Blessed are the Meek

I am currently doing a study on The Sermon on the Mount. In the study, there were different attributes of God we were to study. The first one was "God is sovereign; God is in control." I must confess that I have trouble with the statement God is in control. I especially have trouble with this statement when I read this verse "He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap (1 Samuel 2:8)." My questioning is if God is "in control" than why are still a billion people still living on only a dollar a day and over 2 billion without access to clean water. Why has God not lifted these poor people up?

Then I think about the Beatitudes and Matthew 5:5 that says, "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth." Meek in Hebrew means humble, afflicted, poor, oppressed. So here is Jesus challenging ME to help the poor and oppressed to inherit the earth. So maybe God is "in control" in the sense that He has empowered me to live out these challenges of Jesus.

So maybe all 6 billion of us on the planet can't make a difference but many of us can. We have one life that God has entrusted to us and we can either give back to His creation or we can live each day just for ourself. I am thankful for something I learned about today. Bill Clinton has begun the Clinton Global Initiative (and by the way, if you are a Republican, please get over the fact that this was a democratic president heading it up). Today marks the fifth day of the United Nations General Assembly meeting and the day that the Clinton Global Initiative is meeting with 1600 leaders around the world. Many have already made commitments and many more today will be made. You don't even have to be at the meeting to make a commitment. This initiative focuses on four areas: education, alleviating poverty, energy and climate change, and global health. To read more about it go to this link: http://www2.mycommitment.org/.

-Sarah

What the World Eats

Check out this interesting photo essay produced by Time Magazine, entitled "What the World Eats". Pictured above is The Aboubakar family in Chad, who spend $1.23 per week. Now - How does that compare to what you spend on food per week? >carrie.

Wall Street Money Drop w Shane Claiborne

If you read the Irresistable Revolution and, like me, wondered what the money drop on Wall Street looked like...here it is.

Mark Your Calendars

Mark your calendars for October 6th and 7th for the Celebration of Cultures! The event is FREE and will be at Centennnial Park. The Celebration will include musice performers, exotic foods, world market booths, and children's activities (including the Nashville Zoo, urban wildlife, and others). This year they are adding a section called The Villages (not like the movie, sorry) that will share a typical day in other parts of the world.

http://www.celebrationofcultures.org/index.php

Also, on October 6th before the Celebration of Cultures begins, there will be a "Walk As One" that will begin at 9am.

http://walkasone.kintera.org/faf/email/emailFriend.asp?ievent=237765&lis=1&kntae237765=E5036FA8C7DC4EBBAFCA2FC7C084006C

-Sarah

Dark Night of the Soul

"..Jesus retreated periodically to lonely and abandoned places to find refreshment and strength in intimacy with God, and invited his disciples to do the same. In the garden and on the cross, he experienced the deceptive feeling of abandonment which is the shadow side of desert experience and the "dark night of the soul" that comes before the dawn of the promised New Day experienced by everyone called to seek God alone." (Source: School(s) for Conversion: 12 Marks of a New Monasticism)

I have experienced this "dark night of the soul" on two occasions. The first was when David and I relocated to Kenya. It was in the first few weeks while we were adjusting to our new life that we confronted this feeling of abandonment. The feeling of "what have we done?" I believe we felt this the most on a night when the electricity had gone out (again) and we were struggling to cook a meal in our home that at the time had big, black rats that came out in the dark, and we realized that our friends and family were no where near.

The second occasion was also a time of relocation when we decided to move downtown to a more diverse neighborhood. Again, I felt this abandonment that we had chosen to live in an area far from friends and family and in a neighborhood that took time to overcome preconceived fears.

"Relocation expresses conversion and commitment, the decision to resist imperial pressures and rewards of conformity to the way of all empires: pride, power, and reduction of all values to the "bottom line." It is a coming out from under, a liberation, and a real challenge." (Source: School(s) for Conversion: 12 Marks of a New Monasticism)

Looking back at these two occasions I can now see how these relocations gave me liberation and real challenge! Both have given me a new focus in life and have caused me to want to live out a life of compassion and service for the kingdom of God.

