This will have a calming effect, no matter what you’re going through. Solo artist is Jordan Daniel; cellist is my cousin, Lindsay Wilson.
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Hazardous Living
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| Eugene Peterson |
Last December, my father was diagnosed with lung cancer. That battle is still raging. Pneumonia, radiation, weakness, loss of appetite, along with surprising bursts of strength and treasured deep conversations are all part of this journey. It is wearying, unpredictable, and taxing to the soul. I never know from one day to the next how things will go.
At the moment, besides my father, I have six friends who are battling cancer too.
So this morning, it was good for me to pick up Eugene Peterson’s book, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society. I love his honesty about the very real struggles we all face to trust God, especially in difficult times.
Here’s a good word from his chapter titled “Help” (based on Psalm 124) that has bolstered me today:
“What is hazardous in my life is my work as a Christian. Every day I put faith on the line. I have never seen God. In a world where nearly everything can be weighed, explained, quantified, subjected to psychological analysis and scientific control, I persist in making the center of my life a God whom no eye hath seen, nor ear heard, whose will no one can probe. That’s a risk.
Every day I put hope on the line. I don’t know one thing about the future. I don’t know what the next hour will hold. There may be sickness, accident, personal or world catastrophe. Before this day is over I may have to deal with death, pain, loss, rejection. I don’t know what the future holds for me, for those I love, for my nation, for this world. Still, despite my ignorance and surrounded by tinny optimists and cowardly pessimists, I say that God will accomplish his will, and I cheerfully persist in living in the hope that nothing will separate me from Christ’s love.”
—Eugene Peterson
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Disposable Girls?
When I was an 8th grader, I went to a friend’s house after school. I don’t recall if we worked on homework or just hung out, but it was already dark by the time I left for home. As I was walking home in the dark—six long blocks from her house to mine—a man in a car pulled up next to me and stopped, pushed the car door open, and signaled for me to get in.
Nervously, I stepped off the sidewalk and got into the car.
The man behind the wheel was my father and he was fuming—not in anger but with alarm.
In the short drive home, I heard a sobering talk I won’t ever forget about the dangers for women and how to keep safe. It’s the same talk we all give our daughters, conveying to them that they matter and alerting them to avoid risky situations and people who might do them harm.
Last Thursday, Frank and I joined a packed-out crowd at Boston College to hear Nicholas Kristof speak on the bestselling book, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women, which he co-authored with his wife and Synergy2011 plenary speaker, Sheryl WuDunn. Listening to either of them takes you into a world where girls routinely face unspeakable danger and no worried dad drives up in a car to warn and escort them safely home.
In his opening words, Kristof asked us to guess if there are more men than women in the world today. The majority of his audience got it wrong. Although in the West, the number of females exceeds males, males significantly outnumber females in the rest of the world. The reason behind declining numbers of females is directly connected to how they are devalued. As many have noted, “It’s a girl!” are three of the most dangerous words spoken in many parts of today’s world, where gendercide snuffs out the lives of millions of little girls before they ever have a chance. Countless other girls die from neglect, malnourishment, and because they are deprived of basic medical care, for no other reason than they are not boys.
But the problem extends into other spheres. One of the worst is the world’s thriving sex-trafficking industry.
Kristof recounted appalling brutality against African slaves. He pointed out, however, that slaves were expensive, so that brutality against slaves—unspeakably harsh and inhumane as it was—usually had limits. Slave owners wanted to preserve their investment (sometimes in the thousands of dollars) by keeping slaves alive and fit for hard labor.
Not so for sex slaves.
Girls can be purchased easily and trafficked for a mere $100-150. So if one dies, replacing her is no big deal. As a result, resistant girls are often beaten, abused, and killed in front of the others girls to “teach them a lesson.” Trafficked girls are subjected to unprotected sex, and many die of AIDS. Once trafficked, a girl’s life expectancy shrinks to 10-12 years. But the loss of one girl is minimal, and she is cheap to replace. In essence, girls are disposable.
Kristof was careful to point out that traffickers are both male and female, so this is far more complex than the “battle of the sexes.” Yet, despite all he has seen and reported, he didn’t come across as pessimistic. Having said that, it is obvious that this crisis has deeply impacted him. Both Frank and I remarked afterwards how striking it was that despite Kristof’s growing reputation and significant accomplishments, he seems both humbled and changed by what he has witnessed. He is driven to call others to action.
