After You Believe by N.T. Wright

by austin pfeiffer

N.T. Wright is a quirky case of controversy amongst the blogosphere and Christian world. In a world of extremes Wright tows the line of orthodoxy and moderation in progress, which in many other contexts would make him a figure of bridging. Sadly, for many, he is not decisive (or divisive) enough. Wright's thoughts and words are approachable, plain, engaging, and refreshing for many, but he is also bold enough to be a critical thinker of new ideas and gripping of historical foundations often lost today. To the reader able to see the forest for the trees, Wright is great because he is paradoxically playful and deep.

His new book After You Believe: Why Christian Character Matters is soothing in its plain talk, gliding a relative society back into the lost comforts of now archaic (even taboo) words like virtue and character. These words have been hijacked by the religioso as terms of condemnation and Wright reclaims them with unpretentious anecdotes. He does a fantastic job of appealing the reader towards a principled life through anecdote and exploration of the New Testament's "moral vision...peace, justice, freedom, love" liberating the reader to their true existence in the moral vision of God. He argues, "We urgently need to recapture the New Testament's vision of a genuinely "good" human life with that future-shaped character lived within the ongoing story of God's people, and, with that, a freshly worked notion of virtue."

an open letter to a Christian Radio Station re:healthcare

***this post is a letter to the producers of WBFJ (a local Christian station) written by our dear friend and community member Katie. Katie describes what she heard on the radio as

"a discussion on the healthcare bill. They had a Republican representative claiming that the biggest downfall of the bill was that it was costing those with private health insurance more money while providing freeloaders with insurance at little or no cost. The representative also said that these are people who do not want to work and will "buy" insurance only when they need it and never actually pay for it."

I for one am very proud of Katie. Around our community we are certainly engaged in politics, but Katie has written a really important reflection on how removed from the legislation Christians are because we are far more interested in the actual people of society, both rich and poor, affected by anything our government, economy, or society does or experiences. Please read and absorb this letter, remembering that all Americans are entitled to a political stance, but all Christians are enlisted to see the child of God in each person.
***


3.23.2010

Hello,

I am a new college graduate from Wake Forest University and occasionally listen to your station, as I did on my way to work this morning. I was somewhat disappointed and slightly angered by the one-sided presentation and discussion of the newly-passed healthcare bill this morning. Each person is entitled to his or her own opinion, but I must say that the shear obviousness that the station was taking a fiscally conservative stance on this news was a let down.

To be clear I have no issue with an individual holding a political view that is different from me, but I do not think that a station which claims to represent Christ to a community should be so evidently aligned with a political party as was apparent this morning; it should be aligned with Christ. While there are valid reasons to oppose the healthcare bill- the self-centered and individualistic reasons given this morning are not in line with Jesus' teachings.

That being said, Christ was always a representative of the oppressed, the outcasts, and those who saw themselves as undeserving of His grace. Unfortunately the blatant implications made by the political representative this morning cast the very people that Jesus chose to spend time with as "unwilling to work" and as freeloaders on a system. This was the biggest upset for me. The United States is currently in an economic depression with the unemployment rate being higher than ever. Still, Americanism tells us that our value is to be found in our economic contribution and our ability to support ourselves and to work a consistent job. How sad! This is not the gospel message. Jesus taught us the opposite of the American standard- to give away our riches, to be unjudging, to value ourselves by the way God values us.

I would love to take this opportunity to invite anyone from your station and especially the political representative (I am sorry I couldn't recall her name) to join me and my friends who spend time with the impoverished and homeless of Winston-Salem- fellow brothers and sisters in Christ- every Saturday. These are people who would love to have jobs, pay for their own health insurance, and put food in front of their families every day. These are the prayer requests we receive every week. See the faces of those who acknowledge that they do not live up to the American standard, but are struggling to accept God's grace anyway. Let us not become so obsessed with our freedom as Americans that we fail to see God's desire for freedom for every person in the world. When we cease to be concerned with what we deserve and start to look for God's work for us we can begin healing the problems in our country.

