Micah Center

Christians in the Holy Land

2010-12-01T16:36:00.000-08:00

Our fourth in a series of Just Lectures that take a look at how justice and the Christian faith can and do intersect. Please join us on Tuesday, December 7th, to listen to Marlin and Sally Vis discuss their work in Palestine. For more information on them and what they are up to these days visit

http://www.lightfortheworld.com

Join the Justice Conversation.

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On Tuesday, December 7th, join other Christians as we continue paging through the Scriptures to see what they have to say about justice. Our conversation will begin at 8:15pm in the lounge of Hope Reformed Church. To catch up, page through this blog. Our Bible Study will follow the Just Lecture, "Christians in the Holy Land" by Marlin and Sally Vis.

Finding Justice in the Bible - Part 7

2010-12-01T16:33:00.001-08:00

They have also been referred to as retributive justice and distributive justice. The first deals with the punishment of crimes and holding people accountable for their sins. The second deals with the ordering of society in a way that provides for the needs of the people. Both types of justice are covered in God’s law.

LEGAL JUSTICE

Witness Requirements – A single witness shall not suffice to convict a person of any crime or wrongdoing in connection with any offense that may be committed. Only on the evidence of two or three witnesses shall a charge be sustained. – Deuteronomy 19:15

Cities of Refuge – “You shall select cities to be cities of refuge for you, so that a slayer who kills a person without intent may flee there. The cities shall be for you a refuge from the avenger, so that the slayer may not die until there is a trial before the congregation. – Numbers 35:9-12

Tempered Response – “If any harm follows, then you shall give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.” Exodus 21:23-25

ECONOMIC JUSTICE

Tithe – “Every third year you shall bring out the full tithe of your produce for that year, and store it within your towns; the Levites…resident aliens, orphans and widows…may come and eat their fill.” Deut. 14:28-29

Gleaning – When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest…you shall leave them for the poor and the alien: I am the Lord your God. – Leviticus 19:9-10, Deut. 24:21-22

Sabbath – If a member of your community, whether a Hebrew man or Hebrew woman, is sold to you and works for you six years, in the seventh year you shall set that person free…you shall not send him out empty-handed. – Deut: 15:12-18, see Exodus 20:8-11

Jubilee – And you shall hallow the fiftieth year and you shall proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you: you shall return, every one of you, to your property and every one of you to your family. – Lev. 25:10

“Vengence is mine,” says the Lord. God knew that his people were prone to violence; a violence that desecrated the image in which humanity was made (remember Genesis 6:11, 9:6). So, God instituted laws of justice that could temper humanity’s natural, violent response so that justice could be done. Comparatively, Israel’s laws were merciful than many of the surrounding cultures. Again, the reason is that each human being is made in the image of God and it would be unjust to dismiss that life based on false witness or in the heat of revenge.

“Justice, and only justice, you shall pursue, so that you may live and occupy the land that the Lord your God is giving you.” God new that his people were prone to be hard-hearted and tight-fisted (see Deut. 15:7ff). So, God instituted laws of justice that would call for regular and generous distribution of grain and land. No man or woman, because they were made in God’s image, was to be deserted to a life of slavery. They had been called to co-create with God, to bring order and beauty to the world. It was not a vocation that could be carried out in slavery. God’s laws of economic justice ensured that no one would be stuck in a cycle of poverty and no generation would suffer injustice without relief.

The Lord would set up judges over the land to maintain these rituals. Israel would be unique in this way as well, but not for long. Their insecurity, hard-heartedness, and tight-fistedness would lead them down a different path. Instead of pursuing justice and only justice, they would pursue the path of the other nations. God would not be happy about it.

Finding Justice in the Bible - Part 6

2010-12-01T16:31:00.001-08:00

Walter Brueggemann writes in his book THE PROPHETIC IMAGINATION, “Israel can only be understood in terms of the new call of God and his assertion of an alternative social reality.” The key word in that sentence is alternative. In Biblical terms we are talking about being holy, set apart, or different. The whole story revolves around that idea. If we forget that Israel was meant to be an alternative social reality we are also in danger of forgetting that God is alternative divine reality. It goes, almost without saying, that the way the people viewed their God affected they way they lived with one another. Another way to say this is that idolatry often led to injustice. The prophets were sent by God to address both. Their common theme placed worship and sacrifice as a secondary notion to justice.

Has the Lord as great delight in brunt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Surely, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of the rams. – I Samuel 15:22

What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?...I have had enough of burnt offerings or rams and the fat of fed beasts…even though you make many prayers I will not listen for your hands are full of blood…learn to do good, seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow. – Isaiah 1:10-17

Why do we fast, but you do not see?...Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? – Isaiah 58

Add you burnt offerings to your sacrifices, and eat the flesh. For in the day that I brought your ancestors out of Egypt, I did not speak to them or command them concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. – Jeremiah 7:21-22

For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. – Hosea 6:6

I hate, I despise your festivals, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies…Take away from me the noise of your songs…But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. – Amos 5:21-24

Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? He has told you, O mortal, what is good: do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God. – Micah 6:6-8

These are not all the verses in which you will find the prophets reminding Israel of their alternative-ness, but they are enough to make the point. That is, when the prophets looked at the surrounding cultures and countries, they saw a worship that led to society that was oppressive and exploitative. The king prospered while the rest of the citizens slaved away. Because the view of the gods rooted this social reality in created order there was little recourse to rebel or critique. Worship was only a means of appeasing the gods and maintaining the established order. Chaos, even a revolt by the overworked masses, would have been seen as punishment by the gods. Israel’s prophets would not tolerate such an order.

When Israel laid out many sacrifices or weighed themselves down in fasting or ashes, but did not maintain justice they imagine their God to be like the others. It is a seductive notion, after all. Why should God be concerned with my social dealings as long as I continue to offer what is due him; the fat of the calf, the blood offering, a chorus of music, or fervent prayer? Shouldn’t God be happy to look the other way as long as I flood his nose with the sweet fragrance of sacrifice? “No!” say the prophets, “You have turned the Lord into an idol.” The Israelites may not have been bowing down before the other gods (though often they were), but they had been assuming their God offered no alternative to the other gods. Their idolatry led to injustice.

The prophets make clear that God set Israel apart not so that there would be a people to call his own, but so that there would be a people who could show the world an alternative social reality, a holy way of life. Central to that way of life is not pious worship, but justice. In contrast to exploitation and oppression, Israel would be a land off order and beauty as all people, male and female, joined with God in creating. The prophets did not tolerate idolatry because they knew all too well that false worship led to injustice. They knew that their God was the God of justice and worshipping that God in heaven led to an alternative, social reality on earth. While the prophets articulated this message, it was the law that made it plain.

Finding Justice in the Bible - Part 5

2010-12-01T16:29:00.002-08:00

What I’ve been trying to do in the first few posts is form a Biblical notion of justice that is rooted in the image of God. Justice, so far, is rooted in what it means for us to be human and how we honor that humanity. First and foremost, justice acknowledges that everyone, male and female, is made in the image of God. Second, the image of God is a vocation; it is a calling to join with God in creating order and beauty in the world. Justice makes room for everyone to express their creative talents and desires freely in the world because God has invited us into that freedom. To be clear, injustice is anything that denies someone is made in God’s image. That denial often takes on various forms of slavery (chains, debt, addiction, etc.) or fails to draw out of people the creative abilities that God has given them (poor education, lack of basic needs, etc.). If this tree of justice is rooted in humanity, we also find that it reaches to the heavens.

Psalm 82 begins like this: God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment: “How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Give justice to the weak and the orphan; maintain the right of the lowly and destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”

This is a powerful picture and a clarion call for justice. Like the surrounding cultures, this Psalm pictures the gods of the various nations convening for one reason or another. Like the surrounding cultures, the Hebrew Bible imagines its God to be the leader of the rest. Unlike the surrounding cultures, the concern is not with the failure of humanity to serve the gods. Rather, God bemoans the failure of the gods to serve humanity; to honor the image in which they have been made. In particular, the weak, the orphan, the lowly, the destitute, and the needy have been slighted by the gods. The gods have failed to judge justly, to give justice, to maintain rights, to rescue, and to deliver those who have been dishonored. As a result, God has been dishonored.

The picture is vivid for us now. When humans fall into desperate or lowly situations, justice demands that they not be allowed to stay there. As today, the world can be cruel especially to those who have fallen on hard times. Whether because of poor decisions or bad luck, there are always those who will have labels piled on top of them to add to their burdens. The gods see no reason to ease their needs because there seems to be little value with them and little that they can offer in return. “Not so!” says God, “Buried underneath all those labels and all those burdens is an image, my image. Do not withhold justice. Do not deny them their freedom to create with me.”

Once again, God is not like the other gods. The gods have no use for those who have fallen into poverty, who come to the table without great intellect or affluence. They have no honor in the gods’ eyes. In fact, the gods would rather honor the wicked because at least they are able to offer great sacrifices and wealth. God shows great concern at this state of affairs. His concern is for justice. That concern stems from the fact that some people are being denied their vocation to create freely in God’s world. God has gathered the gods to condemn their cold-heartedness and stir up their compassion. This would not be the last time that God calls for justice.

Echoing this heavenly scene of the Psalms, are the earthly voices of the prophets crying out before the kings and priests of the day. We will listen to their common refrain in the next post. It is my hope that you will see justice, not as a secondary notion, but as the primary desire of God’s suffering heart. God will not tolerate injustice and no ritual of worship is going to appease him. This is a crucial point to grasp and the prophets make it abundantly clear.

Finding Justice in the Bible - Part 4

2010-12-01T16:29:00.001-08:00

As a way to conclude the previous post and to begin this one, I’d like to clarify the role of the earth in all of this. Again, when compared to surrounding creation stories the creation receives a much more prominent role. It is not an afterthought. In fact, with such detail through every day of creation it’s almost as if a celebration is going on. Of course, God’s creative work culminates in the creation of humanity after which God looks at the whole thing and considers it “very good.” God loves the world we might say at this point. So, while the sun and stars, fields and mountains, fish and cattle are all creatures, they are very good creatures whom God cherishes all of which God has given to humanity. The question is, for what?

“The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it.” That’s a phrase we understand well. But we find other references to the earth as the foundations of a building and as a footstool for God’s throne. In Isaiah 24:18 we read, “For the windows of heaven are opened, and the foundations of the earth tremble.” In this passage, the earth serves as the foundation for God’s creation and built on top of that foundation is heaven. In a sense, the Hebrew Bible views creation as a building with heaven and earth serving as a house for God. In Isaiah 66:1 we find the Lord saying, “Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool.” From there God goes on to describe the kind of worship that is to take place in his “house.” We often think of God’s house as a building, but the Hebrew Bible looks at the whole of the heavens and the earth as God’s sanctuary. What does that mean for how we worship the Lord?

When God placed humanity on the earth he told them to “be fruitful and multiply” and to “fill the earth and subdue it” and to “have dominion.” In other words, it might mean that we worship the Lord by filling and decorating his house. These days most people think of worship as a set of rituals that take place within a special building. I’m suggesting that we consider worship to be more earthy, that building the building is worship, that paving roads, doing art, making music, is worship. I’m suggesting that anything we do in the sanctuary of the earth is meant to be worship. God has invited us into his house and asked us to make it our home, to honor him by creating things for ourselves. What’s most striking about this is that God is the ultimate in hospitality. At this point in the story God has not yet prescribed anything for humans (aside from the fruit) except to create. We find examples of this in the next chapters.

In chapter 4, Able keeps sheep and Cain tills the ground. Later in that same chapter Cain builds a city. Later still, Jabal and his ancestors live in tents and keep livestock, Jubal makes music with the lyre and pipe (apparently creating the instruments as well), and Tubal-Cain makes all kinds of bronze and iron tools. Later in Genesis 9, we find that Noah was a man of the soil and was the first to plant a vineyard. Then, in Genesis 10, vv. 8-11, highlight Nimrod who was a mighty warrior and hunter who founded kingdoms in Babel and founded the great city of Ninevah in Assyria. All of this work done by these various humans is good and creative work, faithful to the reason that God put us here. It is not something done in addition to worship. These trades are the very acts of worship in the world. There is a problem, however.

Eventually Cain kills Abel. In Genesis 6, we find that violence has erupted on the earth. Noah will get drunk on his own wine. Nimrod’s Babel will build a tower to make a name for themselves, Ninevah will be threatened by Jonah, and eventually Babylon and Assyria will over take the tribes of Israel. The picture is quite clear already in the first few chapters of the Hebrew Bible. For all of the good that humans are doing, they cannot escape the fall. All of their creative work is tarnished by destruction. Humans have corrupted the earth with violence. The warning of Genesis 9 is not meant to be a justification for capital punishment, but a statement against violence in the first place. To be clear, Genesis 9:6 is a response to Genesis 6:11. God is looking for co-creators, not co-destroyers. While the gods of other cultures were violent in their creation and toward one another, to live in the image of God means to be non-violent creators as God was when he created the heavens and the earth. God helps us to that end.

