Peace on Earth

27 Jul 2017 1 Comment

by Visible Unity, Inc. in Activist, America, Churches, Community Organizing, Diversity, Equity & Social Justice, Faith Communities, Hospitality, Minorities, Missions, Social Justice, Spiritual Life, Uncategorized, Working and Preparing, Workshops Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I was anguishing about the state of this world and how there is chaos and violence everywhere you look. I wished there was more that I could do. While I know that relationship building, reconciliation and peace making are crucial, they sometimes don’t feel like enough. Visible Unity had a Weekend for Peace recently that brought together diverse people to pray, sing, view and discuss film clips around racism and integrate a worship service. A song came to me and our diverse group of peace minded people joined together at a police station and prayed for peace and sang the lyrics of the song – ‘Let There Be Peace On Earth.’

Let there be peace on earth, And let it begin with me

Let There Be Peace on Earth, The peace that was meant to be

With God as our Father, Brothers all are we

Let me walk with my brother, In perfect harmony.

Let peace begin with me, Let this be the moment now

With ev’ry step I take, Let this be my solemn vow

To take each moment and live, Each moment in peace eternally

Let there be peace on earth, And let it begin with me

The peace that was meant to be, living in perfect harmony, and beginning with each one of us, should give us pause.  Not long after this, one of the board members of Visible Unity, Inc. sent me a link to a commentary on John 15:12-13 – ‘My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends’. The commentator suggests four things from this passage. The Obligation, the Sufficiency, the Pattern, and the Motive of Christian love. (http://biblehub.com/commentaries/john/15-12.htm)

The Obligation – cherishing a kindly and loving regard to all others; such an attitude is the only fitting expression of the mutual relation of Christians, through their common relation to Jesus; However unlike any two Christian people are to each other in character, in culture, in circumstances, the bond that knits those who have the same relations to Jesus Christ one to another is far deeper, far more real, and ought to be far closer, than the bond that knits either of them to the men or women to whom they are likest in all these other respects.

I like this focus on the obligation of Christians because I feel if we can get this right, then we will have a head start in loving non-Christians. I also like this because I think Christians may be lagging more so than other faiths in loving their brothers and sisters. In Christ, we are all one family.

The Sufficiency – Love will soften the tones, will instinctively teach what we ought to be and do; will take the bitterness out of opposition and diversity, will make even rebuke, when needful, only a form of expressing itself. The ‘one thing needful’ was that they should be knit together as true participators of His life. Love was sufficient as their law and as their guide.

Love is sufficient. What else is there to say?

The Pattern – Now He says, ‘Love one another as I have loved you.’ There stand the three, as it were, the Father, the Son, the disciple. The Son in the midst receives and transmits the Father’s love to the disciple, and the disciple is to love his fellows, in some deep and august sense, as the Father loved the Son. Christ’s love nailed Him to the Cross, and led Him down from the throne, and shut for a time the gates of the glory behind Him. And He says, ‘That is your pattern!’ ‘If He had never died for His enemies’ says one of the old fathers, ‘He would never have possessed His friends.’ The way by which we are to meet even alienation and hostility is by pouring upon it the treasures of an unselfish, self-sacrificing affection which will conquer at the last.

Enemies are future friends when love is involved and seeks relationship. Christians, we have our model. Turn to Christ’s love and allow it to infuse you that you feel compelled, obligated and equipped to love others.

The Motive – The novelty of Christian morality lies here, that in its law there is a self-fulfilling force. We have not to look to one place for the knowledge of our duty, and somewhere else for the strength to do it, but both are given to us in the one thing, the gift of the dying Christ and His immortal love. And so, brethren, if we would know the blessedness and the sweetness of victory over these miserable, selfish hearts of ours, and to walk in the liberty of love, we can only get it by keeping close to Jesus Christ.

From this passage, we should be motivated to reach out in love to all of our brothers and sisters. LOVE IS THE WAY TO RECONCILIATION!!!  LOVE IS THE WAY TO RELATIONSHIP BUILDING!!!  LOVE IS THE WAY TO PEACE!!!  If you have the desire but are unsure of how, please contact me. I will be happy to discuss with you possible avenues of reaching out to those different from you.

Weekend for Peace

10 Jul 2017 1 Comment

by Visible Unity, Inc. in Activist, America, Churches, Community Organizing, Diversity, Equity & Social Justice, Faith Communities, Hospitality, Minorities, Missions, Social Justice, Spiritual Life, Uncategorized, Working and Preparing, Workshops Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

This past weekend Visible Unity, Inc. declared a ‘Weekend for Peace.’