Thank you for reading and considering these words. If you would like to join us any Saturday we would love to have you! You can contact me by phone or email.

Prayers and peace,
Katie Luedecke
luedecke.katie@gmail.com
peacemakerrevolution.org

Psalm 82: 2- 4 How long will you defend the unjust and show partiality to the wicked? Defend the causes of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.

urban farming

We are about to get some new residents in the Franklin House community. We have two chickens and a chick on their way! We are building a coop right now, here are some pictures of our progress.



We hope to use the floorless bottom to fertilize our square foot garden. Once we have things going, we are excited to share vegetables and eggs with our neighbors, to help the hungry, enrich our friends lives, and enjoy food whose origin we can actually trace.




Thanks to Erin, my wife, for the pictures. Thanks to Paul, my partner in crime. Thanks to Ben Warner, our neighbor, who basically helped us not use hand tools and improvised planning to build this.

why the movement is the people

by austin pfeiffer



Over the weekend I was in D.C. and ate at a spot called Busboys & Poets. The place is a tribute to Langston Hughes and has walls plastered with revolutionaries from Lennon to Marley and Hughes of course. Looking at the walls, standing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial where MLK gave his "I Have A Dream Speech" I was reminded of the deep desire in my heart, not for fame, but just for impact. I insecurely confess a deep desire to flip something back onto its proper axis.

I had a conversation with a friend's dad who is an economist at the famed Brookings Institute. I told him about a campaign I had come across called 10% is Enough, to compel caps on consumer credit products' interest rates. He is a very pro-government, social democrat, so I was surprised when he told me focusing our energies in the midst of these crises ought not be to legislate a nominal interest rate, but to educate people on personal responsibility and of course, true to his ideology, he also suggested deeply that we work to see the regulatory reforms suggested by Frank and Dodds actually be realized. But I am not a political activist, so the first part really brought me back into the sights.

There are sorts of systemic injustices we face and there are systems which exploit us and we blindly submit to them. A few we blindly submit to which I can think of are the credit card debt crisis, corporate farming, and rise of oil prices. Now there are issues of injustice which simply require a fight, like education reform, labor exploitation, health care costs leading to astronomical debt, etc. But do radicals need to be afraid of encouraging personal responsibility in some contexts? By invoking such a mantra are you automatically implying washing our hands of caring for our brothers and sisters, watching out for the collective health of society? Would not a society be bettered by people shown how to fix and ride a bike to avoid gas price hikes, grow food in their yard to avoid buying unhealthy processed foods, and to help someone budget and create a living situation they can afford so they never have to use a credit card and fall into the predatory practices of the American banking system?

So whats the key here? Its the people, its meeting up with your neighbor and teaching him how to budget and not judging his finances. It is sharing a huge garden with your friends, maybe getting some chickens (more to come soon!), giving some of that food away to the neighbors. Maybe it is organizing a community bike ride so people can see what its like to ride on the street in the safety and solidarity of other bikers.

We are hoping to do all these things in the coming months. I have looked far too long at two things, 1. the government to do any of these things for me, and 2. to think being a radical would be sexy and exciting, lacking cost or sacrifice.

laughing and weeping.

by austin pfeiffer

Last night was a pivot point in the life of our community. It may have been the most profound moment we have ever had. I always read and hear stories of the moment a group finds the identity God has for it. We have chased a lot of rabbit trails in our community, talking a big talk about covenants, events, but we have yet to really come together on a mission.

Our friends Abby and Daniel are adopting a little boy named Moses from Ethiopia, but as they approach the end of the process, things have suddenly halted in the region where he lives. We are filled with anger, angst, powerlessness, and sorrow. We organized a fast from sundown on Saturday to sundown on Sunday. People all over participated, not just the people from our community or Redeemer, our church and it was tough. We couldn't coordinate schedules or line things up, it was inconvenient. People had brunches to go to, meals planned, parties, it was not easy, but we had to do it. Moses is waiting in Africa and we found ourselves, not contriving some cute t-shirt to sell or benefit concert, but stopping our lives in their tracks, and fighting for that little guy.