This is where the Spirit of God enters the equation. That phrase, “Spirit of God,” is found only twice in the first 5 book of the Bible. The first is right before God creates the earth. The second is just before the creation of the tent of meeting in Exodus 31. This creation could not be corrupted by the fall, it could not be tarnished by violence. So God fills two men, Bezalel and Oholiab, with the Spirit of God, “with ability, intelligence, and knowledge in every kind of craft, to devise artistic designs, to work in gold, silver, and bronze, in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, in every kind of craft.” Notice how “earthy” the work of God’s Spirit is here. The Spirit of God is filling these two men so that they might build and craft. The Spirit of God is equipping them to do work. This will be important when we begin discussing justice from a New Testament perspective.

For now we can say that all people, male and female, are made in the image of God. That image has a lot to do with joining the creative process that God began when he laid the foundation of the earth. In other words, God has called all of us to use our talents to bring order and beauty to the world. A just world is one in which everyone is afforded that dignity. When some people are made to be slaves, exploited for cheap labor, or denied the right to work then the image of God has been denied in them. This is the way of the pagan gods who only want to be fed, but it not the way of the Hebrew God who has given us freedom to build as we see fit. Injustice is anything that prevents someone from joining in the creative process that God began in the beginning. Injustice is something that God and the Hebrew prophets railed against. We’ll listen to them next.

Finding Justice in the Bible - Part 3

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Let me preface what follows by acknowledging that the uniqueness of the Hebrew creation story is not everywhere agreed upon. There are those who see very little that is truly unique when compared to the surrounding creation stories. Some of this is covered in THE LIBERATING IMAGE and I don’t feel the need to cover it here. It’s my impression that even a simple reading of the stories offers some obvious differences that reveal a different view of God, humanity and the world. Walter Brueggeman has written in his book THE PROPHETIC IMAGINATION that “we are indeed made in the image of some God. And perhaps we have no more important theological investigation than to discern in whose image we have been made.” Again, it seems clear to me that the Hebrew creation story offers a unique perspective on the character of God, the vocation of humanity, and the place of creation.

First, there are obvious differences in the character of God as we explore Genesis 1 and even the following chapters. The first thing to note is that, while God does order the chaos, God creates out of nothing. There is no violent combat, no spilling of blood that results in the formations of humanity. It seems that God is enjoying this task of creation and its result, commenting again and again how good it seems to be. Perhaps one way to say this is that the God of the Hebrew story seems self-giving, while the gods of competing stories come across very self-centered. Drawing the story out a little further illustrates the point.

In Genesis 6, humanity is making their fair share of noise. In fact, they are violent and corrupt in all their ways. As opposed to the other creation stories in which the gods become annoyed, the God of the Hebrew Bible is grieved; sorry that he had made creation in the first place. In other words, God’s motivation for sending the flood is different. In the Hebrew Bible, God is a suffering god verses the vindictive gods of the other stories. The method of creation (out of nothing) and the reason for flooding it (eruption of violence) portray God as one who is opposed to death and destruction and resorts to the flood only out of deep pain and loss; grieving the corruption of humanity whom he has invited to join him creating the world. That point brings us to the next unique aspect of the Hebrew story.

Humanity is seen in a much greater light and, therefore, held to a much higher standard in the Hebrew story. Rather than being made after the lesser gods to slave over the structures of civilization, they are made a little lower than the gods and invited to join in creating the structures of civilization. This is true of male and female alike. While it may be valid to point to Genesis as a model for relationships, when comparing it with surrounding cultures, the main point seems to be to emphasize the equal place of the female gender. Any distinction or subservience seems to be the result of the fall that doesn’t come until chapter 3. The Hebrew creation story begins with a much more democratic and gender-equal perspective. That is, the image of God is found, not just in the king nor simply in men, but in all people, male and female. That same story moves forward with humanity playing a much more prominent role relative to the other myths.

In the creation stories of surrounding cultures, civilization is passed down to humanity by the gods and through the king. It is a way of keeping the humans in check and making sure they follow through on their task of keeping the gods fed. In contrast, civilization in the Hebrew story is never prescribed and always attributed to different individuals. The first city, arts and crafts, agriculture and animals, music, the first vineyard are all “discovered” in the first eleven chapters of Genesis. None of them are commanded by God. All of them come across as an expression of the creative work of those creatures whom God has set apart to “be fruitful and multiply” and to “subdue the earth.” In other words, the civilizations that humans build on top of the foundation that is the earth are actually a faithful response to God’s invitation and concrete expressions of what it means to live in the image of God. This final idea will be especially helpful in forming a definition of justice. We can pursue this further in the next post.

Health Care for All

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Next Tuesday, November 2nd, Dr. John Cavacece and Dr. David Van Dyke, will lead the conversation on "the Christian thing to do" when it comes to health care. This event is free and open to the public. It will begin at 7pm.

Following the event, Pastor Peter TeWinkle will continue a conversation on "Finding Justice in the Bible" from 8:15-9:00pm.

Finding Justice in the Bible - Part 2

2010-10-27T10:25:00.001-07:00

The creation story in the Hebrew Bible is not the only creation story that history has passed down to us. That fact is often overlooked or merely goes unnoticed. A simple search shows that Israel wasn’t the only nation to consider how the world began and their distinctive place in that world. Egypt, Assyria, Babylon and others all recorded their own views about the foundation of the earth. Many of them served to solidify current social practices in the creation of the world. It was done as if to say, “We are the way we are because this is the way our god created things to be.” If you’re a slave, it’s because that’s the way the gods intended it to be. If you’re the king, it’s because that’s the way the gods intended it to be. If my nations overtakes yours, it’s because my god is superior to yours and has ordained that we should be superior to you. Many of the creation stories of surrounding nations offer a decidedly different view of things than does the Hebrew creation story.

In reading THE LIBERATING IMAGE by J. Richard Middleton, competing stories such as the “Atrahasis Epic,” “Enki,” and “Ninmah,” were mentioned as some of the more well-known of the day. These three share a similar plot. A brief and simplified summary would go something like this: The greater gods exist together in various ways. Feeling the need to have someone else serve their needs, they create lesser gods to do the manual labor of maintain irrigation, cultivating crops, and building on the earth. Much of this labor is meant to satisfy the needs of the greater gods for food. Eventually, the lesser gods go on strike. Out of the conflict, the blood of one of the lesser gods is spilled resulting in the creation of humanity. However, it’s not long after their creation that the gods are annoyed at the prevalence and noise of the humans. They decide to do away with them.

Much can be said about the character of the gods in this story and the reason for being that is ascribed to humanity. Undoubtedly, the small nation of Israel would have been aware of these surrounding stories to one degree or another. It could be that that myth with which they were most familiar was the “Enuma Elish.” This was the creation story of Babylon, the nation in which some of the tribes of Israel would find themselves in exile. Some scholars suggest that the Hebrew people would have become very familiar with this creation story and would have found it to be a story that justified their exile and Babylon’s right to rule over them. It is also suggested that the Hebrew creation story was finalized in direct protest to those very ideas. Babylon’s creation story can be summarized as follows.

Apsu and Tiamat, order and chaos, male and female, are present together in the beginning. Together they create a new generation of gods; children so to speak. In this case, it is these younger gods who become rambunctious and annoy their “parents.” Apsu and Tiamat plan to do away with their offspring, but word gets back to one of the younger gods. They go on the offensive and kill their father before he can carry out his plan. This leave Tiamat to exact revenge for the slaying. Out of the ranks comes Marduk (god of Babylon) to say that if the other gods will make him supreme over the rest, he will certainly slay Tiamat. They agree. He does. Ruling over Tiamat (chaos), the female god, Marduk slices her open and stretches out her skin to make the earth. Humanity is born out of the blood of another slain god on the opposing side of the conflict. So, the world begins with divine violence.

Clearly, these stories are meant to assert one nation’s prominence over the rest and they are meant to root that superiority in the foundation of the world. Other implications include that creation is the result of violent conflict and that women are to be associated with chaos and brought to order by men. It is also true that we can see how surrounding nations also viewed humanity as made in the image of the gods. In these instances, humanity serves as a replacement for the lesser gods. In other words, humanity exists as laborers for the gods and the satisfaction of their pleasures. Or, as in the latter story, are created out of the opposition and can be viewed as rebellious.

Alongside these stories, we find examples in art and other aspects of civilization that reveal how the image of God was used. In its simplest form, to be made in the image of a god means to be a copy of that god. That could mean lesser gods of labor or the supreme god who rules heaven and earth. Many of the surrounding nations attributed that latter privilege solely to their kings. To be made in the image of a god would solidify the kings right to rule and the necessity to obey his every word and move. He, and it was always he, spoke the very words of god. An affront to the king was seen as an affront to the gods or, more specifically, to the supreme god. When we consider these competing myths and the illustrations from civilization, we find the Hebrew creation story to be a very compelling alternative to the surrounding myths. It is decidedly different. To read how, you’ll have to go to the next post.

Advocacy Groups meet Tuesday, October 19th.

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We're looking forward to another gathering of The Micah Center's Advocacy Groups. Remember that there is a light meal beginning at 5:40pm. A video on restorative justice will be shown at 6pm and the groups will be meeting at 7pm.

One note: Finding Justice in the Bible will not be meeting because the leader has an incredibly long, incredibly boring church meeting to attend. Our apologies for the inconvenience.

Finding Justice in the Bible

2010-10-18T13:09:00.000-07:00

Recently, we began a conversation at Hope Reformed Church regarding justice. Turning through the pages of the Hebrew Bible and New Testament, we sought to find a definition of justice that was theological rather ideological; a definition that was faithful to God's hope for the world. As a pastor I learned a lot in the time it took to study and put the outlines together. These posts will serve not only as a reference for the congregation, but as a reference for me. I hope to summarize over various posts what was covered in the class. The Bible was my main source, but here are some others that were especially helpful:

Old Testament - THE LIBERATING IMAGE, by J. Richard Middleton; THE PROPHETS, by Abraham J. Heschel; THE PROPHETIC IMAGINATION, by Walter Brueggemann.

New Testament - ENGAGING THE POWERS, by Walter Wink; THE WORD ON THE STREET, by Stanley Saunders & Charles Campbell; CALVIN'S FIRST CATECHISM, by I. John Hesselink; THE UNAFFORDABLE NATION, by Jeffrey D. Jones

It's always helpful to begin any conversation about "what the Bible says about..." at the beginning of the Bible. The conversation concerning justice is no different. In fact, much of what the Bible means about justice is rooted in creation and, more specifically, in the image of God. At Genesis 1:26-28, we find God saying, "‘Let us make humankind in our image…So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said, ‘Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion.’ Whatever the image of God is, it is applied only to human beings in a way that sets them apart from the rest of creation. There are very few references in the rest of the Hebrew Bible that offer much more help to understanding what God means and how it informs justice.

The next reference is in Genesis 5:1-2 where the descendants of Adam are being introduced. “When God created humankind, he made them in the likeness of God. Male and female he created them, and he blessed them.” We find repeated here a connection of the image to “male and female.” It could be said that the image has something to do with the interaction of both genders (more on this later). A further reference is found in Genesis 9:6-7, “Whoever sheds the blood of a human, by a human shall that person’s blood be shed; for in his own image God made humankind. And you, be fruitful and multiply, abound on the earth and multiply in it.” As in Genesis 1, this passage highlights God’s command to “be fruitful and multiply,” offering further clues as to what it might mean to say that humans are made in the image of God. The context of this verse is important in understanding more of its meaning, but we’ll return to that later as well.

Another reference in the Hebrew Bible is found in Psalm 8 where the Psalmists speaks of God making humanity “a little lower than the gods,” crowning them with “glory and honor,” and giving them “dominion.” We find here a very high view of humanity and, as in Genesis 1, the notion that God has given humans dominion over the animals of the land and sea. So, from these few references we have some clues as to what it means to be made in the image of God. First, it is somehow connected to “male and female.” Second, the image of God is related to the command “be fruitful and multiply.” Finally, the image of God sets humanity apart from creation and gives them “dominion.” The Christian tradition has done much with the image of God, but not all of it has been helpful.

More often than not, the image of God has been taken to mean that we share some sort of substance or inner quality with God. Whether it be conscience, reason, immortality, or a soul, many Christians have offered this possibility. St. Augustine, for example, considered God in Trinitarian form and related the human capacities for memory, intellect, and will to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Helpful as these ideas are, many of them are overly influenced by philosophy and take little consideration of the Bible itself. Many of them also neglect the role that our bodies play in the image of God. Beginning with the Reformation, some theologians began considering the image as human behavior or as our capacity for relationship. Still, while more faithful to our bodies, they still lack connection to the creation story itself.

In his book THE LIBERATING IMAGE, J. Richard Middleton, defines the image of God as designating “the royal office or calling of human beings as God’s representatives and agents in the world, granted authorized power to share in God’s rule or administration of the earth’s resources and creatures.” In other words, the image of God has to do with our function here on earth, the reason that God has placed us in this creation. If God created the world by ordering the chaos and bringing forth beauty on the earth, we are called to join him by continuing that creation. It turns out that God has put us here, “male and female”, to act as his representatives by “being fruitful and multiplying” in the earth, to have “dominion” by bringing order and beauty to the earth. When compared with competing notions of humanity’s place in the world it turns out to be a revolutionary revelation of justice. But that’s for another post.