Have any of you had a "dark night of the soul" that at first look felt like abandonment but with time and commitment became an experience of new focus?
-Sarah

Reduce Your Exposure

"[I]f you consume canned soups, beans and soft drinks, organic or not, you also may be swallowing residues of a controversial chemical called bisphenol A (BPA) that can leak out of the can linings into your food. Nearly all can liners contain BPA, says Geoff Cullen, director of government relations at the Can Manufacturers Institute. BPA has also been found to migrate, under some conditions, from polycarbonate plastic water bottles.

Plastic water and baby bottles, food and beverage can linings and dental sealants are the most commonly encountered uses of this chemical. Unfortunately, it doesn't stay put. BPA has been found to leach from bottles into babies' milk or formula; it migrates from can liners into foods and soda and from epoxy resin-lined vats into wine; and it is found in the mouths of people who've recently had their teeth sealed. Ninety-five percent of Americans were found to have the chemical in their urine in a 2004 biomonitoring study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)."

8 Ways to Avoid Harmful Chemicals in Plastics and Cans
1. If you already own polycarbonate bottles, including the Nalgene bottles popular on college campuses, labeled #7 on the bottom, wash them by hand with mild dishwashing soap, not in the dishwasher, to avoid degrading the plastic and increasing leaching of BPA (see http://www.thegreenguide.com/doc/114/picnic).
2. Even plastic does not last forever. Look for cracks or cloudiness on your reusable clear plastic bottles. See The Green Guide's survey, http://www.thegreenguide.com/doc/114/nalgene.
3. Use glass baby bottles or plastic bag inserts, which are made of polyethyelene, or switch to polypropylene bottles that are labeled #5 and come in colors or are milky rather than clear.
4. Choose soups, milk and soy milk packaged in cardboard "brick" cartons, by Tetra Pak and SIG Combibloc, which are made of safer layers of aluminum and polyethylene (#2) and also recyclable.
5. Choose canned foods from makers who don't use BPA, such as Eden Foods (http://www.edenfoods.com/) , which sells certified organic canned beans and other foods.
6. Eat fresh foods in season and save the canned foods for convenience or emergencies. The exception is some canned fruit such as that found in smaller fruit-cocktail cans, which do not require a liner, according to the Can Manufacturers Institute.
7. Buy or can your own fruits and vegetables in safe glass jars.

8. Some wines have been found to contain up to six times the BPA of canned foods. While most wines probably don't, it's another good reason to drink in moderation.

(Source: "The Bisphenol-A Debate: A Suspect Chemical in Plastic Bottles and Cans"
by Catherine Zandonella, M.P.H)

Here are a few more helpful sights:

Purchase sippy cups/water bottles: http://www.healthegoods.com/kleankanteenstainlesssteelwaterbottle.htm

or from: http://www.reusablebags.com/store/klean-kanteen-stainless-steel-sippy-p-687.html?osCsid=4b86a2d17ef9346402772b10cce3f440

Soulutions to reduce plastic and toxic exposures: http://www.thegreenguide.com/doc/88-89/lundquist5

-Sarah

Reducing Junk Mail

This is an explanation on how to reduce unwanted mail. It should take 10 minutes tops for you and within 6-10 weeks your mail should be reduced by 70-80% if I remember correctly. It will save a tree, reduce waste and reduce the risk of stolen personal information. - Lance

DMA (Direct Mail Association)
E-mail address opt-out - Does not apply to business addresses and you must reply to an e-mail they will send you or it doesn’t stick.
Mailing address opt-out - Lasts 5 years and you must do it for every new address. It also costs $1.
Pre-screened credit card offers opt-out - I opted out for 5 years. To opt out permanently, you have to print something and mail it in.
Really helpful overview

4 Credit Companies (Equifax, etc.)
Credit Reporting Companies Removal (firm offers of credit and insurance)- May be the same as the credit card removal above. Super creepy auto system but takes only 2 minutes. 1-888-5OPTOUT (1-888-567-8688)

ADVO - I opted out for 5 years.