We broke our fast by taking communion at church. Some of us returned to our house to drink some beer, eat food, celebrate breaking our fast and act out the celebration we hope to realize one day when Moses comes home. Our group grew as the evening waned and we sat around a table discussing what God had done in our fasts. People were refreshed by the clarity, empowered by the solidarity we felt in doing it together, and some were simply subdued into a state of prayer.

After dinner we moved into the living room, lit some candles, grabbed a Bible, a tambourine, and a Guira, a percussion instrument used in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. We stomped our feet, we sang Psalm 126 antiphonally, we prayed, we chanted, we yelled, we cried, we laughed, we confessed. We sang out like the soldiers from the movie Glory. We read Ezekial 37 and tried to pretend that maybe, just maybe, God would let us speak life into the dry bones of Moses' adoption.

It changed us, it changed me, we are not trying to build an organization, we want people to come on over, and yell and cry a little, we need some of that in America don't we? And we can pretend it happens in churches, but that's hard...sometimes you just have to finally let it be real, in your home. It was the real thing, a real life revival of spirits. I saw it happen and it was a defining moment. The people who were there will be bonded forever and we will cheer the loudest and cry the hardest when Moses' beautiful face emerges on American soil.

what is sunday night?

Sunday nights are an important part of our community. Above our front door is a sign which reads, "PRIVATE". The sign is a symbol. Of course we have a finite number of people who can live in our community, but that does not mean our community is finite. Sunday nights are an opportunity for our house to be a home for anyone looking to make friends, eat food, and discuss life.

How it will look if you join us:

We gather at 7:30pm and pray for the meal in the kitchen. After we pray, someone will share the topic of discussion of the night and everyone dishes up some food and finds a seat. People chat with each other on the topic at hand for awhile, then we move into a time of prayer.

A few things to keep the peace:

We shoot for a few things when we gather. First, we try to talk about our own opinions as feelings and ask clarifying questions of each other, so we can learn from each other. Arguments and debates have broken out and we don't want that, so the best way to do that is to share our thoughts and try our best to accept other people's. We also end our dinners by saying "peace be with you" to each other.

What you can bring:

You can bring a Bible if you have one and want to, but you will not need one. You can also bring a tasty beverage, wine or lemonade, beer or sweet tea...your choice. Don't worry about food, we provide it every week.

non-conformity

by austin pfeffer



Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. - romans 12:2

Being "counter-cultural" is all the rage these days. The problem is, we inherited a set of non-conforming practices which have now become conformity. In the post-Woodstock years, art has become a commodity. Clothes and music are not just expression, they are profits. So now its acceptable for Indie rock to be a marketable. Somehow bands like the Phoenix, Fleet Foxes, Grizzly Bear, Vampire Weekend, Arcade Fire, are considered "indie rock" even though some of them got heavy playtime during the Super Bowl in car commericals, ads, and game transitions. Tattoos have gone from an act of subversion ("I am thinking of getting one, but not somewhere unreasonable, that I could hide at work") to an act of conformity. I love the following quote from the show HOUSE, when he's interviewing a candidate with a tattoo and the candidate criticizes House for not being accepting of "non-conformity."

"Nonconformity; right... I can't remember the last time I saw a twenty something kid with a tattoo of an Asian letter on his wrist. You are one wicked free thinker! You want to be a rebel; stop being cool. Wear a pocket protector like he does, and get a hair cut. Like the Asian kids that don't leave the library for a twenty hours stretch. They're the ones that don't care what you think." -Dr. Gregory House

I like non-conformity when its sexy, but my wife and some of her friends are just disinterested in culture. I like tattoos and local ag and subverting the need for a phone. Being counter-cultural, non-conformist, subversive, is not to be alternative, its taking a look at culture asking "what is happening?" and doing the opposite. Last night I saw non-conformity at its finest, and it was not sexy.

