Seizing Our Contexts

All of the contexts within which each of us dwell present opportunities for addressing issues of peace, justice, and nonviolence.  The challenges before us in seizing these opportunities are: 1) COURAGE to seize the context;  2) DESIGNING the actions; 3) UNITING the designs with biblical witness. Certainly there are risks and we are faced with counting the costs.  Yet, our contexts present vibrant opportunities to give witness and at least humbly do what may be pleasing to God.

As an example, I will share how the staff at Sky Ranch Lutheran Camp north of Rocky Mountain National Park seized the context to give witness.  

CABIN NAMES: Each cabin was named after persons who gave Christian witness.  On the wall was a description of the person and what they did with their lives.  All were committed to Christ and nonviolence: Ann Hutchinson, Desmond Tutu, Lech Walesa, Mothers of Sorrow and Hope, Martin Luther King, Jr.,  Mother Teresa, Dorothy Day, and others. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was honored as a Lutheran pacifist at heart.  Campers learned their stories.

HUNGER MEAL: The Wednesday supper of each week was dedicated to a world hunger meal.  Relying on data from a world hunger organization, campers and staff were divided by percentages of the global family into groups representing first, second, and third world. Representative foods were served to each group.  Biblical texts were read as well as poems and stories shared during the meal.  Dances and dramas gave texture, and music was played such as "Luka", "When the Children Cry", "What Good Am I?", "Another Day in Paradise", and "The Great American Novel".  Following the meal we processed the event and came up with ideas about what we could do in our communities and world to address hunger issues.

GUN GAME: Remember "capture the flag"?  We played it in three phases: 1) Regular, straight up capture the flag; 2) Each side given an assortment of squirt guns with the instructions that if you are squirted in the head and chest you are out of the game, or if you are squirted in the arm you cannot use that arm; 3) At the flip of a coin, the winner is given the option of having his side have all the squirt guns or none,. If you choose to not have the guns they are given to the other side.  At the conclusion of the game we processed the phases.  Nearly always, the first phase was "the most fun, energetic, we got along."  The second phase aroused comments like "we got angry and was less fun."  The third phase responses were like "we hated each other, no fun."  The campers were asked what it would be like if when you arrived at camp you were given a loaded Uzzi or .357 magnum pistol.  The responses were fearful and "We would kill each other", "This wouldn't be camp."  Then the campers were asked if they could imagine Jesus walking into camp carrying an AK-47, .357 Magnum, or Uzzi?  The overwhelming response was "No!" This game challenged campers, sponsors, pastors to engage the reality of gun violence.

BARNABUS:  Years ago, Sky Ranch transported campers up the mountain from Ft. Collins in "Barnabus".  At camp,  Barnabus sat empty and out of commission for years.  So, we decided to make it a program venue.  Removing the seats, painting the inside and outside with "radical" thought-provoking statements, we turned it into a homeless shelter.  Sleeping, singing, Bible study, story-telling, were all part of the experience.  At least once the bus was "raided" by a band of guerrillas.  The point was to use simulation to converse about homelessness, powerlessness, hunger and injustice.

NUCLEAR BLAST:  Using Helen Caldicott's book on nuclear war describing the effects of a nuclear blast upon a city and people, we simulated the effects for those at ground zero, one mile, two miles, and outward.  This led to conversation about war and peace.  

B-17: In about 1946, a B-17 bomber while on a training flight carrying a crew of about eight, crashed into Stormy Mountain, killing all aboard.  We hiked up to the site and had a Bible study on war, peace, and nonviolence.

We "seized the context" of Sky Ranch to teach and experience ways to peace and justice.  

The question for all of us today is: How can we "seize the contexts" of our lives, our places of work, our communities, our congregations, our homes, to further the ways of peace, justice, and nonviolence?  My guess is that there are ways if we are prayerfully creative, and have the COURAGE to DESIGN and UNITE with Holy Scripture experiences to teach and empower.

Seize the context!

Peace!