Love as a Commodity

The author of this book has truly had some unique experiences in coming to terms with his faith. He has learned many lessons along the way, and can now truly embrace the Lord's love. What I found most intriguing is that he learned most of his lessons about love and God at Reed, which had been deemed a " godless place." The students here taught him more about acceptance, faith, and love than when he went to church. This goes to show how Christianity isn't really so much about leading a christian life any more. The term has negative connotations because those in power have made it that way and the hypocrites who do not even know what the word truly means.
What I enjoyed most of all about this book is when he spoke about loving others. " The problem with Christian culture is we think of love as a commodity. We use it like money." But, love is not a commodity, as he further explained. It is something that we need to give to everyone, that we need to appreciate their very being, for we are all of God's creations. Instead, we only give love when we feel that the favor will be returned. I wish things didn't work that way. This is a great lesson that I learned from this book and hopefully, be able to apply it in my own life.

A Flawed Humanity

In the second chapter the author discusses the idea of humans being innately evil. He discussed this topic with Tony the Beat Poet. I have always been one to advocate that everyone has an innate good in them, that yes, we are capable of evil things, but that alone does not make us evil.While reading this chapter, it changed my perspective of this idea. As he explained it further on in the chapter, we, as human beings are flawed. These flaws are what make us capable of doing such atrocities to each other. The example he gave was that each and every one of us had to be taught right from wrong at a young age. Which leads to an interesting question. What kind of beings would we turn out to be if we were not taught right from wrong? Would the world be more chaotic than it already is? Ultimately, I have come to conclude as Miller states it, "that the soul of man is perverse." (p.18)

My Idea

I plan on presenting a powerpoint to the class discussing my country, the people there, the issues they face on a daily basis. But also relating it to the community in Union City, NJ and here in Tennessee as well. I plan on explaining how my family tries to help other immigrants who want to have better lives here, touching on immigration policies, the major differences between my country of origin and the U.S.

Resurrection

Neumark ends her book by saying that she has been changed through her experiences at Transfiguration. She has encountered many who she will never be able to forget for they have "threatened her with resurrection." What I think this statement conveys is that many of the church members have had a life devoid of meaning, where they have been so numb that they cannot truly be living. Those like Burnice, Angie, Lucy have been resurrected through this church. Resurrected in the sense that they found a new way of life through God, one that did not involve addiction, violence,hopelessness. In place of those things they found love, acceptance, faith. They did not give up and found themselves in a better place than where they had started off. The stories told in this book are truly inspirational. Angie's story was one that touched me. She was HIV positive and completely absorbed into a depression that kept her sitting on a couch. Slowly, she felt God's calling and began to attend church, aiding others in their quest to find him. In her relationship with God she was able to go back to school to become a pastor to continue to help others. It's amazing the things that our faith can enable us to do. She was resurrected.

Money makes the world go round. But, should this really be our main concern? Neumark wanted to expand her congregation so that she could make more room for the church members but was hit by a major obstacle, a lack of monetary resources. As Neumark depicts it, the other congregration was more focused on how they would get repaid than in helping out the community. Churches should be more interested in making money than in helping out those in need, this is the one place where material things need not be valued. Yet, there are some churches who value a dollar more than their church members. I hate this reality. For those who live like this are truly missing out on the true riches of life. As Cheryl said, "We may not have any money, but we're sure not broke" (p.122) Her words resonate with the truth. It is far more enriching to overcome addiction, to live to see another day, to bring joy to another's life. If only those who lived in the Manhattan area could see that one can be completely content even without the luxuries in life.

Breathing Space

Breathing Space is definitely not the type of book I expected it to be. I never thought I would be able to relate to it so well. The way the pastor describes everyone she has encountered and what they have been through astonishes me. I know the people she speaks of, I know plenty more just like Carmen, Burnice. I grew up with the same kind of people when I lived in New Jersey. I grew up knowing the immigrants who made so many sacrifices to give their lives in central america a better place. Unfortunately, what Neumark speaks about still goes on today. Not too much has changed in those parts, there are people that I know who still fight that same struggle. Yet, these people find their faith in the lord despite their circumstances. It is truly remarkable. I am interested to see how else God has played a major role in transforming all those on Prospect ave. throughout this book.

The Influence of Heschel

I would have never thought that Heschel would have had as much of an influence in our world as he did. Listening to these podcasts made me realize that he was an influential figure who strived to "embody the social activism he studied."Cornel West referred to him as a "poet of pros", as someone who loved kindly and walked proudly with his God. He was a Civil rights activist who fought for racial equality alongside Martin Luther King Jr. He also saw MLK as a prophet. He also influenced the younger generation of his time for the black jewish alliance which came from his alliance with MLK. He was a true believer in justice. Not only did he have quite an impact in the U.S., but his influence also reached overseas to Vietnam. He had a "universal vision that spoke to all."Most powerful text ever written of the jewish invention of the prophetic. He greatly advocated against the Vietnam war. He was an active individual who strived to bring justice to our world.

Pacifism

Before reading these articles, I thought of Pacifism as taking the easy way out. I saw it as a form of surrender because you did not want to deal with the problem. I realize now that it is probably the boldest move one could make. It's standing up for what you believe in when it comes to war.

