What Are We Doing Together, Anyway?

 Signature Of Divine

Lyrics by Needtobreathe Lyrics

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Cathedrals have tried in vain

To show the image of your face

But we are, by your design

The signature of divine

We’ll always sing your name

The fortunes of kings and queens

Are wasted chasing what we’ve seen.

Cause we are, by your reprieve,

The beauty framed by your suffering

We’ll always sing your name

Forever and today

Yahweh, Yahweh

Great is your glory when you go before me

Oh, we sing  Holy, Holy

Your ways are lovely. So high above me

Yahweh...

We gather together to work, to learn, to grow; we gather into communities, towns, universities. People everywhere, they live in groups, they live in families; they cherish their friends and they spend time together, supporting and enjoying their ways and their company. We get sick, we go to hospitals to help us recover.
What all these things have in common, with each of us in our everyday lives, is that inescapable fact that humanity, as a species, seems hard wired for gathering.

 Into groups we collect and revel. Together. It all seems so natural. Why, by working together, supporting and accomplishing worthwhile tasks, what could be better?
The person who lives stalwartly alone, who is friendless, who has very little or no community to speak of, that is a person often pitied and eyed suspiciously. We exclaim, "are they ill? Why are they such loners?"
This all makes simple sense. It seems so natural to gather, to enjoy the company of our brothers and sisters, our loves and loved here on earth.
Yet when the matter turns to things such as the lyrics of the song above, many of us recoil. Why? Well, it seems we don't belong after all. We don't want to belong. For some, reinventing the 'spiritual' wheel is okay.

In fact, it's better than okay. It may be for these persons, the only way to demonstrate their will to 'pull themselves up by the bootstraps.' Many among us think, in spiritual terms, that there are aliens around us, to be avoided at all costs.
Infected with perhaps a strong sense of humanist enlightenment, a person with such notions eschews anything of community within the context of faith.

Yet if a faith community is true, existing for a higher purpose, for the common good, then it is, it must be and it will do something. Let me say this again: Churches, mosques, temples, ashrams and so forth exist because they do something for others.
If they do not, they they exist not for long. Communities survive and thrive because of the activities of each of its constituents. What each of us contributes to the good of all, is the community.

It is this fact that escapes many in the blog-sphere. Simply talking isn't sufficient, nor are kind thoughts or nice words and graphics. Communities must do something, and religious communities continue and persist for this very simple reason!
 Join the collective, engage in acts of social justice. Learn about yourself from another's eyes.
Help a friend. Be a community. "We are, by your design, the signature of divine, and we'll always sing your name."

The Tell-Tale Heart and Other Stories

For the many who love a good story, not only books fulfill that interest but movies as well. The classic American poet and author, Edgar Allen Poe is one of those timeless story tellers. His well known tale, The Tell-tale Heart along with four other stories are wonderfully rendered in a modern context in the DVD, Requiem for the Damned, an independent film shot in West Virginia and Pennsylvania with the "magic" provided by the Allegheny Dream Works Factory for special effects.
These stories are told again and again due to the reason that they describe the human condition and pose questions as to its resolution. The author challenges his audience in unexpected ways.

Another film of note, American Violet, explores social justice and the just treatment of individuals in modern America. We like to think that atrocities are occurring somewhere else, be it Africa, Cuba, the Chinese ethnic regions, or other places.
American Violet tells a true story of the victimization of innocent lives for sometimes financial gains in the pursuit of Federal government funds.This story takes place a mere 10 years ago. It makes one realize that at any given time, anywhere in the world someone is suffering; sometimes that someone is us.

We learn that schoolyard ditty: sticks and stones may break my bones; names can't hurt me, however  in the end, "Only Love Can Break Your Heart".
This story is the triumph of love and community.

Dying For Apple

There are disturbing reports coming persistently now from China about the conditions of many Chinese workers, indeed workers from throughout the industrializing world, who make the products Americans are using every day without a thought. There are reports of workers dying, unsafe conditions, conditions of near immobilization as workers are restricted to their dormitories by policy and heavy workloads of more than 60 hours a week. We, in America, have long recognized that this treatment of workers is wrong; that workers have natural rights and that likewise child labor is inappropriate.

Yet as all these consumer goods are being made "out of sight, out of mind," so the consuming public remains largely ignorant of these egregious abuses to workers. As I sit here typing on an Apple computer, I am vexed and less pleased with my machine knowing now that Apple has gone abroad for some time now; just recently dust in Chinese factories has sparked explosions with many workers maimed or burned alive in the resulting fires. American industry has known for at least a century now how to prevent factory fires from dust: simple, adequate ventilation does the trick. And yet abroad they are dying by the hundreds so that millions here at home can have greater spending power, more consumption, and quite frankly cheaper goods. Meanwhile our national values about fair labor are eroding.

