of death.

Thankfully, these are not the only signs we see in our times.  Although at times it may seem that the vehicles of death have the upper hand, we also see signs of grace or, as my friend Geraldo suggested recently, “signs of hope.”  Signs of grace are those commitments and actions that stand over against the signs of sin.  In the face of death, they speak to us about the possibility of hope and life. And, as people of faith, it is here that we are called to place our actions and even our very lives - on the side of grace, on the side of hope. What are some of these signs in our times?

Again, the primary context I am reflecting on is the United States. One of the signs of life that I see is a sometimes-independent judiciary (a fragment of democracy still intact in this country).  On some occasions judges have acted to block anti-immigrant and anti-refugee policies and, in at least one case a police officer was recently charged with murder after shooting a black man running from him. [*] Another sign of grace, in my view, is DACA recipients and other immigrants who, at great risk to their own security, are openly challenging the politics and politicians bent on deporting them.[†]  Another sign of hope is that movements are joining each other across lines of race, immigrant status, age, and gender, to take to the streets by the thousands all across this country, challenging politicians who are doing the bidding of monied donors while ignoring the death-dealing impact of policies on the lives and in the communities of their constituents.  On Valentine’s Day this year, we sadly witnessed yet another school shooting, the massacre of 17 people at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida – clearly a sign of the death powers at work in our nation and society.  But the sign of grace in response is that students of the Parkland school, joined in solidarity by students and others all across the country, are standing up, taking on politicians and the NRA face-to-face, to demand change, to demand that our representatives place themselves on the side of life, even if it means denying the idolizing power of the dollar.  These students are not succumbing to the detracting rhetoric coming from the mouths of politicians, but are speaking truth to power about guns and making it clear that those who choose not to stand on the side of life will be voted out.[‡]  A further sign of hope and a signal of possible change is that several dozen companies have now withdrawn their support for the NRA. These actions reflect a primary commitment, not to money and power but are, in Ellacuría’s words “vehicles for the power that favors human life” – certainly some of the many signs of grace and hope in our times.

One final observation.  I recognize, or at least it seems to me, that the signs of sin and death appear to have the upper hand today.  The money interests (and their political puppets) in our world seem to be especially brash and unreserved in their all-out effort to establish absolute hegemony and power. They unabashedly align themselves with the powers of disregard for the interests of the majority while protecting the concerns of their own narrow group, the 1%.  However, even in this, in a perhaps not so obvious way, I see a sign of grace and promise of life, because I believe that what we are witnessing is the end of an epoch.  The world as we know it, the world structured around the extraction of resources - both natural and human – and capital is coming to an end.  Those who have held power and benefited from this arrangement see the end coming, and so are fighting with all they have to keep it going.  But this system has run its course.  What we are living today is the capitalist system coming apart at the seams.  As Karl Marx predicted more than a century and a half ago, capitalism will destroy itself and, out of the rubble, a new system will be born.[§]  It is my view that we are somewhere in this destruction/rebirth process today.[**]  And, so, it is in our hands to determine what the new reality will be.  The possibility is available in the present generation to put in place the building blocks for a world that prioritizes sustainability and life – a sign and opportunity for grace, for hope in our times!

In the words of the Canticle of the Turning: 

"THE WORLD IS ABOUT TO TURN!"

IT'S UP TO US!

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[*] http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-30339943

[†] http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/immigrant-rights-activist-ravi-ragbir-granted-stay-deportation-article-1.3810181

[‡] See “A Gun Culture in Collapse” http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/43662-behold-the-reckoning-of-a-gun-culture-in-collapse

[§] See “Marx’s Analysis of Capitalism” https://www-tc.pbs.org/wgbh/commandingheights/shared/pdf/ess_marxsanalysis.pdf

[**] Emily Kawano, Coordinator of the US Solidarity Network speaks of this transition in terms of what she calls the developing “solidarity economy.” It is about an economy taking shape in many small and larger places and ways all around the world, an economy, states Kawano, “that works for people and planet as opposed to private profit and blind growth.” Click here to read or listen to a podcast where Kawano discusses in more detail how she sees the development of this new economy. 