Friday evening was ‘Prayers for Peace’ where we met at the Southwest Dallas Police Substation and engaged in prayer, singing and talking.  Seeking to be fortified as we begin or continue in the work of bringing peace into our spheres of influence.

Saturday afternoon we gathered at the Meadows Conference Center for the I/Eye Perspective.  We watched film clips from the movie, ‘I Am Not Your Negro’ and a clip of the self-introduction of ‘Tim Wise.’  We watched these clips with our eyes (Eye Perspective) and then had excellent discussion about race from each of our own personal perspectives (I).

Sunday morning (the most segregated hour) was the Integrated Hour of Worship, where a diverse group attended services at First United Methodist Church in downtown Dallas, Dr. Andy Stoker pastor.

We are in a war.  Yes, a war is going on in our country.  And with all wars people tend to forget that the enemy is also human and has family and friends who love them and who has hopes and dreams for the future.  People also tend to focus on destroying the other.  There is no desire to try and come together and talk things over.  Hate is the focus, otherwise we wouldn’t be able to kill.  Lastly, people tend to believe all the propaganda about the other side.  That they are not human, good or worthy.  They are a bane to society and so on.  This provides the ammunition needed to keep the war going.  It helps people to believe they are doing the right thing, the good and necessary thing.

In his sermon, Dr. Stoker remarked that we have a tendency to turn practice into truth.  I would add that in the history of the US, there has been a practice of devaluing people of color and this practice has turned into a truth.  A truth that has to be dismantled.  A truth that is founded upon ignorance and mainly, fear.  James Baldwin, when talking about the nature of the rage between Black and White, said that, ‘The root of the black man’s hatred is rage.  Blacks don’t hate whites.  It’s more rage; they just want them out of their way and more importantly, out of their children’s way.  The root of the white man’s hatred is terror.  A bottomless, unnameless terror which focuses on this dread figure and entity which lives only in his mind.’

The way past this terror and this unfounded truth is through relationships, relationships across cultures and divides, relationships across gender and economic divides, relationships across faiths.  Visible Unity can help you with this.  Contact us and join us in peace-building and relationship building.

 

 

Co-Dependent not Independent

05 Jul 2017 1 Comment

by Visible Unity, Inc. in America, Churches, Community Organizing, Diversity, Equity & Social Justice, Faith Communities, Hospitality, Minorities, Missions, Social Justice, Spiritual Life, Uncategorized, Working and Preparing Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

For believers, independence should not be the goal. The definition of independent is ‘free from outside control; not depending on another’s authority or on another for livelihood or subsistence.’ No, we should strive for co-dependency; a word often used in psychological analysis around addiction. However, for true followers of Christ, it is appropriate. We depend upon the Triune God for our subsistence and our addiction is to Them alone. We also depend upon our fellow sojourners for support, accountability and to be brothers and sisters in the struggle together. We are not intended to be in this journey alone and to do ministry by ourselves. The entire body of believers are to work together regardless of race, age, gender, faith and any other things we use to divide ourselves and keep us from collectively working together for the kingdom.

I encourage you today, having just celebrated America’s Independence Day, to break from the individualism of the US and seek unity amongst as many diverse people that are in your midst. Seek out those different from you in your community and strive to build relationships; relationships of peace and unity. We have gotten off track. Let us move back towards the model of the Trinity; distinct yet equal, separate yet unified. If you need help getting started, give me a call or shoot me an email.

Blessings

Pam

Reproducing Racism

01 Apr 2017 1 Comment

by Visible Unity, Inc. in Activist, America, Churches, Community Organizing, Diversity, Equity & Social Justice, Faith Communities, Minorities, Missions, Social Justice, Spiritual Life, Uncategorized, Working and Preparing Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I was reading a book by Daria Roithmayr, Reproducing Racism: How Everyday Choices Lock In White Advantage, and she equates the way white people have systematically oppressed people of color as a cartel.  Whites engaged in “cartel conduct” utilize “economic coercion, violence and harassment” to give whites an advantage.  In posing suggestions for a political and legal fix, she uses the example of the government saying Microsoft was a monopoly and needed to be split up so that fair competition can occur.  “Restoring competition in the operating systems market required significant and dramatic legal intervention, in order to eliminate the barrier to entry created by increasing returns.”  I would add that fair competition leads to greater diversity and creativity and benefits everyone.  When we don’t diversify, we don’t expand our thinking, actions or products; whether those products are tangible or intangible.  Roithmayr also recognizes that there needs to be work done in our social networks and interactions as well as more integration in a variety of ways.

