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A brief thought about politics and faith

"Political appeals, even if rooted in religious convictions, must be argued on moral grounds rather than as sectarian religious demands -- so that the people (citizens), whether religious or not, may have the capacity to hear and respond. Religious convictions must be translated into moral arguments, which must win the political debate if they are to be implemented. Religious people don't get to win just because they are religious. They, like any other citizens, have to convince their fellow citizens that what they propose is best for the common good -- for all of us, not just for the religious...Christians should offer their best moral compass to the nation but then engage in the kind of democratic dialogue that religious pluralism demands."
--excerpt from blog post on "God's Politics" by Jim Wallis

I have been unsure for quite a while as to how to vote/lobby politically for issues that I am passionate about (and those that I'm not but that force me to make a choice). I'm told church and state must be separate, but I can't separate my spirituality from my perspectives on justice, politics, and morality that influence how I vote. But I'm also hesitant on some issues to vote a particular way just because I think it's wrong; sometimes I think that the law should allow for a broader course of action based on a more general consensus among the people it governs. After all, I don't want the law to regulate what I can wear, for instance, just because someone else thinks a particular style is indecent. And vice versa. Just because I think something is harmful or wrong doesn't necessarily mean I should vote that way.
But...sometimes it does. Like when things like justice and life and quality of life are on the line--but how to untangle the messy roots of a particular issue to figure out how to vote justly on it? And accommodating the larger society is not always ok because of things such as institutional racism, blinding nationalism, oppression of immigrants, etc. Just because there's a more general consensus to participate in such things does not mean that I should vote to allow them through law!
So basically, I'm still confused. But I thought the above quote was interesting to reflect on in the midst of my confusion.

Keep on raging and dreaming, my friends

"The story of the rich man and Lazarus tells us that there is no immunity, no escape, from the general misery and contamination that afflicts our nation. We cannot make a separate peace, retreating into our own little islands of precarious peace and dubious plenty. We are not allowed to find rest until the sight of Lazarus sitting at the gate ceases to be ever before us.

Some will say that we are trying to dig up with our nails again the bones if issues long buried for most people. It may well be that most of us cannot help surrendering to the forces of the market and going through the rites of passage leading to the comfortable, vegetable life of the bourgeoisie, with middling hopes both for ourselves and for society. We wake up in the morning worrying about bills to pay and the onset of midlife desperation.

But those of us who bear the name of Christ are called to respond to a finer, higher tune and dance to a different drummer.

We cannot help but rage and dream again when the kingdom calls and the cry of the poor rises from the earth like a miserere."

Transforming Society by Melba Padilla Maggay, Filipino writer, social anthropologist, activist, and theologian

I am afraid of making a separate peace, of settling down into a comfortable state that isn't overly bothered about troubles happening around me and elsewhere in the world. I am afraid of such a betrayal--of myself, of God, of fellow humans who are suffering. For years now, one of my greatest secret fears about the future has been summed up in the visually potent image of me in middle class, small town America, with two cars, two point five kids, a white picket fence, and an overwhelming sensation of being trapped. If I were pressed on the question, yes, there's definitely justice and mercy being worked out in small town America as well, but my fear of what the image represents for me is very real. I've been accused of being an overly idealist young person and of wanting to save the world--the first may be true, the second definitely isn't because I am under no illusions that I can--but I hope fiercely that I may be raging and dreaming until the end of my days, hopefully with a little wisdom picked up along the way. Jesus, save me from myself! Help me to always hear your call and to respond.

When home becomes a stranger again

I was able to go up to Oregon for a friend's wedding this last weekend. The culture shock startled me, as I wasn't expecting any. I am reminded that just as L.A. is weird, Portland is weird as well, but in a very different way. I can't quite put my finger on what it was...perhaps the clothes, or the warehouse-feeling artistically graffitied coffee shop we stepped into, or the way people moved in the street. At any rate, it gave me a jolt to realize that the place that was home for four years could feel so foreign so fast. But it was SO good to see friends and to catch up and laugh together, and to store up big gulping memories of vineyards and tree covered hills stretching way out into the distance and wide open skies of gray/blue fresh air.

My new job!

Wow, it's been a month since I last posted. So much has happened that every time I've thought about sitting down to write, I've been overwhelmed. But here goes!

I finally have a new job!! After seven months of temp-ing at the Red Cross and countless hours of job searching accompanied by a lot of soul-stretching around the questions of faith, worth, and trust in God, something finally came through. This something took seriously a month and a half, from the time I was first interviewed to the time they finally hired me, and it was an epic experience. They'd initially left me a voice mail on my cell phone, asking me to come in for an interview, but something happened and I was checking my old voice mails a week later and realized that I'd never called them. Horrible, horrible! I felt practically sick, and I prayed and prayed and got my roommate to pray with me before I called...and they still wanted me to come in for an interview! So after jumping through all of the successive hoops for a month, and after they had told me to give notice and I'd done so, I received a phone call that they actually didn't yet have funding secured for my position, as the meeting they were depending on had been delayed. That weekend was so stressful for me, as my two weeks notice were almost up and I had no guarantee that a job would be there for me at the end of it. Again, I prayed, except this time I got lots more people to pray for the situation too! (so many thanks to all of you who walked and prayed with me through that time) And they called me back the next week to hire me!

I've worked there just over one week now, and I really like it. It's a small nonprofit that provides case management services and an emergency shelter for homeless folks, and right now I'm working at the front desk. My official title is "Intake Case Manager," but I haven't actually done any intake interviews yet! It's an interesting spot to be in, to be constantly engaging with folks who are almost always very polite but scared and frustrated and tired of jumping through hoops to try to get help. Thus far I hope I've been able to successfully navigate treating folks with compassion and empathy while not allowing their perceived emergencies to become my emergency. It's been great to interact with the other staff, mostly women, who work there, and I am learning so much from them. I think God knew what I needed in a work environment to grow, because they are all very supportive and verbally encouraging, which is just what helps me along!

The downside: at the end of my first week there, during my first staff meeting, my supervisor informed all of the staff that she had just been told that the agency was in such serious financial straights that we should all start looking for a job. I could have fallen over, I was in such shock. We haven't folded yet, and indeed the exec director is hoping that LA county will come through for us with funding, since we provide significant services to homeless folks who come from all over the county, but yes, it's not guaranteed. So my new job may soon become my first layoff. It was a new experience for me to stand around after the meeting and process what was happening with my coworkers. Some people are ever the optimists. Others are angry, or sad, or concerned about the clients. There's a little private swearing that comes out when the supervisor isn't there. As for me, I think I'm still in disbelief. At this point, I can't even figure out what to pray. Hasn't this already been a rollercoaster to get here, God? Was I supposed to reject this job, even though it's the only one to come along in months? If I pray that the agency stays afloat with all of our jobs, will there be something else even worse, the next dip in the rollercoaster, that comes along? I'm so confused.