Reconcilers with Chris Rice
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  • January4th

    5 Things I Learned in 2010

    Posted in: Uncategorized

    Surprise Durham Christmas Day snow, taken with my too-much-adored IPhone

    “We’ve moved from rich Christians in an age of hunger to rich Christians in an age of poor Christians,” one 2010 commentator said.  My January journeys to east Africa (Burundi in 2010) refresh and ground me in the earthiness of where most Christians now live in this world – at the margins of poverty, violence, or disease – and the wonder that even in that suffering, I am startled to find God is always planting astounding seeds of hope …

    … From The Lord of the Rings to Mr. Ives’ Christmas to The Beloved Community to my 2010 discovery of Bel Canto, I learned the books that change me are ultimately about the transfiguration of ordinary lives and life into something holy and extraordinary, beyond what they could have imagined …

    … My initial optimism about Obama’s election with respect to race relations underestimated a deep white (and evangelical) resistance to him – reflected, for example, in nearly 20% of Americans continuing to insist he is Muslim.  That is not simply political difference but something insidious …

    … I confess I still don’t “get” Facebook, yet also confess: I have fallen in love with the IPhone a couple friends gave me …

    … China scares, mystifies, and intrigues me, I realized at a gathering of East Asian leaders in Seoul.  How can the nation’s political leaders get away with such popular buy-in to economic growth, while hiding painful realities such as the starvation of 35 million Chinese during the Mao years, while honoring his body in a Beijing mausoleum?  ”The [Chinese Communist] Party is like God,” says a professor from People’s University in Beijing.  “He is everywhere. You just can’t see him” (see The Party) …

    About the Author: Chris Rice is co-director of the Center for Reconciliation at Duke Divinity School.  He is author of Reconciling All Things, Grace Matters, and More Than Equals. He writes regularly at the blog Reconcilers.

    Last 5 posts on Reconcilers:

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  • December15th

    Christmas Gift Idea: A New Time Zone

    Posted in: Uncategorized

    “We [in the church] enter a new time zone, where it can feel like there is a ‘cloud of witnesses’ surrounding us, praying for us, cheering us on from eternity.  It should feel like we are singing, ‘Holy, Holy, Holy’ with all the people of God who have come before us” – from Common Prayer

    Consider blessing a friend or loved one (not to mention yourself) with just-released Common Prayer:  A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals.  Three friends I deeply respect have put it together: Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove (he, Emmanuel Katongole, and I just finished teaching our “Journeys of Reconciliation” class), Enuma Okoro (her recent Reluctant Pilgrim is getting rave reviews), and Shane Claiborne.  590 pages, thickly and beautifully bound in the tradition of treasured devotional books, this merits getting deep into our daily bones.  There are morning, midday, and evening prayers and Scripture; rich, paragraph-length stories of saints (our family read the one on the “real” St. Nick at dinner last night); a monthly commentary on a “Mark of New Monasticism”; and even songs.  How often do you see the following in one set of Occasional Prayers: “Before or After a Meal,” “A Prayer to Welcome the Sabbath,” “Death of Someone Killed in the Neighborhood,” “A Prayer for Adoption,” “A Litany to Honor Women,” “Celibacy Commitment”?  Especially those serving in the ministry of advocacy with the poor and building beloved communities at the margins will find here a daily gift that bridges the false “Jesus-justice” divides and connects us to those who have gone before and the God who lovingly sustains the world far beyond and beneath our efforts.  Amidst all the demands and busyness, what better gift than being drawn into that new time zone every day?

    About the Author: Chris Rice is co-director of the Center for Reconciliation at Duke Divinity School.  He is author of Reconciling All Things, Grace Matters, and More Than Equals. He writes regularly at the blog Reconcilers.

    Last 5 posts on Reconcilers:

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  • December6th

    Light in the darkness

    Posted in: Cities, Communities of Hope, Durham, Lament, Renewal/Revival, Urban

    Vigil CandlelightAs we live in the season of advent, anticipating the birth of Light of the world, I hear John’s words, “In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness but the darkness has not understood it.” This is a season to scour the darkness for glimmers of light.  I have written before about the witness-bearing role of the Durham ministry, Religious Coalition for a Nonviolent Durham (RCND), which is truly a light in our city.  Duke Divinity student Christina Holder has taken part in the prayer vigil ministry of the RCND as Durham community members gather at the place of a homicide to mourn together, declare the dignity and worth of each person in our city, and to pray for peace.  I pray that you will enjoy her reflections and share your own glimpses of light in the darkness.

