Healing Waters to the RESCUE!

Two quick things about Healing Waters to start the holiday weekend:

For those of you that read international news, you know that a volcano erupted in Guatemala last night. The volcano, Pacaya, is about 20 miles from Guatemala City. Most of the 22 Healing Waters systems in Guatemala are in Guatemala City, so there has been a pretty direct impact. While no lava flows are reaching the city, it has been completely covered in a blanket of volcanic cinders and ash. So many cinders have dropped out of the sky that some people who live in houses with laminate tin roofs have had their roofs collapse. Below are some photos from one of our pastors who has a Healing Waters system in his church:



You can see the damage to the laminated tin/zinc roof and the pile of ashes and cinders that collapsed the roof.

Healing Waters is helping out in this crisis in two ways:
1. The churches that have a Healing Waters system are using their funds generated from the system to help their neighbors and communities rebuild from the collapsed roofs, etc.

2. Many of the people that live in the villages around the base of the volcano have been evacuated and are living in temporary shelters until the eruption subsides. Our Healing Waters staff is delivering five gallon jugs of water to these shelter to provide the evacuees a source of safe drinking water while they wait to see if they will be able to go back home.

For more information about the volcanic eruption visit: http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/05/28/guatemala.volcano/index.html?hpt=Sbin

In other safe drinking water news, last night here in Denver there was a water main break. http://www.denverpost.com/ci_15182424

There is a "boil water" order in effect for a large part of the city. Residents have been very frustrated and making a lot of noise about the need to boil their water for the next 24 hours. There is such a lack of understanding that this is a daily reality in developing countries like Guatemala, Mexico and the Dominican Republic where Healing Waters works.

As Americans, we are so used to getting safe drinking water out of the tap. When we are required to boil it, we get upset. But at least most of us have electric or gas stoves in our homes to be able to boil water. We don't have to go out and gather wood, build a campfire, and boil water over the open flames.

One of our founders, Dana Larson, used to talk about "First World" problems. Whenever I get really frustrated or fired up because I am stuck in traffic, or because the line at the grocery store is taking too long, or because I have to boil water for 24 hours because of a water main break, I need to step back and put things into perspective.
-When I am stuck in traffic, at least I have a car and the money to put fuel in the gas tank.
-When I am in a long line in the grocery store at least I live in a country that has grocery stores that have fully stocked shelves of food and I have the resources to buy that food.
-And when the city asks me to boil my water for 24 hours before drinking it, I need to be thankful for the 364 days per year I can just go to the tap and get a glass of safe drinking water. I need to be thankful I have a stove to boil water on when it is not safe. I need to be grateful that I have any source of water piped into my house.

Oh the privilege of having first world problems.

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

Austin Bound!

Jessica, Esther, Sol and I are moving to Austin, Texas!

I am going to be starting seminary this September at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. I have been offered the Jean Brown Fellowship which includes a full-ride scholarship and also pays for our housing. I will be studying my Masters of Divinity (MDiv). It is a three year program. At the end of my studies, I hope to become a pastor in the Presbyterian Church PC(USA).

I don't think anyone reading this is totally surprised by this news, although this represents a huge change for me and Jessica. We have lived in Denver for 7 years and have put down some deep roots here. We are surrounded by communities that love us and take care of us and it is going to be so hard to leave those communities. But this is the right decision for us, for our family, and for our future.

I have considered a calling into formal church ministry on and off for many years. Finally, in March of 2009, Jessica encouraged me to figure out what it would take to become a pastor. This started a year-long process of discernment for me and Jessica.

One month later, we found our we were pregnant. This obviously dramatically changed our lives, for the better, and changed our perspective. When we considered this in the context of thinking about seminary and eventually becoming a pastor, it seemed to affirm our decision.

Last summer I was approached by the senior pastor of my church and asked to become the part-time youth director. I had been volunteering as a youth group leader for six years at the church. The pastor's petition to serve in a more formal leadership role and actually be on church staff for a year seemed to affirm our decision.

As I started the application process and requested my letters of recommendation, I had a lot of people tell me I was making the right decision, which was very affirming.

Then Esther was born! In the weeks following Esther's birth, Jessica and I talked a lot more about seminary and what it would be like. We decided it was "now or never" and felt a total sense of peace about the decision.