What is non-conformity on Valentine's Day? Well against my original thinking, Erin and our friend Sally organized us to go to a shelter, in the midst of this freeze-out of the southeast, and hand out hot chocolate to those waiting outside for admittance. I certainly did not lean towards this idea, but they looked at culture "dinner, flowers, gifts, cards" and they suggested the opposite. It was cold, it was not sexy, and it was totally subversive. No card companies made money off us, no florists, no hotels, no restaurants...I learned something, I learned what real subversion is.

the return of clarence

by becca albertson

Readers who have been to this site [expanding albertson's] for awhile will remember our old friend Clarence. I wrote about him, here.

Well I hadn’t seen him in quite some time. He came by asking for money after his apartment burned up sometime last fall… but the Red Cross (I saw on the news) had relocated the fire victims while his apartment was fixed up. And now he’s back home, as I learned the other day.

Monday afternoon the doorbell rang and the dog barked… I looked out the window and saw Mr. Clarence standing there. “Well hello there Clarence! How’s it going?” Not well. I hurt my shoulder. I need more pain meds. “Well Clarence I don’t have any cash. Did you go to the hospital?” Yeah, I was up there last week but I ran out of meds. “They won’t give you any more of the tough stuff Clarence. You probably just need some ibuprofen.” Yeah, so I need to rake your yard so that you can pay me. “Dude. Raking is not good for a hurt shoulder.” What else am I supposed to do? “Yeah, good point. Well, I don’t have any cash… (glance around and check pockets) OH WAIT! Clarence, this $5 bill has been sitting on this table all weekend. I seriously never have cash. It must have been waiting for you.” {starts hysterically laughing} YES M’AM! Waitin’ for ME! “Alrighty then. Here you go. But seriously, I NEVER HAVE CASH and don’t have much extra. Gotta pay for this house and these kids, you know?” Yeah I know. Thanks though. “And Clarence?” Yeah. “GO TO CHURCH. Seriously. You need to go to church, Clarence. You need a church family. They will love you well.” I’m not right with God, M’am. I haven’t been to no church in a long time. “You think that really matters Clarence? Or do you think God loves you no matter what?” Yeah. I need to go to church. “Yeah, you should go up to Goler.” How you know ’bout Goler? that’s a black church. “Oh come on man! I don’t live under a rock! I have friends who go to that church. And they are awesome, and they help people a lot. Go.” {cracking up hysterically again} alright alright! i’ll go back. I been there before. “Alright Clarence. remember I’m not a bank. See you soon buddy!”

I was really glad to see him. There’s this other guy that’s been asking to do yard work, that looks a lot like Clarence, but then he’s been robbing people. I just KNEW that that wasn’t Clarence when I heard about that other guy. But, I knew people would be even more suspicious of Clarence now, and give him less work. Which seems to be the case. So, it was just good to see him and know that the cops hadn’t arrested the wrong guy. Clarence is just really gentle. and he has a sweet spirit. I don’t know why, but I trust him not to mess with me. Not naive… he knows where I live. he could rob us someday. But living in fear and not loving? Not an option.

Anyway, today I’m unloading the kids from the car after picking up Leah from school. Clarence comes RUNNING down our road. Hey! Hey! Wait! don’t unload them kids! “Hey Clarence- what’s up? You okay?” …with a tear running down his face he says Please give me a ride downtown. Please. The one lady who pays me consistently finally has a check… it’s ready… I gotta give it to my landlord. Please. … I pause. I am a small, white girl. with three kids. By myself. STUPID. It would be stupid of me to let this man in my car and drive him somewhere. The cops would say STUPID. But, he was desperate. I know him. I trust him. So I looked at him and said “Clarence. I swear to God if you try to mess with me in that car I will PUNCH YOU IN THE FACE. I’m not kidding. I will take you. But I will kill you if you mess with me. Do you know what Oprah says? don’t do stuff like this. But I love Jesus. I’ll take you if you go to church.”

Well once again he starts hysterically laughing. THANK YOU! THANK YOU! he shouts. And laughs and says why would I mess you up? why’d I do that? I don’t think you would, Clarence, but the world tells me otherwise. Oprah tells me otherwise. Jesus? He tells me to care for you, to help you, to love you, even though it’s “not safe.”
I loaded everyone back up. The kids told Clarence all about their day. Clarence and I talked about Haiti and how sad it all was. We had a delightful time, and got a lot of stares, of course. .

