The Angels of Los Angeles

IV.    Vows of Voluntary Sacrifice

“We freely offer up our appetites, wealth, and pride to relieve the suffering of the world, for the sake of our neighbors and God’s joy.”

15. I will accept with grace any suffering for myself resulting from my affirmations, rejections and witness; I will do all in my power to reduce the suffering in the world, including the suffering of victims and my adversaries in confrontation.

Reginald Denny and the LA Four

*Watching the live TV newscast in their homes, Titus Murphy and Terri Barnett, Lei Yuille, and Bobby Green saw the rock-wielding rioters rip the semi-truck driver from his cab. One man held the driver’s head to the ground with his foot while the others kicked at his body and hit him with a hammer and chunks of concrete. Reginald Denny was knocked unconscious by the blows to the head and one of the attackers pranced victoriously over Denny, flashing gang signs at the news copter.

Twenty years ago on the 29^th of April 1992, South Central and Southeast Los Angeles exploded in six-day riots killing 53 people and wounding thousands in wide spread violence and murder. The looting and arson cost nearly one billion dollars and destroyed over a thousand buildings. Long simmering anger over inequitable poverty, segregation, lack of educational and employment opportunities, police abuse, interracial violence  and unequal  services ignited into open rage in the poorest sections of L.A. the day the court acquitted four of black Rodney King’s white and Hispanic police assailants.

It was into this South Central inferno that Reginald Denny, a white truck driver, unwittingly drove. Seeing his brutalization by black youth on the live helicopter news feed, four separate African-American strangers sprang from their couches several miles away in the neighborhood to rush to Denny’s aid out at the intersection of Florence and Normandie.

Struggling With

III.    Vows of Nonviolent Witness

“We pledge to act in allegiance to God alone, and to resist injustice with goodness”

10. I will speak up in defense and protection of anyone, even enemies, who are attacked with violence of word or action, even at the risk of my own life.

(Isaac Beachy, Fellowship of Reconciliation Colombia)

Isaac discovered at least one very important thing from the San Jose de Apartado Peace Community in northwest Colombia: struggle for God’s shalom is not easy! In his February 2011 blog entry, Isaac admits: “When I first wrote the title to this blog [‘With the Struggle’] I had no idea what a struggle meant. Before, a struggle was an exciting story full of graffiti, marches, people power, powerful Spanish protest songs and was victorious. Struggling or being with a struggle seemed like an adventure to me... Now fully understanding the emotional and often physical cost of being in a struggle, I see it’s not something you do for fun.”

Anonymous

I.        Vows of Affirmation

“We devote our daily life to God, and to serving our neighbors as images of God”

5. I will daily seek to do good for someone without reward or recognition.

Heard about guerilla goodness, anonymous or random acts of kindness, paying-it-forward?  People voluntarily giving up their right to be recognized, to be thanked, to be pleased with themselves, to receive some kind of gain from their good actions? Most Western economic thinkers who trust the “invisible hand” of self-interest see giving it up as unlikely human behavior—and they are right. Yet this is exactly what Christ calls his followers to and models the same himself.  One of the earliest Christian confessions about Jesus, Philippians 2:6-11, makes clear that he gave up his right to gain from his privileged status and obedient actions—willing to suffer for doing good rather than receiving his deserved reward for it!

God’s ironic way left Jesus with far more reward and recognition than if he had initially demanded what he deserved for his status and good works, “regarding equality with God as something to be exploited.” Jesus gave up his privilege and rights for recognition and suffered for doing good, but in the end “God highly exalted him” because of it.

From one little mouth

II.      Vows of Rejection

“We renounce violence of the heart, tongue and fist, neither willing nor working harm to any”

8. I will reject violence of the tongue: I will not speak or write any curse, insult, abuse, slander, deception, falsehood, or gossip

(by Helga Weber via Flickr)

The tongue is certainly a difficult thing to manage well. We humans are curious. We like to tell ourselves that we have things under control. How quickly and easily we say something in an effort to be humorous or to put someone in their place, and then eventually wish we could inhale those same words back in because of embarrassment or regret. The notion of “control” evaporates, and we realize that our words have caused injury that can’t be ignored.

In the Bible, James knew this quite well... “From the same mouth come blessing and cursing” (James 3:10). The things we say with our mouths reveal the kind of person we are. Cruel or nasty words can come quite easily. Kind words spoken in patience are not always on the tips of our tongues. But the habits of “good speech” can be formed. It might mean responding more slowly or even remaining quiet when a flippant response would be easy. So James writes in 3:13 urging us to “show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom.” Speaking good words that come from this gentleness is a skill that for most of us takes time to develop into a virtue that we do well. It does take a little bit of patience and wisdom to learn deeper patience and wisdom.

You’ve Got to Serve Someone

IV.    Vows of Voluntary Sacrifice

“We freely offer up our appetites, wealth, and pride to relieve the suffering of the world, for the sake of our neighbors and God’s joy.”

19. I will discipline my appetite for possessions through limiting acquisition of things to my true needs; through treating all my possessions and wealth as a trust from God for extending God’s blessings to the suffering in the world; through sharing generously with my neighbors; and through consuming conscientiously and simply so that I do not deprive others of the means to live.

("Money Chain" by Nina Helmer via Flickr)

Without looking very hard I can find evidence that my stuff can easily own me, control me and rob life from me. What’s a bit more difficult to see is that when I'm distracted by, anxious about, pursuing after and consuming all the stuff that has been marketed to me, I am much less able to live a life of compassion and reconciliation with my neighbor, devotion to God or peace with myself. My focus on my own desires and needs, the anxiety about whether there will be enough, my drive to protect what I do have from others, or the energy expended in the acquisition of the next thing (and paying off the last one)—all this takes great time and energy in our lives; time we can’t use to pursue God and serve our neighbor.  

Jesus must have been on to something when he said we can’t serve two masters, God or mammon!