Ducks, Cards, and Carnage

Lauren Mitchell Dowdy and Chris in Boston with glasses.

Beige, with orange letters and graphics, the 4 x 6 card featured a little orange mother duck followed by two tiny ducklings underscored by letters in an arial font about 11 pt. wishing me "happy mother's day."

Chris wrote, "Only a son of yours would send you a mother's day card with the word 'carnage' in it."

In his own special hand he penciled the Mother's Day Proclamation written in 1870 by Julia Ward Howe.

Arise then...women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts!
Whether your baptism be of water or of tears!
Say firmly:
"We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage,
For caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country,
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."

From the voice of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with
Our own. It says: "Disarm! Disarm!
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice."
Blood does not wipe our dishonor,
Nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil
At the summons of war,
Let women now leave all that may be left of home
For a great and earnest day of counsel.
Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace...
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God -
In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality,
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace.

I cannot say I like the word carnage, but I loved the cardage.

The passing of Jerry Falwell

May the passing of Jerry Falwell be accompanied by much peace for his family and loved ones who will surely miss him. May his good works and his good teaching remain as a lasting legacy for his spiritual family.

Meanwhile, for the public, may there be fewer partisan remarks from pulpits.

May the next election avoid the offensive rhetoric of the Republican Party and Christianity in partnership.

As we move farther from the Falwell-Reagan era, may the language of genuine compassion ring through the public policy talk of disciples of Christ.

May the passing of Jerry Falwell be accompanied by a season of action for those who love Christ and reject right wing politics as the path to peace and justice.

When ills befall our neighbors may we be less like Job's friends and more like Jesus who acknowledged that God makes his sun to shine on the good and the bad alike.

May be we remember and speak the language of John.

"For God so LOVED the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him."

John speaks of the light of Jesus exposing evil deeds and a reckoning for disbelief, but not because of our judgement--but because of His love.

May those who don't share our faith only be able to criticize us for the good we do in society and not for judgmentalism and war-mongering.

May the invisible power of love, the increased establishment of justice, and peace on earth be the benchmarks of Christians in politics.

from Blacksburg to Baghdad

Aching from seeing the reports from Blacksburg, Virginia, I tried momentarily to imagine being part of the community. Such unspeakable sadness, I could hardly fathom. Grief blanketed our nation last week. My husband Ken and I saw flags flying at half-mast from the Mississippi Delta all the way to Abilene, Texas over the weekend. Each wind blown emblem spoke of the heartache and horror of Virginia Tech.

How appropriate, how fitting, to mourn as a nation.

I couldn’t help thinking at the same time I have yet to hear even one conversation about the horrific events experienced by the university community in Iraq this winter and spring.

I remember hearing an NPR report one day in which an Iraqi leader said the university system is in near collapse due to the violence.

Enter, a good friend here in Memphis, my favorite Egyptologist, Lionel Jacob Shock. While enjoying coffee last night with Jacob and his beautiful wife, Lola, we commiserated on the sad situation in Iraq. Jacob sent the report below to me today.

Keep in mind how sickened and saddened we, a country of over 300 million have been by this gross attack on innocent college students.

Now, imagine the pain experienced in Iraq, population around 27 million.

One of my students said the other day in reference to the suffering of the citizens in Iraq, “Well, what did they expect since they attacked us? It’s war you know.”

Maybe we need to mourn a bit for the universities in Iraq.

from UN's Human Right's Report for Iraq, January-March 2007

Education sector and the targeting of academic professionals
20. Conditions in the education sector continued to deteriorate due to threats to lecturers and students, deadly attacks on educational institutions, and the individual targeting of teaching professionals. … Officials of the Ministryof Higher Education told UNAMI that 200 academics have been killed ... The apparently sectarian-motivated assassinations, kidnappings and threats to academics and teachers continued at an alarming level throughout the three months. UNAMI recorded at least seven assassinations of academic professionals, and a number of attacks on or in the vicinity of academic institutions, causing substantial casualties among the student population … Violence continued to severely undermine the right of Iraqi children and youths to adequate education and intellectual development.

22. In one incident … 150 staff and visitors, including post-graduate students … were seized en masse by unknown gunmen and taken to an undisclosed location … the fate of an estimated fifty-six [of these] Ministry of Higher Education employees, all allegedly Sunni Muslims, remained unknown. … some of those abducted and subsequently released alleged that the operation was carried out with the knowledge of personnel manning at least one Ministry of Interior check point.

23. Two attacks on al-Mustansiriya University in January and February … The first attack on 16 January involved two coordinated car bombs detonated in the vicinity of the main building of the University. Over 70 people, mostly students, were reportedly killed and some 140 others wounded in the attack. The second, a large-scale suicide attack targeting the University’s College of Economics and Administration on 25 February, killed 41 students.

26. Other academics and teachers did not escape their assassins … an Iraqi professor at Mosul University’s Faculty of Law, was shot dead by unknown gunmen on his way home at the al-Kafa’at quarter on 11 January … deputy head of the Association of Salahuddin Scholars … was gunned down at his home in Samarra’ on 13 January … a professor at Baghdad University, was shot dead in Baghdad’s al-Amiriyya district on 17 January… a professor at al-Mustansiriya University’s Faculty of Economy and Administration, was gunned down in the al-A’dhamiya district of Baghdad on 23 January … acting dean of al-Nahrain University’s Law College
survived an assassination attempt.