My point in writing about this is to remember. Not to lift myself up as some martyr, because it was a big pain in my ass to do that for Clarence. Was I blessed today because I helped Clarence? DUH! Yes! I was. I write to remind myself that there are people in Haiti who need our help and love, and people right here who need our help and love, too. When we open our hearts to others, we are lit up from the inside. And the world becomes a little brighter, and we become a little less afraid.

the following article originally appeared at albertson debrief, written by becca albertson, who is an advocate in many fashions, of international adoption. becca is a phenomenal writer and mother of three, including her son, sam, who is from ethiopia. becca's self-desribed religious beliefs... "i love jesus. but i'm not a republican. (sorry mom)"

counter culture advocates

by austin pfeiffer

Last night at the Franklin House we had our usual Sunday Dinner and Discussion. The topic was James 3:18, the namesake verse for Peacemaker Revolution. We were discussing how the verse relates to conflicts of our city. We decided first, that Shalom, the idea of holistic peace in a universal sense, was not what was being referred to by making "peace." We saw it as a general aura of reconciliation, but without differences. As we went on we decided peace making is NOT two things.

First, you are not an arbiter, Christians that is, because we are not the judge nor the objective source of reason. Second, we are not an advocate for humans. The counter culture of Christians as makers of peace in society, enters here. Christians advocate God, the creator of the world, and as doers of peace, Christians seek to restore the world to its intended unity. If that is the case, peacemaking has everything to do with advocating God and peace, and does not end by advocating the oppressed or seeking justice.

We talked about some heated decisions by local business people and politicians regarding tax money and investments in the city and our group fell on both sides of every argument. We talked about our next door neighbor, a man suffering from throat cancer and out of work, who was evicted from his apartment. The counter culture here is to engage not just the unjustly evicted, the victim of capitalistic ambition, or the overlooked by government care, but engage the oppressor, the landlord, the investor, the mayor.

Our idea of Christian community centers on the microeconomic, the micropolitical, the neighborhood approach to change. We hope to change our corner of the world, take care of our orphans, widows, slaves, on our street and hope that others will do the same in their nest. If we engage our neighbors, all of them, not as arbiters, not as judges, not as representatives of the disenfranchised, but act as advocates for reconciliation in the cases of economic, social, government injustice, then we can call ourselves...makers, doers, of peace.

rhythms in 2010

Around the Peacemaker Revolution houses we are trying to build rhythm. Rhythm is the cornerstone to collective living, because what we aim for is the community, not the individual. It makes it tough, we live in a generation of people who are only willing to commit when they've explored their individual options. We're looking for a covenant living where we aim to commit, regardless of externalities, to coexist with intention. So this year, we have a few things we're putting into a rhythm and want to serve up to you.

Dinner & Discussion, the proverbial front door to our community, will continue on Sunday nights. We meet at the Franklin House and sit down for dinner at 7:30pm. We always eat a simple, vegetarian meal to commune with those less fortunate than us and we discuss something relevant between our city and Christianity. This spring we'll be talking about Peacemakers and the Bible, then we'll move on to discuss monasticism in history and in our current, urban, climate.

Monastic Monday, a time of contemplative prayer at the Grace House. Paul Smith describes its purpose as a time not where we worship God with words or pray with requests, but to spend time in silence and reflection. It is every Monday night at 10pm.

Critical Mass, will start up again in March. We'll be gathering people downtown on a Friday evening each month to ride around downtown, creating a bike culture in our city, finding strength in numbers, and signing people up for Team Wonderbike, New Belgium Brewery's initiative to get more people out of their cars and onto their bikes.

A few other things to look for in the spring are the resurrection of our community garden, opportunities with Three Pints Brewing Co., and workshops on New Monastacism and Bi-Vocational Missions.

Much love friends, thanks for a great start to our community in 2009, we look forward to building something more solid in 2010.

-austin