The Human Agenda

I Choose to Lament and Imagine

“Justice and Peace
It’s Black and White”
June 20, 2020 3 pm on Facebook
David Nelson – Opening Statement

We are living during a time of grief. Grief is an overpowering emotion that can weaken your entire body and mind. It can debilitate us and keep us from performing normal life functions. Even when shared it impacts each person deep inside body, mind and spirit. Grief overwhelms the brain and the body. To watch a brother or sister brutally murdered tares at the fabric of our being. When these pictures are repeated year after year, community after community it becomes even more oppressive and overwhelming. We can lose our ability to imagine and to believe in a better world. The sin of racism hurts communities of color, fractures human relationships, and denies God’s good creation. Lament is a way for us to recognize the harm caused by racism.

But Lament is not enough. Dr. William Barbar II, one of the leaders of the Poor People’s Assembly going on as we gather right now, reminds the world “accepting death is no longer an option.” We can no longer tolerate this vicious cancer that like another virus is spreading and destroying this nation, the world and the sacred bond we have with each other.

As an Appreciative Inquiry Coach and a human being, I refuse to give up. When I see my sisters and my brothers killed and denied their human dignity, I lament AND choose to imagine a better world. I admire the persistence, the courage, and the wisdom of Black Lives Matter and those who march and demonstrate. As a person who has benefited from “white privilege”, I have a sacred responsibility to keep imagining and nurturing something better.

As a white man these days I must do lots of listening, reading, pondering, and praying. I listen and I hear you my Black brothers and sisters. I hear you and am moved. I hear you and agree that racism must be condemned, racist behaviors must change, and justice must flow like water. I will listen and when possible use my “white privilege” to support needed change.

I choose to lament and imagine a paradigm shift in policing. We do not need military warriors in our streets we need caregiving partners who use their heads and hearts more often than their clubs and guns.
I choose to lament and imagine 9-1-1 Centers to use protocols that enable emergency dispatchers to identify what service would best bring relief and hope into a crisis.
I choose to lament and imagine equity in representation in all public operations.
I choose to lament and imagine a day when every person’s root cause for success and positive core is recognized, celebrated and enlisted in building a more beloved community.
I choose to lament and imagine continued Vital Conversations where the purpose is not to win an argument, but to win a friend and advance civilization.

“I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality… I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.”
Martin Luther King, Jr

The American Soul by Jacob Needleman

June 10 – American Soul: Rediscovering the Wisdom of the Founders by Jacob Needleman
Jacob Needleman who has spent a lifetime studying the religious traditions of the world looks at the wisdom of the American Spirit by focusing on George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, The American Indian, Frederick Douglas, Walt Whitman and others. He shares his perspective on where we have been and his vision of what is still possible in this nation.

“Sacred Citizenship” by Vern Barnet

RC: Share your name and tell briefly of a time you were proud to be a citizen of the USA.

Quotes and Questions for journaling and/or discussion

“The meaning of democracy was always rooted in a vision of human nature as both fallen and perfectible – inwardly fallen and inwardly perfectible.” (p.9) “We need to re-mythologize the idea of America.” (p. 13). What does Neddleman mean by this statement? Do you agree?

“To love America is not to love one’s roots – it is to love the flower that has not yet blossomed, the fruit as yet un-ripened. To love America is to love the future, and perhaps it is this that sets the love of America apart from what men and women of other nations feel about their native land.” (39). In light of recent unrest of both peaceful and violent protests, what does this suggest to you?

“Other nations and cultures have produced cathedrals, epics, poems, music, systems of philosophy that far surpass what America has brought forth. But let those who ask what of transcending nature our nation has created turn their eyes to our form and structure of government…the art of human association, the art of working together as individuals in groups and communities. This is the essential art form of coming humanity.” (61) Do you agree that this is our gift to the world? What about our form of government stands out for you?

