Help Stop Child Slavery -- a simple way to help

Phil Russell, one of my colleagues from Rotary, filled me in on a great project that he's working on. It's a website called helpstopchildslavery.org.

If you saw the film Amazing Grace, then you learned something of the story of William Wilberforce, the British politician who crusaded to end the slave trade (see my film review for more info). A part of the promotion of the film has been the call to end modern day slavery. Yes, slavery continues in shadowy corners of our society, and in the unseen fringes of the developing world.

Helpstopchildslavery.org is a great resource site, with information about the problem of child slavery, trafficking, lists of antislavery organizations and newsletters, and resources to educate yourself about this scourge.

However, it also is a fundraising site. Here's how it works. They ask you to donate your browser's home page. This is the page that comes up every time you open your web browser. Normally, this home page goes straight to Yahoo or Google. If you donate it to helpstopchildslavery.org, then it goes to their Google based search page. On that page will be an advertisement and a Google search bar. The advertisement sales generate revenue. This revenue will then be donated directly to organizations allready combatting childhood slavery (see the list of organizations here). Many of these organizations are Christian ministries, like World Vision, Salvation Army, etc. My friend Phil serves on the board of directors, and I know him to be a man of integrity...the proceeds are going where he says they're going.

The great thing is, this doesn't cost you a thing. You still get great searches. You get exposed to a few banner ads on the search page (but you're exposed to ads any which way), but as with all advertising, you pay attention only to that which interests you. A simple way to funnel some funds toward a great end.

Perhaps you're wanting to do more...check out the Salvation Army's suggestion page of things you can do to combat slavery and sexual trafficking.

Related Posts:
Fighting the Evil of Modern Day Slavery
From the Presbyterian Global Fellowship - Conviction about Justice

Soli Deo Gloria
Russell

A friend in need

My friend Lew Ross made the paper today.

Lew and I are quite different. Lew's a skate punk, shaved-head, hardcore Anabaptist. I'm a theater-geek, LL Bean, good 0l boy Calvinist. Lew runs a house church. I'm in an institutional Presbyterian church. But here's the rub. Lew knows the same Jesus that I know...a real person Jesus who died and rose and ascended. A real person Jesus who pours out the Holy Spirit and does unexpected things and takes us unexpected places and puts unexpected people in our paths. Lew's relationship with the living Jesus is on a white hot edge of faith - and he trusts Jesus to provide.

So Lew made the papers because he's got a bunch of hurting people that he loves on in the name of Jesus - he brings these folks into his home and they worship and it's sweet. The problem is, his home has no heat. And things are starting to get chilly around here. When Lew's church gathers in his living room, everyone keeps on their coats, gloves and hats because it's pretty darn cold. Enter the Cincinnati Enquirer. They're collecting cash for families all across the region to meet specific "christmas wishes" - and the Rosses are one of those families.

You can check out Lew's weblog. Any encouragement you can offer would be a blessing.

Excelsior
Russell

Why is the Golden Compass a big deal?

Have you heard the flap about the new film The Golden Compass? Catholics and Evangelicals are upset because the book is a not-very-subtle slap at Christianity. But now atheists are apparently upset that the film waters down the book's atheist critiques.

Frankly, I'm a little tired of it all. All the protests simply generate free publicity for the "shocking" and "irreverent" flavor of the year. Honestly, the controversey is really old news...the books have been out for years now, and their contents are not really all that secret. It's a well worn story that author Phillip Pullman's intent was to offer an anti-Narnia...a well crafted tale that undermines theistic belief.

Should parents be aware of these things before they take their children to see the film....of course. As a parent, I put every film through a vetting process (reading lots of reviews about content). It's like the wild west out there in media, and my job is to protect my children...from all angles. I wouldn't let my 7 year old see the Lord of the Rings either, though for vastly different reasons.

I have a humble suggestion for Christians who want to protest The Golden Compass. Rather than putting so much energy into protesting, just tell better stories. The compelling seduction in Pullman's books is that he's an engaging storyteller. However, he chose to tell a compelling story because CS Lewis had told some ripping good ones too. Where are the Tolkeins, Chestertons, Sayers and Miltons of our age? They're out there.

So tell better stories; make better art; play more compelling music...for we understand that beauty has a source; we know that all good stories have their groundings in the Great Story. Be not afraid...Philip Pullman hasn't written the final chapter, just an interlude.

Soli Deo Gloria
Russell

What is the United States of America for? -- betterment

Yesterday's post bears some clarification - when I speak of "what we stand for" - the 'we' in the statement was about the United States, not about the Christian Church, nor about self-identified conservatives, nor about emergent neo-puritans.

Here's the rub. This nation is at war. This war not only pits our nation against agressors overseas, but it also pits our citizens against each other as we try to figure out how to move ahead. Much of the public discourse I hear is acrimonious, accusatory, inflammatory, and just plain angry. Every tint and shade on the political spectrum is beating its own ideological drum.

I hear few voices calling us back to our nation's ideals.

