Wonderings and Wanderings

Yesterday I posted on the "hundreds" gathered for a New Baptist Covenant gathering in Atlanta.  This is further proof of my inability to estimate time, size, and numbers in a crowd.  Apparently, registration at the NBC exceeded 16,000.  Just a few off from my estimate. Just wanted to get that corrected.

Onto the second day of the gathering.

I arrived late (sue me) to the morning gathering and was only able to hear part of Tony Campolo’s address to the gathering on "The Bible Speaks about the Poor."  I know I missed out.  You, like I, will have to rely on the video posting of Campolo’s message which you can find here. I heard several comments throughout the day about how amazing it was which I would expect nothing less from Campolo.  He’s a straight-shooter.

The testimony of Naw Blooming Night Zan, Joint General Secretary of the Karen Women’s Organization in Burma was incredibly powerful as she spoke about the ravages of oppression these past 60 years in Burma at the hand of the Burmese military regime. Her presentation was so humble, so unlike the intensity of the facts she presented. In outlining what is needed, Night Zan stated that praying is not sufficient. Some might take offense at that statement but they would be wrong to do so.  How true it is that we are quick to pray but to not recognize that our steps of action are an indispensable part of prayer.  This is a common strand throughout the NBC.

Marian Wright Edleman, Founder of the Children’s Defense Fund, was a force to be reckon with as she presented statistic after statistic about poverty among children. She nailed it and nailed "apathy" to the wall.  She talked about the cradle-to-prison pipeline in America that is supported by the unlevel playing field.  When she talked about America’s low rank among nations in the area of education among children, she correctly challenged us on the fact that Americans throw a fit over being out-ranked in the Olympics but not over being out-ranked in the areas that really matter like science and math.  One of the many quotes that I loved was "Church ought to be the locomotive and not the caboose" in regards to social justice issues. You can see her message here.

I attended the breakout session "Breaking Cycles of Poverty" this afternoon with panelists Tom Prevost, CBF Together for Hope Coordinator; Chris Gray, FCS Urban Ministries, Atlanta; and Diana Garland, Dean of Baylor University School of Social Work, Waco, Texas.   It was exactly as I hoped it would be with a wonderful discussion of practical ideas on breaking cycles of poverty.  You can read a very informative article on the session here. This was my first choice among the many sessions offered due to personal passions but especially in regard to some new responsibilities at the church I serve. Faith organizations are needed to step up and take a very active and engaged role in alleviating poverty. Churches have been fairly decent in their charitable responses; however, charity is not what is needed.  Transformation is needed and churches need to lead the way. The church I serve is beginning this Sunday the CBF study "It’s Time".  Our prayer as we begin this journey is that our congregation will catch this same heart for being the presence of Christ in our community.  After this breakout session today, I have some very practical ideas to suggest to the family back home as we finish our study and ask the question, "What next?"

There is so much to process and take in here.Tonight the question was posed to the participants, "What’s next?" We have gathered together.  We have celebrated our diversity.  We have spoken of issues that are to be owned by faith communities. What are the next steps?  Not only for us as individual communities and churches but as a New Baptist Covenant.   We don’t need to have a convention for a sake of having a convention. What will this really look like after the family celebration here in Atlanta ends?  No one has the answer to that question yet.  And I like that.  I like it because it makes me feel like I am part of the decisions.  The planners of this event don’t have it planned out.  They brought us all to the table and they are listening. And I appreciate that and as a result, I feel ownership and a responsibility to the next steps.

Blessings.

The Celebration of the New Baptist Covenant is underway in Atlanta. Hundreds[Update: 16,000 are registered here for NBC] gathered at the Georgia World Dome this evening for the first plenary session of a historic Baptist event.  Hopes and dreams abound among organizers and attendees as we seek unity among Baptists throughout North America. As several older leaders shared their dedication and commitment to making this covenant a reality, I imagine there is a mixture of emotions.  Obviously, there is excitement and hope regarding a potential new day for Baptists. It is a new beginning.  Yet, a beginning means just that.  A beginning.  We are setting out on a new journey.  A journey made possible by the hard work and faithfulness of a group of older and wiser Baptists.  As a younger person in attendance, I am aware that the hard work of staying the course set this week will depend on us.  Out of years of fighting and division, our elders are determine to set a new course for the next generation of Baptists. They are doing everything they can to shape a healthy and blessed Baptist future. But they will not be able to see it through.  I imagine that there are times when they ache for this to have started years ago and are sad that they will not see the fruit of their labor. Nevertheless, they are faithful. A great mantle is being passed on to the next generation of Baptists.  I am hopeful that out of all the harm we have witnessed as a result of Christian brothers and sisters at war among themselves, the next generations will be committed to harmony, humility, and unity.