“The victim mentality has become pervasive in our present era for several reasons…According to this view, our inner lives, and much of our outer lives, are made up of effects of causes, some very distant and indirect, that have acted on us originally from outside ourselves and continue to influence us through their action within ourselves…This doctrine of psychic determinism presents itself simply as a logical extension of the view that in the universe every event has a cause.” (99). Do you agree? How can you make the case for human freedom? Does this explain racism and sexism? What about “white privilege” and “Black Lives Matter” movement?

“The ideal of self-improvement – an ideal that resonates to the great wisdom traditions of human history – lies at the heart of early American individualism, and it is one of the things we most admire in the life of a man like Washington.” (102). Share some examples of today’s leaders we admire for their “self-improvement.”

“The originators of America were not mystics; not monks, not contemplatives. But neither were the most dynamic of them mere materialists, exploiters or cunning businessmen. America was the creation of a collection of men in whom traces of ancient interior spiritual truths were honored alongside the need to organize an immense new world pf phenomenal potential wealth and power. This simultaneity of the spiritual and the material was of quite new coloration and energy. This simultaneity was America.” (125). Do we still embrace this marriage between the spiritual and the material? Share examples.

“The trappings of Church and dogma were to be abandoned; but the question of understanding the inner life of man, the relationship between man’s capacity to see truth and his inevitable passion – this was THE issue, THE arena of inquiry, THE basic realm upon which were founded all principles of human society and government.” (155) “Democracy, for Jefferson, was to be neutral with respect to sectarian religion, but spiritually and morally positive…For Jefferson too, freedom of religion also meant freedom from religion in the sense of freedom from imposed or suggested beliefs. Only within the frame of this freedom could individuals have the possibility of discovering the moral and spiritual power of reason within themselves.” (166) Can we have “separation of Church and State” and still pay attention to the inner life? What if a religious group has dominant influence on a political party or movement?

“But only with Abraham Lincoln did we actually sense greatness. I was drawn again and again to his face.” (173) “Only Lincoln seems able to contain all the death and anguish of the war, all the demons that have been unleashed.” (176) Quotes from Vern Barnet “What astonishes is that he (Lincoln) was able to look at the events around him and understand them as part of a pattern of meaning, a process, a flow of history, and to rise above even his own leadership of one side against the other in the battle, to extend compassion to all.” (Sacred Citizenship p. 2) In reading and listening to Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address we recognize a vision of America that is unique. What does this mean to you?

“But America is great because of its capacity to push through to healing and generosity, to discern a larger pattern in which we all participate, through which healing arises.” (Barnet p 2). “The crimes of America are as much a part of its meaning as its ideals, and to embrace one without the other will lead us nowhere…America was built on the destruction of its native peoples and on the institution of slavery. These two massive crimes stand before us like the angels of Eden with their flaming swords.” (Needleman p 191) What did you think and what did you feel as you watched TV news during the recent demonstrations?

“Only when the stories are told with understanding do they live, and only when the ideas are given to those who need them are their deeper meanings revealed to those who transmit them. This is the ancient law of the transmission of wisdom. In the act of giving and in the act of asking and listening, truth descends from above and is given to man.” (201) People move in the direction of the stories they share. Which of the Native American stories did you find meaning and hope? What stories do you share about America? What direction do they lead?

“If America every fully ‘recovers’ from this war (Vietnam), it is doomed. Spiritually doomed – which means, materially doomed as well. The earth cannot support a dominant civilization that has no empty center, no negative movement, no soft breathing and renunciation at its heart. There must be an inner as well as an outer, a stepping back as well as a thrust forward, a prayer as well as an affirmation.” (279). “Vietnam was perhaps, and paradoxically, a wound that can heal us by exposing to us the illusion of purely external politics the illusion of history, the illusion of taking America literally, externally, as some divinely ‘chosen’ nation.” (289) What can we still learn from our corporate and individual experiences of Vietnam?