27. …three professors from al-Nahrain … were abducted … A law student … was also abducted in the same incident, … Several hours later, their bodies were brought to the Medico-Legal Institute in Baghdad by police from al-Shu’la police station. … Several days later, the dean of al-Nahrain University’s Law Faculty resigned in protest at the Iraqi authorities’ failure to provide adequate protection to university professors.

Justin, Sarah, and Celebration

A blessing for Sarah Reider and Justin Banker engaged to be married on June 2, 2007.

“For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the Church.” Ephesians 6:11

how does God, the Creator of the universe convey his love
to our hearts and minds?

it’s a mystery

to help us grasp His love for us

to bring us into his saving grace
he came and walked among us

he lived
he loved

he experienced the bounds of family life and friendship
from motherly love to betrayal and death

in an act of overwhelming historic consequence,
he died once and for all and then was raised from the dead

to help us remember this love and to participate in it,
he told us to partake of the bread and the wine

when Sarah and Justin partake of the Lord’s Supper
they celebrate his love,
partake in his grace,
and say to the world they believe in him and hope for his return

how does God, the Creator of the universe convey to our hearts and minds the nature of his love?

it’s a mystery

He says when a man and woman marry
become one flesh
they radiate the love
the hope
the desire for community
that he longs to have with his church

they live
they love
from profound joy to unspeakable pain
they experience the bounds of family life and friendship

when Sarah and Justin marry
they celebrate his love,
partake in his grace,
and say to world they believe in him and hope for his return

O, LORD we pray that each remembrance of Sarah and Justin’s wedding day will spark again not only their love for one another, but an even deeper grasp of your love for them and for your bride, the Church.

Baking, not blogging

Back in 1992 Hillary Clinton said, “ I suppose I could have stayed home and baked cookies and had teas, but what I decided to do was to fulfill my profession which I entered before my husband was in public life.”

Oh, that got her into a heap of hot political water.

She seemed to be elitist, feminist, and condescending.

Or not.

Hilllary may have been pleading for understanding.

Maybe Hillary lacked role-models

Martha Stewart, the stock-broker who traded securities all day, scooped up fresh fish, veggies, and flowers at the market on the way home, arranged the flowers, cooked a meal, and stitched hems on the cloth napkins while the paint dried on the dining room wall, was still emerging as an icon.

Martha must not have hit Hillary's radar.

Hillary may have been so busy in law school that she missed the W-O-M-A-N belted out in the 70s by the great female vocalist. Maria Muldaur,

“Before you can count from one to nine
I can scoop up a great big dipper
Full of lard from the drippin's can
Throw it in the skillet, go out and do my
Shopping and be back before it melts in the pan.”

Hillary did not have as models today's mavens of multi-tasking, those who work, cook, garden, volunteer, take graduate classes, and post on their blogs daily.

Neither did the public she ticked off so much by her remark.

I, however, am blessed by the vision of the slightly besmirched Stewart, Muldaur, and millenial mavens.

Yet, sadly, I learned, since Thanksgiving, of my inability to teach AP US history and government, volunteer, clean house-even a little, bake layer cakes, fix company dinners, and blog.

I suppose since 2004 I could have stayed home baked and had company for dinner, but I chose to follow my inclination to blog.

That statement is not elitist, feminist, or condescending. It’s the truth.

I am NOT a W-O-M-A-N. I cannot bake and blog.

I think I may keep up the company dinners, but if I am going to blog, I don’t think I can bake. Can you?

GOOD NEWS AND GHANA

Pictured right: Pam Cope and some of the children recently rescued in Ghana play "dogpile" at the Village of Hope.
Photo from http://www.touchalifekids.org/

TODAY, Friday, February 9, The Oprah Winfrey Show features the story of seven children rescued from slavery in Ghana. These children, blessed by the efforts of Touch A Life Ministry founders Randy and Pam Cope, now have a home in the loving Christian community, Village of Hope. Randy and Pam Cope are the brother and sister-in-law of the much loved preacher, Mike Cope.

The Village of Hope, its director Fred Asare and worker, Tommy Drinnen, derive support, love, and fellowship from the Church of Christ at White Station and Harding Academy, the places in Memphis where I am privileged to worship and work.

Between Iraq, Memphis, and several of my friends, good news seems overshadowed of late.

The writhing of Bagdhad and the morass of national politics often dominate my thoughts and drain my joy. The sadness is redoubled for me when some of my fellow Christians defend this unjust invasion, argue in favor of torture, and dismiss the suffering of Iraqis as the price of defending our freedoms.

The writhing of this city, Memphis, with poverty, crime, and corruption often dominates my thoughts and drains my joy. The frustration is increased as indifference and many of our public policies minimize the plight of the poor and uninsured.

The writhing of hearts and bodies of friends fighting cancer, surviving death and divorce often dominates my thoughts and drains my joy. The sadness is increased when I think of the calloused cruelty of the surgeon's knife, the chemical drip, and their ex-spouse's scorn.

Thank God and bless you, Randy and Pam Cope, for going before us, not allowing the cruelty of nature or of man to contort your life. You strengthen us all by acting in love, with vision and purpose.

Thank God and bless you, Fred Asare and Tommy Drinnen, for using your sharp minds, big hearts, willing hands, and beautiful feet to serve the Village of Hope.

From writhing to healing, from darkness to light, Jesus empowers redemption.

Today is the day for Good News to dominate thoughts.

TODAY may His Kingdom continue to come as we witness His will done on earth as it is heaven.

Jesus said,

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me;
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of the sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."