INSIDE CBF
10
journey As We
By CBF Coordinator Daniel Vestal
Social justice JESUS SAID, “Blessed are the peacemakers,” which compels those of us who say we are his disciples to work for peace. Both Scripture and history teach us that apart from truth, righteousness and justice, there can be no peace. How then are those of us who would be activists and advocates to live in the struggle for social justice?
Enter into rest Before we can be a peacemaker, we must ourselves experience peace, real peace,
inward peace, peace that passes understanding. Before we can be an instrument of reconciliation, renewal and community, we must become a partaker and participant in these realities. They are already true, but they must become true for us and in us. The joy of the Lord must become our joy. Richard Rohr wrote recently, “You can bear the hardness of life and see through failure if your soul is resting in a wonderful and comforting sweetness and softness. That’s why people in love have such an energy for others. If your truth does not set you free, it is not the truth at all. If God cannot be rested in, he must not be much of a God.”
Theological education is a renewal movement
viewpoint: Michael Goodman IT’S COMMON for church members to warn theology students that “seminary will change you.” Often, this is accompanied with advice that the student must be especially sure to hold on to his/her faith while in school. Sometimes these conversations are motivated by the concern that theological educaMichael Goodman tion is contrary to faith and/or disruptive to church life. Other times these conversations are based on the awareness that theological education is rigorous, full of new ideas about God and scripture and how to express the Christian faith in daily life. Students have important decisions to make about these ideas — which to hold fast and which to let go. Both of these concerns carry validity. The first concern prompts one of two responses — either the process of theological education is flawed and wrongly encourages students to leave healthy and vibrant traditions or the departing Christian found a good reason for leaving. It is possible for a theological school to go rogue, failing in its mission to recover and apply the best of the Christian tradition for the benefit of the local church. Hopefully, this is prevented by academic openness to dialogue with other committed scholars and schools across the varied theological spectrum. This concern might be based on the fear that some church traditions will be left in light of different ones, but this is often a part of the process. Theological education is a renewal movement — it renews the individual student and it renews the community in which that student leads and worships, hopefully in order to pro-
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vide a clearer witness to God’s Kingdom. The second concern, based on the awareness that theological education is challenging on many levels, is a pastoral concern. It is true that theological education is intense. Along with the stresses of study, students have the added pressure of having long-cherished theological notions challenged and sometimes changed. Having a solid church home, where students can worship and participate throughout the week, is an invaluable source of grounding throughout a student’s career. Of course theological education is not free, and another pressing concern may be — what is the real benefit of supporting students throughout the educational process? The fact that the world and the church had not yet been fully redeemed was not a lost realization to me before I entered seminary. The reality of a painful and hurting world that badly needs redemption is blatantly obvious to most theology students. And we are left with the question — how can we respond? We entered seminary out of our firm conviction that God redeems and renews the world through local faith communities and a call to work with God in that renewing action. We entered knowing that loving God with all of our minds includes understanding how God is involved in renewing the world. Theological education is a renewal movement itself; therefore, it has the ability to feed the renewal movement that is the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. f! Michael Goodman is a Cooperative Baptist Fellowship leadership scholar at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology and is schedule to graduate in 2007. Goodman attends Peachtree Baptist Church in Atlanta.
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Engage the powers This kind of language may be uncomfortable for some of us because we are such rationalists. But when we address social ills such as HIV/AIDS, poverty, racism and violence, it doesn’t take long to discover the presence and reality of entrenched, systemic, long term evil. It is what I call institutional and structured sin. Scripture tells us that “we wrestle not with flesh and blood but with principalities and powers.” How shall we engage them? First, we engage the powers by naming them, identifying them for what they are. After the Enron verdicts, I read a number of articles saying that Enron was evidence of a system and structure of greed. A lot of people believe that Washington is trapped in a “culture of corruption.” The justice system in this country isn’t the same for a poor person as it is for an affluent person. Neither is the health care system or the educational system. These are powers of injustice. Second, we engage the powers through prayer. It was instructive for me to hear the prayers of Baptists from the developing world during the BWA Congress last year in England. They would begin their petitions with “O, God of justice” because they live in poverty and powerlessness. Intense petition and intercession is one of the
weapons in this spiritual struggle for justice. Third, we engage the powers with prophetic words and actions. If Martin Luther King, Jr., Nelson Mandela and Dorothy Day taught us anything, they taught us the prophetic power of non-violent speech and deeds. Let us seek wisdom and the courage to do the same in our present context.
Embrace suffering While governments, NGOs and churches discuss, debate and analyze HIV/AIDS, human beings continue to suffer. The question for us is, “Will we embrace those that suffer?” An acid test of faith is what we do with pain, first our own and then of others. Will we anesthetize ourselves to suffering? Or will we be present with those that suffer and become instruments of comfort and relief? If so, we will be changed in the process. I remember specifically in 1981 when I first read about HIV/AIDS in a Time magazine article. In May of this year, the cover story of Newsweek described how HIV/AIDS has changed America in the past 25 years. I confess that it has changed me and many of my perspectives. My prayer is that I will continue to be changed that I might truly be the presence of Christ to others. f!
O F F I C I A L H O T E L I N F O R M AT I O N
Cooperative Baptist Fellowship 2007 General Assembly Washington Convention Center, Washington, D.C. June 27-30, 2007 (Auxiliary events only will be held June 27 and June 30, main General Assembly meeting will be held June 28-29.) H O T E L I N F O R M AT I O N Grand Hyatt Washington (headquarter hotel) – 1000 H Street NW • Washington, DC 20001 Single/Double – $160 plus tax (Current room tax 14.5%) Triple/Quad – $180 plus tax (Current room tax 14.5%) Renaissance Washington DC Hotel – 999 Ninth St. NW • Washington, DC 20001 Single/Double/Triple/Quad – $160.00 plus tax (Current room tax 14.5%) Pre-registration for the 2007 General Assembly is required before making a hotel reservation at the Grand Hyatt or Renaissance. Please make your hotel reservations by phone or online by May 30, 2007. Online — For pre-registration and reservations, go to www.thefellowship.info/CL/General Assembly/reg.icm. After registering online, you will be directed to the room reservation Web site for the Grand Hyatt or Renaissance. You will be asked for a credit card number to hold the reservation, and your credit card will be charged at that time. The deposit is refundable if cancelled 7 days prior to arrival. Phone — Please call the CBF Resource Center at (800) 352-8741 to pre-register for the General Assembly. After registering, you will be given instructions to make your reservations by phone at either the Grand Hyatt or Renaissance. Once in touch with a hotel, you will be asked for a credit card number to hold the reservation and your credit card will be charged at that time. The deposit is refundable if cancelled 7 days prior to arrival. Helpful Reminders 1. Reservations should be made by May 30, 2007, to receive advertised room rate. Reservations received after the cut-off date will be accepted on a space available basis and at the hotel’s prevailing room rate. 2. Sharing a room: Please make only one reservation per room, listing all occupants in the room. A confirmation listing each occupant will be mailed to you (the primary occupant) if reservation is completed by phone. Please print your confirmation if completed online. 3. All reservations holding more than 10 rooms will be required to forward a nonrefundable, one night’s deposit for each room by April 1, 2007. If not, all rooms held will be released back to the CBF housing room block for re-sale. 4. Changes/Cancellations: Please call the Grand Hyatt or Renaissance hotels directly for all changes/cancellations and reference your confirmation number. When canceling a reservation, please be sure to ask for a cancellation number and keep a record of the number. 5. RATES DO NOT INCLUDE the current room tax of 14.5%.
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2007 General Assembly Hotel Info