I don't feel any sense of social justice in continuing the status quo, nor the rightness that I should have a long, convenient life while young workers abroad are losing theirs for some savings to my pocketbook. There is a true cost to industrial safety that goes beyond the amount per hour paid in wages. It is a cost of ones' life and well being. There is now, I realize, a good reason why at least in sum, American goods cost more: the people who make them, for the most part, work in safe facilities and will very likely go home every night to their families. They will not be maimed or immolated while on the job. So now my reason for buying American, or at least from countries with strong worker safety records is clear. When I use something I bought, I can rest in the thought that not only my nation may benefit but also the individual who actually created the item on a far away assembly line who will likely be alive and well at the end of their work shift.

Join in a Simple life; make ethical choices about what and where you consume. Ask questions. Care about the environment and mankind in general. Advocate for worker safety world wide. Doing so will benefit you personally and the common good equally.

The Witness

"You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. Love your neighbor as yourself; this I say is the greatest of Commandments." The Judeo-Christian Bible

Not long ago the 14th Dalai Lama accepted an award recognizing his work for Witness: witness to peace, to compassionate living, for social justice.
The holocaust survivor and author Elie Weisel, author of Night, wrote he said, because his survival of the Shoah, he felt was for those who perished, who not longer have voices to speak, who need those who can speak for them, to tell their stories, so to make a just and equitable world in which the dignity of a person is evident. Weisel uses his writing and lectures, to speak for all those who perished. Without the Witness, the one who speaks for those who cannot, their story and they, themselves, are valueless and forgotten. He writes, he says, to tell their story so they will not be forgotten.

 The 1985 feature film, Witness, starring Harrison Ford makes just this subject its focus. A young boy observes a murder in a public place. He becomes the first witness in the story; the detective, John Book (Ford), investigates, finds a link to corruption. Someone tries to kill him, he escapes to become the second witness in the story. Injured, he makes his way to the home of an Amish family who cares for him; the family becomes the third witnesses to the harm caused by others. Finally those responsible for the injury of the detective, the perpetrators, find him and are now confronted by many in this close community of Amish, all spiritual and religious believers. They, as a community, form the final and most significant act of witness, tolling the bell, confronting the killers, and like the disciples of the Christ, they stand for justice and the common good. Their significant acts of witness mirror the way of the Lord in whom they trust.

In other parts of the world today there are those whose keenly felt sense of justice has driven them to revolution, to overthrow the unjust, the dictators and the despots of the world; they work for the common good, for freedom, for peace, and for love. Then there is the police officer, who in service and protection of his community, takes a bullet; the soldier who in defense of his country, of his comrades, comes under fire and those who suffered mightily in the Communist uprisings around the world during the previous century. The list goes on. Some we call heroes; some brave, and some wild-crazy. All are Witnesses for truth, for peace, and for social justice of all kinds. They include Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi, and so many more. Please add your own names here, and pray for the justice of this world. It all depends upon you.

Giving to the Poor, Variation of a Theme

They'll Know We Are Christians
Lyrics by Carolyn Arends
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We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord
We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord
And we pray that all unity may one day be restored
And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love
They will know we are Christians by our love

We will work with each other, we will work side by side
We will work with each other, we will work side by side
And we'll guard each one's dignity and save each one's pride
And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love
They will know we are Christians by our love
By our love, by our love

And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love
They will know we are Christians by our love

We will walk with each other, we will walk hand in hand
We will walk with each other, we will walk hand in hand
And together we'll spread the news that God is in our land
And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love
They will know we are Christians by our love
By our love, by our love
And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love
They will know we are Christians by our love 

We cannot ever overlook Tzedakah, charity to the world as the Jewish faith teaches. What  our Christian inheritance contains is a teaching of charity according to the ancients that helps first and foremost the giver; the focus of the teaching is upon the giver. Some are materially poor, others are poor in spirit; while still others are poor in mind or health. All of us experience some form of poverty in our lives.
Charitable behavior is central to Jewish ethics and thought. It is rooted in the concepts of fairness, justice and equity. Notice that nowhere in this idea do we find the words pity, sorrow or giving favors. And central to this idea is that all are deserving of charity in the way of food, clothing and shelter. It is rectifying an injustice to another, giving what all should have in the first place. And there is poverty of several types. Thus a just society is one adjudged to have complete charity for one and all. Perfect  karma.

The Last Judgment Matthew 25:

The king will say, you have my father’s blessing! Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. I was hungry and you gave food; I was naked and you clothed me; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you welcomed me. And when I was ill or imprisoned, you visited with me.[In the end] we will answer for our brothers; as you did for the least of them, you did for me.

Matthew 25:31-46