It’s Time, Past Time

Posted on August 11, 2020 by Elizabeth Geitz

So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them . . . God saw everything that he had made and indeed, it was very good.

                                                                                    —Genesis 1:27, 31

Senator Kamala Harris is “too ambitious”, key Biden allies told him a mere two weeks ago. Fortunately, former Vice-President Joe Biden ignored their advice based on stereotypical views of women and today named Senator Harris as his vice-presidential running mate. The significance of his choice cannot be understated – not only for this election, but for generations to come.

There are two different creation accounts in the book of Genesis. In the above account, male and female are created at the same time as equals. Neither is described as superior to the other.

Yet worldwide, thirty-four million female adolescents are not in school, and two-thirds of the illiterate people in the world are female.[1]Women the world over still perform the majority of cleaning, cooking, and child-rearing tasks, and, in the American workplace, there is a significant gender pay gap harmful to women’s economic security. The origin of such inequality? Fake News regarding the inferiority of women in sacred Scripture. 

Regardless of how far women advance, the discrepancies still hold true. Today women hold only twenty-three percent of U.S. Congressional seats, while men hold seventy-seven percent; the United States has never had a female president or vice-president, and two out of three Supreme Court justices are male. In addition, a recent study by the Harvard Business Review shows that “male justices interrupt the female justices approximately three times as often as they interrupt each other during oral arguments.”[2]

Such realities and the visual images they evoke communicate powerful messages to women and men throughout the world. Equally powerful is Biden’s choice today. There are times when the light does shine. There are times when progress is made, albeit slowly. 

We are all created in God’s image, and we are indeed very good. God has said so. It is time for the United States of America to have a female vice-president. Past time.

For additional reflections, see my newest book, Spiritual Truth in the Age of Fake News.

[1]UNESCO, “Education for All,” para. 2, 4. 

[2]Jacobi and Schweers, “Female Supreme Court,” para. 1.

Posted in 2020 Presidential Campaign, Joe Biden VP Choice, Kamala Harris, Scripture, Sexism, Women in Politics | Leave a comment

Comforting, Empowering Presence

Posted on March 19, 2020 by Elizabeth Geitz

And Jesus came and said to them . . . “Remember, I am with you always to the end of the age.” —Matthew 28: 18, 20

Jesus’ final message to his followers is one of both protection and power. He, and therefore the Divine Spirit, is with us always—not just when we are perfect, not just when we’ve got it all figured out. Always. When we completely ruin everything, lose our temper royally, or fail miserably, the Spirit is with us. When our world is engulfed in the abject fear and uncertainty of a pandemic, the Spirit is with us. When we grieve, rejoice, or lose all hope, the Spirit is with us.

fullsizeoutput_4039An oil painting hangs in St. Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral in Edinburgh, Scotland that is both startling and comforting in its revelation. In the north choir aisle, beside the organ there is an artist’s rendering of the cathedral with Holy Communion taking place at the main altar. In the foreground, behind the cathedral chairs, there is a widow dressed in black, on her knees praying and overcome with grief, unable to join the others. Standing right behind her is the gossamer presence of Jesus, blessing and comforting her.[1]

Knowing that we have a source of Divine Energy with us all day in every way can be comforting. It can also be empowering. Those who work tirelessly to find a vaccine for Covid-19 are not alone. Healthcare workers, doctors, and nurses are not alone. Those who are ill are not alone. Those who fight for justice for all people in these perilous times are not alone. Those who work for peace, for the oppressed, and for the marginalized are not alone, and the list goes on. When a breakthrough never seems to come and we are ready to give up, we are not alone. The Spirit is beside us, behind us, and over us, working along with us.

In what aspect of your life do you need to draw on this source of Divine Energy? Could you try? Right now? 

Adapted from the chapter, “Survival” in my new book, Spiritual Truth in the Age of Fake News. 

[1]Borthwick, Capt. A. E., The Presence, 1910, oil on canvas, St. Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral, Edinburgh, Scotland.