Tonight’s session was an outstanding beginning with a powerful greeting given by Dr. William Underwood, President of Mercer University and Co-Chair of the New Baptist Covenant.  Worship and responses to worship were diverse and inspiring – the very picture of what the covenant is about. The highlight for me was the preaching of William Shaw, Pastor at White Rock Baptist Church, Philadelphia, PA. He was powerful, funny, relational and prophetic as he spoke about peace with justice. Shaw’s exegetical work on the Luke 4 passage of Jesus’s claim of the fulfillment of the Isaiah passage was so refreshing and rich.  He reminded us that Jesus was not about charity. He was about change.  Jesus was not about relief.  He was about reversal. There is a common challenge throughout this gathering regarding the command by God of God’s people to preach good news to the poor. To proclaim freedom and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. (Luke 4:18-19)  This cannot be done by writing checks from a distance (physically or emotionally) nor can it be accomplished with divisiveness among believers.  As Shaw stated at the beginning of his sermon quoting the wisdom of Scripture – our oneness will bear witness to the gospel.  Shaw also spoke powerfully about the fact that there can be no peace without justice.  There can be (and often is) calm without justice but there is never peace without justice.   One of the great exegetical truths that Shaw brought to the group was based on the phrase by the Jewish gatherers in the synagogue who stated to Jesus "We be born of Abraham" as a claim of fame.  How often we use a similar claim to avoid listening to God, Shaw stated.  "We be born white; We be born of America; We be born of Baptists; etc." All are claims of privilege that are used as excused to not hear the Spirit of God. You can view Shaw’s message here.

Jimmy Carter also spoke this evening and was greeted with a standing ovation. Carter spoke spoke candidly about why we are gathered in this new venture together and what is at stake.  Divisions have been "a cancer metastasizing in the body of Christ."   These divisions are nothing new as Paul must address them in his letters to the early church.  Carter did a honest summation of some of the major issues that cause divisions among believers today – issues of women leadership in the church, homosexuality, abortion, separation of church and state, etc. – and acknowledged the significance of these issues.  But he challenged us to remember what is essential and to unify around these things – the grace of God and the sharing of the Gospel.  Do not let the deeply felt differences divide us or surpass the message of Christ. View Carter’s speech here.

The Covenant is about being bound together in Christ in the spirit of peace, love, and the spirit of common purpose. 

The next two days will be focused more on that common purpose and the call to action.

Blessings.

I’m headed to Atlanta for the New Baptist Covenant Celebration the remainder of this week.  I hope to post some thoughts from the gathering throughout the event so check back and join the discussion.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock the past couple of days, you have probably heard news reports of unrest and violence in Kenya.  I’m paying close attention to this for several reasons. Of course, peace around the world in the here and now is the hope and prayer for any believer. Africa has been torn apart over the years through civil war and ethnic violence. This beautiful continent needs time of healing and stability to move towards a better future.  I ache for those who have known nothing but warfare and devastation from disease.  No child deserves the theft of their childhood – no matter what the cause is.  I’m also paying attention because we are beginning a three-year partnership in Kenya.  I’m scheduled to go there in October and very much want our church to be a part of the great work occurring there.

I received a copy of this email from a worker there and I found it very informative on what has occurred the past week in Kenya.  Please read it to help educate yourself on the issues as well as to think about our own election process. Whether you like George Bush or not, he’ll be leaving this year.

Dear Friends:

Several of you have written and one or two of you have called in the last few days to assure us of your prayers and thoughts during this difficult time for Kenya.  We so appreciate those efforts.  The last few days have been surreal.  I’d like to take a minute (at 4:30 am on New Years day) to provide an update and our own analysis of the events of the last few days. 

We all knew that the elections were going to be close and hotly contested.  Pollsters had predicted a spread between 1 – 8%.  In all the polls, the challenger, Raila Odinga of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) was leading Mwai Kibaki, the incumbent of a newly formed coalition, the Party of National Unity (PNU).  Let me not digress much regarding the politics of the last 5 years which have led us to this point.  On the one hand, this was a vote for change and on the other hand, it was an ethnic vote.  The incumbent had largely failed to inspire a nation ready for action against corruption and the ‘sacred cows’ that have dominated Kenyan politics for a generation.  The challenger had the momentum of the many youth and others who have felt disenfranchised.  There was a third force from a particular sector of the country (Kalonzo Musyoka of ODM – Kenya) who was running his own race, having pulled out of a larger coallition with ODM.

The voting was tremendous.  By all reports, the best turnout ever in our history.  Scores of local and international observers and monitors were on hand to assess the process. The aging head of the Electoral Commission of Kenya, Samuel Kivuitu, had done a seemingly remarkable job of preparation of the polling stations in over 200 constituencies (several thousand polling stations) as they anticipated an influx among the 14 million registered voters.  The process involves voting for presidential, parliamentary and civic candidates at the same time.  These ballots are tallied and announced at the constituency level in the presence of agents from each party and the returning officer.  A form is signed by the agents and forwarded to the electoral commission headquarters (ECK) in Nairobi.  While there is some room for manipulation up to this point, the process if fairly tight and discrepancies are notable.

