Romeo Ramirez: Hearing the Voice of the Oppressed

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This week we replay my 2005 interview with one of 2003's Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award winners, Romeo Ramirez of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers.  I recorded this interview int eh weeks before Taco Bell's parent company, Yum! Brands Inc., agreed to pay the tomato pickers one penny more per pound of tomatoes, effectively doubling the workers' pay.

I was struck, as I listened again to this interview, that humans will do horrible things to one another in pursuit of greed.  Having just celebrated Holy Week, the reality that Jesus died for people such as this is too overt to ignore.

There is a very simple thing we can do right now to help this situation:  Sign Oxfam's petition encouraging Burger King to join Taco Bell and McDonalds in honoring the human rights of the workers by improving their wages.

landon

Tony Jones: Dispatches from the Emergent Frontier

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Our guest this week, Tony Jones, is a man on a mission.  Having served for the last several years as national coordinator of Emergent Village, he has just published what some are calling the best introduction to the almost decade old  emergent movement.  Tony's new book, The New Christians: Dispatches from the Emergent Frontier, is a tour de force through the origins of the movement as well as a constructive response to the movement's critics.

Tony was a sport during this interview.  You'll notice in the audio that the sound is a bit garbled at points.  Something happened with the program I was using, and my voice was almost imperceptible to him.  However, he graciously carried on, outlining some of the major points in the book.  To make up for the lack of "interview style back and forth" I decided to intersperse Tony's comments with excerpts from the text (hoping to give it a pseudo-This American Life flavor).

The New Christians is a great read, and a much needed addition to the discussion about the state of Christ's Church.  Speaking personally, it was a 2x4 of God's call upside my head.  Tony is dead on with his assessment of much of the state of the church.  The only question now is "Are we going to listen?"

Have a great Holy Week,

landon

0:01: Intro

1:43: Introduction to Interview with Tony Jones; What is the emergent church?

3:35: Jones on his faith journey; grew up in "old school mainline" church in a youth group with a Young Life flavor

6:04: Jones on being invited to Campus Crusade for Christ, kept questioning the system

6:53: Jones on visiting local mainline church during college

7:20: Excerpt from The New Christians, Chapter 4: "The Theology, Stupid"; Dispatch 9 - The emergent movement is robustly theological

8:22: Jones on how the church's theology needs to change; "They're getting the Gospel wrong"; the Gospel should be indigenous

10:00: Jones on the origins of Emergent

10:22: Excerpt from The New Christians, Chapter 6: "Inside the Emergent Church"; Dispatch 19 - Emergents downplay the role of clergy

11:52: Jones on the new understanding of authority; the rise and example of Wikipedia; 

12:52: Jones on the desire of people to have a voice in church as they do on the internet

13:33: Excerpt from The New Christians, Chapter 3: "Who are the emergent christians?"; Dispatch 7 - an envelope of friendship should surround all discussion of doctrine

15:10: Jones on the brokenness of the world; an emergent view of political diplomacy; 

16:30: Jones on growing up in Mr. Rogers' world; "When you grow up in Mr Rogers' world, you see the cross of Christ as a point of reconciliation"

17:29: Jones on the importance of the internet in reshaping the social structure of our society

18:21: Excerpt from The New Christians, Chapter 1: "Leaving the Old Country"; Dispatch 1 - little importance put on denominational differences 

19:25: Jones on the lack of allegiance to one Christian ideology

20:32: Jones on clergy being tied into the "church system with that health insurance and that pension fund"

21:40: Jones on church members as "free agents"; Brian McLaren's Generous Orthodoxy

22:30: Jones on the difference between conservatives, liberal, and emergents

23:10: Excerpt from The New Christians, Chapter 5: "After Objectivity, Beautiful Truth"; Dispatch 12 - embracing the whole bible

26:22: Jones on emphasizing one part of the Bible at the expense of the rest; the Revised Common Lectionary omitting portions of the weekly readings

28:35: Jones on the problematic nature of the Bible; the biblical text reflects human nature in its complexity; tragedy is "horrifying but not shocking"

30:06: Excerpt from The New Christians, "Epilogue: Feral Christians"

31:57: Outro

Fritz Gutwein: Living a Life of Justice

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This week I sit down with the Rev. Fritz Gutwein, field coordinator for climate and energy policy for the National Council of Churches Eco-Justice programs.

