What does Oz the Great and Powerful has to do with the righteousness from God?

Last week I saw "Oz the Great and Powerful with my son." Oscar, before really becoming Oz, was a magician. He was very aware that he was a fake, a con man, nothing more than a performer. At some point in the movie Glinda, the good witch, Oz, and their companions are traveling in bubbles approaching the city that is protected by some sort of force field. Oz becomes anxious about crossing this protective shield and Glinda explains that all those of good heart will cross through without a problem. Oz yelled, “I’m going to die!” For his surprise, he crossed, with difficulty, but his bubble finally made it through. Glinda was smiling, probably because she knew as well as him that his heart was not as good as he was pretending. Eventually he will confess this to Glinda and she tells him that she already knew. However, she believed in him; not for whom he was at the moment, but for who he could be. I thought of God and our justification by faith. God looks at us the same way that Glinda looked at Oz. God does not see who we are now, God sees us through Jesus, and thus, justified. In Philippians we are reminded of this righteousness that is not our own but given to us by Jesus Christ: “For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith.” (Philippians 3:8b-9) Glory be to God who loves us as we are and see in us our potential, not our wicked hearts. 

New things are scary at the beginning

I just saw “Warm Bodies,” another movie about apocalypse with zombies walking around eating living human beings. The “corpses” could be cured with love but the “bonies” were too far off for salvation. For the “corpses” to be cured they needed to establish connections with the living. This was scary for the living because “corpses” used to eat them. It is in that transition that the main character, the first zombie to experience the healing process, says, “. . . new things are scary at the beginning.”

We believe in a God who makes all things new. A God who promises, “I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” (Isaiah 43:19) We believe in a God who makes us new, “So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” (2 Corinthians 5:17) But even when it is God’s doing, new things are scary at the beginning.

We look at the decline of the mainline protestant denominations and some diagnose it as ill, others as dying, and yet others as pregnant. Those who think the declining church is pregnant are focusing in the hope that God can and is making new things in the church. Those who think the church is dying are mourning the loss and hoping that God will save it. We all want to hope. And maybe it is love that will bring the life back to the church. Maybe the church needs to connect with the others, with those different. Maybe in humane relationships the church will find new life. I believe God is already doing this. I see it in the “emergent church” that embraces cultural diversity, flat table relationships, artistic expressions, and new ways of being. But loving those who used to hurt us is scary. Watching how God transforms us is scary because living into new things is scary; but just at the beginning.

Unity and Diversity in the Body – A paraphrases of I Corinthians 12:12-26

¹² Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. ¹³ For we were all baptized by^[c] one Spirit so as to form one body—whether clergy or lay, staff or volunteers, bosses or employees—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. ¹⁴ Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.

¹⁵ Now if the teacher should say, “Because I am not a community organizer, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. ¹⁶ And if the communicator should say, “Because I am not an advocate, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. ¹⁷ If the whole body were an advocate, where would the interpretation be? If the whole body were a community organizer, where would the education be? ¹⁸ But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. ¹⁹ If they were all one part, where would the body be? ²⁰ As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

²¹ The activist cannot say to the evangelist, “I don’t need you!” And the staff cannot say to the parishioners, “I don’t need you!” ²² On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, ²³ and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, ²⁴ while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, ²⁵ so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. ²⁶ If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

My own psalm of lament

My God, my God, why have you betrayed me?

Why have you let this happen?

The one I serve and protect has turned against me.

After I looked for his interests he abandoned me.

He stabbed me and turned the knife inside my guts.

Those who I lead despise me.

They try to take me down.

They don’t find fault in the work of my hands

And they turn to question my integrity.

I’m denied my right to confront them.

Without any knowledge they invent my story.

Others are talking about my life

But I’m not allowed to talk.

My God, my God, why did you bring me here?

I’ve called you and you have been silent.

I’ve asked you to take me away

And you have not responded.

You are all mighty and the power belongs to you.

You know I didn’t want this. I just wanted to teach.

You know I wanted to leave. It didn’t have to be like this.

My God, my God, come to my rescue.

Open the doors that I may leave.

My Lord, I belong to you.

