Red Envelopes

So today I received a letter from my school about participating in a protest against abortion. I am supposed to write on an envelope something to the effect of "This envelope represents an unborn child who was killed. It is empty because the child never got to live his life." This letter is supposed to be addressed to President Obama.
Now, I must say I am extremely pro-life. I believe abortion is wrong and I hope to some day help offer an alternative by assisting young mothers with their children. I also believe it is the duty of Christians to stand up for injustice in the world.
However, is this really the way to do it? I guess the idea is all right. It is nonviolent. I suppose I just don't like the view many people in the school have taken against Obama. He is in their minds the "evil man who wants to kill babies." I know that is not true. I believe he stands for some very good things, and I don't see why he is so scorned.
My struggle is the struggle of where do I stand? Yes, I care about babies being murdered, but I also care about soldiers being murdered. If we can write a letter to Obama about abortion, why couldn't we write a letter to Bush about war?
Proverbs and 1 Peter both say to "seek peace and pursue it." Although I don't agree with the attitudes of many of those participating, maybe I can celebrate the fact that some are doing this out of pure motives - love for the babies made in the image of God. It is tragic that they are killed, because they are little portraits of God's image that we will never be able to experience. Some are not doing this because they stand for a political party, but because they stand for humanity.
So many things are involved in this, and I am still unsure of what I think.
Please, share your thoughts.

Live in peace and reflect Christ in all you do.

A Simple Prayer

"Lord, make me an instrument of your peace
Where there is hatred.....let me sow love.
Where there is injury......pardon.
Where there is discord....unity.
Where there is doubt......faith.
Where there is error......truth.
Where there is despair..hope.
Where there is sadness...joy.
Where there is darkness...light.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled.......as to console.
To be understood....as to understand.
To be loved...............as to love.

For
It is in the giving.......that we receive.
It is in the pardoning...that we are pardoned.
It is in dying.................that we are born to eternal life."

-Saint Francis of Assisi

Whatever you do..

So because of Michael and Shadi lecturing me, I'm writing another post. :)

I've been thinking about so much lately. Trying to figure out what it means to follow Jesus, and especially what is means to follow Jesus in the ETS environment.

The thing that frustrates me the most is the complacency of the small circle we are in. I gave a speech today about the Clean Water Crisis and why we should get involved. It was hard for me to look at some of the faces staring back at me as I was talking.

In their faces, I saw my face. My face when I categorized something into a "social justice issue," instead of realizing that thousands are really people are dying everyday. People who bleed, sweat, cry, and laugh. I thought back to all of the times I had seen only a global issue, and not a precious three-year-old dying girl.

A few days ago I was thinking back to a missions trip I went on last summer. It was to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, the poorest county in the United States. That trip broke my heart. Seeing the little kids who had obviously been abused come to the recreation center to learn to laugh again. (If you want to see a blog about this trip go to my facebook, it's titled "Who will give us love?")
I thought about how that was the first time the poor began to have faces. Before it was just "the homeless" or "the desperate". I'd never known anyone homeless or desperate or that hungry. But when I saw the faces of the children something inside me changed. Something broke me, and yet gave me hope.

Now a portrait of one of the girls, named Morning Star, sits on the table beside my bed.
And everytime I look at it I can't help wondering, How can we get people to understand this?

The Lakota Sioux Indians have gone through so much injustice, but their voice is lost in the consumeristic culture of America. No one can hear them. And that's a shame, because when they sing, and we begin to blend with them in harmony, the song is beautiful and it's a song of hope.

Have we forgotten the teachings of Jesus?
Have we gotten so caught up in "absolute truth" and "biblical worldviews" that we have forgotton our first love?
Have we decided that a relationship with God is just too hard and decided to pick our black and white Bibles back up?
Have we forgotton what it means to care, to love, to laugh, and to be FREE?

We are created to be free, but America will not give us the freedom we desire. We need to stop trying to compromise the American dream with the cross because that's not the way Jesus intended. He asked us to give up everything in order to follow Him.

Complacency is the most frightening place to be.

Don't be satified if things are not how they should be. Keep asking questions, keep discussing, but whatever you do don't become complacent.

And above all, love. Love with everything you have. And show that Jesus really meant what He said.

Politics and Bible class? Whose idea was this?

So our recent topic in Bible class is the Government. Yikes.

I completely believe that Christians have a huge role to play in government. Christians should be involved and look at ALL the issues (that is, not just abortion and homosexuality). We need to vote for who we believe will do the best job.

I've actually heard some Christians say God agrees with Republicans, and Republicans only. But really, who are we to say that God is on our side? In the end, who is to say what is "right"? What does "right" mean anyway?

Going through a government class during this past election has been hard enough, but now in a Bible class? The whole chapter talks about how really the American government is the government God agrees with, and all other countries (unless they modeled America) are wrong. The book states that the Bible supports a representative democracy. It uses an example of Moses in the old testament (it's in Deuteronomy but I don't have the exact Scripture) telling the tribes to elect certain leaders to represent them.

Acts 2:44-45
44All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.
Hmm...had everything in common? What does this sound like? Does the Bible really support a representative democracy?

I don't think you can use the Bible to support a certain of government. And even if you could twist it that way, it doesn't mean you should.

It makes me sad to look at American Christians who have lost touch with the poor even in their own neighborhood. I know I have. What happened to Christians selling their possessions and giving everyone to in need?

Why have we stopped living the way of Jesus, and turned our Bible classes (where we should be oh, studying the Bible?) into an hour of political discussion. Why have we "stopped living Christianity and started studying it?"

Please tell me your thoughts.

Blogging...hmm

So, I've decided to start blogging. Getting on here makes me think back to when Xanga was what all the cool kids did. It's funny how things change.

Writing is probably one of the best ways to get your views across. It's reflective, and you don't have to worry about saying anything you don't mean.

I will probably update this whenever I feel inspired or have thoughts to discuss, so stay tuned.

[peace.]