The Sustainist

You Know How It Is

This morning as I entered the elevator of my condo complex to get to the garage, I met 3 workers who were doing re-piping work in our buildings.  Our condo association had sued the developer for using substandard piping and won.  So for the next few months, every pipe will be replaced.  I off-handedly said to the workers, “How is the work going?”

“Okay,” replied one of the workers.

After we agreed that they would be working in our building for the next few months, I said, “Are you making good money?”

“Not really,” he said.  “You know how it is, the big company.” 

Even though I was glad to have a strong condo board that had access to lawyers who could get this deal to correct the defects in our building, and I was glad that through this deal, we were providing jobs for these workers, I was disturbed by his comment, “You know how it is.”  Do I really know “how it is” as a privileged person living in a privileged environment surrounded by privileged people? 

I wondered how my condo board chose this company for this million dollar project.  I was ashamed that I, one of the owners, had not been involved in the process at all. 

But yes, I do know how it is – the big companies tend to pay their workers, who do all the work, as little as they can get away with, in the name of maximizing their profit.  As a sustainist, I need to pay attention and exercise my power and influence to support companies that are ethical; that is, they treat their workers fairly, share real profit with them, care about the environment, hire local people, give back to the community, pay local taxes and support the local economy, etc. 

Having seen the deadly reality of our world in Lent and Holy Week, we arrived at a time of resurrection in Easter– that is, to know that we have the power to change the world for the benefit of all, not just the privilege few.  So, time to get involved.   

Reflection Questions for Second Sunday of Easter (Year A): Acts 2:22-32 Psalm 16  How does it mean for you to walk in the path of life? 1 Peter 1:3-9   What have you inherited through Easter that is imperishable, undefiled and unfading? John 20:19-31   What does it mean to come to believe in the resurrection even though you have not seen?

Eric H. F. Law
Kaleidoscope Institute
For competent leadership in a diverse changing world
www.kscopeinstitute.org

Truth for Holy Week

Christians set aside Holy Week, the week before Easter, for self-examination, to meditate on the cruelty of humankind leading to the betrayal and execution of an innocent man, named Jesus.   It’s a time to face the truth about ourselves - how we can become complacent and just go with the flow of what is going on in the world without any critical reflection. 

Last Sunday (Palm Sunday), the LA Times featured two articles in the business section that gave me hope.  These are the headlines:

Low-wage workers pay the price of nickel-and-diming by employers 

Evictions from rent-controlled units on the rise in L.A.

The first article talks about “wage theft” which includes the truly insidious practice of  “Forcing hourly employees off the clock by putting them to work before they can clock in or after they clock out. Manipulating their time cards to cheat them of overtime pay. Preventing them from taking legally mandated breaks or shaving down their lunch hours. Disciplining or firing them for filing lawful complaints.”  The second article reveals how an increasing number of rent-controlled units are being converted to condos or simply flattened leaving a dwindling supply and fewer affordable options for residents.  This is all done “legally” evoking the Ellis Act.

I commend the LA Times for investing in the currencies of truth at the start of this Holy Week.  These truth-revealing stories stop us from taking this time only for meditation on our personal sinfulness, but move us out of our complacency of systemic oppression into actions for societal change.  Empowered by the hope of Easter, we act to transform our society fostering wellness for all, creating a more just and sustainable community.

Reflection Questions for Easter Sunday (Year A): Acts 10:34-43    How do you testify to the resurrection of Christ in the world today? Jeremiah 31:1-6  What does it mean to find grace in the wilderness? Colossian 3:1-4   How is your life hidden with Christ and how does it become revealed? Psalm 118:14-24   What is the chief cornerstone of your spiritual life? John 20:1-18   Where is the empty tomb of your life?  How can you stay in it long enough to discover new hope?

Eric H. F. Law
Kaleidoscope Institute
For competent leadership in a diverse changing world
www.kscopeinstitute.org

Palm Sunday

If you go to church this Sunday, you will find Christians on this day, called Palm Sunday, enacting the tragedy of a man named Jesus.  The drama begins with the people waving palm leaves and singing praises to welcome Jesus, whom they consider as someone who could be their savior.  But Jesus reveals a different idea of God through his words and actions.  He believes that we are all sons and daughters of God and that makes us all equal and connected.  And we are to include each other as if we are part of the same body in everything that we do.  If one of us is hurt, all of us hurt.  If one of us is oppressed, we all suffer.  Because of this “sustainist” vision, Jesus is betrayed by one of his best friends, abandoned by most of his friends except for a few women and his mother, and finally sentenced to death by the same people who welcomed him enthusiastically at the beginning of the story. The drama takes us to the bitter end when he is killed like a criminal.  Why do Christians want to replay this horrible story with such an unhappy ending every year?