SIGNS OF THE TIMES - REFLECTION 1

I don’t know about you, the person reading this blog, but me - I must confess that this past year has been a pretty discouraging time here in the U.S. and, from what I can tell, around much of the world.  This blog is about “journeying inward,” to find spiritual stamina and groundedness and from that grounding to “journey outward” to be engaged in community and in the world, to live out and make real the values and truths discovered in the inward journey.  And then, continuing, from the experiences, challenges and victories of the journey outward, to journey inward again for clarity and renewing – an ongoing, inward and outward moving.  While the description sounds individual, the best practice is that it be a shared, communal movement of people together.  And it does not need to be only people sitting in the same room together, but people sharing their experience through all variety of media and across distances of place and time – people that may not actually know each other personally, but who gain nourishment and encouragement and hope from each other’s reflections and actions.

But this past year has been a tough one, for myself and for many people I know.  Here in the U.S., the unanticipated election of a president whose name I refuse to put in print, and so refer to as #45, has turned out to be more disastrous and demoralizing than we ever imagined, as our hearts sank watching the results come in on election night.  While this administration has for the most part been a failure on the legislative front, they have moved at lightning speed to - in the words of former White House advisor and now critic of the President, Steve Bannon – “deconstruct the [so-called] administrative state.” And, in so doing, they are successfully setting aside and undermining policies that have taken decades to achieve.  UN Human Rights Spokesperson, Rupert Colville, in a video posted by the United Nations, correctly characterizes the views expressed by #45 as going “against the universal values the world has been striving so hard to establish since World War II and the holocaust.” He goes on to state that the views of this “political figure” (he too refuses to offer the dignity of giving a name) “open the door to humanity’s worst side . . . encouraging and validating racism and xenophobia.”  So, that is what we are living here in the United States, a reality that impacts not only this nation but people and realities around the world.

I have also watched, over the last year and a half as my “heart country,” Brazil, has progressed down a similarly (if not worse) destructive path.  Initiated by a U.S.-supported parliamentary coup that removed the elected president from power, the imposed government moved quickly to set a course that clearly favors a wealthy, powerful and corrupt minority while under-cutting and removing policies that benefit average citizens, targeting especially those programs that benefit and provide a safety net for workers and the poor. And it is not only here in the U.S. and in Brazil.  Listening to the news it seems that much of the world is in crisis.

FAITH TRADITIONS SPEAK OF
"SIGNS OF THE TIMES"

Faith traditions speak of  “signs of the times.” Within the gospel tradition of the Christian faith, in being questioned by the religious authorities of his day, Jesus responded to them with a challenge. “Looking at the sky,” he said, “you know how to judge the weather, however you do not know how to judge the signs of the times” (Matthew 16:3).

As a kid, growing up in the outback of Brazil, I was pretty good at predicting the time and weather by looking at the sky. Trying to understand what is going on in our world, and attempting to envision what our present choices might mean for the future . . .  well that’s a bit tougher!  In this regard though, Ignacio Ellacuría - President of the University of Central America (UCA) in El Salvador from 1979 to 1989, a leading voice in Latin American liberation theology, and a martyr for justice – provides a helpful framework for consideration.  In his essay titled “The Historicity of Salvation,”[1] he offers two lenses for looking at the world. There are, he suggests, “actions that kill life, and [on the other hand] actions that give life.”  Those actions and systems that kill life, he refers to as “sin;” and actions that give life, he names “grace.”[2] 

These qualities, he argues, occur not only within personal, individual actions, but are expressed systemically as well.  “Some social and historical structures,” Ellacuría argues, “objectify the power of sin and serve as vehicles for that power against humanity, against human life,” what he refers to as “structural sin.” By contrast, other “social and historical structures objectify grace and serve as vehicles for that power [that] favors human life,” which he refers to as “structural grace.”[3]  Sin and grace are not to be understood here “primarily from a moral viewpoint . . . but from the perspective of that which makes God’s life [absent, or] present among human beings.”[4]

Although I never met him in person, through his books Ellacuría has become a mentor to me.  I have found his thought to be inspiring and deeply profound, offering a theology and faith that nurture my own;  that are not about “pie in the sky,” but a following of Jesus, in a grounded “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth . . .”[5] way.  His reflection on sin and grace, I believe offers a concrete way to read the signs of our times,  a critical criterion for discerning where and how we are called, as people of faith, to place ourselves in this world. 

Where are the places and what are the actions and structures that negate life, that literally kill, in our world?  And where are the places and what are the actions and structures that give life, that bring life in our world?  We will consider these questions in my next posting.

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[1] Michael Lee, ed., Ignacio Ellacuría: Essays on History, Liberation, and Salvation. (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2013), 137-168.

[2] Ibid., p. 150

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ibid.

[5] From the prayer that Jesus taught his followers.  Our Father, who art in heaven . . .