Finding Justice in the Bible

2010-09-28T07:11:00.000-07:00

Some members of The Micah Center have requested that this series on justice and the Bible be moved to a time that allows more people to attend. So, we're going to try to oblige this next month.

"Finding Justice in the Bible" will meet on Tuesday, October 5th at 8pm. The topic will be "Justice and Creation."

That's AFTER the lecture by Kim Bobo entitled, "Wage Theft in America," which will begin at 7pm.

Wolterstorff Lecture Online.

2010-09-23T14:23:00.001-07:00

If you missed Nicholas Wolterstorff's lecture, "The Moral Significance of Poverty" or would like to hear it again. You can find it on Hope Reformed Church's website.

Advocacy Groups meet Tuesday, September 21st.

2010-09-17T10:11:00.000-07:00

5:40pm - Light Meal
6:00pm - Advocacy Group Introductions
7:00pm - First Meeting

International Justice
1. Learn about international justice issues in Latin America, Asia, Europe, and Africa, with a special
focus on Honduras and the work of the Association for a more Just Society (AJS). AJS works
include land rights, labor rights, gang violence, methodology, etc. . .
2. Educate others about international injustice and the role of Christians in addressing these issues.
3. Advocate for international social justice and get connected to other advocacy networks.
(Goal: three campaigns a year)
4. Participate in events like: Just Ride or Just Run which supports justice ministries internationally. (Goal: two events a year)

Finding Justice in the Bible
1. Give Christians a basic understanding
of the role that justice plays in the Bible.
2. Provide Christians with the tools they
need to justify justice as a mandatory
practice of the Christian life.

Money and Democracy
1. Study the issue of corporate influence in politics and
disseminate the study results.
2. Promote ways to reduce the lobbyist influence over laws.
3. Join an organized effort to pass laws limiting corporate
influence in the elections.
The Micah Center Advocacy Groups
Tentative Objectives for 2010-2011

Restorative Justice
1. Promote understanding of restorative
justice concepts and developments
through presentations to churches and
other institutions.
2. Join Campaign For Justice in promoting
public defense reform.
3. Work for legislative approval of bills to
compensate those wrongly incarcerated.
4. Join Partners In Crisis as they seek
mechanisms that reduce over-reliance
on the criminal justice system as a
response to mental illness and
emotional disorders while preserving the
well-being and safety of the public.

Poverty/Hunger
1. Promote Bread For the World annual
Offering of Letters campaign among area
churches.
2. Contact local congregations to determine
their involvement in social justice and invite
them to participate in the Micah Center.
3. Visit local agencies identify their needs and
learn what the Micah Centerʼs advocacy
efforts could do to help them.
4.Sponsor at least one poverty simulation.

Health Care
1. Study the recently passed national
health care bill.
2. Identify changes/additions/deletions that
should be made to the health care bill.
3. Print the health care advocacy groupʼs
findings.
4. Make presentations in churches and
other institutions.

Environment
1. Host the “Cool Congregations” workshop led by
Michigan Interfaith Power and Light.
2. Join and attend monthly meetings of WMEACʼs
Religion, Spirituality, and Ecology Work group.
3. Seek signatures on petitions acquired from 350
organizations to cap carbon dioxide at 350ppm.
4. Hold one joint meeting with the Dominican
Sisters Care of Earth Committee.
5. Facilitate and encourage church groups to tour
a water treatment plant, recycling center, and
wind farm.
6. Write, print and distribute meditations on
Psalms which speak to creation care.

Justice and Women

2010-09-15T15:54:00.000-07:00

I saw this in a Sojourners newsletter.

by Julie Clawson 09-15-2010

We live in a world full of pain and injustice; there is no getting around that fact. We can hide from the truth or try to protect ourselves from reality, but just because we don’t want to know about it, doesn’t mean it still doesn’t exist. Our world does its best to hide its dark side from consumer’s eyes, and our school boards do their best to hide most of history from our children. It takes work to keep our eyes open wide enough to see reality. Thankfully, there are people out there who do try to be informed, who try to end injustice, to heal past wounds, and to make amends. Yet recently, as I was reading Eduardo Galeano’s classic book Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of Pillage of a Continent, I came across an almost casually mentioned atrocity that jolted me with the reminder that, even for the people who are out there actively seeking to fight injustice, there remains one injustice that many would prefer to continue to ignore — the oppression of women. Across the world it is women who often face the worst injustices and yet are often brushed aside as not important enough to seek justice for.

In writing about how the sugar cane industry has destroyed the land and economies of many Latin American countries and led to numerous human rights abuses, Galeano mentioned that in certain plantations in Brazil (at least as of his writing) it was common practice for the plantation owners to claim jus primae noctis, or, right of the first night, with the daughters of their workers. Most commonly known to us from the movie, Braveheart, this is a medieval custom given to the Lord of an area — the right to the virgin night of all the women whom he ruled. Although in Medieval times the actual consummation was rarely if ever practiced, as many families chose the option of “giving” the Lord the bride’s dowry instead (what the Lord was after anyway), Galeano reports that on the plantations, the owners would demand the right to have their way with their workers’ 11 to 12-year-old daughters, in exchange for the worker remaining in their employment.

Reading this affected me in a visceral way. In the midst of a litany of oppression, I was reminded that women truly bear the brunt of injustice worldwide. Their bodies are chattel, they aren’t deemed worthy of education, and, if they get any food at all, they are fed leftovers. Because they are women, their oppression is magnified. Not only must they endure the poverty and the colonialism, but also the objectification of their bodies and the required subjugation of their wills. When voices for liberation or revolution arise, the women are called upon to endure hardships and make sacrifices, but it is never their liberation that is fought for. The few that call out for women’s needs to be addressed and for liberation to come to women are told that, in light of the greater injustices and oppression, their cause is just a selfish distraction. I hear it all the time in the church — there are just too many more important things to spend energy on than trying to bring justice to women. We aren’t even worth the effort of those that make it a point to care about injustice and the oppressed.

Feminist post-colonial theologians are quick to point out this imbalance. They ask: How can we say that we truly desire liberation if, in achieving that liberation, women still remain oppressed? They repeatedly insist that equality and respect for women should never be an afterthought, to be sought sometime after the real work of combating injustice is done, but instead it should be at the very foundation of what it means to seek liberation itself. Nations and races cannot ever fully work for reconciliation and mutual respect if those nations are built upon oppression from within. But sadly, theirs are not the voices that are commonly heard.

In recently reading non-Western theologies (both post-colonial and evangelical), I have in fact encountered the very opposite. Men, who write on combating injustice and prejudice by calling the church to learn from say Korean or First Nation theologies and church practices, insist upon, as part of that process, an affirmation of the gender roles that give men a strong (and sole) leadership role in the home, the community, and the church. They see a firm affirmation of this hierarchy of men over women to be integral to ending race divisions in the church itself. So not only are the needs of women ignored, but healing and justice are also proposed through the continued oppression and sacrifice of women.

Injustice and oppression make me sick and prompt feelings of rage inside of me. But reading about these young girls being raped as pawns in the never-ending cycle of colonial and commercial oppression left me feeling raw. This isn’t just about greed and economics. It isn’t just about racism and power-plays. It’s rooted in a subjugation of women that denies our worth and turns us into mere objects for men to use as they see fit. Most of the Western world hides behind their ignorance of history and injustice (often willfully sought) as an excuse to uphold the status quo. But when even those who claim to care about justice say that speaking out of behalf of women isn’t worth the effort, I can barely respond. How can justice be justice if it is only for men?

Great Kick-off!!

2010-09-09T11:46:00.001-07:00

We welcomed over 200 people to The Micah Center at Hope Reformed Church this last Tuesday. It was inspiring to see so many advocates for justice in one room. It was enlightening to hear Nicholas Wolterstorff give us new categories with which to think about those who are poor. Speaking of that...

We'd be happy to have a nice conversation of the idea that withholding help from people who are poor is the same as theft. Very provocative.

If you're not sure where that's coming from or would like to know more, check in soon. We'll have some information on how you can listen to the whole of "The Moral Significance of Poverty."

Thank you to everyone who was able to make it!!

Just Lecture Begins.

2010-08-19T19:02:00.000-07:00

Nicholas Wolterstorff will be speaking at Hope Reformed Church for The Micah Center. His lecture is entitled, "The Moral Significance of Poverty."

Come join other Christians passionate about justice on Tuesday, September 7th at 7pm. This evening is free and open to the public.

Turning dreams into reality

2009-05-02T18:24:00.000-07:00

Community celebrates International Labor Day by rallying around immigration reform and the DREAM Act

KALAMAZOO, MICHIGAN (May 1, 2009)--Change is born out of dreams and those willing to risk all to dream them.

But those gathering this afternoon at Saint Joseph Catholic Church shared a common dream for change that for far too long has been deferred. “La Esperanza de Nuestros Sueños”--“The Hope of Our Dreams”--attracted a diverse crowd of roughly one hundred-fifty people from the community to rally around comprehensive immigration reform and, more specifically, the DREAM Act.

The event, co-sponsored by the Michigan Organizing Project (M.O.P.), ISAAC, and the Hispanic American Center, aimed to educate the community about immigration issues and mobilize a growing political base to speak up and advocate for justice on behalf of a growing generation of immigrants.

If it were to pass through both House and Senate votes, the DREAM (Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors) Act would allow students without documentation to apply for and potentially receive federal aid to cover tuition costs for higher education. As it now stands, immigrant children lacking proof of legal residency are deemed ineligible for such assistance.

“The Hispanic community has to come together--documented and undocumented--around this issue,” explained Lori Mercedes, program director for the Hispanic American Center. “It is important for us that we are there helping our kids gain access to education.”

Mercedes, a Nicaraguan-born immigrant, spent two years of her childhood living as an undocumented immigrant in Mexico while waiting for her family’s political asylum appeal to clear. She knows firsthand the difficulties of living in fear and uncertainty.

Each person in attendance at the rally received a graduation cap with a tassel, giving the evening a commencement-like spirit.

And education was at the heart of the agenda. A full slate of individuals addressed the crowd in both Spanish and English, discoursing on the history of the labor movement, the complexity of immigration issues, and access to education.

“We need to educate each other,” said Santiago Valles, professor of African Studies at Western Michigan and one of the evening's keynote speakers.

From the podium, Valles encouraged those in attendance to learn more about labor and immigrants’ role in the US work force. “We came to the US because of the economic conditions imposed upon us in our home countries--conditions that were created by many of the same businesses we are forced to work for in the state. We need to make that connection,” an animated Valles told the crowd.

He also spoke about Lucia Parsons, a Latina survivor of the labor movement’s Haymarket Uprising that took place in 1887 in Chicago. “Google her,” he implored. “She was one of the most important educators in the movement.”

Huber Cabrerra, a recent immigrant to the states from Guatemala, was eager to learn more. “I’m Hispanic,” he said in Spanish, indicating he felt more comfortable expressing himself in his native language. “I knew there was going to be a rally. I came because I want to become more informed about the issues,” he said.

The DREAM Act

Diana Hernandez spoke specifically to the DREAM Act. Director of Multicultural Affairs at Western Michigan, Hernandez has observed firsthand the consequences suffered by immigrant children due to current U.S. policy. “Es una lástima--it’s a shame,” she said. “(Undocumented students) can’t register and become part of the university.”

Testifying to this fact, Obdulia Morales spoke about her experiences as a high school student in Kalamazoo. “The are many undocumented students here who really want to get an education and make a difference. The DREAM Act is the hope of our dreams, to make that possibility a reality.”

“I hope they do pass it,” said Lizbette Armijo, a staffer with the Hispanic American Center. “There are lots of Hispanics who would like to go to school and move on to good careers.”

LInda Cook-MacDonald spoke as a representative of ISAAC, a local advocacy and action group. She expressed more than hope. “It must pass,” she emphasized, urging attendees to actively respond. “We want a different United States than what we have now, one where everyone has access to education.”

“But it won’t happen with us sitting on our hands.”

Nathan Dannison, Cook-MacDonald's colleague at ISAAC, confirmed the importance of the critical mass. "We're close to the requisite number of votes to pass the DREAM Act," he said. "It's a matter of making our representatives know what we believe."

Not without celebration

As any effective social movement should be, the evening was not without song and dance. Justice-infused hip hop artist El Diez was present with carefully crafted lyrics inspiring hope for change. He performed “Querida Mamá,” a song about a mother in the U.S. who received letters from her children back in her home country, separated by an impermeable border and economic necessity.

El Diez, born in El Salvador, encountered hip hop in Los Angeles in 1983, near the genre’s conception. For him, music is a vehicle of change. “It’s a voice. I choose my lyrics wisely--I can only listen to something talking about social justice.”

Also among performers were thirteen-year-old soloist Karla Ruiz-Velasco and her father, Javier Ruiz.

Afterwards, attendees were treated to a home-cooked meal prepared by Maria Gomez and Lydia McNamara. Both active in immigrant issues, Gomez works for M.O.P. while McNamara owns La Hispánica International Market, a local grocery store catering to Kalamazoo’s Latino community.

Jordan Bruxvoort was encouraged by the unity on display at the event. "It's great to see the various organizations and individuals working together," said Bruxvoort, an organizer for M.O.P.