Levels in the Life Force by G. Temp Sparkman

Levels in the life force

Life is nature's mysterious gift. Its origin is unknown. A life force is manifest in the gases and particles in the cosmos. Space itself is expanding. Black holes form. Earth’s plates shift. Weather systems move, creating seasons. This endlessness is a wonder.

The life force is in human and animal DNA. Its physical appearance in human life is in a radical nexus when male sperm and female egg fertilize. So life is already underway before conception. At this level, the life process indicates that a human baby, rather than a creature, has begun a journey toward eventual birth into historical and conscious existence.

The first level of life is as a zygote, a germinating period that turns into an embryo. When the embryo reaches the uterus, a fetal level begins. In eight weeks, the fetus emerges in a life support system moving toward birth. During this time, the fetus, living in a fluid world becomes aware of internal surroundings. At some point, if it should be born prematurely, it could exist outside the womb. All organs and the sense neurons are in their place and have but to mature. Within twenty-six weeks the fetus has a cerebral cortex that activates a dim awareness of its position in the womb.

Everything is ready for the moment for which the mother has prepared since the moment of conception-- the emergence of a child from the womb into the world. At birth, the fetus is transformed into a breathing infant that becomes a historical person for whom a birthdate is recorded. Prior to this moment, a person exists only as an expectation, that is, as an unborn fetus. These levels represent a broad position that life is sacred at each level.

At birth, the infant, with one hundred billion neurons in place, has a primitive consciousness. That state gradually passes into self-consciousness and then broadens into social consciousness. Historical personhood is a process of internal dynamics and external factors that define our existence. Here is where we make our way in the world until life ceases in death. The life force is infinite. Our DNA continues in our descendants and our particles leave a residue that nature recycles.

The question of when life begins has, however, become a political issue. In 1973, the US Supreme Court ruled that the right to privacy provided in the l4th Amendment extended to the right of a woman to have an abortion. The court established the Trimester Framework by which to modify the terms of abortion. That framework was replaced in 1992, settIng up the various theories of fetal viability. That is, the question of when life begins. The most anti-abortion standard among state legislators is that the presence of a heart beat means that the fetus is a person. As a theory, it can be evaluated. The major weakness of this activism is its denial of the complexity of the pregnancy matrix and lack of empathy for a woman’s well being. Its most social damage is that it criminalizes abortion.

It is now apparent that the fury of this political aim originates in a surety among anti-abortion advocates that it will force the issue back to the courts.

They likely will be disappointed that the courts have no interest in deciding when life begins. It is not evident how the plaintiffs will translate their cause into legal language. Neither is it a certainty that the newly conservative Supreme Court, should it decide to review a lower court ruling, will reverse Roe v Wade.

G. Temp Sparkman, 2019.

Our Fathers: Making Black Men by Lewis Diuguid

June 13, 2018
Our Fathers: Making Black Men, Lewis Diuguid.

Many people don't understand why black lives must matter and why the racial divide seems to be taking the country back 50 years. Like the mythical Sankofa bird, the answer to what's missing now lies in what existed before. This book focuses on one block of St. Louis in the mid-20th century, where African American businessmen living the American Dream also created a sense of community for boys in that neighborhood. Lewis will be with us to participate in our conversation.