I applied to four seminaries and was admitted to all four. I was offered a 3/4 tution scholarship to Iliff, a seminary here in Denver. I was offered a full-ride scholarship to Princeton Seminary. And I was offered a "fellowship" to Columbia seminary and Austin seminary. This was an enormous blessing and I felt so humbled by these incredible offers. But it made the decision a little bit harder.

After more prayer and discernment, Jessica and I picked Austin! We will be packing up and moving sometime in late August.



This has also been a hard decision for Jessica, but she has been so supportive! She is having a great deal of success in her career. She has been teaching H.S. English at the same school for the past seven years. She started her Masters degree in Educational Leadership two years ago. This fall she wrapped up the degree and has been working as the assistant principal at her high school. She is truly a "rising star" in the field of education and I am so very proud of her.
She is making a huge sacrifice to follow me to seminary. However she is very excited about the prospect of being a stay-at-home mom for the next three years. She will probably try to work part-time after our first year there, there might be some opportunities at the University of Texas in the College of Education.

Sol (the black dog) will be giving up his famous backyard in Denver. But he is pretty adaptable and home is where his mommy, daddy and baby sister are. Austin seminary is VERY dog friendly and the city of Austin seems to be pretty dog friendly too. There is even an off-leash dog park on an island in the middle of a lake. So he will be chasing lots of tennis balls and doing a lot of swimming in Austin.

Esther does not know what she is getting into yet. She is going to be a "PK" (Pastor's Kid). But whenever we mention Austin or Texas, she coos and giggles, so I guess that is a good sign.

That is the big news in the Allen-Pickett house this month! For those of you who have been praying for us as we have made this decision, THANK YOU! We hope you can all come and visit us in Austin!

Reflections on "Atheists" and "Religious People" and the need for civility in our debates

I just read a great blogpost by Kate Fridkis about Atheists and Religious People and the supposed divide that exists between them. You can read the whole post here, or the excerpts are below. The overwhelming theme in the post is civility and the need for any "competing" groups to be willing to engage in civil dialogue. We could apply this to a lot of different groups, but applying it to Atheists and Religious People is some good food for thought. Enjoy:

Atheists don't all have clipped British accents and a staggering command of some seriously graceful logic. Some atheists are unremittingly normal. Some people don't bother to call themselves atheists, they just don't particularly care about the idea of God. The term "atheist" can't possibly live up to the hype (both smugly confident and malicious) surrounding it. Just as the term "religious" can't live up to its own hype. Maybe it's time to stop pretending there's really a vicious battle raging between these two supposedly cohesive groups.

It's foolish to imagine that atheists own concepts like pragmatism, intellectualism, and thoughtfulness. Or that religious people own concepts like spirituality, awe, inner peace, and even prayer. The debate about God, belief, and religion shouldn't be divided into believers and atheists. It should be divided into people who are willing to listen, and people who aren't.

It's often assumed by many that all the reasonable people are either in the atheist camp or the religious camp.

Like this: "If you're reasonable enough, then you don't need to rely on the idea of God to explain everything about the world to you."

Or: "If you're reasonable enough, then you realize that the mysteries of the universe are much too large to justify the categorical denial of the existence of God."

These arguments take us around and around and around (I could say it a few more times for emphasis) in circles. And ultimately, the only people who "win" are the ones who happen to be better at debating. Being good at debating is a particular skill that doesn't necessarily have much to do with objective facts or the truth (however we're defining that these days). My fiancé was the captain of his debate team in college. Getting in an argument with him is brutal for my self-esteem, even when I'm pretty sure I know what I'm talking about.

As Greg Epstein, the humanist chaplain at Harvard, will tell you, there are a lot of other positions between devout religious believer and atheist. As many people who don't define themselves as atheists but don't consider themselves religious will tell you, "I just don't talk about it." The right language hasn't been developed to accommodate these people's ontological orientations.