As people ate, music played over the loud speaker. A father danced with his daughter amidst others proudly wearing their graduation caps. One was left to hope that the dream of education and prosperity will become reality, and that girls and boys like the one dancing this evening will one day be found moving their tassels from one side to the other.

Brian Paff, The Micah Center

Service learning brings Comenius Scholars to Lansing

2009-04-29T18:39:00.000-07:00

Calvin students participate in fresh approach to lobbying legislators

LANSING, MICHIGAN (April 28, 2009)--Two Calvin students descended on the state capitol on Tuesday as part of a delegation with ACCESS of West Michigan, a faith-based collaborative that coordinates service, education, and advocacy efforts on behalf of the area’s poor and needy.

Senior Corrie Krol (Jenison) and sophomore Jin-Ha Kim (South Korea), both interns with ACCESS, participated in a poverty simulation workshop with legislators in Lansing.

The event, co-sponsored by Senators Mark Jansen (R-Gaines Twp) and Bill Hardiman (R-Kent County), turned the tables for a while as participants assumed the financial burdens--and the many accompanying pitfalls and hardships--of life below the poverty line.

Both Krol and Kim had observed and partaken in workshops previously, but this marked their first time assuming the roles of individuals living in poverty.

Krol played the role of Nancy Nuttin, a single mother of three working part-time at a hospital for minimum wage. Kim acted as her son, Ned, a precocious nine-year-old.

“Oh man,” commented Krol afterwards, reflecting on her participation in the workshop. “I had seen how frustrated everyone gets (when they participate in the simulation) and I didn’t want to do it.”

Krol found herself held up at gunpoint, harassed by debt collectors, and appealing to child protective services--Kim had been taken into custody when left home unattended-- over the course of the workshop. Toward the end of the hour-long simulation, her frustration mounted.

“It was really difficult,” she said.

Each simulation scenario was unique.

Senator Jansen played the role of a four-year-old child living in a family impoverished as a result of mass lay-offs in their community. His family was eventually evicted from their home.

Another Lansing diplomat, Amanda Comment, endured the simulation as an eighty-five-year-old woman relying on social security checks and Medicare.

Bob Kefgen, Chief of Staff for Representative Dudley Spade (D-Lenawee), participated as a forty-three year old father seeking employment after lo

sing his job to downsizing. He managed to find work as a custodian for $200 a week. His children in the simulation also found work.

In the end, however, it didn’t help much. “We still lost the house,” he explained.

Krol and Kim have worked with ACCESS of West Michigan as participants in the Comenius Scholarship program at Calvin, a McGregor Foundation-funded grant that places students in a variety of service settings in the community.

“I’ve been doing some case management work in food pantries,” Krol said. “Getting out and talking with people living in poverty and helping them out has been a great experience.”

Krol will graduate from Calvin this spring. Toward the end of the summer, she will join Mennonite Central Committee to do service work for a year in Bolivia.

Kim has likewise enjoyed his participation with ACCESS. “It’s very cool,” he said, smiling. An international student from South Korea, Kim is interested in doing development work in Asia.

They have been able to observe the complexity of poverty and the many manifestations of the experience. “Sometimes helping is just giving a hand so that (people in poverty) can get out of their situation,” observed Krol.

The event in Lansing concluded with some ACCESS representatives sharing stories of life in poverty. The aim was to put a face on the statistics and simulation scenarios with which legislators were confronted.

“"When you look in the mirror,” Gloria Dunbar, a single mother of two living on roughly $400 a month, told the group, “I hope that face becomes real--that face of poverty that you had to wear today."

With the continued efforts of ACCESS and the people who comprise the collaborative, that face is sure to become clearer and clearer.

Brian Paff, The Micah Center

Not just another game

2009-04-28T18:31:00.001-07:00

ACCESS of West Michigan descends on Lansing to engage lawmakers in poverty simulation

LANSING, MICHIGAN (April 28, 2009)--The twelve-passenger van that rolled up to the state capitol this morning did not transport your typical group of lobbyists.

Out filed a young woman, 8 1/2 months pregnant; a diabetic man confined to a wheel chair; a woman suffering from a variety of emotional disorders; a single mother slightly preoccupied with her stroke-surviving daughter's well-being.

No, not your typical group of lobbyists at all.

Then again, this wasn't your typical lobbying appointment, either.

This morning at the capitol, a group of twenty individuals affiliated with ACCESS of West Michigan teamed up to conduct a poverty simulation workshop with some of the state's lawmakers. The result was a powerful demonstration of the effects of poverty.

"This is not a game," Betsy Thompson warned before the simulation began. "Poverty is not a game for the 38 million Americans who live in such conditions."

Thompson is the Poverty Education Coordinator for ACCESS, a faith-based collaborative operating out of Kent County that aims to coordinate services directed toward the region's most needy individuals and families.

She encouraged participants to deeply engage in their roles as people coping with poverty.

The simulation assigned scenarios to the individuals present, designating family make-ups and economic conditions that are rooted in real stories that have crossed ACCESS case managers' desks over the past two and a half decades.

The Nuttin family, for example, was comprised of a single mother and three children aged 17, 13, and 9. Divorce had

pushed the family into poverty as Nancy Nuttin was left to care for her three children and to provide the necessary income to house, clothe, and feed them.

Over the course of the simulation, Nancy was held up at gun point; Ned Nuttin was taken into custody of the state; Nikki was released from juvenille detention; and Nathan, a high school graduate, could not obtain employment and turned to illegal activity to help support the family.

Another family found itself impoverished due to unemployment as a result of downsizing and mass layoffs--a scenario quite relevant to thousands Michigan residents.

Amanda Comment, a staff member in Senator Jansen's office, assumed the role of an eighty-five year-old woman living alone.

Participants were given assignments--obtaining employment, purchasing groceries, visiting the health clinic, paying bills--and, naturally, few resources with which to complete them. The results mirrored real life in poverty, as frustration, fear, desperation, and downright frustration overwhelmed those in the room.

The hope for this morning's workshop in particular was to open the eyes of people with power to the plight of the powerless in their midst. The dynamic was quite interesting to observe.

Senator Jansen played the role of a four-year-old child. He found himself begging for food and complaining of his hunger as simulated days went by without food on the table.

"It's amazing how this is just a simulation," commented Bob Kefgen, Chief of Staff for Rep. Dudley Spade (D-Lenawee).

"How frustrating this was," he exclaimed, flabbergasted. "People live this everyday."

Kefgen acted as a forty-three-year-old man who had been laid off. In the simulation he managed to find a job as a janitor, earning $200 each week.

"We still lost the house," he lamented.

The simulation was especially relevant to Kefgen: Representative Spade presides over the Department of Human Services committee in Lansing.

Another participant complained, "We didn't have the time to check out the resources (available to us.)"

Welcome to the world of so many Americans.

ACCESS of West Michigan has sponsored over 100 such workshops over the years, hoping to enlighten the community to the complexity of poverty. The simulation, borrowed from similar workshops conducted by a poverty action group in Missouri, has been adapted to address needs specific to Kent County.

Marsha DeHollander, program director for ACCESS, addressed the group at the workshop's conclusion. She first implored participants to observe a moment of silence. "This is to honor the millions of Americans who do not get to stop living in poverty when the whistle blows," she said.

After a breakout session in which participants were invited to share their initial responses to the experience, DeHollander invited the perspective of the many staffers who enacted the simulation.

Among those was Gloria Dunbar. She related the story of her daughter's health conditions which eventually forced her to quit her job to perform the duties of caretaker. "I live in poverty every day," she told the group. "Pass the word on. Every circumstance is different," she said, encouraging them to consider policy decisions with compassion.

From his wheelchair, Rodger Granger also spoke of the complexity of poverty. "I worked for over thirty years," he said. "But when I contracted diabetes and my health deteriorated, I couldn't work anymore. In the process I lost my job, my income, my sense of worth, my security."

Brenda and Brittany Dalecke shared their story, too. Brenda was a successful mother and supervisor in the nonprofit sector prior to succumbing to substance abuse and making a foolish mistake that landed her in the Michigan Department of Corrections. Her daughter, Brittany, was consequently driven to many self-destructive behaviors. She likewise found herself confronting poverty's difficulties.

They stood as examples of hope--the two have both emerged out of poverty.

Not all are so lucky. "I had education and social support," explained Brenda. She now serves as a community outreach director for a faith congregation in Holland.

"I was fortunate to have gone to college," added Brittany, a senior at Northern Michigan University in Marquette. "So many don't have that opportunity."

And while the complexity and breadth of poverty is vast, the working solutions seem to be all too scarce.

"We hope to change the mentality (of workshop participants) about those who live in poverty," said Thompson. "It's not always about working hard or pulling yourself up by your bootstraps. Next time they might think differently about poverty, and we hope they will do something about it."

ACCESS offers resources and opportunities for involvment to individuals interested in responding to the harsh realities of poverty. Its work in the community provides counseling, coordinated services, education, and advocacy on behalf of West Michigan's needy.

"Sometimes helping is just giving a hand so that (people in poverty) can get out of their situation," observed Corrie Krol, a Calvin College senior wrapping up her internship with ACCESS.

But today was about working for systemic change.

"The simulation is always effective, but the stories are what participants find the most compelling," said DeHollander. The perspectives she invited to Lansing put faces on the many statistics and simulated experiences of poverty that were shared at the capitol.

"When you look in the mirror, I hope that face becomes real--that face of poverty that you had to wear today," Gloria Dunbar told the group.

And so the ACCESS van departed Lansing, having turned the tables for a morning, hopeful that the tables will also turn for their neighbors and communities so deeply affected by poverty.

Brian Paff, The Micah Center

Doug Tjapkes set to encourage humanity for prisoners in lecture at the Micah Center

2009-04-26T05:11:00.000-07:00

GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN (April 27, 2009)--In the latest installment of the Micah Center’s Just Lecture series, Doug Tjapkes (pronounced CHAP-kes) will speak to the topic of “Humanity for Prisoners” at Hope Reformed Church (2010 Kalamazoo SE, Grand Rapids) at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, May 5.

Tjapkes has never served time behind bars himself, but the retired broadcast journalist nevertheless has ample first-hand experience with prison life and the fate of our nation’s incarcerated. His organization, Humanity for Prisoners (formerly named Innocent), has allowed Tjapkes to draw near to many inmates to better understand the criminal justice system and its impact on society and the individuals it incarcerates.

Out of those experiences Tjapkes authored Sweet Freedom, a narrative detailing his friendship with Maurice Carter, a man convicted of a crime of which he was years later acquitted. Sadly, Carter died only a few months after his release from prison, after unjustly serving two decades in the penitentary.

Humanity for Prisoners aims to advocate for prisoners who might have been wrongly convicted; the agency also pursues more compassionate and restorative policy as well as more dignified and humane services and conditions within the prison setting.

Tjapkes will explore restorative justice principles and propose how the justice system might be reformed to better care for and restore individuals and communities affected by criminal behavior.

The lecture is free and open to the public. The Micah Center is a faith-based grassroots justice movement in Grand Rapids, Michigan. For more information about the Just Lecture Series or The Micah Center, visit www.themicahcenter.com or email (info@themicahcenter.com).

Brian Paff, The Micah Center

Gathering 'round the table

2009-04-24T14:43:00.000-07:00

ACCESS of West Michigan calls forums to discuss poverty, hunger

GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN (April 21, 2009)--It wasn't actually a round table, and there were no knights seated, but the individuals gathered at Grand Rapids' southeast side's Living Word Ministries exhibited as noble a spirit as found in any Canterbury tale.

The ACCESS Community Roundtable, sponsored this week at five regional locations, aimed to gather various agencies together to discuss how to better coordinate services to the region's homeless, unemployed, and underemployed individuals and families.

In the face of federal and state cutbacks for social welfare programs during the Reagan administration, ACCESS emerged out of a strong desire to help the community's poor and hungry. It was then that the collaborative determined to lend organizing power to services provided by small, independent agencies and church efforts.

ACCESS does not provide food directly to individuals; rather, it offers case management, hunger advocacy, poverty education

"Our slogan, if you will, is helping congregations help people," commented Marsha DeHollander, program director for ACCESS.

Nancy Reenders, ACCESS hunger initiative coordinator, echoed that sentiment: "What we do is try to coordinate the work of those who (provide food and services)."

DeHollander, on staff with ACCESS since 1985, was pleased with the outcome of the forums this week. "We learn from each other," she said. "New ideas, new resources. We feel it is very important to regularly get together so that we may respond to the community's needs cooperatively."

The meetings provided attendees with a variety of information and resources to bring back to their respective food pantries, church programs, and social agencies. Among those in attendance at the southeast side meeting were representatives from John Knox Presbyterian Church, First CRC, and South End Community Outreach Ministries.

The table was also open for individuals to share their experiences of both struggle and success.

Flo Koster, a member of nearby Neland Avenue CRC, shared success stories of her congregation's food pantry and community programs.

Another attendee, Bob Storteboom, highlighted Covenant CRC's furniture pantry. "We distributed more than 2300 pieces of furniture in 2008," he told the group. He also enlisted other Roundtable participants to direct their served communities to the unique program.