Quotes and possible discussion questions
1. Releasing Conversation: “Doc made them (the boys who worked for him) start to believe in themselves.” (19) Share your name and briefly tell about someone who helped you believe in your inherent goodness.
2. “He (Doc) and other young black men and women were driven to expose white privilege for the lie that it historically has been. They didn’t do it by marching in the streets or staging sit-ins at lunch counters. They did it through their everyday acts showing they were competent, capable and just as good and better than those whom white privilege favored. They were the quiet activists, but they were just as angry and demanding.” (44) Is there a better understanding of white privilege today than 30 years ago? Why or why not?
3. “Racism is stupid. But it worked in black businesses’ favor initially, maintaining a stable clientele for them. When integration occurred, the chain on the gate that held blacks in the segregated community came off.” (74) “The new, post-segregation ‘freedoms’ also stripped away people who had frequented black businesses. Abandoned were the grocery stores, drugstores, filling stations, barbershops, beauty salons and other companies that carried Doc’s products.” (165-166) Name some Black business that thrive today. Why aren’t there more?
4. “Racism and discrimination worked like a fungus consuming black neighborhoods throughout St. Louis and many cities…People’s unfortunate tendency is to turn on each other instead of to each other in times of great strife…It causes black people who are choking for oxygen to also wrap their hands around their own and others’ necks.” (84) Why do people often divide instead of unite during difficult times? How can we address that today?
5. “Achieving that level of success was the dream of the black businessmen in the 1200 block of South Jefferson Avenue. However, each man knew that building a fortress around his operation and not tending to the needs and desires of others in the community – particularly the children – would put his business and the community in jeopardy.” Do we have a sense of interdependence in our neighborhoods, communities, and cities today? If not, how can we work to restore it?
6. “He (Doc) let the boys who worked for him, some of his best students and others he could trust know that they as African Americans, always had to work more than twice as hard to be considered half as qualified as white people, and they needed to expect to be tested and challenged constantly in everything they attempted to prove and reprove and prove again that they, indeed, were that good. It is one of the greatest costs of being black in America…Racism is like the wind. You can’t see it; but you can feel it.” (185) Can white people also feel it? Can we talk about it together?
7. As an elder in your community, who are you mentoring these days?
8. What are three words you would use to describe your father.

David Nelson, Appreciative Inquiry Coach
(816) 453-3835

Miles Megaciph lyrics - shared at Vital Conversations 2/14/18

Migration of the Souled Kind
by Miles Megaciph www.megaciph.com

Verse
1-2-3-4-5-6-7
Resurrect slave ship ghosts to break unleavened
8-9-10-11-12-13
Brand a whole generation with crack and morphine
Burn the image into their heads for more fiends
Get 14 year old kids selling to old men
With 15 shots in the clips they holding
It's an honor to be 16 and already gone in
17-18-19-20
Sex in a prison cell its way too many
21 year olds with the monster in the hood
And we die of an epidemic like only we could
But weak hoods don't exist, only hoods that do
So much for what they tell ya only so much is true
So each one should reach one see what that could do
And maybe more will make it past the age of 22
Hook
You gave me 9 millimeters and 45 Cals
44 mags and techs to spray crowds
Lime green heaters and tools that go blao!
But I'm black and I'm proud how you like me now?! 2X
Chorus
(Sierra's lyrics)
Exposure blinding the lies
It's over I open my eyes
To the power I hold inside
From seeds trees start to rise
Migration of the Soul'd Kind
Freedom from your own mind
Rising up its due time
Liberation feeling free
Verse
For 500 plus now we need our time back
It's an overdue issue where ya human rights at?
I'm a hold the line with you see I'm one of the pack
I'm some Native American some White and some Black
And I'm proud to be from where I'm at that's why I'm here
I'm an earth representer and my state of mind's clear
Cause I hail from New York where the state of mind's dear
And at this rate in our state today we're so near
Bridge
To the quality, quality in the sound
The culture that will change you // Touch the ground
The soldier that will save you when bad shits around
I'm for freedom that will free you fuck being bound!
I'm for beings that uplift you fuck being down
And equality the quality in their sound
Yeah this culture was amazing but it's crumbling now
Just another one blazing, who wants it now?
Verse
This world is afflicted so many thoughts
So much need to change and it force feed the cups
The sane or insane it's all out of sorts
These people playing games like livelihood's a sport
Blood sport baby I'm a natural born killer
In Monopoly the dealer and I'd do it for real
Modern day Nat Turner freeing cubicle sitters
Freedom is truth hurts and their cures make you kneel
Pot licker tinctures got me cocksure
Homeopathic mixtures cannabinoid allure
Spot flipper scriptures my signature
Waving a 44/kick in the door
Rest in peace BIG I'm a even out the score
Rest in peace PAC I'm a take em all to war
The raw best west to east release the flame
Only beast to burn ya state of mind down from shame
Bridge
To the quality, quality in the sound
The culture that will change you // Touch the ground
The soldier that will save you when bad shits around
I'm for freedom that will free you fuck being bound!
I'm for beings that uplift you fuck being down
And equality the quality in their sound
Yeah this culture was amazing but it's crumbling now
Just another one blazing, who wants it now?
Chorus
(Sierra's lyrics)
Exposure blinding the lies
It's over I open my eyes
To the power I hold inside
From seeds trees start to rise
Migration of the Soul'd Kind
Freedom from your own mind
Rising up its due time
Liberation feeling free