It’s been nearly three years now, since Half the Sky came out in September 2009. I still believe this is one of the most important books I’ve ever read. It’s certainly must reading for Christians—although it never ceases to amaze me when I speak at churches, seminaries, and Christian conferences (and I do ask), how few of us have read it.
Kristof ended his talk with two questions that hopefully will prompt reluctant readers to plunge ahead.
- With a problem so vast, does anything I do really make a difference? and
- Why should I care?
Regarding the first question, Half the Sky is full of surprising stories of women who with nothing going for them and everything against, have single-handedly stood up to the evil and made a significant difference for others. As Christians, we can sort through this question easily by turning it around. If you were the trafficked person and someone came for you, would it even occur to you to ask if they really made a difference? Isn’t that the kind of revolutionary insight the second greatest commandment is designed to give us?
If the second question puzzles you, I suspect you’re one who hasn’t yet read Half the Sky. Speaking from personal experience, I’m convinced that unless and until we read these stories and put faces on the statistics, we won’t care. And if reading Half the Sky doesn’t convince you, not simply to care, but also to act, then I hope you’ll read Half the Church and discover why as God’s image bearers we are called to this.
Unlike so many girls in the world today who are hearing they are disposable, I learned from my father that night that girls are indispensable.
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North Shore Alert!
If you’re within driving distance of the Massachusetts North Shore, you may want to consider attending special Easter week services at Christ Church Hamilton/Wenham. I can’t imagine being within range and missing out on this.
Services begin Thursday evening at 7:30pm.
Christ Church of Hamilton & Wenham
149 Asbury Street
South Hamilton MA 01982
The preaching line-up includes two of my favorite preachers—Frank James and Patrick Gray! I can promise their messages will bring fresh insights to challenge and stretch our understanding of the earthshaking events of our Lord’s passion and resurrection.
Here’s the schedule for Frank. I’ve been hearing previews as he has been preparing. Trust me—this is going to be rich!
Maundy Thursday, April 5 – 7:30 p.m.
Good Friday, April 6 – 7:30 p.m.
Easter Vigil, April 7 – 7:30 p.m.
Dr. Frank James, preacher
Provost of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary
Fr. Patrick Gray will be preaching on Sunday. Both Frank and I agree Patrick’s sermons are among the best we’ve heard in years—and we’ve heard plenty of great sermons. Patrick always goes deep and makes me think. If you’re a local, the great news is that you can come back on Sundays to hear him again!
Easter Sunday, April 8
8 a.m. (Chapel)
9 a.m. (Church)
11 a.m. (Church)
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Double Header Weekend!
My weekend is packed, and I am looking forward to all of it!
Friday, I’m in Virginia Beach participating in Regent University School of Law‘s 2012 Symposium. The symposium—Media and the Law: Seeking Justice for the Least of These—is hosted by the Center for Global Justice, Human Rights, the Rule of Law.
The session I’m participating in focuses on Human Trafficking Awareness.
Besides the honor of being a participant, I’ll be meeting with two women who were leaders in the Freedom Climb on Mt. Kilimanjaro. One of them made the climb. I can’t wait for that conversation!
Saturday I’ll be back in Massachusetts, speaking at Conversations—a gathering of women at Grace Chapel in Lexington, under the leadership of Cynthia Fantasia. A number of these women have already mobilized for justice causes—both locally and overseas. Hopefully, after Conversations, more will be thinking about what God wants them to do.
One other note. Many of you have been praying for my father who was diagnosed with lung cancer back in December and in January was hospitalized with pneumonia. He has worked hard to regain strength and today (Wednesday) began radiation treatments. I’ve been able to be with him twice since his diagnosis, for two weeks at a time—some incredibly precious times. Thank you so much for praying and for your words of encouragement. I hope you’ll continue to remember him and the whole family, as we support him in this battle.
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A 2012 Outreach Resource of the Year!
My editor, Katya Covrett, sent me an email this morning telling me that Half the Church was selected as one of Outreach Magazine’s Resources of the Year. I like getting emails like that!
To see the complete 2012 Outreach Resource choices along with reviews, go here.
“This book is a stirring and encouraging call to a ‘blessed alliance’ between women and men in addressing a great evil of our time, and any time: the neglect and exploitation of girls and women worldwide. At its heart are several chapters of culturally astute biblical exposition, especially a powerful reading of the story of Ruth, that show how radical the Bible was in its time, and how relevant it remains in our time. Carolyn Custis James writes not to defend either ‘side’ of the debate over women in leadership, but to call us, whatever our position in that debate, to the indisputable biblical role of image bearers who are allies in the kingdom of God. It’s a passionate, clear and convincing call to a better way for both men and women.”