Wherever you take me, please keep me whole and help me live.

Belated reflections about my class in Brazil

Poco más de seis meses después de mi regreso de Brazil por razón del curso Religiones, Culturas y Liberación en Brazil todavía trato de integrar las experiencias vividas allá al ministerio acá. Durante las tres semanas que pasé en Brazil (29 de junio al 19 de julio de 2010) visitamos distintas iglesias, teólogos, instituciones sin fines de lucro, organizaciones gubernamentales y comunidades. Aprendimos sobre las dinámicas entre los distintos grupos étnicos y su herencia cultural, sobre distintas teologías, sobre cuestiones de derecho a la tierra y al trabajo, sobre violencia y clases sociales. De todas las actividades que hicimos durante ese tiempo la que más me impresionó fue la visita a la Favela La Providencia.

Una favela es una comunidad organizada espontáneamente por sus habitantes que tomaron las tierras de una montaña para tener donde vivir. La favela La Providencia fue la primera favela en existir en Río de Janeiro organizada hace aproximadamente 100 años por soldados que regresaron de una guerra esperando su recompensa ofrecida por el gobierno. El gobierno no cumplió su promesa de darles tierras y ellos se establecieron en una montaña llena de árboles llamados favelas. Los soldados trajeron mujeres que habían tomado como prisioneras de guerra y fueron ellas las que fundaron la primera capilla en la favela La Providencia. Hoy día hay aproximadamente 1,000 favelas en Brazil y son comunidades que viven en pobreza pero organizándose para obtener lo que como comunidad necesitan. Algunas de ellas están “camuflajeadas”, todas las casas pintadas del mismo color cortesía del “Lord” de las drogas en esa comunidad para confundir a las autoridades que no pueden distinguir unas casas de las otras.

Nuestro recorrido por La Providencia fue dirigido por un líder comunitario, fotógrafo de profesión y muy respetado por el vecindario. Entre otras cosas, nos mostró la “casa amarilla”, una casa de su propiedad que él ha dedicado al desarrollo de la comunidad. En ella se ofrecen talleres de fotografía y de otras destrezas. La casa también sirve como biblioteca para la comunidad. Durante nuestra visita conocimos a una niña que vino a cambiar el libro que ya había terminado de leer por uno nuevo.
En uno de los murales de la comunidad se exhibían los nombres de tres adolescentes víctimas de las tensiones entre favelas, motivadas por el narcotráfico. Es común que la policía tome como rehenes personas de una favela, les pida dinero por su liberación, y si ellos no pagan, la policía los entrega a la favela enemiga para su ejecución. Estos tres adolescentes, ninguno de los cuales era usuario de drogas y uno de ellos siendo primo de nuestro guía, fueron tomados por la policía. Por supuesto ellos no tenían dinero para pagar por su liberación y fueron entregados a la favela enemiga. Varios días después sus cuerpos fueron encontrados en un basurero con signos de haber sidos torturados. Uno de ellos tenía unos 19 balazos en el rostro. Como muestra de su indignación miembros de la comunidad tomaron la bandera de Brazil que ondeaba sobre la estación de policía en el tope de su montaña y corrieron con ella escaleras abajo hasta sacarla de su territorio. El mural fue creado para honrar la memoria de estos tres jovencitos que no merecían morir.

Esta conmovedora historia produce indignación. Son complejas las raíces de estos males sociales que cobran las vidas de niños y adolescentes. La historia de Marcos, David y Wellington no es un incidente aislado. Historias como esta son recurrentes en las favelas de Brazil. Una de las actividades de nuestro itinerario fue suspendida por causa de una balazera ocurrida entre favelas contrarias que cobró la vida de varios niños algunos de los cuales participaban de los talleres de música y baile de la institución que visitamos unos días antes.