Vital Conversations 2017

2017 Vital Conversations A Program of the Greater Kansas City Interfaith Council, CRES, And Mid Continent Public Library - The Antioch Branch 6060 N. Chestnut. Gladstone, MO 64119 The Second Wednesday of each month from 1 to 2:30 p.m.

VC Coffee - the Fourth Wednesday at 8 a.m. at Panera Bread, 311 NE Englewood Rd.

January 11
The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd. According to the National Women’s History Museum, “Sarah Moore Grimke and Angelina Emily Grimke’ were the only white people of either gender who were born in the upper-class South, but rejected that luxurious lifestyle to fight against slavery. They also were among the very first to see the close connection between abolitionism and women’s rights.” In this novel, based on their story, boundaries are crossed, friendships are made, cruelty is revealed, and hope survives.

February 8
Seldom Seen: A Journey into The Great Plains by Patrick Dobson. I May 1995, with nothing but a backpack and a vague sense of disquiet, the author left his home and a steady deadening job in Kansas City. Over the next two and a half month he made his way to Helena, Montana. He not only meets a series of very interesting people and makes a difference in their lives, but introduces the reader to a clearer understanding about the meaning of relationships and life. Canoeing the Great Plains: A Missouri River Summer is part two of this adventure in our wonderful part of the country. This time Patrick travels down the Missouri river and communes with nature and people. As the mile’s float by and the distinctions blur between himself and what he formerly called nature, Dobson comes to grips with his past, his fears, and his life beyond the river. Patrick Dobson will be with us for this conversation. You can read both his books or pick one in preparation of the time together.

March 8
Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline. Between 1854 and 1929, so-called orphan train ran regularly from the cities of the East Coast to the farmlands of the Midwest, carrying thousands of abandoned children whose fates would be determined by pure luck. The National Orphan Train Complex is in Concordia, Kansas. Several of you have visited this complex and others could visit it soon. This book follows the story of several specific children. You can explore and bring additional stories to the conversation.

April 12
Silence by Shūsaku Endō. It is the story of a Jesuit missionary sent to 17th century Japan, who endures persecution in the time of Kakure Kirishitan ("Hidden Christians") that followed the defeat of the Shimabara Rebellion. The recipient of the 1966 Tanizaki Prize, it has been called "Endo's supreme achievement" and "one of the twentieth century's finest novels".[2] Written partly in the form of a letter by its central character, the theme of a silent God who accompanies a believer in adversity was greatly influenced by the Catholic Endō's experience of religious discrimination in Japan, racism in France, and a debilitating bout with tuberculosis. The movie based on this book was released in January of 2017.

May 10
Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet by Mark Lynas. Six degrees may not sound like much, but as this sobering, engrossing, up-to the minute book warns, a six-degree rise in Earth’s average temperature would be enough to reshape our world almost beyond recognition. Mark Lynas explains the processes and examines the effects of this unprecedented phenomenon, drawing on the full range of state-of-the-art research and sophisticated computer models that show conclusively that today’s climate change is a new and different challenge.