Kenyans waited.  The voting was on the 27th and all expectations were that the results would be announced by the end of the day on the 28th.  With party agents and media present at the constituency level, results were known in real time and announced in the media ahead of the “official” tally by the electoral commission who wait for a copy of the tally to be physically brought to Nairobi from each constituency.  All the major media outlets began to announce the results and we were glued to our TVs as we witnessed the giants (incumbent MPs who had done little but pass laws to raise their salaries over the past 5 years) fall.  The results were devastating for the ruling party with the ODM taking well over half the seats in parliament and career politicians falling to relative unknowns.  The presidential tally showed Odinga ahead consistently by at least 1 million votes.

As the 28th came and went with no announcement and delayed results from some polling stations, Kenyans were asked to be patient.  Remember, however, that most of these results were known, just not announced by the ECK.  There were a few isolated cases of blatant attempts to rig a couple of stations (like the returning officer running away with the results and not being seen from again!) but these were few and containable and no cause for alarm.  Concern, however began to be expressed went results from Central Province and Upper Eastern, the incumbents stronghold, were not forthcoming.  As suspicious 2 hour electricity blackout in these areas on the night of the poll did not help matters.  In any event, the ECK process was painfully slow and Kenyans began to get impatient.  The process involved the ECK releasing results in front of the media and party representatives in a very painstaking manner, reading each file for each and every category, etc.  It began to emerge that something was amiss as several results from critical areas were not forthcoming.  The ECK chair lamented that he didn’t know where his people were, that they had disappeared.  Certain results were announced that were contrary to the figures from party agents.  Suddenly Odinga’s numbers stopped moving and Kibaki’s numbers got closer and closer (to within 30,000 votes).

Chaos began to ensue at the ECK headquarters and party leaders began to dispute the results from several constituencies.  All of this, mind you, is being done in front of the cameras.  Several fights broke out, the process dragged on and on and by Sunday the 30th there was real cause for concern.  Violence had already begun to break out in areas of Western Kenya, the stronghold of the opposition.  There was a sense that something was cooking.  Reports of a few ECK officials deserting their posts, refusing to be a part of rigging, surfaced.  The embattled ECK chair began to loose control of the process and disputes became more and more heated.  On Saturday night, the ECK spent the entire night in closed session, going over problem areas and promising to sort out anomalies.  The afternoon of Sunday saw every Kenyan waiting with baited breath, glued to their TV’s or radios, following the proceedings.  As the ECK convened in front of the media, they resumed by beginning to read out the same ‘flawed’ results and protests overwhelmed the proceedings.  The crack military general service unit took over the room, cleared it and whisked off the ECK chairman to another room.  The ODM leaders held a press conference claiming no confidence in the process.  In quick order, the chairman of the ECK announced results behind closed doors to the effect that Kibaki had won the election by 300,000 votes and within a matter of 90 minutes, president Kibaki was sworn in at State House.

The minute the announcement was made, violence erupted in all parts of Nairobi and in most major towns in the country.  The violence raged for the better part of Sunday night.  Much of this violence has unfortunately taken on a very ugly ethnic face as opposition supporters vent their anger on residents of central Kenya of the Kikuyu tribe where Kibaki received 99% of the vote.  Since Kikuyus have business enterprises all over the country, that has largely been the target of the anger and violence.  Reports yesterday are of over 130 dead in various parts of the country.  All live broadcasting has been banned, GSU patrol the streets of all major towns, police are trying to restore order, shops have not been opened and folks are running out of food.

By the end of yesterday, there was some evidence of calm.  A rally called by Odinga was banned and abandoned.  Odinga has called for simultaneous peaceful mass action in every major town in Kenya on Jan. 3.  Participants are asked to wear black arm bands signifying the death of democracy in Kenya.  All sides have appealed for a cessation of violence.  International observes, who had at first been very complementary of the process, have now acknowledged serious irregularities.  Odinga has refused to acknowledge Kibaki’s government.  One wonders how Kibaki hopes to rule where he has lost the votes of 6 of Kenya’s 8 provinces and has only 37 seats out of 200 in parliament?

We are OK.  Our part of town is relatively calm.  I ventured out yesterday and things were largely deserted. I’ve been in touch with colleagues all over the country and the aftermath in some areas is devastating.  Please continue t
o pray for real peace in Kenya.  Peace is not only a lack of violence, but the result of justice.  This link for more . . . http://www.eastandard.net/news/?id=1143979791