Troy Oglesby sat at the table as a representative of Living Word, the host to Tuesday's event. Living Word has exhibited strong growth in recent years. "With a larger footprint comes a larger presence in the community," expressed Oglesby, youth pastor at Living Word.

He explained that his congregation hoped to plug further into the network ACCESS has established in order to better serve the community.

Turnout for the meeting at Living Word was strong, as were the other gatherings across Grand Rapids. In fact, the southeast side meeting was so well attended, ACCESS ran out of complimentary coffee mugs promised to participants.

"They were wonderful," commented DeHollander at the week's end, her voice tinged with a hint of weariness.

It can be exhausting, no doubt, coordinating services for people in need in a trying economic time.

The Grand Rapids community can be thankful that DeHollander and her staff at ACCESS are leading the way.

Brian Paff, The Micah Center

Crying out together

2009-04-24T12:20:00.000-07:00

Interfaith prayer vigil will focus on justice for immigrants

GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN (April 24, 2009)--In what will be a nationwide effort on the part of people of faith, area Christians and Jews will gather to pray for justice for immigrants near and far.

The vigil, sponsored by the local, advocacy-based Micah Center and Just Faith, a Catholic justice education and action movement, will commemorate the one-year anniversary of the nation’s largest immigration raid that occurred at a Kosher packaging plant in Postville, Iowa, in which nearly 400 immigrants--most of whom were from Guatemala and Mexico, but a few who were from Israel and other nations as well--were arrested.

Faith communities across the country will remember the raid this May 12 with vigils similar to the one occurring in West Michigan.

The vigil will take place at 7 p.m. at Saint Joseph the Worker Catholic Church (225 - 32nd Street SW, Wyoming, MI 49548). It will commence with an outdoor lighting of 389 candles--one for each person arrested in the Postville raid a year ago. Participants will then process into the church’s sanctuary to partake in a litany to be delivered in English, Spanish, and Hebrew. Afterwards, there will be a planned time of fellowship and advocacy in the church basement.

Ron Sabourin, of Kentwood, initiated the vigil. A member of the Catholic movement Just Faith, Sabourin exhibits a sincere passion for immigration issues. “There are a number of immigrants in my church,” he says, “and I’ve seen some of their suffering due to unjust laws and policies.”

The vigil promises to attract a diverse crowd to St. Joseph’s, as a number of local justice organizations have joined hands to plan and promote the event. Sabourin is working diligently to plan and promote the event alongside members of the Micah Center, distributing fliers and making phone calls to members of the faith community. In addition, Sabourin recently attended a Jewish Seder and forged a relationship with members of Temple Emanuel, who will also contribute to the event.

Kate Kooyman, a leading advocate for immigration reform in the West Michigan community, observes, “People of faith need to come together to raise a collective voice for justice.”

This just might be their chance.

Kooyman is an organizer for the CRC Office of Social Justice and leader of the Immigration Action Group at the Micah Center. She will collaborate with Laura Rampersad of Justice for Our Neighbors, a Methodist organization offering legal assistance to immigrants, to conduct an advocacy workshop at the conclusion of the vigil.

Educational information and notices of upcoming social action around immigration issues will be available for distribution. Furthermore, Kooyman and Rampersad will guide attendees in writing letters to legislators to express their convictions about comprehensive immigration reform.

For information on the Postville Vigil, please visit www.themicahcenter.com or email info@themicahcenter.com.

Brian Paff, the Micah Center

Finding the strength to open our arms

2009-04-19T13:04:00.000-07:00

Kate Kooyman outlines case for comprehensive immigration reform

GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN (April 18, 2009)--"Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free..."

So it is inscribed at the feet of the Statue of Liberty, a promise to immigrants near and far hoping for a new life in the United States. But with a struggling national economy, can that promise really be kept? For that matter, has it even been kept over the past half-century?

At the "Doing Justice in This Economy" conference held at Oakdale Park CRC this morning, Kate Kooyman explored such questions in a facilitated dialogue about immigration with economics in mind.

Kooyman does community organizing work for the CRC Office of Social Justice and frequently visits local churches to discuss various justice issues. She also helps lead the Immigration Action Group at the Micah Center, a local grassroots justice movement promoting education and action in the community.

She opened the discussion by laying a Biblical foundation for her stance on immigration. "Sometimes when I go to churches I spend the whole time talking about what the Bible has to say about immigration," she warned the group. "Today, though, I'm hoping for more of a conversation."

That being said, she proceeded to borrow from the Old Testament. "When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as youself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God," he read, quoting words written in Leviticus.

"As we talk about dollars and numbers and statistics," Kooyman said, "we need to remember we are talking about human beings. God instructs us to treat (immigrants) with love."

To help put a face on the many statistics to follow, she invited Aaron Gonzalez, former pastor of Paz y Esperanza (Peace and Hope), to address the group. Gonzalez related several stories of congregants in his fold who were immigrants to the country.

Among other examples, he spoke about a pregnant woman who was abandoned at a grocery store by her boyfriend with their two children. "She didn't know anybody, had no (immigration) papers" said Gonzalez. Somehow--by the grace of God, perhaps--she ended up at Paz y Esperanza, where the community embraced her and she managed to attain a higher quality of life for her self and her children.

"The gospel has this gift of changing people," he said.

While Gonzalez's narratives portrayed hope, they weren't without sorrow. "(Many immigrants) live in fear," he said.

Jeff DeJong, a teacher in the Grand Rapids Public Schools, could resonate with this insight. "I've learned in my classroom that you can't use the word 'immigration officer.' (The children) go silent like this," he said, motioning with his hand. "They all tense up."

"It doesn't help anyone to have 12 million people living here in obscurity," Kooyman added.

In order to set the record straight, Kooyman addressed a number of myths about immigration. Most relevant to the day's discussion were notions that immigrants presented a drain on the U.S. economy.

She pointed out that the U.S. gains $140 billion each year in tax revenue through sales and income taxes doled out by undocumented immigrants.

Furthermore, immigrants complement gaps in the national labor force, performing many manual tasks that drive industry within the states.

Kooyman also shared a statistic that observed a four percent increase in wages for native workers in California, home to the nation's largest population of undocumented immigrants, in spite of economic recession nationwide during the time period the study was conducted.

Perhaps most striking of the facts Kooyman disclosed, however, pertained to a scholastic contest. "65 percent of math olympiad winners are born of immigrant parents," she revealed, drawing a murmur of surprise from those in attendance. She complemented this statistic with other findings pointing to the contributions immigrants make to the nation's infrastructure and enterprise.

A question was then raised about immigrants earning money in the states and sending it to their home countries, effectively depleting the US economy of its desired trickled down revenue.

"What about people buy products made in China?" countered David Rifenberg, of Muskegon. He explained that most present in the room likely sent money overseas by shopping at Walmart, buying many name brand products, and supporting industries that manufacture goods in other countries. Often, those dollars support the exploitation of labor forces in developing countries.

"We're very willing to send money over there to hurt, but not so willing to send money to help," Rifenberg observed.

Joel Lautenbach, a fundraising specialist for Christian Reformed World Relief Committee, also commented on the complexity and global interconnectedness of immigration and economics. "What I do to help someone in Cambodia," he said, "is tied into immigration in California."

Toward the workshop's conclusion, Kooyman detailed several recommendations for Congress as it considers proposals for comprehensive immigration reform.

Among these points were dignified enforcement of immigration laws, establishment of a family-based system that values and protects the needs of families so often separated by U.S. policies, and an examination and unilateral response to root causes for immigration.

"I think comprehensive immigration reform is key to solving our economic crisis," Kooyman added. "One of the reasons we are strong is because we are diverse--we are a nation of immigrants," she said, conjuring up images of Lady Liberty and her declaration to the world's hopeful citizens.

With that, Kooyman urged workshop participants to act on behalf of immigrants near and far. "We need Christians to get on the phone, write letters, make their voices heard," she said, presenting a slate of opportunities for involvement, including through advocacy efforts, prayer vigils, and support for immigrants' rights organizations.

Perhaps if legislators hear that voice, and if the U.S. can return to embrace that concept and find a way to welcome immigrants with more open arms, it will once again stand tall, offering a light to the world.

Brian Paff, The Micah Center

Glimpses of hope in the midst of strife

2009-04-18T18:01:00.000-07:00

Christians gather in Grand Rapids to explore justice issues in this economy

GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN (April 18, 2009)--Last Sunday, Brad Van Beek eyed the number of individuals registered for the justice conference he and others in the community had organized and began to worry.

"We told ourselves, 'If we get twenty-five (people), we'll be happy," recalled Van Beek.

To his delight, more than one hundred people of faith poured into Oakdale Park Christian Reformed Church this morning for the one-day "Justice in This Economy" conference.

Sometimes, all it takes is a little bit of faith.

There was plenty of faith to go around on Saturday, as Christians across West Michigan gathered at the Southeast side church to explore justice issues in the current economic climate.

Jonathan Bradford, president of the Inner City Christian Federation (ICCF), delivered the conference's keynote address. He urged attendees to reach out to their fellow neighbors and support efforts to invest in communities and the individuals who comprise them.

Sarah and Shane Avrard, of Muskegon, could testify to the power of community investment. The mother and son were present with several other members of Mosaic Way, a sort of "new church" that emphasizes communal fellowship and outreach to the neighborhood.

"We live in one of the poorer neighborhoods in Muskegon," explained Sarah Avrard, who works as a child's advocate for youth in West Michigan's foster care system. She described the group's co-op approach to life and missional focus on the community in which they live. "It's how we've committed to living," she said.

After the plenary session, the conference offered a host of workshops addressing various justice issues, all of which related in some way to the nation's and world's economic woes. Topics included sustainable international development, support for local businesses, public education funding, immigration, and the housing crisis.

Facing some of these issues was not easy for those in attendance.

"It hurts my brain," admitted David Rifenberg of Muskegon. He commented on the widespread presence of injustice and lamented the United States' role in this injustice, whether through imperial capitalism or passive observance. "We for some reason will not accept our responsibility."

But the conference was as much about hope as it was about guilt or sorrow.

Darrell and Missy Jackson led a workshop on their fair trade coffee operation, Bean by Bean, which operates out of Guatemala. "We're talking about a different kind of return on investment," said Darrell after telling several narratives about and displaying photographs of the people on the ground in Guatemala who have contributed to and benefitted from Bean by Bean's efforts. "Faces and stories like these are what we want to share with the people who buy our coffee."

In another moving workshop, Kurt Ver Beek of Association for a More Just Society (AJS) hosted a web conference between attendees and two citizens of Honduras. AJS co-sponsored the event along with the CRC Office of Social Justice, and the Honduran-based outfit brought a unique perspective from the developing world to the Americans in the room.

Luis Zambrano was one of the Hondurans participating in the conference. He explained the current injustices prevailing in his neighborhood, including individuals' inability to obtain titles for land that is rightfully theirs.

"That's part of the poverty here in Honduras," Zambrano said through an interpreter. "Poor people can't get a loan without a title. If I get a title, I'm going to be able to change my quality of life."

Zambrano urged people in the states to act on their behalf. At the workshop's conclusion, Brad Van Beek, who is also board president for AJS, offered a moving prayer for the people of Honduras.

Jill Van Beek (no relation), stateside representative for the agency, also guided participants toward several advocacy campaigns directed at putting pressure on the authorities in Hoduras.

In between workshops, attendees were able to visit a bazzare of sorts set up in the church narthex.

One booth was sponsored by non-profit collaborative Women at Risk (WAR).

"We partner with women's organizations," explained Elizabeth Drouillard, standing behind a table of jewelry handcrafted by communities around the globe. "(The jewlry) comes from women who work in safe houses who have been rescued from human trafficking."

WAR aims to empower women who have been victims of sexual exploitation and other forms of oppression. One hundred percent of the profits earned from the jewelry's sales goes back to the women's programming, granting the women a fair wage and promoting sustainable business in their communities.

Droulliard explained the agency's message to its population: "We can teach you a trade so you don't have to stay (in forced prostitution). You have worth. You have value. God loves you."

Attendees also enjoyed the opportunity to meet other individuals with like minds and hearts.

"It's a great place to network and find out about what others are doing," said Joel Lautenbach.

Rifenberg likewise appreciated the impromptu community formed on Saturday morning. "There's this mixture of justice Christians and the last remnants of sixties' Marxism," he laughed. "It's great."

At the conference's conclusion, the many stories of hope carried the day.

"Every time I hear these stories it brings tears to my eyes," confessed Brad Van Beek. "Sometimes you can feel overwhelmed."

But the workshop presenters and the people in attendance demonstrated both resilience and resolve. "These were real examples of what people can do--we can all do something," Van Beek attested.

"If we can get people together, I think we can make a difference."

As conference participants departed mid-afternoon on a beautiful spring day, they seemed full of hope, poised to do just that.

Brian Paff, The Micah Center

Never too old for change

2009-04-17T13:37:00.000-07:00

Senior activists take on far-reaching social issues

GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN (April 17, 2009)--There's an old adage that suggests that if you're under forty and vote Republican, you have no heart; if you're over forty and you vote Democrat, you have no brain.

Folks gathered this morning suggested that the equation is not so simple for people over sixty.