Posted in Covid-19, Jesus, Justice Issues, Reflections on Life, Scripture | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

The Slave Bible & Racism Today

Posted on January 20, 2020 by Elizabeth Geitz

Say therefore to the Israelites, “I am the Lord, and I will free you from the burdens of the Egyptians and deliver you from slavery to them. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment.”

                                                                                    —Exodus 6:6

When God commands Moses to deliver the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, he speaks from within a burning bush in the wilderness. What an incredible sight Moses encounters, a thorn bush engulfed in flames that burns but is not consumed. Most of us have never seen a thorn bush, but, as a shepherd, Moses sees them every day, much as we might see an oak tree. Imagine walking out of your home to see a tree on fire, but with leafy green branches waving in the wind. I don’t know about you, but that would get my attention. Then imagine hearing a voice coming out of the tree claiming to be God.

This startling experience is what happens to Moses. After answering the call of God from the burning bush, Moses goes on to lead the people of Israel out of slavery in Egypt, through the parted waters of the Red Sea, and toward the Promised Land.

Why does God call him and why does he respond affirmatively? Because God sees the misery of his enslaved children, hears their cries, knows their utter desperation, and acts. God does whatever it takes to get Moses’ attention and Moses responds. Immediately.

The tragic plight of enslaved people throughout the centuries has been one of abuse, misery and abject injustice. Here in the book of Exodus, God, once and for all time, sides with the enslaved—not the rulers, not the oppressors. The enslaved.

img_9414The Slave Bible, originally published in London in 1807, deleted passages like this one. Completely. For they tell a message of liberation, hope, and freedom for enslaved peoples. In fact, the Slave Bible omitted ninety percent of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament and fifty percent of the New Testament.

The Slave Bible was the ultimate Fake News, deliberate propaganda to aid an evil system. The disastrous effects of this kind of Fake News are apparent in America today. People of color still struggle against institutionalized racism that permeates every facet of their lives.

While Moses saw a real burning bush, there are figurative burning bushes all around us in daily news accounts of discrimination. Can you see them?

How might you be a Moses?

 

Posted in Good Shepherd Home | Leave a comment

Becoming Free

Posted on October 29, 2019 by Elizabeth Geitz

Cosmic-Broken-Chains“You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” —John 8:32 

The Milford Readers and Writers Festival held each fall in Milford, Pennsylvania inspires conversations between people who love to read books and people who write them. Featured authors have spanned the gamut from internationally known mystery authors to those who write about the afterlife to former CIA agents.

One recent panel featured Pulitzer-prize winning author Tim Weiner and former Acting Director of Operations of the Central Intelligence Agency, Jack Devine. Weiner’s book, Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA is the book the CIA does not want you to read. Devine’s book, Good Hunting: An American Spymaster’s Story, is a testament to the CIA. Both highly trained professional men saw the same “truth,” yet came to very different conclusions about it.

Etched into the walls of the original CIA headquarters building in Washington, D.C. are the following words:

“And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.” John VIII–XXXI

This passage from Scripture characterizes the intelligence mission in a free society—gathering intelligence, gathering the truth about those who would do us harm, in this instance harm to the United States of America.

But the truth seems to be elusive right now, not only between America and foreign powers but between Americans themselves. The partisan divide has not been as deep as it is now since the years immediately following the Civil War.

Where does that leave us? I believe it leaves us with an obligation to do everything we personally can to discern the truth of a story before we tell it, the truth of a post before we post or re-post it on social media, the truthfulness of the person who is telling us something but might be lying to us. And this is seldom easy. It takes discernment. It takes time. It takes perseverance. It takes a commitment to our own truthfulness to others.

For me personally, it also takes a commitment to a higher truth, one that informs my life day in and day out—that there is a Divine Energy, a Creator, who is the ultimate arbiter of truth, who knows what the truth is, a truth that someday will be revealed to each one of us.

One of my favorite passages in all of Scripture is in Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, “For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known” (1 Corinthians 13:12).

 Yes, some day we shall indeed know the truth and that truth shall set us free.