     

    On the street that once represented the loss of life for a Durham family, a spray of melted wax remains on the asphalt instead of a spray of blood.  So commented one Durham community member who attended the recent prayer vigil for David Anthony Taborn, Sr., a Durham man who was fatally shot in his home in 2008. Taborn was 42 years old.

    The melted wax is a powerful symbol days after the vigil. It represents the peace and goodness of the community that loved David Taborn. It is a reminder of the hopeful possibility of healing that comes through remembrance and grieving together.

    Cecelia Carrington
    Cecelia Carrington attended the prayer vigil to honor her son, David Taborn, Sr., who was fatally shot in his Durham home in 2008.

    And that is exactly what residents and family members did several weeks ago on what would have been Taborn’s forty-fourth birthday. They gathered under the glow of a dim yellow street lamp near the apartment where Taborn once lived, clutched burning candles and let the wax fall to the road as they called out memories of the man they loved and admired.

    The vigil was sponsored by the Taborn family and the Religious Coalition for a Nonviolent Durham as a stand for peace and reconciliation in Durham and as a way to help the family grieve.

    “We’ve been grieving and grieving and grieving. We just wanted to do something to get some of it out,” said Cecelia Carrington, David’s mother. “Until we find out who did it and why, I’ll still be grieving.”

    Durham police have not solved Taborn’s case, and today family members still wrestle with the unknowns. Carrington said she didn’t hold a prayer vigil until now because she was afraid.  But fear did not hold her back at the vigil. It finally was time to speak out.

    Carrington said she was touched by the people who attended the vigil who did not know her but attended because of David.  “That makes me feel good to know that people knew him and loved him just like we did,” she said.

    Wax at vigil
    The candle wax on the pavement lining the street where David Taborn, Sr. was murdered is a post-vigil sign of peace.

    Carrington said although her pain continues, she has forgiven the person who killed her son. Surrounded by her family and community members who are grieving and journeying with her, she is hopeful.  “I’ve got a little bit of peace now,” Carrington said.

    There was singing and tears and testimony. The candles smoldered. And then all departed into the night. There was the yellow glow of the street lamp and the chatter of goodbye. As cars passed down Taborn’s street, tires rolled over the wax. A terrible act of violence will not ruin this community.

    Peace, like the wax, remains.

     

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    About the Author: Christina Holder is a student associate working with the Center for Reconciliation and a first year Masters of Divinity student at Duke Divinity School.  Christina is a freelance writer with experience reporting post-civil war stories in Liberia.

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  • December1st

    The Good Samaritan, Mary, and the Boss

    Posted in: Uncategorized

    At a recent retreat for Methodist pastors at beautiful Kanuga retreat center in the North Carolina mountains (the fall colors were spectacular), I did three talks on “Christian Social Engagement” drawing from two powerful stories.

    "The Good Samaritan," artwork by Dinah Roe Kendall, age 82, Sheffield, England.

    First, the Good Samaritan.  The story’s power – as Jesus’ answer to a religious lawyer’s cross-examination question “and who is my neighbor” – is in Jesus choosing a scandalous exemplar for his listeners:  a despised Samaritan who is willing not only to be interrupted to save the man beaten on a treacherous road by robbers, but to completely change his course of direction in journeying with the stranger to an inn, then promising to return.  This is more than an act of mercy:  it’s a vision of an unlikely new relationship in the making, of pilgrims willing to change directions to cross social divides, into dangerous places, of costly, time-full acts of mercy opening them up to a “new we.”  This is loving neighbor as building the beloved community.

    I asked the pastors if they knew what story follows in Luke 10.  As is usually the case, they didn’t– as I didn’t until a crisis in my life 12 years ago when I ran out of steam in the midst of a ministry of radical hospitality.   Immediately after telling this story, Jesus travels to Bethany.  Hosted by busy Martha, who protests she is doing “the work” while her sister sits at Jesus’ feet listening, he says her sister Mary has done “the one thing needful.”   The two stories, usually not seen as a whole, are in Luke’s gospel a powerful spirituality of Christian social ministry:  both pilgrims not only crossing divides toward God’s “new we” through costly acts but also, just as much an interruption, willing to be “detoured” from work which easily becomes the end to be still and listen to the One who called them.  The two ways of being interrupted, woven tightly together, are a fresh vision of social engagement.