I'm tired of people being surprised when some atheists turn out to be jerks. Or turn out to be obviously unintelligent in some way. As though only smart people can choose not to believe in God. Because religion is perceived as inseparable from dogmatism, and dogmatism is obviously equated with thoughtlessness. So then, belief is easy, whereas doubt is much more complex and difficult. Simplifications of religiousness and atheism like this just don't cut it, though. There are too many ways to be religious and too many ways to be non-religious to allow for this sort of uneducated, underdeveloped assessment of either. Even belief and doubt aren't really opposites. . .

Maybe we need some new terms for the camps. How about this: "people who are willing to have a conversation," and "people who just want to hear themselves talk."

Vocation. . .

The Fund for Theological Education posted this amazing video about "What is Vocation." I typed up the text for the last part of the video, this really resonated with me. . .

Vocation 101: What Do You Mean by Vocation? from FTE on Vimeo.

Vocation happens when you take what you love to the world’s needs
And when you listen to what the world needs of you


Your life has a purpose, but your life doesn’t just belong to you,

it also belongs to. . . everyone you know.
You belong to them, they belong to you, and we all belong to God’s story.


It’s just like Jesus said. . . “Come Follow Me.”
Come Follow Me with your talents, struggles, riches, burdens, excitements, past, present, future. . . with your VOCATION!

Funny Picture (actually it is the caption that is funny.)

I saw this picture and thought the caption was funny, so I decided to share. Enjoy!

Re-Post of an awesome sermon

Pastor John Bell, the senior pastor at Wellshire Presbyterian church, preached a great sermon last Sunday. Below is the "rough text" of his sermon. Enjoy!

This is a VERY crude manuscript from last Sunday, May 2, based on Acts 11:1-18.

“By Our Love” by John H. Bell, Jr.

Within most religions, there is a desire to be: perfect – to get it right, to be perfectly clean, to follow the rules, to obey every single law, to become perfectly sinless, holy. The Hebrew canon insists that we are to be holy, as God is holy. Jesus says that you should be perfect, just as your Heavenly Father is perfect. “Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven,” he says. And yet that very desire to be perfect, to be sinless, can also lead you in the wrong direction. If you are not careful, the desire to be holy, perfect, sinless, can ironically separate you from God and others, which is universally acknowledged to be the essence of the laws of God. Left unchecked, striving for personal perfection can lead you to build up walls around you – walls of hostility that lead you to despise or even hate those people who do not follow your rules, who are not as good as you are – and believe me: the feeling is mutual!

Thus, we find ourselves – quite wrongly! – fearing or even hating those who are not like us. There is something within human nature that causes us to fear or hate what we do not know, what is different from us — the alien, the stranger, the one who does not look like us or act like us or share our values. Who frightens you? Who do you hate? Who do you think might ruin your life, corrupt your world or threaten your values? Who do you wish was dead? Would his death improve your life?

The first Christians were mostly Jews, and they were afraid of Gentiles – pagans, secular, worldly people, who did not obey Jewish laws, who ate unclean food, were not circumcised, did not worship God in the synagogue and did wicked things – like watch Desperate Housewives on the Sabbath. They were not terrified of them, so much, as they were afraid that they would be corrupted by their influence. They were not allowed by rule of law to eat with them, speak to them or been seen in public with them. Gentiles were simply “different,” which meant somehow they were bad, a threat to their little chosen community of faithful Christians. The disciples were kosher; they were clean, holy, pure, chosen by God; the Gentiles were considered to be an unclean, dirty, vile, disgusting people.

But that all changed when Peter had a dream. He was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance he saw a vision. There was something like a large sheet coming down from heaven, being lowered by its four corners; and it came close to him. As he looked at it closely he saw four-footed animals, beasts of prey, reptiles, and birds of the air. He also heard a voice saying to him, “Get up, Peter; kill and eat.” But he replied, “By no means, Lord; for nothing profane or unclean has ever entered my mouth.” But a second time the voice answered from heaven, “What God has made clean, you must not call profane.” This happened three times; then everything was pulled up again to heaven. … At that very moment three men arrived at Peter’s house. These men had been sent to Peter from Caesarea by a man named Cornelius, who was a centurion and a member of the elite Italian cohort. He was a devout, God-fearing man, who prayed and gave alms to the poor, but … a still a Gentile. The Spirit told Peter to go with them and not to make a distinction between the unclean Gentiles and the kosher Christians. Six Christians accompanied him, and they entered Cornelius’ house. He told them how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, “Send to Joppa and bring Simon, who is called Peter; he will give you a message by which you and your entire household will be saved.”