The Palm Sunday drama reminds us, especially Christians, the woeful side of human community. We might embrace the idea of something new at first, but when we find that it is not what we assumed it to be, we reject it.

For example, we like the idea that “All [people] are created equal.”  It is written in the Declaration of Independence of the United States.  But for some, if this means giving up, or sharing what we have, that this idea is not so great, so we created a system that says some are more equaled that others.  For 238 years, people in the United States have been struggling with the tension between those who wanted to realize the true-living-out of this phrase and those who rejected it out of fear.  From the various amendments to the Constitution (e.g. 1^st Amendment, 14^th Amendment, 15^th Amendment, 19^th Amendment) to the Affordable Care Act, to the recent Supreme Court decision on campaign finance, these struggles are all part of the drama of living up to the new idea that all people should be equal.   As Christians move toward Palm Sunday, let the drama of Jesus and his friends and betrayers remind us of how we are to act.  Do we act out of our fear or do we act out of the conviction of our vision?  We have a choice in how this drama unfolds.

At the end of the Palm Sunday worship, we are left with Jesus dead in the tomb, hopeless.  But this is not the end of the story.  The story will continue.  It has to continue. 

Download Sustain the Weary 2

Sustain the weary with a word:
A word of grace to hold the broken;
A word so deep and wide, it can’t be spoken
Sustain the weary with a ward of grace

Sustain the weary with a word:
A word of truth with no denying
The thund’rous roar of pain and silent crying
Sustain the weary with a word of truth.

Sustain the weary with a word
A word of peace in spite of warring
Emotions claiming hopes of life restoring.
Sustain the weary with a word of peace.

Sustain the weary with a word:
A word of love to break the numbness
And reach for common pain that speaks of oneness.
Sustain the weary with a word of love.

Copyright © Eric H. F. Law 2012

Reflection Questions for Palm Sunday (Year A): Mathew 21:1:11    What are the things that we welcome enthusiastically at first but reject later? Why? Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29  What does it mean for you to enter the gates of righteousness? Isaiah 50:4-9b   How do we sustain each other in time of adversity? Philippians 2:5-11   What does it mean to have the mind of Christ?

Eric H. F. Law
Kaleidoscope Institute
For competent leadership in a diverse changing world
www.kscopeinstitute.org

Money and Freedom of Speech

The U.S. Supreme Court, on April 2, 2014, struck down a decades-old cap on the total amount any individual can contribute to federal candidates.  I have no problem with rich people wanting to give money to the campaigns of the candidates of their choice.  In fact, they have always done what they wanted with their money and if the law didn’t allow it, they would have used their money-power to get around it anyway.  However, I do have a problem with using the First Amendment to justify this change and to equate freedom of speech to spending money.  

As I understand it, the First Amendment was there to protect the powerless so that their voices can still be heard.  This is essential to a democracy.  If we lose the ability to hear the diverse voices in our society and allow only the powerful (politically and economically) to amplify their voices, we cease to be a democratic society but instead, become an autocratic society controlled by the rich and powerful.

Freedom of speech is not the same as the freedom to spend your money however you please.  In the case of campaign financing, money is used to influence and amplify speech of a certain political persuasion. When a particular political speech is so amplified that other voices can’t be heard, then the freedom to use our money becomes an issue that a democratic society has to address in order to restore the balance of hearing essential voices in our society.

To use the First Amendment, which was supposed to protect the poor and powerless, and turn it around to reinforce the power and influence of those already powerful is a disgrace to the spirit of the First Amendment of the U. S. Constitution!

Reflection Questions for 5th Sunday in Lent (Year A) Ezekiel 37:1-14    What are the “dry bones” in your community that need life? Psalm 130  How does it mean to wait for God? Romans 8:6-11   What does it mean for you to have the Spirit dwell in you? John 11:1-45   What in you and/or your community need unbinding?

Eric H. F. Law
Kaleidoscope Institute
For competent leadership in a diverse changing world
www.kscopeinstitute.org