My final thoughts about her work is something I will try to incorporate in the work I do.  She resets racial discrimination as anticompetitive and antidiscrimination as antitrust.

Anticompetitive – emphasis on the economic costs and historical benefits of racial discrimination

Antitrust – emphasis on the unfairness of white advantage

Let’s all do what we can in the areas we are in to level the field.                                          Blessings

Pam

Do Something

12 Feb 2017 1 Comment

by Visible Unity, Inc. in Activist, America, Churches, Community Organizing, Diversity, Equity & Social Justice, Faith Communities, Minorities, Missions, Social Justice, Spiritual Life, Uncategorized, Working and Preparing Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Benjamin Franklin said that ‘Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are.’ This could apply not only to justice but also discrimination, racial targeting, and oppression. This past year and moving through the next four years, we will be seeing more and more unaffected people become outraged. For America, this is a bad time not only for all Americans but also for the world. However, we cannot afford to allow this time of grief, pain and sorrow to be in vain. We must take advantage during these times to regroup, re-gather and remobilize so that we can usher in healing, relationship building, renewed and comprehensive strategizing, and reenergized and informed mobilization. There are many groups, some already formed and some forming, already working in one or more of these areas.

Now is the time to get involved. Do something to truly make America great and to help make the world great. This is only possible with collective effort. Make sure your organization is talking with, partnering with and/or collaborating with other organizations. This is not a time for territorial/kingdom building fighting. Let’s all come together. If you are a philanthropist, give money to those organizations who are not working in silos, who realize ‘it takes a village’ or in this instance several communities.

God bless and see you in the trenches.

Pam

A Problem and A Solution

06 Oct 2016 1 Comment

by Visible Unity, Inc. in Churches, Diversity, Faith Communities, Hospitality, Minorities, Missions, Spiritual Life, Uncategorized, Working and Preparing, Workshops Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

A Problem

I was reading a Facebook post of an African American veteran explaining why he was protesting in Charlotte. There were things they were not allowed to do in the country we were at war with (shooting unarmed people) but those things were being done here in the US against US citizens.

It got me to thinking, there is a war. Racism is so imbedded in our structure as a country that it’s akin to white people being at war with black people.  That’s why with all the different “War on” – black people were targeted.  War on Crime, War on Drugs, War on Terrorism, etc.

A Solution

I was also just reading an article about the UN being concerned about the plight of African Americans here in the US. The UN committee visited the US and suggests some reparations are in order for African Americans.  They recommend this because of the history but also because the present escalation of police killings of African Americans is reminiscent of the history.

Suggestions include reparations to African-American descendants of slavery (better education, prison reform, better job opportunities and yes even, money), establish a national human rights commission and publicly acknowledge that the trans-Atlantic slave trade was a crime against humanity.

America, we have other countries looking at our atrocities.  Isn’t it time to do something about all of this.  Please feel free to contact me about joining a Unity Process group and work to begin getting to know diverse people, having healthy conversations about race, and joining in the fight.

Blessings

Pam

Excerpts from some Articles

By JESSE J. HOLLAND, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States should consider reparations to African-American descendants of slavery, establish a national human rights commission and publicly acknowledge that the trans-Atlantic slave trade was a crime against humanity, a United Nations working group said Friday.

The U.N. Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent released its preliminary recommendations after more than a week of meetings with black Americans and others from around the country, including Baltimore, Chicago, New York City, the District of Columbia and Jackson, Mississippi.

After finishing their fact-finding mission, the working group was “extremely concerned about the human rights situation of African-Americans,” chair Mireille Fanon Mendes-France of France said in the report. “The colonial history, the legacy of enslavement, racial subordination and segregation, racial terrorism and racial inequality in the U.S. remains a serious challenge as there has been no real commitment to reparations and to truth and reconciliation for people of African descent.”

For example, Mendes-France compared the recent deaths of unarmed black men like Michael Brown and Eric Garner at the hands of police to the lynchings of black men in the South from the post-Civil War days through the Civil Rights era. Those deaths, and others, have inspired protests around the country under the Black Lives Matter moniker.

Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton Same Responses on Reparations

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders caused a stir when he stated he does not support reparations for slavery on the grounds that such a program would be “very divisive” and would never pass Congress. Hillary Clinton when asked never gave a straight answer instead suggest that money be invested in funding under privileged neighborhoods . However both have a history in reparations for a certain group. Holocaust survivors. Sanders-sponsored a bill but never came up for a vote. Clinton is also on the same page as Sanders. During her husband’s administration, she was given an award by the World Jewish Congress for helping obtain reparations from the Swiss and German governments.

“Contemporary police killings and the trauma it creates are reminiscent of the racial terror lynchings in the past,” she told reporters. “Impunity for state violence has resulted in the current human rights crisis and must be addressed as a matter of urgency.”

Some of the working group’s members, none of whom are from the United States, said they were shocked by some of the things they found and were told.

For example, “it’s very easy in the United States for African-Americans to be imprisoned, and that was very concerning,” said Sabelo Gumedze of South Africa.

Federal officials say 37 percent of the state and federal prison populations were black males in 2014. The working group suggests the U.S. implement several reforms, including reducing the use of mandatory minimum laws, ending racial profiling, ending excessive bail and banning solitary confinement.

“What stands out for me is the lack of acknowledgement of the slave trade,” said Ricardo A. Sunga III, who lives in the Philippines.

The working group suggests monuments, markers and memorials be erected in the United States to facilitate dialogue, and “past injustices and crimes against African-Americans need to be addressed with reparatory justice.”

The group will suggest several U.S. changes to improve human rights for African-Americans, which also include establishing a national human rights commission, ratifying international human rights treaties, asking Congress to study slavery and its aftereffects and considering reparations .

The Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent was established in 2002 by the then-Commission on Human Rights, following the World Conference against Racism in 2001.

It also visited the United States in 2010, where its final report found similar problems, including blacks facing disproportionately high unemployment, lower income levels, less access to education, “problematic access to quality health-care services and the high incidence of certain health conditions, electoral disenfranchisement and structural issues in the administration of justice (in particular incarceration rates).”

The current panel will give its final findings to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva in September.

U.N. Experts Recommend US Reparations For Slavery

After 14 years, and 20 days of speaking with U.S. officials, activists, and families of people killed by police in major American cities, a United Nations working group is getting into the fray on U.S. racial discrimination.The group has reached the conclusion the slave trade was a crime against humanity and the U.S. government should pay reparations. A French member of the working group of U.N. experts, Mireille Fanon-Mendes-France, said after their meetings in the U.S., “Contemporary police killings and the trauma it creates are reminiscent of the racial terror lynching in the past.” The U.N. experts traveled to major cities including: Washington D.C., Baltimore, Jackson, Mississippi, Chicago, and New York City. Several years ago, both the U.S. Senate and House, in separate bills apologized for slavery and Jim Crow legislation, but were divided over the issue of reparations. the bills were never passed as law.

 

What’s Going On

24 Sep 2016 1 Comment

by Visible Unity, Inc. in Churches, Diversity, Faith Communities, Hospitality, Minorities, Missions, Spiritual Life, Uncategorized, Working and Preparing, Workshops Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

“What’s Going On” by Marvin Gaye

Mother, mother There's too many of you crying
Brother, brother, brother 
There's far too many of you dying 
You know we've got to find a way 
To bring some lovin' here today 

Father, father 
We don't need to escalate 
You see, war is not the answer 
For only love can conquer hate 
You know we've got to find a way 
To bring some lovin' here today 

Picket lines and picket signs 
Don't punish me with brutality 
Talk to me, so you can see 
What's going on

In the mean time, Right on, baby, Right on, Right on 

Mother, mother, everybody thinks we're wrong 
Oh, but who are they to judge us 
Simply because our hair is long 
Oh, you know we've got to find a way 
To bring some understanding here today 

Oh Picket lines and picket signs 
Don't punish me with brutality 
Talk to me 
So you can see 
What's going on 
Uh Right on baby, Right on baby

These lyrics ring true today.  All I can say is, if you are interested in talking to those different from you so you can see and understand better what’s going on, then The Unity Process is the place for you.  It brings diverse people together and helps them to have healthy conversations about race.  Contact me if you’re interested at pam@pamyfields.com.

Blessings

Award

25 Jun 2016 1 Comment

by Visible Unity, Inc. in Churches, Diversity, Faith Communities, Hospitality, Minorities, Missions, Spiritual Life, Uncategorized, Working and Preparing, Workshops Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Epically Awesome

Ann Fields (https://annfields.com/) did a beautiful job of relating information about herself and then proceeded to nominate me for the Epically Awesome Award for Epic Awesomeness.  I hope I also do justice to the award in answering these questions:

What made you choose your current blogging platform?  Actually, it was suggested to me by Ann Fields and I respect her opinions.