Debunking a myth that activism belongs only to the young, Advocates for Senior Issues hosted a town hall meeting at Frederick Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park that attracted a crowd of close to two hundred people, most of whom were near or past retirement age.

A Thomas Jefferson quote stating that "Information is the currency of democracy" painted the backdrop for a meeting that featured the perspectives of several prominent Grand Rapids voices in the city's community organizing efforts.

Housing and the Homeless

First spoke Linda Likely, Director of Housing and Community Development for Kent County, who debriefed the audience on her department's efforts to aid the community in a harsh economic environment.

"We have such a problem with foreclosure," she explained. Likely described a housing expenditure relief program that promotes financial self-sufficiency and home ownership for working families and individuals. "That's a great thing in this community, where there is so much need."

Likely, who also serves on the National Coallition to End Homelessness, addressed issues pertaining to the homeless population in Kent County as well. She stressed the need to provide housing solutions for growing numbers of people in the region.

Economic Stimulus, Restorative Justice

Next up was David LaGrand, Grand Rapids' 2nd Ward Commisioner. A self-proclaimed spending curmudgeon with a nevertheless progressive outlook on politics, LaGrand added to Likely's housing focus. "If you can keep people in their homes," he told the audience, "that turns out well for the whole neighborhood."

He talked about stimulus funds and his hope for the city to use such funds wisely in order to build up infrastructure and make for a stronger, more sustainable community.

LaGrand also discussed credit companies' role in the economic crisis. "It's like borrowing money from the mob," he said, decrying high interest rates but also emphasizing consumer responsibility. Solid debt counseling, he explained, offers a creative solution to individuals' financial woes, and he indicated that the city is in the process of supporting its constituents' efforts to find debt relief.

Changing gears, LaGrand admitted, "As a politician, this is my moment to prosletyze." He addressed the topic of criminal justice, pointing out the disproportionate amounts of money spent on incarceration in Kent County and across the state and nation. "We see over-funding on the back end and under-funding on the front end."

The solution?

"We're going to be able to use (funds freed up by) stimulus money to try a restorative justice approach," he said.

The progressive approach emphasizes restoring individuals and the relationships that interconnect them--restoration for the offender, victim, and the community affected by criminal activity. It has earned acclaim in communities across the country and internationally. LaGrand cited statistics where restorative justice practice can reduce recidivism up to twenty percent and can reduce victim fear and trauma by eighty percent. It can also cut costs that would otherwise be allocated to incarcerating individuals.

"I'm not advocating we empty our jails and prisons," LaGrand assured the audience. "But we need to confront the myth that locking people up makes us safer."

"I'm a Christian," he testified, "and I believe that at the heart of the gospel is reconciliation, forgiveness, and love." Upon hearing these words, the audience offered LaGrand resounding applause, expressing their receptiveness to a new approach to criminal justice on behalf of the community.

Health Care

Finally, the morning's keynote speaker took the podium. Dr. John Cavacece (pronounced cah-VEESH) advanced an articulate and well-informed case for a publicly funded, single-payer health care system for all Americans.

Dr. Cavacece practices general medicine in the Wege Institute at St. Mary's hospital and is a member of Physicians for a National Health Plan (PNHP). He also contributes to health care advocacy efforts of the Micah Center.

Cavacece opened with a vignette about a former patient of his whom he called "Millie." He explained that Millie graduated from high school the same year as he did, a tie that bound the two. To her misfortune, Millie drifted in and out of insurance due to her inability to afford coverage and in spite of her many health problems.

She ended up dying a preventable death.

"I am convinced that Millie was one of the 18,000 people who die each year due to lack of insurance," Cavacece lamented.

He cited three areas of health care in need of reform: cost, quality and access.

Cavacece pointed out that fifty percent of the nation's uninsured population are employed. "(Coverage) simply costs too much," he said. He also described the problem of people neglecting screenings, procedures, and even office visits because of high deductibles and co-payments.

"Health care corporations don't have patients' best interests in mind," he said. "They view health care as a commodity."

And while costs undeniably continue to rise, Cavacece is not convinced that quality of care is rising accordingly. In fact, he disclosed findings from a research study that suggested non-profit health care providers yield better results than do private providers.

To illustrate the access conundrum, Cavacece displayed a political cartoon depicting a man on hands and knees beneath a guillotine. Standing before him was a rather sinister character holding two bags and asking the question, "Paper or plastic?"

In other words, Americans are faced with little choice given high premium costs, out-of-pocket burdens, and lack of alternatives. "Just because you have private insurance doesn't mean you have choice," Cavacece warned. "Basically, you have a choice on how many restrictions you want on your health care plan."

Cavacece remained unabashed in his stance on the issue of health care. He cited growing support across the board for a publicly funded, single-payer health care system. The public, business-owners, physicians and nurses--in increasing numbers, Americans are beginning to rethink the privatized road to health care the nation followed decades ago.

Of course, pharmaceutical companies and large health care corporations wish the public to think otherwise.

But it was not difficult for Cavacece to bring the audience on his side in relation to the giants who run the industry.

"I wish all the ads for drugs on T.V. would just go away," he told the crowd, soliciting the morning's most enthusiastic applause.

Later, he revealed what he termed the "Oh my God" slide of his PowerPoint presentation. The graph contrasted the administrative costs of for-profit insurance companies with the Medicare program to which many in attendance no doubt subscribe. The difference was astounding, especially when represented visually: private endeavors devote anywhere from 16 to 30 percent of spending to administrative costs, while Medicare spends just 2 to 3 percent of its budget on the same item line.

Cavacece concluded his case for a national "Medicare for All" plan by explaining the path to get there. "You can't cross the Grand Canyon in two leaps," he said, motioning with his free hand to demonstrate the chasm that lies in the way of a second leap. "We have to pursue comprehensive reform to fix the health care system.

Afterwards, members of the town hall meeting were able to ask questions of Dr. Cavacece. Never faltering, he appeared to gain more and more support in the room as the clock ticked toward the noon hour, at which point attendees would be able to cash in their five-dollar vouchers for lunch at the Gardens cafe, compliments of Advocates for Senior Issues.

Housing, economy, restorative justice, universal health care--all in a morning's work at the Frederick Meijer Gardens with a room full of seniors. And to think, we thought that Social Security and Medicare were the only two issues on their agenda.

Brian Paff, The Micah Center

Grassroots effort for health care reform gathers on turf of Garfield Park

2009-04-16T18:40:00.000-07:00

GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN (APRIL 16, 2009)--The Thursday evening rally at Garfield Park, on the city's southeast side, might have been mistaken for a family reunion or, better yet, an activists' fashion show. People from across the region came dressed in loud t-shirts bearing insignia from their respective organizations.

But with many t-shirt slogans came one unified message: health care for all can't wait.

The town hall meeting, sponsored by Grand Rapids ACORN and Health Care for America NOW (HCAN), gathered a large host of people to discuss concerns about the nation's health care system.

"Being part of a democracy doesn't happen every four years," explained Chris van Leeuwen, the event's organizer. "It happens every day."

Van Leeuwen represents ACORN, a nationwide organization whose goal is to mobilize a critical mass around various social issues. One such issue is that of health care.

Val Przywara works for the Michigan chapter of HCAN and is a member of the Health Care Action Group for the Micah Center, a local faith-based grassroots effort to educate and empower the community to act against injustice. "(Health care) can't wait because we're spending more and more and getting less and less in return," she said. "Our current system doesn't work."
There were many in attendance Thursday evening who offered first-hand testimonies of the failures of the nation's health care system.

Charleen Smith, of Righteous Justice, stood up during the forum to explain her Christian ministry's efforts to connect low-income individuals with proper care-providing outlets.

"Some of these people don't seek insurance because of all the confusing forms," she said, indicating that low literacy can be a barrier to adequate health care. She also commented on the plight of the working poor who don't qualify for Medicaid but are too poor to pay out of pocket for services.

Two young college graduates related their experiences as low-wage earners unable to afford insurance.

Another attendee raised questions about health care access for undocumented immigrants. "Is it really health care for all?" she asked.

Maria Salinas, who later consoled the young woman asking about coverage for immigrants, commented on the struggles of undocumented individuals and families with relation to health care.

"Health care and immigration go hand in hand," said Salinas, a representative of faith-based Gamaliel. She indicated that many immigrant families forego obtaining basic services due to fear. "They're afraid they won't be able to pay, or they won't understand, or they won't have an I.D. to present."

Dr. John Cavacece, primary care physician at the Wege Institute of St. Mary's hospital and member of the Micah Center, offered his perspective as a health care provider. "I've seen patients die because they didn't have health insurance," he explained. "We want insurance for everyone."

The resounding chorus in favor of a universal health care system did not fall upon deaf ears. Among those in attendance were State Representative Rev. Robert Dean and Kent County Comissioner Brandon Dillon.

The road to reform, however, is never smooth. "We're going to need to keep active on this campaign," said John Freeman, state director of UCAN's Michigan office. "This is not a one-hit issue."

Cavacece echoed Freeman's comments. "This has got to be something from the grassroots," he said.

So it seemed only fitting that a grassroots effort such as this would take place on the green lawn of Garfield Park.

One of those comprising the grassroots effort was Willie Bolden. Wearing a purple Service Employees International Union shirt and clasping a "Health Care Can't Wait" sign, he quietly took in the event. "I'm here for the support," Bolden explained. "We've got a bad health care system; I'd like to see a lot of change."

Bolden, a veteran of the armed services, explained his own struggles obtaining health care. "I can go to the VA clinic, but even that's limited."

But he wasn't present just for himself. His mother, also in attendance, is among the millions of Americans without adequate health insurance. Bolden recognized the potential for change, however, observing, "There is strength in numbers."

Those numbers promise to grow: van Leeuwen indicated that the universal health care initiative is a top priority for ACORN. "It's about phone calls. It's about calling families, calling indidividuals, calling senators and representatives," he said.

As chairs were packed into the trunk of a car and a lone podium stood in the

dusk of Garfield Park, van Leeuwen and others expressed satisfaction. Tomorrow, it will be back to the relentless work of striving for change.

For the health of everyone, let's hope they succeed.

Brian Paff, The Micah Center

Stations of the Cross event draws participants near to Christ's passion, those for whom he is passionate

2009-04-11T04:25:00.000-07:00

GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN (April 11, 2009)--On a day when Christians worldwide remember the suffering and death of Jesus of Nazareth, thunderclouds and heavy rain may have been more appropriate. Instead, the forty or so participants in the Micah Center's Good Friday observance hit the streets of the Heartside neighborhood beneath blue skies.

This is not to say that this was a typical spring afternoon stroll.

The Stations of the Cross commemoration, which began and ended at Heartside Ministries, led the gathering to five additional sites in the downtown area. At each stop, participants recognized local efforts to serve the city's marginalized but lamented injustices that nevertheless remain.

Heartside Ministries, an agency meeting the needs of Grand Rapids' homeless and transient population, was a fitting site for the service. Some members of the Heartside community joined the procession, and much of the litany participants followed focused on the plight of the poor and marginalized sectors of society.

"It was nice to see the intersection of the Micah Center and the justice issues it's concerned about," said Micah Center member Tera Dent. She elaborated, explaining that holding such an event in the downtown area forced particpants to observe the products of injustice firsthand.

Vern Hoffman, founder of the Micah Center, was pleased with what he called "a good turnout."

The event attracted the attention of The Grand Rapids Press, entering the Micah Center's efforts to pursue justice into public consciousness. Charley Honey, religion editor, attended the event with a camera crew and produced a feature story in Saturday's edition of The Press. The article can also be viewed online at mLive.

Last year, Kooyman led a group of fifteen to twenty faithful participants through wind and snow on an unseasonably cold Good Friday.

This year's installment of the justice-themed Stations of the Cross, which was initiated last year by Kate Kooyman, attracted a strong contingent of justice-seekers. The weather certainly didn't hurt.

"I thought everything went wonderfully," Kooyman commented afterwards via email.

Kooyman partnered this year with other Micah Center members as well as Glenn Swier, a Western Theological Seminary staffer who also took part in the event's organizing efforts in 2008.

After the Stations observance, a number of those in attendance remarked how spiritually meaningful the event was. "You know me, I'll do anything for Jesus," said Tammy, of Grand Rapids.

Questions about replicating the event again during next year's Lenten season surfaced, encouraging the Micah Center as a whole to continue its efforts to bring justice issues to the forefront of public consciousness.

Brian Paff, The Micah Center

Don Cooney touts Harlem Children's Zone at Micah Center lecture

2009-04-08T08:58:00.000-07:00

GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN (April 8, 2009)--Princeton. Yale. Harvard. MIT. Carnegie Melon. Johns Hopkins. A valedictorian of even the most prestigious high school would covet an acceptance letter from one of these institutions.

At the Harlem Children’s Zone, the Gems HeadStart program’s classrooms are named after such schools, an effort to instill in children the belief that they can indeed reach the sky’s limits in education and in life.

Don Cooney, professor of Social Work and city commissioner of Kalamazoo, highlighted Geoffrey Canada’s Harlem Children’s Zone (HCZ) in a lecture at the Micah Center on Tuesday night.