And, as Peter began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as it had upon the Jews at the beginning … So … Peter baptized Cornelius in the name of Jesus Christ, and the early church had to come to realize that they could not make any distinctions between Jew and Greek, slave and free, male and female, for we are all somehow one in Christ Jesus, our risen Lord, whose plan it is to gather up all things together – things in heaven and things on earth! The dividing wall of hostility, of hate, of fear, between Jews and Gentiles has come down in Jesus Christ. “Truly,” as Peter claims, “God shows no partiality.” None.

[Notice that it was Peter and the church that had to change to accommodate Cornelius.]

This is true because the way of Jesus Christ is – not a religion of a thousand rules, but it is the way of love – radical love, extravagant love. The essence of Jesus’ expectation of you is love: he says that all you have to do is love God with your whole heart, soul and mind and love your neighbor as you love yourself. Jesus gave his disciples a new commandment, a simple commandment, a very clear commandment: he says that we should love one another. We should love one another as he has loved us … and there is no greater love than one who voluntarily lays down his life for another … in the same way, you must deny yourself, pick up your cross and follow him … in the way of love. You are not only expected to love your family members and your friends or your fellow church members and your book club, but this is a love for people who are very different from you, a love for the neighbors whose dog barks all night, a love of neighbors all the way around the world living in huts in Zimbabwe, a love of those who sleep on the streets or rot in our jails, a love for your enemies. The love of God does not recognize borders or skin color or socio-economic class … truly, God shows no partiality. “Red or yellow, black or white, they are precious in his sight; Jesus loves all the children of the world.” Yes, Christians are supposed to be perfect: we are supposed to be perfect in our love; we are to love purely, perfectly – in this way we are holy, in this way we are like our Heavenly Father, God, who is LOVE. People are supposed to know us, to recognize us as Christians – not by our piety or moral rectitude, but, as they old hymn declares: “They will (or should!) know that we are Christians by our love, by our love.”

Religion that is based on a thousand rule builds walls and fosters hate. You are in or out, you are with us or you are against us, you are clean or dirty, you obey or you dis-obey, you are good or bad, you are holy or not, you are on your way to heaven or destined to hell. Religion that is focused on following rules inflates the importance of the self, because everything seems to rise or fall based on your discipline and ability to obey. Religion which is based upon rules is cold and heartless, resulting in deadly legalism. If you are primarily focused on your ability to obey, you are not focused on God or others – you only care about how YOU are doing. It is this kind of religion which gives religion a bad name, breeds terrorists and hate-mongers and wages war in the name of God.

But true Christianity is not based on rules; it is infused with love; it offers an abundance of grace and mercy and forgiveness; and it creates peace – peace for those who are near and peace for those who are far off. In the name of Jesus Christ, there is no room to hate aliens or strangers – even if they are here against the rules; in the church of Jesus Christ, there is no justification to hate homosexuals just because they are different from you; in the name of the God of love, you cannot despise or disrespect or dismiss the Muslim or the Jew, the scientist of the artist, the conservative or the liberal, the President or the Pope or the common man of the people.

Just as Peter realized in a dream and subsequent encounter with the Gentiles, truly, God shows no partiality — and, in God’s name, we may not harbor hate or withhold love. Who are you to hinder to flow of God’s love for all people everywhere? You, who have been called, saved and granted new life in Jesus Christ, have been commanded to love – even the stranger and alien in your midst and your enemy in the far country. Indeed, you were not called by Jesus Christ to follow a strict set of rules and regulations, nor to force others follow the rules; you were called by God to perfectly love others. You were not called to build up dividing walls of hostility; you were called to be ambassadors of reconciliation.

Back to safe drinking water. . .

After two weeks of posting about SB1070, I am returning to another one of my favorite themes, safe drinking water.

My former co-worker and "hermano" Aaron Walling is now working for an amazing water org called "A Child's Right." He is in Nepal this week installing some water projects and scouting new locations for some additional projects. If you want to hear about Aaron's adventures in Nepal you can read his blog by clicking here. Below is a video that shows just how important this work is:

a child's right and the Gonodaya school from a child's right on Vimeo.