Epsilon’s Abacus Cooperative Database - Send email to: optout@abacus-us.com
Text of e-mail: Please remove me from your list and do not sell my addresses (and then proceed with any applicable address).

slums

The UN estimates that approximately 1 billion people around the world live in slums. By 2050, the UN says, there may be 3.5 billion slum dwellers, out of a total urban population of about six billion. Cities around the world are growing at an unprecedented rate and much of the growth is attributable to people moving from rural to urban areas, lured by the promise of new opportunities. Unfortunately, though, many of these new arrivals end up in living in the slum areas, steeped in dire poverty. For example, of the 500,000 people who migrate to Delhi, India each year, it is estimated that 400,000 end up in slums (Mike Davis, Planet of Slums, p. 18, 2006).

Slums are typically not found in the developed world, as evidenced by the map below. They are characterized by conditions far less habitable than "projects" or government housing -- slums are evidenced by severe overcrowding, inadequate access to safe water and sanitation and insecurity of tenure. In the sums of Kolkata (Calcutta), India, an average of 13.4 people are crammed together into a single room and, in the Dharavi slum of Mumbai (Bombay), India, an incredible 18,000 people per acre somehow dwell in 10-by-15-foot rooms stacked on top of one another.

I wonder how many people could comfortably live in our house. Sometimes we feel cramped here with just 3 of us; and we even have air conditioning, reliable electricity, 3 bathrooms and a refrigerator. I know that at least 1 billion people would love to trade places with me.

SICK

It's easy for me when I am sick to feel sorry for myself. I think how it would be nice if I could have someone come take care of my 5-month old so that I could sleep longer or how I wish my husband could get home earlier from work or even stay home with me to complete the daily housefold tasks, like cleaning and dinner. I think how I wish that my refrigerator was full of "get well" food like pudding and jello.

And then I remember another time of when I really felt sorry for myself....We were living in Kenya and I had a stomach bug, which is not fun to have when your toilet is wedged in a corner that barely gives room for your legs when you sit down or when you can't even lay on the couch because you just have a love seat and chair in your ~300 square foot apartment. Not to mention there were not even crackers on our shelves or Sprite to ease my upset stomach or a doctor close by to help me if the "bug" thing got worse.

But then I stop and remind myself AGAIN of how rich and easy I have it to be sick. For one, I have a husband and plenty of friends and family who would drop anything to help me if I really needed time to recover. I also have access to medical care and medicine that I can afford and easily jump in my car and drive to the pharmacy to pick up. I have a bed (actually we have two in our home) and a couch (two of those as well) that I can lie on. And, even when I was in Kenya it was easy to be sick.

I can't imagine what it would be like to be sick and be a single mom. I can't imagine what it would be like to be sick and be a single mom and live on the streets of Nairobi, Kenya. I mean how bad must it feel to have to lie on the side of the road (or if you're lucky on a make-shift bed in a shanty that you share with your seven children) and not know where you can even get clean water. How bad must it feel to know that the tuberculosis you are suffering from is curable with daily treatments that is now free in your country but you cannot afford the daily bus fare to take you to the clinic that has it. How bad must it feel to know that no one is going to come at the end of the day to take the child from you to give you a break but instead you must find a hiding place to keep the man who may come by from raping you.

So as I sit here in my nice home feeling a little under the weather, I no longer feel sick.

-Sarah

Mother Theresa

I once heard Randy Harris say that the opposite of faith is not doubt, but apathy. Faith requires actions based on that faith. Or as James said, "Faith without works is dead."

Now word comes out that even someone as looked up to as Mother Theresa had here own doubts, as Time Magazine has reported. I know that there are many who have doubts about many things that we've believed or been instructed to believe. However, my prayer for myself and for all of us is that those doubts will not stagnate us into apathy, but that the actions that we take to bring God's justice and peace into His world will continue in spite of the doubts and not "feeling" God's presence.

