Thoughts from the Epiphany Explorations

Who would ever want to run to be president, anyway??? At home we have rabbit ears so that we get a total of, probably, six channels - enough to give us news, but, after the news, we turn off the TV - So, being in this hotel where there’s a CNN station, we’re seeing additional news reports about the primaries, the caucuses, and debates. And not only seeing them one time, but any time you turn on the news, there’s something more about it. The money, energy, time, endurance of personal slander, and truth twisting that goes into all of this - truly, who would EVER want to run for the presidency? How much truth – how much "justice" is there involved in the whole process?

Needless to say, we have talked a lot about the Conference, the speakers, their messages and how fortunate we feel to have been a part of this incredible event. The theme of JUSTICE ran through the words that were spoken by all of the presenters. And what can be more important in our global community today? We were so impressed by the first speaker, Monica Melanchthon, a woman from India with whom we were unfamiliar. She is a professor at a Lutheran Theological College. (She also delivered the sermon at the second service on Sunday morning), and she spoke eloquently about the cast system that still exists in her country. She herself started life as a "dalit" - a person of the lowest cast, one of those who cleaned the streets, did all of the most difficult work. The dalits were considered to be unclean, therefore, all of society looked down on them - they are still treated with total lack of respect, lack of dignity, lacking the personal identity that tells them they have anything to hope for. This is not for any other reason than the fact of their birth into this place in the world and this part of the cast system. How can we find "justice" in this? In conversation with Ms. Melanchthon, we expressed that we see similarities with conditions in our own community, and in nearly every part of the world.

The three internationally recognized theologians who spoke several times each, Marcus Borg, John Dominic Crossan, and Miriam Therese Winter, centered their messages, in the order as listed: Jesus; Paul; and women in the Bible. (Winter gave the sermon at the first service on Sunday.) We can’t possibly summarize all of the inspiration they gave us and the rest of the attendees. But just briefly, Borg explored the message of the life of Jesus - the reaching out to the poor, the forgotten - sounds like the cast system of India to us. Jesus, the personage of God whom we call our leader and teacher, reached out to these people: JUSTICE - love one another, no matter who they are, no matter what their place in the system, and be aware that there are so many who need a hand up, even today - they need the same sort of encouragement our teacher would give them.

Crossan spoke about Paul - explaining that there are 13 books attributed to Paul in the New Testament, however, only seven can absolutely be said to have been penned by him. There are two other categories of Pauline letters: those that have less of the authentic Paul; and finally, those that are very unlike the authentic Paul. And Paul, the Pharisee turned follower of Jesus, the true Paul, was intensely concerned with justice. One example is that he had great words of appreciation for the women in the role of leadership in the church - this is very unlike the Paul of the last collection of books attributed to him. Crossan encouraged us to ponder, "...how could God establish global justice for the future and ignore global injustice in the past?" (Quoted from his lecture and his book, GOD & EMPIRE.)

And Winter also, in a mix of humor and intensity, spoke of all the women in the Bible who are overlooked - this book speaks of the men of the era, but the women are looked at and treated very much in the same way as the dalits of India. She quoted many examples of women who made great contributions to life, in the Hebrew Testament and in the Christian, or New Testament as well. Her "JUSTICE" issue was focused on gender, and was clear for those of us listening: this is a real issue that was present in Biblical times and has carried over into our views still in place today.

In our series, "Living the Questions," we have had the opportunity to hear both Borg and Crossan speak their truths. So, for us, to have the chance to hear them expand on their philosophies, has been very exciting. A couple of years ago, we attended two weeks of summer school at the Vancouver School of Theology. In that class we read about a philosopher/sociologist, Kohlberg, who wrote about moral values. The highest moral value: JUSTICE.