And so I propose to spend some time reflecting upon ''What is the United States of America for?" -- What is compellingly attractive about this nation? Of course when we speak of ideals, we must remember that every person and people lapses from their ideals and falls short of the mark. Even so, it is still worthwhile to reflect on our ideals, if nothing else but to provide us a way forward. Interestingly, the Teaching Company offers a course on this very topic, called American Identity. When it goes on sale, I'll likely get it. The synopsis talks about "habits of mind" that are general traits of Americans, and I like that. Rather than a litmus test, there is more of a general shape of being -- and it is in that spirit that I'd like to reflect on a few traits that I've observed.

The first of these is the idea of Betterment. I prefer the term "Betterment" to it's younger cousin "Self-Improvement". "Self-Improvement" is the bailiwick of pearly-toothed pitchmen peddling their books, seminars, and ten week courses. It has spawned a whole genre of books from which my only gleaning has been "Never buy a book that features the author's photo as the most prominent feature of the cover" (and that especially goes for Christian titles).

"Betterment" meanwhile feels older, more patient, more in tune with my sensibility that any kind of change takes a bloody long time and more effort than I really like putting forth. We see this strain of American Character in the aphorisms of Ben Franklin and the Resolutions of Jonathan Edwards. The persistence of the Chatauqua Institution is but a holdover of a 19th century trend of holding such institutes all across the United States.

Many of our heroes are self-educated people who have worked up from humble origins to achieve greatness: Abraham Lincoln learning to read the classics by firelight in his log cabin, Eisenhower the farm boy from Abeline who held his own amongst the brightest figures of his generation, Thomas Edison who was called "addle-headed" by his schoolmaster, Booker T Washington who rose up from slavery to become a foremost advocate for education and founder of institutions, and the list goes on.

The unique hue to betterment that we see in American society is that betterment is best enjoyed as a self-initiated thing. Of course, we have any number of coaches, cheerleaders, exhorters, and nannys who will pull people along. Yet underneath, we seem to understand that Betterment must begin within...it must be an intrinsic thing. The desire to improve one's standing cannot be foisted upon another person. The best we can do for others is offer opportunity...we cannot then take their hand and make them seize said opportunity.

What then of good old Calvinistic doctrine that says humanity is "completely unable?" That docrine means to say we're unable to do things that please God without the prior work of the Holy Spirit healing our hearts and pointing them toward Him...as the Westminster Confession says, "Man, by his fall into a state of sin, hath wholly lost all ability of will to any spiritual good accompanying salvation: so as, a natural man, being altogether averse from that good, and dead in sin, is not able, by his own strength, to convert himself, or to prepare himself thereunto. When God converts a sinner, and translates him into the state of grace, He freeth him from his natural bondage under sin; and, by His grace alone, enables him freely to will and to do that which is spiritually good; yet, so, that by reason of his remaining corruption, he doth not perfectly, nor only, will that which is good, but doth also will that which is evil." (ch 7.3-7.4).

Said doctrine points us as Christians toward the kind of Betterment we ought to seek. The United States of America, in guaranteeing "pursuit of happiness" does not guarantee that we will all follow the right path toward happiness. We're only guaranteed the liberty to pursue it. In the same vein, the United States has a strain of betterment, but difference in the house on what actually leads to betterment. Education and improvement of the mind is of great value, but is it the greatest? Physical fitness and stewardship and care of the body is a fine thing, but is it the best thing?

It would be somewhat dualistic to pit spiritual betterment against such things. I would suggest that Christians should be able to pursue betterment of body, mind, relationships, and other parts of life as expressions of their spiritual growth. Our faith in the Lordship of Christ should lead us toward betterment in all areas of our lives. One quick look at Baxter's A Christian Directory will show you that the Puritans viewed all of life as the fields in which our spiritual committments bear fruit.

Soli Deo Gloria
Russell

Eisenhower and What We Stand For

Been reading Michael Korda's biography of Eisenhower these past few weeks. It's an OK book about a most interesting figure. I was struck by Korda's account of Eisenhower's speech at Guildhall, London upon being honored for his leadership of the Allied armies. I was so taken by the excerpts, that I went online to see if I could find the text of the speech.

I found the site of the Eisenhower Memorial Commission, which contains all of Ike's speeches. This led to a couple of hours of perusing through trivia and treasure. But to the point... the Guildhall speech:

Ike's speech there touched upon something that has been skirting in my mind on and off this fall: what is it that we stand for (of course there are also times when we must clarify what we will stand against). After some surprisingly eloquent words (from a man who as president would mangle English syntax with obtuse and flaccid politico-speak) about English/American differences, he gives us this gem about the ties that bind England and America:

Yet kinship among nations is not determined in such measurements as proximity of size and age. Rather we should turn to those inner things--call them what you will--I mean those intangibles that are the real treasures free men possess.

To preserve his freedom of worship, his equality before law, his liberty to speak and act as he sees fit, subject only to provisions that he trespass not upon similar rights of others--a Londoner will fight. So will a citizen of Abilene.

When we consider these things, then the valley of the Thames draws closer to the farms of Kansas and the plains of Texas.

To my mind it is clear that when two peoples will face the tragedies of war to defend the same spiritual values, the same treasured rights, then in the deepest sense those two are truly related. So even as I proclaim my undying Americanism, I am bold enough and exceedingly proud to claim the basis of kinship to you of London.