Featured Family Friday

Larry and Hollye Conway, Missionaries in Kenya

Hospitality

Have you ever had the experience like I have where you were hesitant to invite someone in or over because things were not 'just right' in your home?

We often visit our friends who live on a garbage dump. The stench greets you long before our friends do. Most steps are accompanied by a ?squish? which you would rather not identify?

The welcome is always warm and genuine. Each visit is accompanied by a moment of uneasiness as they search out the right seat for you ~ a cement block, an empty radio casing or a old tin paint bucket. Greetings, news, stories are exchanged. Words of encouragement and Bible lessons are spoken. Prayer requests shared and lifted up.

I always hate to leave. They have made me feel comfortable and at home.

Wonder if I can learn from them and handle awkward moments of hospitality more graciously???

Don't you think Jesus would be delighted by a warm and welcoming invitation into our day, no matter what the state of our hearts or our lives?

-Hollye

ONE Campaign in Nashville

The ONE Campaign has been working closely with the leaders of the Nashville group to put together a plan of action for the coming months, and is announcing it's first Nashville ONE Volunteer Meet-up. Here are details:

When: August 31 at 6:00 PM
Where: Hardrock Cafe, 100 Broadway, Nashville, TN 37201
Why: Find out about what the local ONE Campaign Nashville is doing, things you can do to make a difference, upcoming events, our legislative agenda, member recruitment drive...and more!

They are requesting your RSVP here if you can make it. >carrie.

Green Power Switch

If last week's record-breaking electricity consumption has got you thinking about NES's Green Power Switch, consider this:

At 3:45 p.m. last Thursday, the NES grid was pumping out 2,673 megawatts. According to NES spokeswoman Laurie Parker, to convert that whole lot to sustainable energy would require 17,280 “blocks” of green power—in just that one moment.

But in the month of July, Nashvillians purchased a meager 422 blocks of green power.

So, we've got a long way to go. But if you want to give green a try, $8 a month will buy two blocks of green power, enough to convert approximately one-quarter of the energy consumption of the average Nashville family.

(content taken from the Nashville Scene blog.) >posted by carrie.

john wesley

John Wesley, the 18th centurey leader of the Methodist movement, had a few things to say about how much a Christian should give. He said that Christians should give away all but the "plain necessaries of life" -- that is, plain, wholesome food, clean clothes and enough to carry on one's business.

Wesley stated that capital need not be given away but that all income should be given to the poor after bare necessities are met.

"Any 'Christian' who takes for himself anything more than the plain necessaries of life," Wesley insisted, "lives in an open, habitual denial of the Lord."

"If I leave behind me ten pounds," he once wrote, "you and all mankind bear witness against me that I lived and died a thief and a robber."

Do you think Wesley goes too far?

-David

Websites

Here are two new websites to check out!

This website gives you the environmental impact calculator and great ideas for green projects around your home.

http://www.lowimpactliving.com/

Even if you do not have a child, this website is helpful to having a healthier home. Also check out the 5 easy steps under the Featured Programs. These give some helpful tips for around the house.

http://healthychild.org

-Sarah

Benefit Yard Sale - Sept. 21 & 22

Mark your calendars for the Yard Sale to benefit Made in the Streets , Friday 9/21 & Saturday 9/22.

Can You Help? Why yes you can! Here’s what we DESPERATELY need!
1) Your House Decluttered. Your Stuff…to Me
2) Your Help on Sale Day & Before – Pricing, Organizing, Sign Making & Posting, Watching Children, Placing Ads & Publicizing the Sale, Getting/Making Lunch on Sale Day…
3) Borrowing – Your Tables, Portable Clothing Racks (Do you know anyone with these?!), Garage Sale Flags
4) Your Plastic Bags – Oh, I can’t stand them. But they will come in handy for our shoppers!

Please contact Carrie for more info.

mother teresa

A few thoughts from Mother Teresa:

It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish.

There should be less talk; a preaching point is not a meeting point. What do you do then? Take a broom and clean someone's house. That says enough.