“They want (children) thinking college from the very beginning,” he said.

In the past several years, Kalamazoo has made strides to replicate the HCZ’s efforts to reform community and education programs.

"I’ve seen what education can do for people,” Cooney told the forty people in attendance. “From a business perspective, it’s a good investment.”

He cited statistics regarding education level and poverty rates, incarceration rates, quality of health and life, and the like. Cooney also referenced city and state costs to meet some of these needs that might be avoided if addressed through education efforts.

For the people of Kalamazoo, there was sufficient evidence to pursue comprehensive reform. “We were not giving these kids the support they needed,” he said.

A delegation of community leaders from the city visited the Harlem Children’s Zone last year to learn at the feet of those who have initiated a revolution in one of the nation’s poorest and most under-resourced neighborhoods.

Cooney said the visit was transforming. “You can see that these people love those kids and that those kids love them.”

The Harlem Children’s Zone, in Cooney’s observation, owes a great deal of its success to its network of services provided. He described this as a “conveyor belt”, wherein the HCZ offers a coordinated, seamless support system that meets children’s needs while still in the womb until they reach college and beyond.

Programs range from parent education to employment training to a charter school system and before- and after-school programs. The HCZ staff effectively identifies the needs of the community and designs services to meet those needs. Parents and children are rewarded for participation and encouraged to give back to the community.

So how has the city of Kalamazoo responded?

“We put all this money into getting kids into college, and that’s great,” Cooney said, “but if we don’t support them, too many kids are being missed.”

In Kalamazoo, sixty percent of black males fail to graduate from high school, he said. Other statistics reveal additional failures to effectively serve its diverse and economically strapped population.

The city’s Communities in Schools (KCIS) program aims to combat these realities.

“There are many organizations providing support, but it’s not coordinated,” explained Cooney. KCIS connects schools with the basic services families need to support their children’s education. He described KCIS initiatives related to healthcare, housing, employment, education, childcare, and nutrition.

In the past couple years, funding for this holistic approach has increased dramatically to $2 Million, providing services to 11 out of the district’s 22 public schools.

Cooney’s future vision for KCIS includes an expansion of this community-wide effort to better meet the needs of Kalamazoo’s poor. He emphasized increasing funding and strengthening partnerships with the city’s existing service-providing agencies, churches, and universities.

“It’s crazy that we have 100 kids on the street after school and a church on the corner with its gym doors locked. We need to use all the facilities in a community.”

He closed with a vignette describing a project with which he was involved in Philadelphia that saw all nine of its participating “at-risk” youth attend college. “I believe it can be done,” he said. “If we give these kids a chance, they will succeed.”

Brian Paff, The Micah Center

Stations of the Cross will focus people of faith on the passion of Christ and the suffering of their neighbors

2009-03-28T17:32:00.001-07:00

GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN (March 28, 2009) -- Suffering is no stranger to the tradition of Stations of the Cross, an observance practiced by Christian believers on Good Friday, the day commemorating Jesus of Nazareth's crucifixion.

This year, however, people of faith in West Michigan will put a new spin on that theme. On Friday, April 10, the Micah Center will sponsor a Stations of the Cross observance focusing participants on Jesus Christ's suffering as well as social injustices afflicting their neighbors near and far.

The idea was conceived of by the Micah Center's Kate Kooyman, Congregational Justice Mobilizer for the CRC Office of Social Justice.

During Holy Week last year, Kooyman organized a similar event with some colleagues from Western Theological Seminary. Despite unseasonably harsh weather, a strong group of twenty people turned out to examine and pray for injustices and the people affected by them in the greater Grand Rapids community.

The event is scheduled to start at Heartside Ministries (54 S Division, Grand Rapids) at 4 p.m on Friday, April 10. Participants will begin with a litany reading and prayer before departing Heartside to visit various locations in the downtown area. Each location will tie in to various aspects of injustice, relating them to the teachings and sufferings of Christ during his passion.

The gathering will reconvene at Heartside Ministries at 6 p.m. for a brief service to conclude the observance.

The event is not intended to be a protest or demonstration but rather a prayerful meditation on the meaning of the crucifixion and how Christians might respond to Christ's sacrifice.

"We are hopeful that this observance will strengthen people's resolve to act against injustice in the community," says Kooyman. "We want this to be an intensely spiritual experience, one that connects Christ's suffering with the suffering of those in our midst."

Those interested in participated are invited to meet at Heartside Ministries (54 S Division) at 4 p.m. on April 10; for more information and inquiries about accessibility for those with mobility concerns, please write to info@themicahcenter.com.

Brian Paff, The Micah Center

A call to reform: Don Cooney to urge reshaping of educational system in Micah Center lecture

2009-03-26T07:12:00.000-07:00

GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN (March 26, 2009)--Don Cooney will examine the plight of the U.S. education system and propose how it might be reshaped to provide equal access and opportunity to America's children in a lecture at the Micah Center at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, April 7. Cooney, in the spirit of social theorists Jonathan Kozol and Alex Kotlowitz, plans to lift up the Harlem Children's Zone (HCZ) as a model of educational reform, one that urban communities might do well to replicate.

HCZ was touted as "one of the most ambitious social experiments of our time" by New York Times Magazine; it has created a vibrant community which holistically addresses the many needs of children and their families in New York's Harlem neighborhood. President Barack Obama and other political leaders have called attention to its many good works in the name of justice.

Dr. Cooney teaches in the School of Social Work at Western Michigan University and serves as city commissioner of Kalamazoo. His resume includes over thirty years in the classroom and numerous roles in community organizing, both in the U.S. and abroad. As commissioner, he has supported the Living Wage Coalition in Kalamazoo and has worked to strengthen relationships between schools and the community.

The lecture, to be held at Hope Reformed Church (2010 Kalamazoo SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49507), is free and open to the public.

Brian Paff, the Micah Center

Planting a forest: Four Micah Center members write letters to Sen. Levin; many more to follow

2009-03-18T03:12:00.001-07:00

GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN (March 19, 2009)--Four trees might not make a forest, but the small handful of mustard seeds that were planted at the Micah Center this week remain hopeful that their faith will enact change. Tera Dent, Hunger Justice Leader with Bread for the World and key member of the Micah Center's Poverty & Hunger Action Group, guided three of her colleagues in an Offering of Letters workshop on Tuesday evening.

The workshop introduced participants to the advocacy process as outlined by Bread for the World, a Washington-based effort to focus Congress's attention on the many needs of the developing world. Bread possesses a rich history of advocating for the world's poor and marginalized. The organization's current letter-writing campaign calls not for a

dditional aid but rather more responsible and responsive assistance to ensure that money allocated for alleviating poverty is achieving that end.

"At first I was pretty disappointed--I put a lot of time into preparing for this," Dent said

afterward, reflecting on the small turnout. "But twenty minutes after we were supposed to start, Lou (Havemann) shared a story about a pastor who planted a church in a farm community that somehow made a lot of sense."

Havemann, co-leader fo the Poverty & Hunger Action Group, told the group that on the farmer's first Sunday, only one other person showed up. The pastor tried to discern whether or not to move forward with the planned service, but the lone farmer insisted. "If I only have one cow in my barn, I still feed it," Havemann said.

Dent's planning and preparation were not in vain: at the workshop's conclusion, four hand-written letters to Senator Levin were sealed and ready to be mailed; furthermore, each participant expressed interest in Dent bringing the workshop to their own community of faith to expand the efforts of Bread for the World.

And so goes a grassroots effort to effect change--planting a forest, one tiny seed at a time.

Brian Paff, The Micah Center

Kate Kooyman merits attention for role in immigration reform movement

2009-03-12T11:22:00.000-07:00

GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN (March 12, 2009)--Kate Kooyman, co-leader of the Micah Center's Immigration Action Group, earned a spot in the Grand Rapids Press for her role in immigration advocacy and action in the West Michigan community. Press reporter Erin Albanese produced an excellent article focusing on Kooyman's contributions as a staff member with the CRC Office of Social Justice.

In the article, Albanese describes the February prayer vigil held at La Iglesia Metodista Unida La Nueva Esperanza that gathered over 100 people of faith, Latino and non-Latino alike, co-sponsored by Kooyman's office, the Micah Center, Michigan Organizing Project, and Justice for Our Neighbors. It represents regional interest in an issue that has long been pushed aside in our national agenda, neglecting the needs of thousands upon thousands of immigrants across the country.

To view the article, you may click on the link below. For more information on the Micah Center Immigration Action Group, visit the Center's "Action Groups" page.

http://www.mlive.com/living/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2009/03/christian_reformed_offi.html

Brian Paff, The Micah Center

Forty-two cents goes a long way when it calls for justice

2009-03-10T11:32:00.000-07:00

GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN (March 10, 2009)--A forty-two cent stamp and a heart for the world's needy will find a welcome place at the Micah Center next week. At 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 17, the Micah Center's Poverty & Hunger Action Group will host a Bread for the World Offering of Letters workshop. Tera Dent, a Bread-trained Hunger Justice Leader, will introduce the advocacy group's mission and objectives and engage participants in letter-writing to urge just action in Congress with regards to its foreign assistance policy decisions.

We're not asking to send more money overseas but rather making sure that money that is already being sent is put to good use. This is an opportunity for people to get involved in advocacy efforts that can make a significant difference," Dent says. It is also part of an effort to spread Bread for the World's grassroots efforts to mobilize local Christians and their church congregations in prayer and social action, fulfilling its mission as a collective voice calling for change on behalf of the poor and needy.

The workshop is open to the public and will be held at Hope Reformed Church, located at 2010 Kalamazoo SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49507. Participants are encouraged to bring a business-sized envelope, a forty-two cent stamp, and a writing pen of their choice. To learn more about Bread for the World, visit www.bread.org.

Brian Paff, The Micah Center

Don Cooney 4/7/09

2009-03-07T08:59:00.000-08:00

On April 7 2009, Don Cooney will address the Micah Center social justice with a talk entitled "Towards Educational Reform: The Harlem Children's Zone As a National Model." The meeting will take place at Hope Reformed Church (corner of Burton and Kalamazoo in Grand Rapids, MI) at 7:00 pm.

The Micah Center's blog moves to a new location

2009-03-01T17:17:00.001-08:00

The Micah Center has moved its blog to its new website in order to strengthen its communication efforts. Please visit our new website at www.themicahcenter.com.

Wes Granberg-Michaelson to Call People of Faith to Renewal of Creation

2009-02-24T11:57:00.000-08:00

GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN (February 24)--The challenge to care for creation will come to the Micah Center on Tuesday, March 3rd, for a 7 p.m. lecture entitled, "Renewing the Earth." "If creation is a gift--which, from a Biblical understanding, it is--" declares scheduled speaker Wes Granberg-Michaelson, "then we are called to care for it." Furthermore, Granberg-Michaelson sees environmental matters as integral to the broader pursuit of social justice. Referring to scientists' findings regarding global warming, he notes that "people often think of Manhattan and the outer banks of North Carolina (in relation to global warming and rising ocean levels), but changes in climate have a very devastating effect on the poor and the marginalized. If (creation) is desecrated, the people who suffer the most are those who have the least." Thus, the Christian imperative to renew and restore the earth.

Granberg-Michaelson is entering his sixteenth year as general secretary of the Reformed Church of America (RCA). His responsibilties with RCA include fostering church develoment and revitalization as well as promoting a broader expression of faith within RCA congregations, one that views justice and faith to be intimately related.

No stranger to faith and justice matters, Granberg-Michaelson has long promoted social justice as an act of faith. His resume features roles as managing editor of the social action periodical, Sojourners; founder of New Creation Institute in Missoula, Montana, an organization emphasizing Christian responsibility to the environment; and chairman of the ecumenical faith and justice movement, Call to Renewal. In addition, Granberg-Michaelson has authored and edited several books addressing social justice.

His tenure in Montana was eye-opening. "Environmentalists had little good to say about the church," he recalls. While in Montana and thereafter, Granberg-Michaelson has sought to enlighten churches to the what he terms a "deep and persuasive Biblical mandate to care for creation." His Tuesday lecture will persist in proclaiming that message to the greater Christian community.

An interdenominational gathering of people of faith committed to social justice, The Micah Center convenes on the first and third Tuesday of each month at Hope Reformed Church, located at 2010 Kalamazoo SE, in Grand Rapids. The lecture, scheduled for 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, March 3, is free and open to the public.

Brian Paff, The Micah Center

Local Immigration Prayer Vigil Attracts National Spotlight

2009-02-20T06:36:00.000-08:00

GRAND RAPIDS (February 20, 2009) -- The prayer vigil for immigration reform held on Monday, February 16, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, has caught the attention of leading justice advocates nationwide. Sojourners, the nation's premier social justice periodical, mentioned the West Michigan gathering in its blog feature on "Prayer, Renewal, and Action on Immigration Week." The feature can be found on "God's Politics," a weblog managed by Jim Wallis and others at Sojourners, and it offers readers a link to the vigil article posted on the Micah Center's blog.

