This past Sunday, the Orange County Chapter of PCU was honored to have Dr. Rita Nakashima Brock, Founding Co-Director of Faith Voices for the Common Good, address a gathering at Irvine United Congregational Church.
While there are plenty of Biblical scholars and church history experts out there, Dr. Brock just may be one of the best! The audience was incredibly impressed by the breath of knowledge Dr. Brock was able to pull from her memory during the rally. The bulk of her hour-long talk was without the use of notes.
Dr. Brock explained to the event attendees the sequence of events over the last 2000 years that has molded and defined (conservative) Christian doctrine and theology.
While the early church, as Dr. Brock explained during the question and answer time, was “life affirming, THIS worldly, and optimistic,” conservative Christians today affirm a theology of violence. Instead of loving God’s creation…PARADISE…they are anxiously awaiting and praying for ultimate violence (destruction of this world through Armageddon…their mis-understanding of the Book of Revelation). Read the rest of this entry »
Perhaps you’ve heard the news…Wal-Mart wants to build a 177,000 square foot Super Center in Garden Grove…smack dab in the middle of a community known for small, family-owned businesses. As someone who has lived in a Wal-Mart community for many years, I know first-hand that unless this corporation changes their employment practices, the introduction of Wal-Mart to a neighborhood essentially guarantees that small businesses will vanish. This, in my opinion, is a virtual travesty and is simply immoral and unethical.
Now I’m about as frugal as anyone, so, of course, when Wal-Mart came to Foothill Ranch (where I live), I ran as fast as I could to see for myself the “falling prices.” But I quickly realized that the low prices came at a much higher cost. It meant that the little pharmacy where I filled my daughters’ prescriptions couldn’t compete. Within months of Wal-Mart opening, this small business-owner, who probably put the bulk of his life-savings into starting a business in a new community, hung up a “Going Out of Business” sign. I was devastated for him.
But I really wasn’t convinced Wal-Mart’s employment practices were utterly destructive until the grocery store strike/lock-out of three years ago. Read the rest of this entry »
Several things happened over the last week that caused me to think again about what it means to “do justice”…something the prophet Micah reminded God’s followers was required of them.
First, I was incredibly pleased last Wednesday when all the results came in from Tuesday’s election and it was confirmed that the Democratic party would take control of the House and the Senate. This turn of events brought me hope that justice could possibly be delivered upon those for whom I care so much.
While we all have issues that touch us deeply, as a volunteer at a school for homeless children, economic justice has become my passion. I watch how families at the school struggle to make ends meet, most being forced to live in motels or homeless shelters because their wages are so low that they cannot ever afford to save first and last month’s rent and security deposit to allow them to move into a stable living environment.
As one burdened for the working poor, I was horrified when Congress earlier this year refused to raise the federal minimum wage (currently $5.15/hr.), which is nearly $10,000 a year under the poverty line. Is it “just” I wondered, not to guarantee workers a wage above the poverty line? I realized then that without a change in leadership in this country, the families of the children at my school would have little opportunity to get out of the cycle of poverty. Mere charitable handouts of gifts, food and money, while still important, are not enough to lift the estimated 37 million Americans out of poverty.
Through a variety of experiences: conferences I’ve attended, sermons I’ve heard, discussions I’ve had or meetings in which I’ve participated, one theme seems to have woven itself through each conversation– “What does it mean to say we believe in and worship a loving God?”
Sunday afternoon, a group of Southern California activists gathered in Studio City for a half-day conference: “Passion to Serve/Power to Transform.” During the opening session, four people from four different faith traditions shared with the conference attendees how their faith informs their commitment to seeking justice in a broken world.
What struck me Sunday afternoon was the intense love that all four individuals have for the poor, the oppressed, the “least of these” around the world. Each emphasized that their deep faith, their understanding of a loving God, and their responsibility to live as faithful followers of their religious tradition, motivates and empowers them to seek systemic societal change (justice rather than charity) in an effort to alleviate the oppression experienced by so many of God’s children. Wow! Communicating LOVE above all to the oppressed in our society!!!
It made me wonder why it is in my denomination, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), that so many are still fighting over whether or not to love (and thus allow ordination of) gay and lesbians into the ministry of Jesus Christ. And in Orange County, ten Presbyterian Churches are leading the fight to maintain this unloving prohibition. I have read and re- read the Gospels, which provide a detailed overview of the life and ministry of Christ, yet I find nowhere in any of those four books where Jesus says a word about gays and lesbians. My denomination continues year after year to fight over what it means for ministers to be “pure” and to live by ordination “essentials” established in our Book of Order (written by fallible humans, mind you). Ironically, the PCUSA seems rarely to fight over how we all as “ministers” (Christ’s disciples) should integrate into our lives Christ’s mandate to “love our neighbors as ourselves.” Read the rest of this entry »
Progressive Christians Uniting has just hired Pamela Reed Allison as our coordinator for PCU Orange County. With her great skills and passionate commitment, we are excited to have her on board and look forward to exciting developments in Orange County!
Pam is a graduate of Biola University, where she studied Christian Education and Counseling. She also studied Political Science on the American Studies Program in Washington, D.C., looking at Federal drug policy, Apartheid in South Africa and the political/religious conflict in Northern Ireland. In addition to her position at PCU, she is the Community Relations Coordinator for Project HOPE School in Orange, CA, which serves children (K-8) living in motels and homeless shelters. She is on the Board of Directors of a forming social service agency, OC Together, which endeavors to unite the county to assist and empower at-risk residents in their move toward self-sufficiency. She is an ordained Elder in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and has a heart for social justice issues. She is passionate about issues that address the economic stability of U.S. workers — namely a living wage and access to affordable health care. She is charged with reaching Progressive Christians in Orange County to provide opportunities for study, activism, connection and encouragement as we seek to live out daily Christ’s mandate to love our neighbors as ourselves. For more information about PCU-OC, please contact her at .
A speech given by Rev. George Regas at the inauguration of the Orange County chapter of PCU.
I want to take on two wedge issues of the religious right and much of the Republican Party: gay marriage and abortion, and look at them through a theological lens. Then I want to turn to a third issue: a brief word on the church’s political responsibility - and conclude with some observation on the frequent absence of the sacred among so many mainline Protestant Churches. Read the rest of this entry »
While there are plenty of Biblical scholars and church history experts out there, Dr. Brock just may be one of the best! The audience was incredibly impressed by the breath of knowledge Dr. Brock was able to pull from her memory during the rally. The bulk of her hour-long talk was without the use of notes.