June 14
The Wolf at Twilight: An Indian Elder’s Journey through a Land of Ghosts and Shadows by Kent Nerburn. Some journey's take a lifetime to complete, especially when you are on another person's time. The author returns to visit an Elder Indian friend who has a strange but delicious request. First is the burial of his dog and second is to find out about a long-lost sister. Kent's commitment to assist in the long search results in a deepening understand between friends and a growing respect for another culture. Something’s we will never understand, but lack of understanding need not hinder love and compassion.

July 12
Chances Are… Adventures in Probability by Michael Kaplan and Ellen Kaplan.
This fascinating layman's trek through probability theory, from its roots in dice games in the seventeenth century to its role in modern-day thermodynamics, tackles humanity's innate need to seek order in even the most chaotic phenomena. The authors, a mother-and-son team, address simple problems (How many shuffles make a deck of cards truly random? At least seven) and more complex ones (Can time move backward? Yes, but it's unlikely). They do not avoid mathematical equations, but both have backgrounds in the humanities, and their sense of whimsy—"Once you know that daisies usually have an odd number of petals, you can get anyone to love you"—allows them to draw stimulating conclusions.

August 9
Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging by Sebastian Junger.
We have a strong instinct to belong to small groups defined by clear purpose and understanding--"tribes." This tribal connection has been largely lost in modern society, but regaining it may be the key to our psychological survival. Combining history, psychology, and anthropology, TRIBE explores what we can learn from tribal societies about loyalty, belonging, and the eternal human quest for meaning. It explains the irony that-for many veterans as well as civilians-war feels better than peace, adversity can turn out to be a blessing, and disasters are sometimes remembered more fondly than weddings or tropical vacations. TRIBE explains why we are stronger when we come together, and how that can be achieved even in today's divided world.

September 13
The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan tells the story of those who survived the Great American Dust Bowl. Some of our parents could be a part of these stories. After reading the book, you can further prepare by interviewing some of your elders who either remember or have stories they were told about this period in the Great Plains between 1901- 1939. Timothy Egan is the same author who wrote The Big Burn which we discussed in Vital Conversations.

October 11
Islam and The Future of Tolerance, A Dialogue Sam Harris (author of The End of Faith) and Maajid Nawaz (author of Radical). We have read and discussed both these authors in the past. In this short book, you are invited to join an urgently needed conversation: Is Islam a religion of peace or war? Is it amenable to reform? What do words like Islamism, jihadism, and fundamentalism mean in today’s world?

November 8
One Hope: Re-Membering the Body of Christ. 2017 marks the 500th anniversary of the beginning of the Reformation. The split between Roman Catholics and Lutherans played a major role in that series of events that changed the Church. This is a resource for those interested in exploring greater cooperation between part of “The Body of Christ.” The essays in One Hope are the product of an intense collaborative process by six gifted scholars and pastoral leaders, three Lutheran and three Catholic.

Selections are subject to change. If you would like to be reminded and have additional information, contact David Nelson at humanagenda@gmail.com or call (816) 453-3835

December 12
Appreciative Inquiry Evaluation of Past Year and Planning for 2018

David E. Nelson
The Human Agenda
816.453.3835
humanagenda@gmail.com
www.humanagenda.typepad.com

Parable

A Parable Hostility-->Hospitality-->Hope

After centuries of relative peace, it was a hostile time for us. Strangers had come on large boats and were claiming our land. They did not look like us or talk like us. They did not treat the land or other relatives with the respect all life deserves. The year was 1621 and we made a choice to respond with hospitality. We invited the new people to share a feast. We brought game we had prepared. They brought food they prepared and we celebrated together. There seemed to be more hope even though the hostility did not end.

In 1863 during a time of great hostility, President Lincoln decided to respond by declaring that on the last Thursday of November the nation would celebrate a day of Thanksgiving. We survived a terrible Civil War that tore our nation apart. Hostility did not end but the hospitality gave us hope.