From there he speaks at length of the courage of the British during the war, the hospitality of Londoners, the challenges of bringing the two peoples together, and their eventual triumph over Nazi aggression. As he brings his speech to a close, he gives us yet more treasure:

My most cherished hope is that after Japan joins the Nazis in utter defeat, neither my country nor yours need ever again summon its sons and daughters from their peaceful pursuits to face the tragedies of battle. But--a fact important for both of us to remember--neither London nor Abilene, sisters under the skin, will sell her birthright for physical safety, her liberty for mere existence.

No petty differences in the world of trade, traditions or national pride should ever blind us to our identities in priceless values.

If we keep our eyes on this guidepost, then no difficulties along our path of mutual co-operation can ever be insurmountable. Moreover, when this truth has permeated to the remotest hamlet and heart of all peoples, then indeed may we beat our swords into plowshares and all nations can enjoy the fruitfulness of the earth.

Now there are statements that call for reflection. Perhaps Eisenhower, in his dealings with Stalin, had already glimpsed the ideological struggle that was to come in the cold war. But in any case, he saw fit not to use victory in Europe as an occasion for back-slapping and chest thumping. Rather he called for the Allies to remember ideals: freedom of worship, speech, equality before law. Let these spiritual truths be our guidepost, he says.

Fine thoughts indeed.
Excelsior
Russell

Thanksgiving and Providence

I must remain true to my quixotic impossible dream of turning our hearts toward a Thanksgiving season.... Dig, if you will, the picture: an oasis of warm hearted gratitude nestled between the macabe bacchanalia that is Halloween and the calliope of commercialism that has become Christmas. Is it not somewhat astonishing that our nation is one that has had the audacity to enshrine gratitude by establishing an annual observation of Thanksgiving...not thanksgiving to the ever-protective paternal state (they get that 365 days a year in North Korea), but just a general Thanksgiving for blessings enjoyed.

Last year, as part of my monthlong celebration, I read through Plymouth Plantation, the account of William Bradford, the governor of the Plymouth colony. It's a rich story of faith, adventure, trial, error, and perseverance. However, for this month's Thanksgiving preparation, I'm reading theology: John Flavel's The Mystery of Providence.

Flavel, an English puritan of the 15th century, was a prolific writer, and is quite readable in the edition edited by Banner of Truth trust. In this little volume, Flavel undertakes to explain the doctrine of Providence and express the comfort that comes from it. "It is a great support and solace of the saints in all distresses that befall them here," writes Flavel, "that there is a wise Spirit sitting in all the wheels of motion, and governing the most eccentric creatures and their most pernicious designs to blessed and happy issues. And, indeed, it were not worth while to live in a world devoid of God and Providence."

I find that God's superintending of all events is not a doctrine of fatalism, but a doctrine that brings great hope and joy...and this is the attitude that Flavel takes as well. He gives us many reasons to rejoice in Providence, and I'll be reflecting on those reasons as I prepare for Thanksgiving.

One place where Flavel begins is God's providence in our "formation and protection in the womb." On this subject, he reflects not only on body but also our human endowment with a "reasonable soul". Here we have a fit topic for reflection as we enter into a season of thanksgiving: what bodily health and vitality do we enjoy. What are the scope of our physical activities. What physical attributes has God blessed us with: strength, endurance, dexterity, keen senses? How have we enjoyed the blessing of having a spirit in us that is unique to humanity? Even in our challenges...in what ways do they increase our dependence upon God's grace? What has God worked through our physical and spiritual attributes? All of these things lead us to give thanks to God.

Now go forth and do something physical today -- run a few laps, work in the yard, stretch your muscles...and give thanks to God for this Providence.

Soli Deo Gloria

Russell

Bits and Pieces - October 15

Here's more flotsam of interest:

First, from the Librarian's Internet Index, a link to the US Chamber of Commerce's education report card for every state in the union. Surprises for me -- Ohio ranked 11th overall; and South Carolina (whose motto used to be "thank God for Mississippi" because SC was always 49th and Mississippi 50th) came in 33rd.

The NY Times Magazine has an article on the priest of St. Bartholemew's church in Manhattan who wanted more aesthetically pleasing vestments....soooo she....

asked the textile designer John Robshaw, an old friend, to create a block-print silk, and coaxed Peter Hidalgo, an up-and-coming clothing designer she discovered at Linda Dresner’s shop, to sew it into altar wear. Robshaw wasn’t prepared for some of the ecclesiastical complications. “Colors are seasonal and have very specific implications,” he says. “It’s like fashion.” Amen to that.

While we're at the NY Times. Check out this article on the migration of older folks to Facebook...oh horrors, could it be that people out of college might want to use social networking software to connect and get together too? (check out my facebook page to find out).

The LA times reports that Boomers can take heart that the new Beatles inspired musical Across the Universe is a hit with teenage girls. It might even be the next High School Musical. Now where is the musical featuring the music of Asia?

Excelsior
Russell

Sunday Sermon Up

Listen to this past sunday's sermon on Malachi 1:6-14. Up on the church website now.
Russell