Spirituality in a Marathon

May 5-6 is a very special week-end in Cincinnati. It is the Flying Pig Marathon week-end. This marathon is a hallmark of Cincinnati for many years now and it gets bigger and bigger every year.

The Step Forward Team is participating in this week-end's events for the 4^th year. Launched in 2008, Team Step Forward has grown in strength and in numbers in sync with the marathon itself.

The team brings together men of City Gospel Mission's Exodus Program, the women of Having the
Courage to Change, staff, volunteers, family members and friends of the Mission. So, what is behind this team effort?

First of all, when people come together, in agreement for a common cause, tremendous energy and power is released. It is the very principle that guides corporate prayer. The men and women of City Gospel Mission's Exodus Program and Having the Courage to Change, recovery from addictions is their first goal.

Many are haunted by memories of past failures: Uncompleted education, sporadic employment, broken family relationships and so forth. Training for the marathon involves commitment, discipline and determination. Those are some of the principles involved in recovery.

Furthermore, crossing the finish line announces a completed endeavor. For some that may very well be the first or only thing they have completed in many years. It is a tremendous source of inspiration and encouragement to keep focused on the task at hand.

The whole community therefore, has reason to turn up and be part of this spiritual experience.

United in Faith?

On Friday, May 4, 2012, the Amos Project is organizing a day-long summit focusing on race, faith and justice, under the heading: “United by Faith?”. It will take place at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center from 9 am to 4 pm.

First, what is the Amos Project? According to its website, it is “a federation of congregations in Greater Cincinnati dedicated to promoting justice and improving the quality of life for all residents”. Justice is a major theme in the biblical book of Amos and the practice of Judaism and Christianity – or any faith at all – is empty without the pursuit of justice.

In addition to this fundamental pursuit, one of the keynote speakers at the summit will be Prof. Michelle Alexander, a faculty member at Ohio State University, a legal scholar and an experienced civil rights advocate.

In her book, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, Prof. Alexander argues that mass incarceration of black Americans by the criminal justice system – which brands them felons – has undermined the gains of the civil rights movement. In an interview on NPR's Fresh Air on January 16, 2012 she remarked: “Today there are more African-Americans under correctional control – in prison or jail, on probation or parole – than were enslaved in 1850...”

Much of this injustice, partly, or to a large extent, goes back to Ronald Reagan's policies on the war on drugs which relegated black Americans to a subordinate status.

There should be plenty to ponder during and long after the summit.

Violence: The focus on National Day of Prayer in Cincinnati

Thursday, May 3, 2012 is the National Day of Prayer. Different communities around the nation will pray for different issues relevant to them. It is not uncommon for some communities to pray for peace or their own in the military while others pray for those impoverished or struggling to make ends meet.

Violence in Cincinnati is of special concern. There is not a day that goes by without news of young people's lives being claimed in gun violence. A culture of despair and hopelessness prevails in the inner city. There are no easy solutions available.

Data from the past 11 years reveal an upward trend in violent crime, and the rate in 2012 will be higher than in 2009.

Look at the statistics:

Cincinnati's violent crime rate in 2009 was 177.56% higher than the national average and 258.93% higher than the Ohio rate. Property crime was 103.22% higher than the national average and 88.63% higher than the state average.

Clergy, pastors and religious leaders will therefore join in a caravan ride to specific points in Cincinnati for prayer stops. The starting point – at 10 am - will be Church of the Living God and proceed to Avondale, Winton Terrace, Price Hill, Over the Rhine and end on the steps of City Hall.

The pain of violence is too great on the community. God answers prayers. Every person of faith and good will is urged to participate at one of the stops for this special occasion.

Germination of seeds is beyond the sower's ability

On May 1, 1873, Dr. David Livingstone died after spending more than 33 years in Africa. He had been both a missionary and an explorer. In those days exploration and missionary work were closely related.

Dr. Livingstone is the epitome of a missionary, in most people's minds. Yet, perhaps not many people know that in all those years in Africa, he won only one convert, who later forsook the Christian faith. Nevertheless, this information will not, in the slightest, change the view that Dr. Livingstone is the epitome of a missionary!

Almost 140 years after his death, Africa is experiencing the fastest growth of Christianity. Indeed, demographically, the center of Christianity is no longer Europe or the West. This, despite the fact that the exemplary missionary did not win one convert in those many years.

He sowed the seed, he had no control over it's germination.