Introduce yourself and tell us about your blog?  I’m a mother of 2 and grandmother of numerous little ones – some biological and some not.  I am also a student working on my doctorate in Global Leadership at Bethel Seminary in St. Paul, MN.  My studies and my passions coincide (of course) around the area of diversity and unity and in particular Christians modeling for the rest of the world how you can have and should have both diversity and unity.  Thus, my blog will have a wide spectrum of content but basically around diversity – educating all, expressing how people of color may feel, encouraging all, etc.

Are you a once-in-a-while blogger or a daily one?  I try to blog at least once a month but I’m not always successful given my school load, full time job and full time ministry (Visible Unity, Inc.)

Do you wish to publish and if so, what type of book?  Currently, I am not interested in publishing but if The Unity Process is successful in bringing people together, then I will want to share that information with others.

What is your favorite thing to do besides write?  I grew up reading and I continue to love reading, although most of my reading now is for school.  The next thing besides that is my grandbabies and their parents – playing, helping, interacting, etc.  We can learn so much from children.

Thank you again Ann Fields.  Unfortunately, I am not in the blog-o-sphere enough to recommend anyone.  All of my hopes for extra time in my life are centered around finishing school.

Blessings!

 

Inspiration

23 Apr 2016 1 Comment

by Visible Unity, Inc. in Churches, Diversity, Faith Communities, Hospitality, Minorities, Missions, Spiritual Life, Uncategorized, Working and Preparing Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I wanted to share a couple of pieces that I wrote that really seem pertinent to my current work focus.
Multiculturalism
We rub
I on you
You on me
If we rub enough, we all will see what was hidden underneath
Exposed for those who choose to see
Oh the glory, the wonder, the riches unfold
For He is the one, our eyes will behold

 

Multicultural Trip
I had a whole week of class and I was very tired. I was angry with my teacher and my classmates and I was ready to go home.  When I got to the airport, I saw people from all over who talked to me and we laughed and we all valued our time together.  So I was very glad to catch my flight home to be with people who showed me respect and valued me and what I had to contribute.    Thank you God.  You knew just what I needed.

 

The first piece was from a trip I took to South Africa that really inspired in me the possibilities that we could truly and authentically be in relationships with people from different cultures.  Thus, the focus of my work on relationships and reconciliation.

 

The second piece was after class as a seminary student, where I did not feel included, valued or even welcomed by fellow Christians.  Thus, the focus of my work on Christians.

What is your work?  What has inspired you?

 

Diversify! Diversify! Diversify!

23 Feb 2014 2 Comments

by Visible Unity, Inc. in Churches, Diversity, Faith Communities, Hospitality Tags: , ,

And no, I don’t mean your financial portfolio.  We like diversity and variety in a lot of things.  When going out, we like to go to a variety of places, doing different things.  It might be to the movies one time, out to eat, to the park, to the museum, etc.  We like to eat different types of food.  We would complain if every day we had to eat the exact same thing for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  We definitely like a variety of styles of clothing and even have them categorized; casual, business casual, semi-formal, formal, after five, etc.

I could go on and on about how we diversify our lives in so many ways.  So now, I would like to talk about how we diversify our financial portfolio.  We diversify so that we can have the greatest yields from our investments while minimizing the risks.  Risk and profit should be shared among a large group.  A typical portfolio will include 1) stocks, 2) bonds, and 3) short term investments.  Stocks have the highest risks but also the highest rewards.  Bonds have lower risk, so lower rewards but are more predictable.  Short term investments have the least risk (such as money market funds) and yield the least return but are the safest.

We could compare this to diversifying our congregations.  The higher risk individuals to welcome into our congregations would be the ‘other’ who is not a believer and is of a cultural group that our denomination has shunned or criticized in the past.  Those of lower risk would be the ‘other’ who is a believer yet also of a disparaged cultural group.  The least risky individuals are those like us but they are not welcoming to the ‘other.’

A friend talks about a church that he belonged to that practiced radical hospitality.  It was an imperative to them that they welcomed all of God’s creation through their doors.  Amazing!  You’ll notice that I don’t speak about the returns or rewards in regards to diversifying our congregations.  That is because our job is to welcome people in and share the good news.  God gives the increase.  God provides the return.  In the end, the ministry yield is fruitful with a variety of fruits of all colors, types, sizes, tastes, etc.

So, I say:  Diversify!  Diversify!  Diversify!