—Andy Crouch, from the March/April 2012 issue of Outreach magazine
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"Dude, Where’s my lifeboat?"
If you’ve been following news reports surrounding the capsizing of the Costa Concordia off the coast of Italy and have ever been (or contemplated going) on a cruise, it’s hard to keep from thinking you could easily have been one of those terror-stricken passengers.
As divers resume their search for missing passengers, more details are surfacing to fill in the blanks of what actually happened. One of the many shocking accounts came in Rich Lowry’s National Review Online article, “Dude, Where’s my lifeboat?”, where he reports of women and children “being pushed aside by hysterical men as they tried to board lifeboats.”
Coincidentally, the book I’m reading is The Myth of Male Power in which author Warren Farrell is speaking up in defense of men. Not that he would approve those men who were pushing and shoving on the sinking cruise ship. But Farrell does assert (with some rather impressive endorsements) that cultural expectations of men as protectors, providers, and rescuers produce powerlessness, not power. He defines power as “having control over one’s life,” which he believes men forfeit with the obligation to protect women and society by going to war or giving up their seat in the lifeboat. He turns the current discussion of gender on its head when he observes that when it comes to power, “men are not at the tip of the pyramid, but at its base.”
Consider some of Farrell’s statements:
“Today, violence against women is rightly abhorred. But we call violence against men entertainment.”
“The message of religion for boys is that there really is no choice but to save.”
“We don’t call ‘male-killing’ sexism; we call it ‘glory.’ We don’t call the one million men who were killed or maimed in one battle in World War I (the Battle of the Somme) a holocaust, we call it ‘serving the country.’ We don’t call those who selected only men to die ‘murderers.’ We call them ‘voters.’ Our slogan for women is ‘A Woman’s Body, A Woman’s Choice’: our slogan for men is ‘A Man’s Gotta Do What a Man’s Gotta Do.'”
Is chivalry another sinking ship and should it sink? Are unreasonable and even unjust burdens placed on male shoulders when they’re expected to rescue, protect, and provide simply because they are male?
On the flip side, are these callings only for men except in unusual circumstances or do women also share these responsibilities? After reading Lowry’s article, a friend reflected on what happened on the Titanic, “I suspect there were women who would have given their place in the lifeboats to another if they had been allowed to do so.” How does the Blessed Alliance factor into this discussion? Don’t we have heroic stories of ezers like Esther and Deborah, Chai Ling and the Freedom Climbers who were willing to risk their lives for others? Are these women rare exceptions or role models for the rest of us?
So is it part of the job description for ezer-warriors to be looking out for others versus expecting others to take care of us?
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Preparing to Summit
In a matter of hours, the Freedom Climbers will reach the summit. I only wish we could watch it as it happens.
This from Day 4 Report:
“Uhuru Peak is the climber’s final destination and the highest point. The climbers will begin the summit in the dark, at midnight on Kilimanjaro, with flashlights on their heads. They will climb far above the sunrise. After they summit, they will hike many miles back down to about 7,200 ft. This will help them breathe easier and start feeling better, but it is about a 12 hour hike tomorrow.”
At 6 pm/ET this evening, their final 12-hour climb begins that will take them to the summit and then start their descent.
There’s a lot more on their website—photos, reports from the climbers, and more information on what they’ve accomplished and what they’re facing now.
http://thefreedomclimb.wordpress.com/2012/01/14/day-4-of-the-climb/
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Nearing the Summit of Mt Kilimanjaro
“I’m feeling kind of excellent…
I think everyone is acclimating really well…just one step at a time, everybody is just moving, moving, moving.”
–Madison (the youngest climber)
The Freedom Climbers have finished Day 3 and are resting up for Day 4. They’ll summit Sunday (Saturday evening State-side).
They’re heading into the toughest part of their climb, although the first three days haven’t been easy.
Visit their blog to see pictures, reports of how they’re doing, and prayer requests. What a remarkable group of ezers!
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Follow The Freedom Climb!
Day 2 of the Freedom Climb is over! Their blog contains photos and daily reports from the bold ezer-warriors on Mt. Kilimanjaro.
To follow their progress and pray for this effort, go to:
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Carolyn Custis James 