There must be a reason why some people can afford to live well. They must have worked for it. I only feel angry when I see waste. When I see people throwing away things we could use.

The more you have, the more you are occupied, the less you give. But the less you have the more free you are. Poverty for us is a freedom.

There is only one God and He is God to all; therefore it is important that everyone is seen as equal before God. I’ve always said we should help a Hindu become a better Hindu, a Muslim become a better Muslim, a Catholic become a better Catholic. We believe our work should be our example to people.

Not so long ago a very wealthy Hindu lady came to see me. She sat down and told me, "I would like to share in your work." In India, more and more people like her are offering to help. I said, "That is fine." The poor woman had a weakness that she confessed to me. "I love elegant saris," she said. Indeed, she had on a very expensive sari that probably cost around eight hundred rupees. Mine cost only eight rupees. Hers cost one hundred times more.Then I asked the Virgin Mary to help me give an adequate answer to her question of how she could share in our work. It occurred to me to say to her, "I would start with the saris. The next time you go to buy one, instead of paying eight hundred rupees, buy one that costs five hundred. Then with the extra three hundred rupees, buy saris for the poor." The good woman now wears 100-rupee saris, and that is because I have asked her not to buy cheaper ones. She has confessed to me that this has changed her life. She now knows what it means to share. That woman assures me that she has received more than what she has given.

I guess I need to go pick up a broom...

- David

Featured Family Friday

Five years ago Dr. J. Matthew Sleeth and his family lived in a big house, had two luxury cars, loads of money, and lots of stuff. As chief of the medical staff at a large hospital, Sleeth was living the American dream—until he realized that something was terribly wrong. As he saw patient after patient suffering from cancer, asthma, and other chronic diseases, he began to understand that the Earth and its inhabitants were in trouble. Feeling helpless, he turned to his faith for guidance. He discovered how the timeless lessons of personal responsibility, simplicity, and stewardship taught in the Bible could be applied to modern life.

Source: http://www.chelseagreen.com/images/cms/sleeth200.jpg

Excerpt from Serve God, Save the Planet by Sleeth:

"Over the past five years, my family and I have made significant lifestyle changes. We no longer live in our big house; instead, we have one the exact size of our old garage. We use less than one-third of the fossil fuels and one-quarter of the electricity we once used. We've gone from leaving two barrels of trash by the curb each week to leaving one bag every few weeks. We no longer own a clothes dryer, garbage disposal, dishwasher, or lawn mower. Our "yard" is planted with native wildflowers and a large vegetable garden. Half of our possessions have found new homes. We are a poster family for the downwardly mobile.

Because of these changes, we have more time for God. Spiritual concerns have filled the void left by material ones. Owning fewer things has resulted in things no longer owning us. We have put God to the test, and we have found his Word to be true. He has poured blessings and oppurtunities upon us. When we stopped living a life dedicated to consumerism, our cup began to run over. We have seen miracles."

I am currently reading Serve God, Save the Planet and have found it to be very convicting. Others who are recommending this book include: Brian McLaren and Shane Claiborne.

-Sarah

RICH

Paper or Plastic?

It seems that neither are without fault. Paper bag production is expensive, requires more energy to recycle & they take up more landfill space. Many plastic bags are not biodegradable, and require more oil used for production. Not to mention all the plastic bags littered across the country. So more people across the country are bringing their own.

In March, San Francisco became the first city in the country to ban non-biodegradable plastic bags in large grocery and drug stores. Similar bag-banning measures are being considered elsewhere across the country.

Locally, there are a handful of grocers who give money back when you bring your own bags. Kroger is the latest to offer savings, with $.04 off your bill for each bag you bring.

I’ve been bringing my own bags now for almost a year. After unloading my foods, I immediately put the bags by the door or right back to the car. That way, they are always in the car when I make an impromptu stop by the store. It is so easy to do & you will not believe how sturdy these bags are. You can put much more in these bags than either plastic or paper.

Where to find them? Tote bags overflow at your local thrift store. Or you can find a great selection at reusablebags.com. >carrie.