The vigil, which was co-sponsored by the CRC Office of Social Justice, Michigan Organizing Project, the Micah Center, and Justice for Our Neighbors, drew a multi-ethnic crowd of more than 100 people of faith from West Michigan. A great amount of energy and hope circulated through Grand Rapids' La Iglesia Metodista Unida La Nueva Esperanza on Monday night. It represented a small step in the long journey toward immigration reform and justice for the sojourners in our midst, but it was nevertheless a significant one.

Those interested in contributing to West Michigan's efforts to bring resolution to the immigration crisis can find more information from the CRC Office of Social Justice, Michigan Organizing Project, the Micah Center, or Justice for Our Neighbors.

Brian Paff, The Micah Center

Micah Center Unveils New Website

2009-02-17T18:56:00.000-08:00

GRAND RAPIDS, February 17, 2009--The Micah Center is pleased to announce the arrival of its new website, located on the Internet at www.themicahcenter.com. This online resource will offer users insight into the objectives and actions of the Micah Center, a grassroots social justice movement of people of faith in West Michigan. The site introduces newcomers to the Center's five action groups and provides a variety of resources for justice-seekers in the community.

This development represents a significant "next step" the Micah Center resolved to make in order to strengthen internal and external communication efforts. The Center hopes to utilize the site to facilitate growth both in numbers and in impact on the local and broader communities in the name of Shalom, God's peace and justice on earth.

The Micah Center is comprised of a growing number of Christians from varying backgrounds interested in matters of faith and justice. The Center hosts monthly lectures relating to social justice and supports five action groups addressing five distinct yet often interconnected aspects of justice: poverty and hunger, health care, environment/creation care, immigration, and restorative justice. Meetings are held at 7 p.m. on the first and third Tuesday of each month at Hope Reformed Church, 2010 Kalamazoo SE, in Grand Rapids.

Brian Paff, The Micah Center

Candlelight Vigil Draws Diverse Gathering to Pray for Immigration Reform

2009-02-16T17:30:00.000-08:00

GRAND RAPIDS, MI (February 16, 2009) -- A prayer vigil sponsored by the CRC Office of Social Justice, Michigan Organizing Project (M.O.P.), the Micah Center, and Justice for Our Neighbors, attracted Latinos and non-Latinos alike to La Igelsia Metodista Unida La Nueva Esperanza (New Hope United Methodist Church), located at 100 Burton SE in Grand Rapids. The multi-ethnic gathering of more than 100 people settled into a cozy, candlelit sanctuary on Monday evening to sing and pray around the issue of immigration reform.

"It is necessary to recognize immigration as God's concern," commented Jordan Bruxvoort, a community worker with M.O.P. out of Kalamazoo, MI, who helped execute the event. "God is attentive to the vulnerable in society. He upholds them; the people of God must also uphold them." Bruxvoort has worked with the Micah Center in past months and looks forward to strengthening ties between M.O.P. and other social justice movements like the Micah Center in West Michigan.

Kate Kooyman, leader of the Micah Center's Immigration Action Group and representative of the Christian Reformed Church's Social Justice office, also contributed to the vigil's planning and implementation. She was encouraged by the energy and diversity present in La Nueva Esperanza's sanctuary. "A next step is possibly to create a better dialogue between races," she said, observing the lines already being crossed Monday evening at the church that sits on the back doorstep of a racial divide.

La Nueva Esperanza's pastor, Oscar Ventura, was present for the vigil and offered a benediction in Spanish to conclude the event. Ventura, a Dominican-born pastor with decades of experience in the pulpit in Latino communities, was pleased with the turnout. "It was good to see so many people come. We have an opportunity for change right now," he said. Ventura noted that current U.S. Immigration policy can often tear families apart and diminish the quality of life immigrants seek so desperately; he is hopeful that a strong, united voice--such as the one heard on Monday--might influence those in power to show compassion and justice to the nation's immigrant population.

The vigil was purposefully bilingual, with participants singing hymns and reading a litany in both English and Spanish. It drew people from the local congregation and community as well as justice-seekers from as far away as Kalamazoo. Litany readings focused on the multiplicity of aspects that accompany immigration issues in the United States, including family stability, worker's rights, social services, and dignity. Honduran-American Ruth Gutierrez Van Beek smiled at the event's conclusion. "It went really well," she said in Spanish, glancing around the room. "I was very happy (to see so many people present)."

The next challenge, of course, is to translate Monday's energy into tomorrow's social action. The Micah Center's Immigration Action Group will continue to look for creative ways to speak out for justice on behalf of the sojourner, Kooyman declared. By all accounts, it seems that uniting voices from different backgrounds and experiences as it did Monday night is an excellent place to start.

Brian Paff, The Micah Center

2009-02-10T12:30:00.000-08:00

Micah Center members interested in joining the WAGE PEACE campaign, initiated by Rev. Doug Van Doren's Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ congregation, can obtain lawn signs, car decals and clothing items at the next Micah Center meeting, scheduled for Tuesday, February 17, at 7:00 p.m. Members of Plymouth Congregational UCC will accept donations and distribute the WAGE PEACE tools in order to promote God's call for Christians to act as peacemakers. Suggested donations for each item are as follows: $1.00 for cling-on decals, $3.00 for lawn signs, and $12.00 and $15.00 for eco-friendly hemp/cotton blend T-shirts and jerseys, respectively. The offer is not meant to be a marketing ploy but rather a creative way to spread the message of peace and justice.

Bread for the World Mobilizes West Michigan Gathering at Calvin College

2009-02-09T07:03:00.000-08:00

GRAND RAPIDS, February 8 -- A collective South African voice for peace and justice set the tone for the occasion as a recorded Ladysmith Black Mambazo track softly serenaded more than thirty people of faith in a Calvin College meeting room on Sunday afternoon. It marked the conclusion of a Bread for the World Offering of Letters (OL) workshop, and those in attendance attentively penned handwritten letters to Senator Carl Levin (D-Michigan), urging him to take action to reform the U.S. Foreign Assistance policy.

Bread for the World is a Washington-based advocacy group addressing issues of poverty and hunger at home and abroad. Founded in 1971, Bread has established itself over the past four decades as one of the most influential Christian activist groups in the capital. Bread President, Reverend David Beckman, introduced his organization's greatest need in a DVD that was aired during the workshop. "We are seeking an offering, but not an offering of money," he said. "We are seeking an offering of letters."

The workshop was led by two regional representatives, Larry Hollar and Sarah Rohrer, and was held in conjunction with the Calvin College Faith and International Development Conference. Attendees arrived from communities throughout West Michigan, from as near as Calvin's campus to as far away as Kalamazoo and Lansing. The OL workshop aimed to introduce the gathering to Bread for the World and its objectives and to empower participants to initiate letter-writing campaigns in their respective churches or justice organizations. "Bread for the World sees people who are near and far away that are hungry as our neighbors," explained Hollar. "We are a collective Christian voice urging advocacy."

The content of this collective voice is very specific. "Bread for the World aims to encourage U.S. diplomats to legislate for more self-sufficient, country-owned, holistic foreign assistance," said Rohrer. The reduction of global poverty, she insisted, is contingent not on more funding but rather on a more consistent, flexible, and efficient allocation of resources. Letters, therefore, must be directed at urging Congress to pursue reform, not increase, in foreign assistance spending.

Its advocacy efforts have not been in vain. Bread for the World has urged the U.S. Government to elevate foreign assistance alongside defense and diplomacy as keys to creating a more harmonious global community, and Washington seems to be listening. Hollar and Rohrer cited a shift in fund allocation in the Defense Department's budget over the past six years. In 2002, only six percent of the budget was devoted to aid and development in foreign countries; today, that figure has risen to twenty-five percent. Even Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Rohrer noted, has recognized the intricate relationship between justice and peace, referring to Gates' call for increased aid and development spending. The next step is to ensure that this aid is well-organized. "The money we're spending needs to be spent well, be spent wisely, and we need to know where it's going."

Workshop participants responded well to the agenda set forth by Bread for the World. "[Foreign assistance reform] seems complex, but it's a no-brainer," commented Grand Rapids resident Dave Treul. Tera Dent, a member of the West Michigan grassroots social justice movement, the Micah Center, and a Bread for the World-trained Hunger Justice Leader, was also among those in attendance on Sunday afternoon. "Bread focuses on holding our government accountable to focus its efforts on improved development assistance in areas of poverty," she said. Dent referred to the world economic crisis and pointed out,"We're not asking to send more money overseas but rather making sure that money that is already being sent is put to good use." A Christian with a self-assessed passion for the world's poor and marginalized, Dent expressed desire to replicate the Bread workshop during a Micah Center gathering with hopes of mobilizing a greater number of advocates in the West Michigan community.

Bread for the World offers resources on its web site (www.bread.org) that can guide individuals and groups through their advocacy efforts. OL participants were encouraged to take the information they received during the workshop back to their home congregations and justice organizations. Taking the time and making the effort to write a letter to one's congressional respresentative(s), Hollar asserted, can have a profound impact on the country's response to world's needy. With Bread's leadership, advocates' action, and the growing national climate of hope, that impacted response may be in the very near future.

Brian Paff, The Micah Center

Reverend Doug Van Doren Implores Micah Center Gathering to Wage Peace

2009-02-04T17:00:00.000-08:00

GRAND RAPIDS -- When members of Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ resolved in the fall of 2002 to place a sign reading WAGE PEACE on the front lawn of their church, they may never have imagined what would become of their humble act. Over 5,000 distributed signs and car window decals later, the church maintains its stance on issues of war and peace.

Plymouth's pastor, Reverend Doug Van Doren, addressed an interdenominational gathering of people of faith Tuesday evening at the Micah Center, a grassroots social justice movement that convenes at Hope Reformed Church, on the corner of Burton and Kalamazoo. "(The WAGE PEACE campaign) didn't spring from nothing," Van Doren explained. "One of the principles of the Church is to listen to the marginalized."

Only months prior to the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, Plymouth Congregational UCC determined to use the signs to promote peacemaking while the nation teetered on the brink of war. Nearly seven years later, the Grand Rapids church continues to promote waging peace instead of war. On Tuesday, Van Doren suggested that peacemaking is no easy task. It might appear differently in different contexts, but it centers on the notion of providing social services--food programs, education, health initiatives, and the like--for under-resourced and under-served populations.

Van Doren was quick to distance himself from outright pacifism, identifying his personal response to conflict and injustice as "somewhere in between Martin Luther King and Malcolm X," but he affirmed that the Church must find a way to more proactively seek peace. "The Church is a formidable force," Van Doren explained, "but it has held itself back." In his mind, the unique element the Church can bring to the conflict resolution table is what he described as "justice tempered by mercy and forgiveness." Justice without mercy, Van Doren warned, leads to vengeance and retribution.

Rev. Van Doren conceded that his church's campaign did not prevent the Iraqi invasion, nor did it shorten its length. What it did do, however, was challenge his congregants and community to think of innovative ways in which they might "wage peace" in the world. Van Doren similarly challenged those in attendance on Tuesday to likewise consider how to creatively respond to war and conflict. In his parting remarks, he quoted Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, when he said, "Those who love peace must learn to organize as effectively as those who love war."

Brian Paff, The Micah Center

Wes Granberg-Michaelson, 3/3/09

2009-02-04T08:54:00.000-08:00

On March 3 2009, the Reformed Church of America's general secretary, Wes Granberg-Michaelson, will address the Micah Center social justice group on the issue of creation care and environmental sustainability from a Christian perspective. The meeting will take place at Hope Reformed Church (corner of Burton and Kalamazoo in Grand Rapids, MI) at 7:00 pm.

Prayer Vigil for Immigration Reform

2009-01-30T09:01:00.001-08:00

La Nueva Esperanza (UMC) 100 Burton SE Grand Rapids 49507, 7:00-7:30 pm, February 16

CRC Office of Social Justice, Micah Center, and Justice for Our Neighbors invite you to join a national call to prayer for the passage of immigration reform this year. Immigrants across our country are suffering from outdated policy, oppressive enforcement, and hateful rhetoric. Join people of faith across the country who are speaking alongside those who suffer, calling for a
change.

Doug Van Doren to address Micah Center

2009-01-20T04:54:00.000-08:00

On February 3 2009, the pastor of Plymouth United Church of Christ in Grand Rapids, Doug Van Doren, will address the Micah Center social justice group on the issue of "waging peace." The meeting will take place at Hope Reformed Church (corner of Burton and Kalamazoo in Grand Rapids, MI) at 7:00 pm.

1.17.09 meeting

2009-01-19T10:21:00.000-08:00

Fourteen members of the Micah Center Leadership Team met on Saturday morning, January 17th, at 9 AM at Hope Reformed Church to assess progress to date, identify issues, and plan for the future.

Notes are posted here.

History of Micah Center

2009-01-17T08:21:00.000-08:00

Micah Center formed in 2008, beginning as a reading group on social justice issues. Soon the group formed small action groups around three key issues in the Grand Rapids area: health care reform, environmental sustainability, and poverty. In the coming months, two new groups formed: immigration reform and restorative justice. Plenary speakers to the group have included Tom Boogaart (professor of Old Testament at Western Theological Seminary in Holland, MI), George Heartwell (mayor of Grand Rapids), and Earl James (coordinator of multiracial initiatives and social justice for the Reformed Church in America). The Micah Center is led by a steering committee. For more information, contact micahcenter@gmail.com.