Beatitudes Blog

King's Death Day

Submitted by Kent Sensenig on April 8, 2008 - 12:16am.

Grace to you and peace, in the name of the Creator and our Lord, Jesus Christ. Thank you for coming out tonight to honor the life of Martin Luther King Jr., as we remember his tragic death in Memphis on April 4th, 1968…exactly 40 years ago today. The award-winning, 1-hour documentary we are about to see tells the inspiring story of the African-American garbage workers of Memphis and their struggle for dignity and a living wage. It was their courageous campaign to form a union that brought King to Memphis—against the advice of many of his closest colleagues—in what proved to be his last stand for justice. King was in the midst of planning for a nation-wide, multi-racial Poor Peoples Campaign that he hoped would culminate in another massive March on Washington in the summer of 1968, a march, of course, that never happened. What happened instead that fateful spring was burning in the streets of many of America’s inner cities, in the frustrated rage that followed King’s shooting.

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Bartimaeus reactions: Then and Now

Submitted by Kent Sensenig on February 12, 2008 - 8:06am.

One of the key insights I gained from my week with Ched Myers, and his wonderful circle of pastor, seminarian, and activist friends, was the power of an apt analogy ("then" and "now," or as James W. McClendon used to say "this is that.")

Small example: Antioch (which may have been the social location of Matthew's eklessia/gospel) is to Jerusalem like San Fran is to L.A. (a big cosmpopolitan city up the coast), except L.A. just got destroyed by imperial occuppiers and you are a now marginalized refugees struggling for survival in the "ghettoes" of San Fran! Large example: the ministries of (Matthew's) Jesus and MLK Jr....the Sermon on the Mount as Jesus' "I Have a Dream" speech; King's 1967 "Beyond Vietnam" address as his "over-turning the Temple tables" moment; going to the aid of the Memphis garbarge workers' as King's "setting his face to Jerusalem"/Passion Week/execution by the state authorities; Jesus saying "you've heard it said..." (by Moses), King saying "I read somewhere..." (the Constitution).

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A brief history of Armistice Day

Submitted by Kent Sensenig on November 13, 2007 - 2:42am.

Let's all send out a prayer today for American veterans of foreign wars. The wounds of war are often etched deeply, and thus require deep healing, healing which may never be completed in this life, with the wounds festering "to the third and fourth generation." May the Holy Spirit empower the church to engage its calling to help heal these wounds and prevent new ones from being torn open. And may the veterans of the Persian Gulf and Vietnam recognize and embrace their "sons and daughters" coming back from Iraq/Afghanistan with similar yet unique scars, in ways that WW 2 and Korean War vets were rarely able to do for Vietnam-era GIs, with tragic results for our whole society.

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War logic

Submitted by Kent Sensenig on October 23, 2007 - 5:05pm.

Here are two surprising tid-bits I read in the news this week, for your edification:

1) US Secretary of "Defense" Robert Gates informs us that the US Army has been "chronically under-funded" since the end of Cold War! Imagine my surprise. (If only our church and para-church ministries were similarly cursed with such under-funding”!) We should perhaps organize some bake sales for the Air Force. (This would be hilarious if not for the moral blindness involved in making such an obscene statement.) Hearing Secretary Gates’ complaint, George Steinbrenner chimed in that the NY Yankees have also been shamefully short-changed in their player’s payroll since 9/11. It seems Alex Rodriguez is occasionally forced to use the same jock-strap in consecutive games! For shame, America.

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Iran: American responsibility

Submitted by Kent Sensenig on October 22, 2007 - 4:51pm.

One of the key points of Glen Stassen (and company's) peacemaking proposal to the National Association of Evangelicals (which he shared about in our last Beatitudes Society gathering) is that the US ought to directly engage Iran in peacemaking talks. The US has refused to talk with Iran since the Iranian hostage crisis of 1979.

That traumatic experience obviously highly colors American images of Iran. Given the just peacemaking practice of "acknowledging one's responsibility for conflict, repenting, and seeking forgiveness," Americans might be edified by awareness of the traumatic national experiences that color Iranian perceptions of the USA. Two significant memories of Iranians that most Americans do not even know about are:

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The politics of debt

Submitted by Kent Sensenig on August 24, 2007 - 9:51pm.

Hey beatitudinous ones:

Just to throw out one more follow-up to Michael Moore's "Sicko" movie... Towards the end of the documentary, Moore suggests that the escalating cost of things like medical care (hospital bills are the #1 cause of personal bankruptcies in the US), college/graduate education (I think you can relate!), and (especially in places like LA) home ownership (not to mention the looming/incessant pressure to hoard money for your own retirement, because the government, or your family, won't take care of you!) means that many working and even middle classes folks have a great deal of pressure to a) take whatever job(s) they can get, especially if there are any kind of benefits included; and b) not "rock the boat"/challenge the practices of the (often globalized) companies/corporations they work for (like, for example, by trying to organize a labor union), for fear of losing their job and being overwhelmed by debt or a sudden illness or accident. (The most common form of slavery throughout history has been "debt slavery," after all!)

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The new sanctuary movement and the deportation of Elvira Arllano

Submitted by Kent Sensenig on August 22, 2007 - 6:47pm.

A message from the Fuller Theological Seminary Be@s chapter.

Hey all:

Below is a brief report (and a link to a more comprehensive news article) on the arrest and deportation of Elvira Arllano (separating her from
her 8-year old son, who is a US-born citizen), here in L.A. over the weekend. Elvira had become the most prominent face of the "New Sanctuary" movement, a church-based solidarity effort that is working for just immigration reforms and standing with the undocumented.

Elvira had sought sanctuary in a Methodist Church in Chicago for over a year, but was arrested when she came to L.A. to speak at Roman Catholic

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Hotel worker victory!

Submitted by Kent Sensenig on November 16, 2006 - 8:25pm.

I thought you might like to know that the LA City Council just passed a "living wage" ordinance (11-3 vote) requiring the twelve LAX-area/Century Blvd. luxury hotels to pay their employees a minimum of $10.65/hour. This is a historic decision as these highly profitable) hotels have no direct city contracts, the normal scope of living wage ordinance. (Though they, of course, benefit hugely from the public airport business right next door.) A few US cities have begun to expand the scope of living wage ordinances to private-sector but stratgic industries. The fact that LA has taken a step to join this emerging movement is momentous, given its size/influence and historically intense anti-union record. ("If you can organize here, you can organize anywhere, it's up to you, LA, LA," to paraphrase Frank Sinatra on New York City!)

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