I am really proud of Aaron and the work he is going to be doing with A Child's Right. Best of luck and Godspeed to you hermano!

Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

Thank you for those who have been reading and following my blog in the past two weeks and sharing your feedback about SB 1070. I still feel very strongly that this legislation is wrong and needs to be overturned and will continue to post about it from time to time as well as work to get it changed.

There are two more articles I want to share that help to understand and define my perspective on SB1070. The first comes from my hometown newspaper in Flagstaff, Arizona. Last night the city council took a vote to sue the state of Arizona for SB1070. You can read about that decision here:

http://azdailysun.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/article_5a88048c-6b18-5b87-99ac-c481b37b42e7.html

The final article I want to link to is from the Phoenix Suns, the NBA basketball team, or "Los Suns" as they are being called today. Check out this article that talks about how the team, from the owner, to the GM, to all the coaches are standing in solidarity with Latinos and Hispanics in the state of Arizona today:

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ball_dont_lie/post/Suns-will-wear-Los-Suns-unis-to-honor-Phoenix-?urn=nba,238682

The text of the article is below:
In general, people in the sports world keep their political leanings to themselves. Sure, there are a few guys who regularly speak out on political issues, but for the most part that's considered bad business. As Michael Jordan put it, "Republicans buy shoes too." That's why what the Phoenix Suns are doing is so amazing.

The team will be wearing its "Los Suns" jerseys for Wednesday night's Game 2 against the San Antonio Spurs "to honor [the] Latino community and the diversity of our league, the state of Arizona, and our nation." Awesome.

The decision to wear the jerseys came from way up the corporate ladder, as team owner Robert Sarver suggested the team wear their Noche Latina alternates.

Sarver, who was born and raised in Tucson, said frustration with the federal government's failure to deal with the illegal immigration issue led to the passage of what he called "a flawed state law."

"However intended, the result of passing the law is that our basic principles of equal rights and protection under the law are being called into question," he said, "and Arizona's already struggling economy will suffer even further setbacks at a time when the state can ill-afford them."

The Suns voted on the jerseys and unanimously decided to wear them for Cinco De Mayo. As if he weren't likeable enough, Phoenix guard Steve Nash(notes) succinctly summed up the Suns' feelings on the issue.

"I think it's fantastic," Nash said after Tuesday's practice. "I think the law is very misguided. I think it's, unfortunately, to the detriment of our society and our civil liberties. I think it's very important for us to stand up for things we believe in. As a team and as an organization, we have a lot of love and support for all of our fans. The league is very multicultural. We have players from all over the world, and our Latino community here is very strong and important to us."

And it's not just the Suns who are speaking out on this issue.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich is on board, and the team even tried to get their "Los Spurs" jerseys, though it was too late to do so. When asked for approval to wear the jerseys, the NBA "was all for it," said Suns general manager Steve Kerr. Furthermore, NBA Players Association executive director Billy Hunter issued a press release, denouncing the law.

The recent passage of the new immigration law in Arizona is disappointing and disturbing. The National Basketball Players Association strongly supports the repeal or immediate modification of this legislation. Any attempt to encourage, tolerate or legalize racial profiling is offensive and incompatible with basic notions of fairness and equal protection. A law that unfairly targets one group is ultimately a threat to all.

We applaud the actions of Phoenix Suns players and management and join them in taking a stand against the misguided efforts of Arizona lawmakers. We are consulting with our members and our player leadership to determine the most effective way for our union to continue to voice our opposition to this legislation.

It's not much, just an extra three letters on the front of a tanktop, but it means a lot more. As Kerr said, the Suns want to "make sure that people understand that we know what's going on and we don't agree with the law itself." For a sports team, that's huge.

___________________________________________

And in other news, it is Cinco de Mayo. My friend, who is a history professor, posted a little something about the history of the day that I wanted to share with you. Check out Laura Gifford's blog at:
http://unclesamsattic.blogspot.com/

She is a really sharp cookie and has some fascinating insights into various aspects of history. If you want to feel smart and have interesting things to tell your friends, I would follow her blog!

Feliz Cinco de Mayo!