Ante esta realidad, ¿qué hace la iglesia de Cristo? La iglesia ha sido llamada a oponerse a los poderes y principados de este mundo siguiendo el ejemplo de Jesús que volteó las mesas del templo para denunciar la opresión y la injusticia. Jesús pagó con su vida y en su resurrección nos dio vida para que la arriesguemos por él y por un mundo justo que refleje la realidad de que el reino de los cielos entre nosotros está. La iglesia en Brazil ha dado ejemplo al mundo de organización de comunidades de base para levantarse en contra de los poderes de este mundo. Mientras pensaba en estas cosas mirando hacia la bahía con mis ojos humedecidos me preguntaba dónde están las favelas en Louisville, dónde están las favelas en San Juan, dónde están las favelas en cada ciudad y qué estamos haciendo las personas cristianas para salvar la vida de jóvenes como Marcos, David y Wellington.
Es mi oración que Dios nos dé las fuerzas para ser una voz profética donde quiera que nos encontremos y que seamos agentes de Su paz.

Empowerment and "Calendar Girls"

After watching Calendar Girls with my 9 years old son in the background it was time to take him to bed. As I was tucking him in he asked me: “So, what did you learn?” I stopped, surprised. I shouldn’t have been surprised. He knows me. He knows I always find something to learn from the movies. But he saw my surprised face and said: “What? I know you liked it. You were not just watching it. So, what did you learn?” And I responded: “I learned that there is a close relation between enjoying life and accepting one’s body.” He nodded and closed his eyes.

The word of which I was really thinking was empowerment. Those old ladies really got empowered by embracing their nudity. Yes, flesh sells and they became famous. Yet they were empowered, not by their fame or the money they raised, but rather by the very act of accepting their bodies. Of course, their inspiration played a role also. They embraced their nudity because they believed the words of John Baker, that flowers look more beautiful in their last stage. John Baker died of leukemia shortly after writing those words and the widow and her friends created a calendar featuring their naked bodies creatively posing behind flowers, pots, baked goods and the like, in order to raise funds to buy a new sofa for the relatives’ room at the hospital where John died. The calendar raised more than expected and they were able to make substantial donations for research to find a cure for leukemia.

Empowerment was what made Ruth confront her husband and his lover and let them be while she flew to Hollywood to appear in Leno’s show. After that moment she looked prettier and happier. Good for her. No begging him to stay with her, no scenes of jealousy wife, no crying in front of him. Ok, maybe the movie showed her in denial but she certainly did right in accepting herself and moving on. She even said that maybe she was dead before but not anymore.

Empowerment was what made Chris move the calendar, find sponsors, and become an entrepreneur in a sense. That had a cost for her family. In that sense the movie was more realistic. However her husband was so understanding that I wondered if men like him really exist. He was more than understanding; he was supportive. He told her he wanted her to have all that. She wanted her to get all the attention and busy life she got because of the calendar. It takes a very secure man to want his wife to have all that.

My son was right. I learned from the movie. I wish all the women in the world would learn too about empowerment and accepting one’s body. I wish all of us could celebrate our bodies and the beauty of a real un-retouched naked body without exploitation, without false expectations, without unrealistic standards, without abuse or violence. I wish all of us could experience empowerment.

Some thoughts after "Revolutionary Road"

How does a man manage to make her wife believe she is insane because she thinks out of the box, because she doesn’t want to live as society tells her to, because she doesn’t understand the rules, because she wanted to save him from his pathetic meaningless life?

How does a woman let a man get into her head to the point she doubts her own sanity?

How does a man manage to blame her wife of his infidelity? Does he really believe it is her fault? He said he did it because of her suggestion of having an abortion of their third and unplanned child. Yet, he didn’t know his wife was pregnant when he was unfaithful to her. He didn’t know about her desire to have an abortion when he was unfaithful again.

Why do we do this to each other? Why can’t just be totally honest? She asked him for the truth: “Do you really want another child?” He was unable to respond with the truth. Instead he accused her of being insane and offered to pay for psychological therapy.

She was trying to be a team. He was trying to be the man. And both of them were doomed to remain living without living because of the decisions he made alone. And what chances did she have back then? What chances do women have now? If it’s not a life, why stay? But, what’s a life? What does it mean to really experience and enjoy life? What is life in fullness?

At the end, as he made his decision alone, she made her decision alone. At the end, she wanted to be free and she risked her life to be it. At the end, she was free but only by her death.