    Martha and Mary, Rembrandt

    A final image came to me on the drive home:  a song on my IPod by my new musical companion Bruce Stringsteen called “Land of Hope and Dreams.”  I hear in it a story about a journey toward beloved community.  The Good Samaritan, Mary, and the Boss, imagine that.

    Grab your ticket and your suitcase
    Thunder’s rolling down the tracks
    You don’t know where you’re goin’
    But you know you won’t be back
    Darlin’ if you’re weary
    Lay your head upon my chest
    We’ll take what we can carry
    And we’ll leave the rest

    Big Wheels rolling through fields
    Where sunlight streams
    Meet me in a land of hope and dreams…

    … This train
    Carries saints and sinners
    This train
    Carries losers and winners
    This Train
    Carries whores and gamblers
    This Train
    Carries lost souls
    This Train
    Dreams will not be thwarted
    This Train
    Faith will be rewarded
    This Train
    Hear the steel wheels singin’
    This Train
    Bells of freedom ringin’
    This Train
    Carries broken-hearted
    This Train
    Thieves and sweet souls departed
    This Train
    Carries fools and kings
    This Train
    All aboard

    [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXGNq2-S06I]

    About the Author: Chris Rice is co-director of the Center for Reconciliation at Duke Divinity School.  He is author of Reconciling All Things, Grace Matters, and More Than Equals. He writes regularly at the blog Reconcilers.

    Also See:  “The Wisdom of ‘the Boss’”

    See Previous Reconcilers Posts from Lausanne Cape Town:

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  • November17th

    Student Op-Ed: Restoring Sanity and Preaching Peace

    Posted in: Communities of Hope, Grace, Martin Luther King Jr, Opinion, Understanding Reconciliation

    About a month ago, one of my favorite college professors emailed me a question to this effect:
    “Are you crazy enough to get on a rally bus and to go to D.C. for the Rally to Restore Sanity?

    My reply to her?

    “Why, yes I am!”

    And so began our 24-hour adventure. Becky and I left at 3:30 a.m. on a recent Saturday morning, along with about 50 other rally-goers. By 6 p.m. that night, we were back on the bus barreling toward Durham (very tired because restoring sanity, as you may imagine, can be very tiring). But for at least the eight hours we were in D.C., we listened and talked and laughed and looked…and looked…and looked.

    Everywhere we looked, there was a new sign with a new message.  Unfortunately, not all the signs were respectful — an important theme the Rally to Restore Sanity had advertised. But the signs that were thoughtful were also quite powerful and reminded me why I was glad that I went to the rally.

    Here are a few:

    • “Even my sign chooses not to yell.”
    • “Santa Spreads the Wealth.”
    • “Hate Fear. Fear Hate.”
    • “Let’s Stop Arguing. They’re Both Awesome.” (with a photo of Prince and Michael Jackson)
    • “I understand your stance, and while I disagree, I’m pretty sure you’re not a Nazi.”
    • “Stop Americans from stealing our jobs.”
    • “#1 Threat to America: Gay, Mexican, Muslim Bears.”
    • “My opinions change with new information.”
    • “Fear Bedbugs.”

    After the dust from the mid-term elections has settled, I don’t know if you are cheering or grumbling. But wherever you place yourself on the political spectrum, the need remains for reasonable, respectful conversations. And for Christians, this is not just a need. Our calling to engage one another across lines of division goes beyond merely having good manners.

    As Costa Rican theologian Ruth Padilla Deborst said in this video below, we are called to embody, make, and preach peace.

    Ruth Padilla Deborst: Bible Exposition of Ephesians 2

    And what does that look like, again?

    Deborst reminds us:  “Are we aware that the most powerful testimony of God’s love to the world are the reconciled relations between us regardless of our background?… When our families, neighbors, colleagues, communities look at our local congregation, are they struck by the loving and just relationships between the members? Will we commit to living out the calling to follow Jesus and his reconciling mission of being, making and boldly preaching peace?”

     

    Christina HolderAbout the Author: Christina Holder is a student associate working with the Center for Reconciliation and a first year Masters of Divinity student at Duke Divinity School. She is a freelance writer with experience reporting from Liberia.

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