Pacifism is about living out what Jesus believed in. I guess I would agree with Pacifism because i don't think it's right to kill a human being intentionally. Pacifism is not about surrender, and taking the easy way out. It's hard to turn the other cheek when someone has struck on the other. It's one of the first lessons Jesus taught us, to not use violence against others. "We must not return evil for evil, Jesus taught, but must return good for evil."

I think this is a great quote. It incorporates one of the best lessons taught by our savior.
We need to find a different approach other than violence, one of the articles stated that non violent protests have done much in our world and they still have that potential. In my opinion there is no "just war". It's all violence and goes against Christian teachings.

Sharing a Common Humanity

"The needs of the poor take priority over the wants of the rich." Unfortunately, I don't think most people believe in this principle. As Father Charlie Strobel explained, most have been led to believe that the poor are lazy and are in their current situation because of their own mishaps. With this kind of thinking, most people don't think that those who are poor should be given priority over those who have worked their way to being wealthy, without ever pausing to think that maybe their circumstances might have allowed them an easier shot at success. I also think that there are those who do not put that needs of the poor first because they are too busy trying to look out for themselves and their situation. There are many in this world who are only concerned with themselves and could care less about helping others get on their feet. So, the poor will remain poor and the rich will get richer. It's sad to see that our world works that way. If only we all had the insight of a child. For a child, doesn't care about money nor material things, they are only concerned with right and wrong. In the eyes of a child, social inequality would be wrong, but in our society no one really thinks of it that way. It's a way for us to keep a social structure. I think it's time to go back to seeing things from a child's viewpoint so that we can stop focusing on ourselves and just see the bigger picture.

Final Project

For my final project, I want to make a video. In high school, I always made a film for my projects so I think that would be the best way to go. I could go around LaVergne, Smyrna. I think I want to interview people concerning equality. It's just an idea. I still have to think about what concepts I want to bring into it, and how they would be conveyed. It's a work in progress.

Devoid of Simple Insight

"If will not believe, you will not abide." "Faith is not an easy or convenient path."
Heschel once again speaks to me through this book. I like these quotes not only because they speak to me but because they also speak the truth. I know this for a fact, because I am proof of it. I lost my faith for a while, not knowing where exactly I stood whenever I tried to look for God again. Throughout that time, I didn't live a faithful life, I was as Heschel says, "devoid of the simple insight." I abandoned God, which makes me feel terribly guilty when I read this book, because I have injured: He who is so anxious to forgive us, so willing to wipe away the sins of his children. Yet, I never viewed it in this perspective, I was too caught up with "living my life" to the fullest. I was preoccupying myself with frivolous things, rather then trying to figure out the most important things in my life, like finding out the true beauty of God. Heschel is right, faith is not an easy or convenient path. It is far from it. Dorothy Day also commented on this, she said that people thought that just because they went to church every sunday that they would be assured entrance into heaven. It's not that simple, you can't just go to church one day, act like you are Christian and think, Well, there's my good deed of the day. There is much more to it than that, ir's trying to change for the better. It's going to church because we want to become closer to God and learn more about it. It's about trying to find ourselves through him.

The Prophets are Scandilized

Heschel opens up his first chapter by explaining the role of the Prophet and the burdens they carry. He stats that the prophets are scandilized and rave as if the whole world were a slum. This quote made me wonder about those people who are preaching out in the streets, and we all just walk right past them thinking them to be crazed lunatics. What if they are speaking the truth and we just completely disregard it because we choose to be deaf to God's word. It was just a thought. One quote from Heschel that really stirred me was this one:
"Man is rebellious and full of iniquity, and yet so cherished is he that God, the Creator of heaven and earth, is saddened when forsaken by him." After reading this one line, I couldn't help but feel a little sad. I knew that God loved us so, but to see it in print made me really think about it.
We, as human beings, sin against God every day without even the slightest remorse or thought about it. I felt pretty terrible about it. Yet, no matter how many times we mess up, he is always willing to forgive us because his love for us is just so great. I believe that was the most influential thing I read in that chapter.

Irrestible Revolution

Irresistible Revolution is a novel preaching that is not simply enough to avoid sinning but that we must also live as Jesus once did, when he walked the earth. I can agree with what Shane Claiborne talks about in this novel. When I went to church, they would always preach the same sermon, we are not to do this, we are not to do that. I don't ever recall being told to go out and attempt to change the world, or to feed the poor. This novel definitely does speak out to me spiritually. I had lost faith in Christianity but he has give me a new hope, that maybe there is a way for us to be closer to God and his ways then just by attending church every week. It inspires me to want to do more, to find my calling to help others. I could relate to what he was saying at first, because I felt the same way, that there had to be more to Christianity then just going to church and following the rules that came along with it. What he is doing to show the world that following the Lord is not just about reading the bible, but actually applying to our lives and doing as it says. It definitely made me feel guilty for not doing more for others, and also got me thinking more in depth about out I interpret certain passages of the bible.
Shane Claiborne states that we have lost the true meaning of being a Christian, of being a compassionate human being. I believe this is true, we have become infatutated with our pop culture, material things, violence. We have gotten so caught up in ourselves, that we no longer give back to others. We have put other things before the Lord, I know I am guilty of this. I placed so many other things before God, when he should have been first. I lost sight of what it was to feel God's love. I don't even know where I stand when it comes to my faith. This book has definitely inspired to find my faith again, to see where I stand.