There are many individuals, churches and non-profit organizations in Cincinnati and all around the world that devote their energy, time and every resource to help the poor, the needy, the disenfranchised and the homeless. One can name almost any church or synagogue, or City Gospel Mission – for example – Mary Magdalene House, St. Vincent dePaul and many similar charitable organizations.

Perhaps there have been times when some have been discouraged because they have witnessed no change in those they serve. It may be disheartening to see the same faces every day.

It is important to remember that the call is to sow seeds. Germination is in the hands of the Lord who calls. Dr. David Livingstone is comforted as he looks at his work in Africa today.

Chernobyl Nuclear Accident: 26 years later, what have we learned?

The last two articles have commented, rather disproportionately, on the obsession with nuclear weapons in the context of the 26^th anniversary of the world's worst nuclear accident. Inevitably one would ask: What has the peaceful use of nuclear energy – and the inevitable accidents – got to do with nuclear weapons?

The answer is: a lot.

Claims of peaceful use of nuclear energy, in the case of North Korea and Iran, are, at best, dishonest. Why the secrecy? Underground facilities beneath mountains reasonably arouse suspicion. Honesty demands transparency. Denying I.A.E.A inspectors access to nuclear facilities and laboratories is indicative of dubious intentions.

Then there is the myth of deterrence by the two neighbors – India and Pakistan – who are not signatories to the non-proliferation treaties. Their quest to deter one another will only lead to another cold war – this time in Asia.

War as a deterrence, even with nuclear weapons, is false and the two nations with the world's largest stockpiles know it. Their experiences in Afghanistan and Iraq must prove the impotence of war as a solution for peace.

Ultimately, even for peaceful purposes, the world must contend with the possibility of another Chernobyl or Fukushima Daichi scenario. And even without an accident, what about the nuclear waste; now and for thousands of years to come?

Back to the question: What have we learned 26 years later? Probably not much. The town of Proytal is still a ghost and there are no definitive answers to the future of Fukushima Daichi.

Why the nightmare?

Evidently Pakistan decided to follow India's example. Yesterday, they tested a ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead! The rocket launch by North Korea last week was supposedly disguised as carrying a satellite while in fact it was a test of ballistic missile technology.

Pakistan, North Korea and Iran are backward Third World countries. The pictures seen daily, of widespread poverty in Pakistan and North Korea make one wonder: “Whatever happened to reason and priorities?” These are countries that are still to move into the 21^st century. India too has a majority of its population in Third World living conditions!

Their obsession with nuclear weapons, when the rest of the world seems willing to move away from the falsity of peace by conquest seems to make no sense. Too much of the world resources has gone into the machinery of war at the expense of human welfare.

Today is the 26^th anniversary of the Chernobyl Nuclear Accident Twenty six years later, and Pripyat is still a ghost town. Thousands of lives were lost and thousands more altered forever.

In a news segment on NHK World there was a report of a nuclear waste site in Finland which is still under construction. It is believed that burying the waste 420 meters underground, the area will be safe. What is not known is the effect 3,000 years later!

It is a nightmare that will linger for thousands of years and thousands of generations. The people of Cincinnati still remember the secrecy and the poisoning of workers at the Fenald Nuclear facility.

How long will the nuclear nightmare linger on?

Detente by a fifth grader where giants failed

This is not the first time to comment on Samantha Smith, who at age 10 in 1982, wrote a note to Yuri Andropov, then Soviet leader, when the U.S and the U.S.S.R were locked in the hostilities of the Cold War. At the time, U.S president Ronald Reagan had embarked on massive military build-up, supposedly to counter communism.

In her letter, Samantha Smith asked Andropov if it was true that the Soviet Union was planning a nuclear war. She must have been influenced by the anxiety that prevailed at home. She also wanted to know if the Soviets had the intention of preventing a nuclear war.

Here is Andropov's response in a letter released by the Soviets on April 25, 1983: “Yes, Samantha, we in the Soviet Union are endeavoring and doing everything so that there will be no war between our two countries, so that there will be no war at all on earth”.

The horrors, fear and anxiety of the “nuclear monster” are still present today. Tomorrow, April 26 is the anniversary of the Chernobyl Accident (see the following article).Japan is still struggling to return to normal life after the nuclear accident at Fukushima-Daichi last year.

In the midst of these horrifying accidents from peaceful “nuclear energy” the world is locked in a struggle to contain North Korea and Iran in their quest for nuclear weapons. And what was that missile India tested last week?

Sometimes one wishes that there would be more Samanthas to soften hearts and reign in sanity.