In 2016 a presidential election occurred that most agreed was the most hostile in their lifetimes. Election Day arrived as a day of shock for many. The hostility did not end. For some it may have become even more of a burden. And we celebrated Thanksgiving, not because we thought it would fix what is broken, but because hospitality is what Americans do on the last Thursday of November. American is great when America is good and we can each do something good today and tomorrow.

There are some divisions that feel impossible to bridge. Some opinions are so fixed it seems useless to even try to influence. The human agenda, however is not to change others or to resign and give up. It is to continue to connect, to listen respectfully and to talk with passion with those with whom we share our community.

Upcoming Vital Conversations - 2016

January 13, 2016 Radical: My Journey Out of Islamist Extremism by Masjid Nawaz. This is the story of a young man’s rise in an extremist Muslim group, his imprisonment in Egypt, and his rebirth as an advocate for peace and understanding. “This is a book for our times. It should be read by anyone who wants to understand how the extremism that stalks our world is created and how it can be overcome. It could only be written by someone who has lives this story. And Maajid has.” Tony Blair, former UK Prime Minister. We will also discuss the current struggle to define, understand and address the threat to our country and the world. Are we struggling with a “nation”, “Radical Islam”, “terrorism”, or “a group of organized criminals.” Read the daily papers and watch TV news and bring your questions, your opinions, and prepare to have a provocative vital conversation.

January 27, 2016 Vital Conversation Coffee

February 10, 2016 We Are Called To Rise by Laura McBride. Far from the neon lights of the Vegas strip, three lives are about to collide. One is a middle-aged woman attempting to revive her marriage. Another is a returning soldier waking up in a hospital bed with no memory of how he got there. The third is a very brave eight-year-old immigrant boy. This story is about families – the ones we have and the ones we make. It’s a story about America today, where so many cultures and points of view collide and coexist. Books will be provided to the first 13 who sign up. This is another book shared through our partnership with the Estes Valley Library.

February 24, 2016 Vital Conversation Coffee

March 9, 2016 Weaving The Vision: Stories of Faith for the Sons and Daughters of God. For 48 years, Father Norman Rotert served as a priest of the Catholic diocese of Kansas City- St. Joseph. The steadfast response to God’s call took him beyond the Catholic community, leading as the Spirit often does, to work that improves the lot of all humankind. From the early days of his priesthood, marching for civil rights in Selma, Alabama, in his work with Kansas City Harmony, and a variety of local and national organizations Father Norman Rotert has worked tirelessly to promote the common good. This collection of his homilies will give us a taste of his passion for the gospel’s vision of justice and peace. We will have a number of guests who have worked with Father Rotert to share additional stories that help us prepare for the Christian celebrations of Holy Week and Easter that will come later in the month.

March 23, 2016 Vital Conversation Coffee

Reading is magic and a mysterious activity that feeds the mind, transports the imagination, sooths the soul, and expands life. It is most often done in solitude and yet connects us to so many others both near us and far from us. Many readers enjoy the opportunity to share their reading discoveries and to expand from the sharing of others. Reading is an important aspect of our common humanness. David E. Nelson

Celebrating the Gifts of Racial Pluralism - December 9, 2015

Topic: Racial diversity is a clear and potent reality in the United States, which is blessed to reflect the world's sundry peoples. From a political, social and theological standpoint diversity is a gift to be celebrated. One of the first mottoes of the United States, “e pluribus unum" -- out of many, one, -- today takes on new importance as we interpret it for our time to embrace the wide variety of our citizens. In the cities of this nation there is a growing rise of “non-dominant culture” with the expectation that within a few decades or sooner there will be no dominant culture or race. The Creator, as understood by many of the world religions, appears to favor a rich diversity of life, especially human life. Racism, the opinion that one race is superior to another, is clearly an aberration of our political, social and religious vision. When the evil of racism appears, especially when enforced with the power of politics, law and military might, all parties suffer and the quality of life is damaged. Identifying racism, sharing stories of past hurts, and exploring and dismantling the oppressive systems and mentalities that keep this evil among us are helpful steps in healing. We also need to envision a more perfect unity, telling stories of positive interactions, celebrating them and refreshing our agenda to create delight in our differences.