This was a very exciting interview.  One thing I have often disliked about "liberal justice types" in the church is their propensity to keep saying the same thing that every one else is saying.  I'll admit, I love Nobel Laureate Al Gore for the awareness he has brought to the discussion on global warming, but if I hear one more church person mimic his talking points I'm gonna scream.

Fritz is a different kind of cat.

Our conversation naturally broke itself into two parts.  During the first part we spoke of "justice theory" - about what it means for people of faith to be prophetic and out front on the one hand, and to be effective and build consensus on the other.  Fritz brings his many years of wisdom to bear on this subject, and is able to communicate the value of faith based action well.

In the second part of our discussion we look specifically at the document "Faith Principles on Global Warming."  This document outlines four principles of faith - justice, stewardship, sustainability, sufficiency - and explores how we can be better stewards of our earth home.  Living up to my hope, Fritz was able to bring these principles alive in a theologically and spiritually mature manner, and connect the pieces that many have been struggling to connect.

Friends, this interview is a real treat.  I know you'll like it.

Landon

0:01: Intro

2:07: Introduction to interview with Rev. Fritz Gutwein

4:05: Gutwein on basics of NCC eco-justice programs; on people of faith speaking to elected officials

5:55: Gutwein on the beginnings of his understanding of the relationship with faith and politics; Africa and the experience of faith encouraging politics;

9:20: Gutwein on "thinking the church was more ready than they were"; no every issue is worth going to the mat over

10:38: Gutwein on building effective coalitions

12:20: Gutwein on the church taking up cause they no they will lose; "Some changes do need to happen over night, but most of them don't";

13:12: Gutwein on the difference between legislative action and prophetic voice; 

14:45: Gutwein on the need for specificity in legislative action

15:51: Gutwein on his justice "conversion"; exposure to Baptist Peacemaker and Sojourners magazines; 

18:48: Gutwein on the development of the "Faith Principles on Global Warming"

20:14: Gutwein on the need for acknowledgement and awareness in justice work; the poor feel the impacts of natural disasters in a larger way

23:03: Gutwein on what calls us to to justice action

24:05: Gutwein on Jesus being where 2 or 3 are gathered

25:15: Gutwein on working for justice as a spiritual discipline; justice as a path to a relationship with God; transformation through an encounter with the living Christ in justice work

27:35: Gutwein on the need for justice work on the macro level

28:26: Gutwein on the critique that "we're not here for long, so why care for the earth"

30:39: Gutwein on the value of stewardship; the parable of the talents

31:56: Gutwein on sustainability; the connection of stewardship and sustainability

34:47: Gutwein on the principle of sufficiency; we can choose to plunder the earth; "we need to live as if we expect everyone to have an abundant life";  circling back to justice

39:19: Gutwein on the theological call to sacrifice; "It was GOOD that God sacrificed"

39:53: Gutwein on justice action on the individual, village, and global village levels

46:38: Outro; Promo for next week's show with Tony Jones, national director of Emergent Village and author of The New Christians: dispatches from the Emergent Frontier

Bruce Reyes-Chow: The Future of the Church

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This week we are treated by "friend of the Journal" Brian Ellison as he fills in as guest host.  All together now: "Thank you, Brian."

Recently, Brian and I sat down with PC(USA) Moderator candidate Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow as he was in Kansas City visiting some friends.

As I'm sure you will hear in the interview, we had a great time talking.  Bruce is really a very solid guy.  He loves his local congregation and his denomination a great deal, and the most evident thing about our conversation was the hope that he has for Christ's church as a whole.

Bruce "gets it."  He understands that if we are going to help the next incarnation of the church be what Christ has called it to be, then there is a lot of work to be done.  Bruce has committed himself to being "in the trenches" when it comes to work with his regional network (called a "presbytery"), and he has striven to show the saints that have gone before that he is serious in his love for the church.  My favorite moment during our conversation was when he said that the younger generation needs to "show up" and "put our time in" if we are going to be taken seriously.

Whether he is elected Moderator of his denomination or not, Bruce is definitely one to watch for how we can faithfully move into the next phase of life together.

Landon