Question for conversations:
1. Tell briefly your person history of interactions with individuals of different races. What events in your life have given you hope? Where have you been wounded and how? Where have you wounded another and how? How might these memories have been different? What have you learned from your person history that can be helpful in building a better community for all people
2. What do you value most about yourself? What do you value most about your race?
3. What are actions you can take to discover, celebrate, nurture and assure a more satisfying community embracing the joys of racial pluralism?
4. It is ten years from today and Kansas City is being recognized and celebrated nationally as a city that celebrates the gifts of racial pluralism. Talk about some of the events that have happened to bring this honor to our city.

A View From Cuba

Listen, Yankee!  Why Cuba Matters

Written by Tom Hayden, based on conversations with Ricardo Alarcon 

Reflections by David E. Nelson 

I have a friend who teaches American History at a local university.  Unlike most of her professors in the past who told the story of the United States from the perspective of the Europeans coming across the Atlantic and moving west in Manifest Destiny, she tells the narrative from the eyes and minds of the Native Americans who watched them come and conquer.  It is the same story, but is totally different.                 

I grew up with the nation of Cuba on my mind.  In High School Debate we talked often about the rise of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara.  We were very tuned into the “Cuban Missile Crisis”, The Weather Underground, and President Eisenhower.  My freshman year in college was shattered by the assassination of JFK.  This tiny island 90 miles off the shore of Florida was clearly in my radar, but always from the perspective of looking south across the waters.  I didn’t even know a Cuban until the mid 1970s when I became friends with a man who had left Cuba as a youth with his parents “because Communism was making life difficult.”  I believed the story my country was telling.  I thought of Cuba as an enemy nation that was a threat to our democratic way of life.  I was interested in history, but had somehow accepted one side of this story without exploring other possibilities.

That all changed in early 2014 when a good friend and his Cuban born partner announced he was taking a trip to visit Cuba and asked if Ann and I would be interested in joining him.  I jumped on the opportunity and in late January, early February 2015 we visited Cuba.  What a great experience.  I have organized some of my thoughts in “Ten Observations - Reflections About Cuba”.  Since that visit I have enjoyed and been influenced by many articles and reflections.  As President Obama and Raul Castro are seeking more normal relations between our two nations, it is excellent timing to look through another set of eyes at these all too familiar yet remaining unclear events.

Tom Hayden, one of the best known voices of political and social activism since the 1960’s, has spend many hours visiting Cuba and listening to leaders and common folks on this island which has been isolated from U.S. Citizens.  What appears on these 250 pages is a different viewpoint than the ones I had been exposed to in the past.   I have enjoyed reading this book and look forward to discussing it with others. 

It is interesting to me that certain words elicit such strong emotional reactions.  The mere mention of the word “socialism” bring fear to some people even though most of these same people cash their “social security checks” each month.   “Communism” is another code word for the greatest fear many of my generation were raised under.  I am hoping in the upcoming dialogues about better relationships and communications with Cuba and Cubans we might listen and learn even as we speak and share our stories. 

Along with Tom Hayden, Ricardo Alarcon de Quesada speaks in this book.  He is a Cuban statesman and revolutionary.  Ricardo was a member of the 26^th of July movement who joined the Cuban Revolution as a student organizer.  He later served as president of Cuba’s National Assembly and, for nearly thirty years as Cuba’s permanent representative to the United Nations.  The book traces the interaction of our two nations through most of my lifetime.  Our strained relationship with Cuba has been an issue with our entire foreign policy, including our war in Vietnam and the Cold War Nuclear Weapon escalation.   We will certainly have different opinions about political and military history, but as we practice skills of civility I am convinced that we can all advance our understanding and increase our wisdom.  I know I can grow in the process.