This post is from my forthcoming book, Spiritual Truth in the Age of Fake News, by Wipf and Stock Publishers. Stay tuned!

 


 

Posted in 1 Corinthians 13:12, John 8:32, Reflections on Life, Truth | Leave a comment

Empty Shoes

Posted on August 12, 2019 by Elizabeth Geitz


“You shall not kill.”    – Exodus 20:13

The Ten Commandments contain some of the most well-known ethical principles in the Bible. Even so, the fifth commandment, “You shall not kill”, is so undervalued in America that there have been more mass shootings than days in 2019 thus far.1

Back-to-back gun massacres on August 3rd in El Paso and Dayton have rocked Americans to their core. Once more we see shocked, weeping survivors and family members who will never again see their loved ones. Once again, we see empty shoes left behind by those who were suddenly gunned down in the prime of life. Once again, we ask how this could happen.

It is well-documented that the 2019 El Paso massacre targeted Hispanics and killed 22 people; the 2018 Pittsburgh synagogue shooting targeted Jews and killed eleven; the 2016 Orlando nightclub massacre which killed 49 people targeted gays, and the 2015 Charleston church shooting targeted African Americans and killed nine.

What is also well-documented is that 94% of Americans support background checks for all gun buyers.2 It is past time to effect the changes needed to bring our laws in line with the will of the people.

What isn’t as well known is that a common trait among mass killers is their hatred toward women. This is where sexism, racism, heterosexism, anti-Semitism, and xenophobia trip over each other in a macabre death spiral to the bottom. “The fact that mass shootings are almost exclusively perpetrated by men is ‘missing from the national conversation’, said Governor Gavin Newsome of California.”3

While the motivations of men who commit mass murder are complex, there is one common thread other than access to firearms – “a history of hating women, assaulting wives, girlfriends and female family members, or sharing misogynistic views online.”4

The man who was convicted of killing 26 people in a Texas church in 2017 was a perpetrator of domestic violence who threatened to kill his wife. The mass murderer of 49 people at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando beat his pregnant wife. The Dayton shooter who killed eleven had a history of threatening violence against female classmates.

Hate begets hate and the common denominator is hatred of women. The patriarchal system in which we all live has led not only to discrimination against women, but discrimination and hatred of ‘the other’ whether ‘the other’ is gay, black, brown, Jew, Christian, or Muslim; and we are all ‘the other’ to someone. Let that sink in for a moment.

God created humankind in God’s image, in the image of God, God created them; male and female he created them. God saw everything he had made and indeed, it was very good.

Let’s start there. Shall we?

dayton-shoes-shooting-ap-ps-190804_hpMain_16x9_992

1Jason Silverstein, “There have been more mass shootings than days this year,” CBS News, August 5, 2019.

2JDomenico Montanaro, “Americans Largely Support Gun Restrictions To ‘Do Something’ About Gun Violence”, NPR.org, August 10, 2019.

3Julie Bosman, Kate Taylor and Tim Arango, “A Common Trait Among Mass Killers: Hatred Toward Women”, The New York Times, August 10, 2019.

4Ibid.

Posted in Charleston church massacre, Dayton massacre, El Paso Massacre, Gun Control, Heterosexism, Justice Issues, Pittsburgh Synagogue Massacre, Pulse Nightclub Massacre, Racism, Sexism, Women's Issues, Xenophobia | 4 Comments

When Were You the Stranger?

Posted on July 18, 2019 by Elizabeth Geitz

 

You know the heart of a stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.

                                                      -Exodus 23:9

At different times in our lives, we are all the stranger, standing at the threshold hoping for a word of welcome. As children, when we enter kindergarten we are indeed the stranger – to new surroundings and new expectations. Later as adults, we often find ourselves in the role of the stranger – in college, in the workplace, in new communities. Being the stranger is fundamental to the human experience. Simply being, living, moving through the life cycle, we will at times find ourselves strangers in an alien land – confused, seeking, and hoping for a warm welcome.

Perhaps it is for this reason that some of us find ourselves in the story of God’s people. For our Hebrew mothers and fathers were indeed strangers in an alien land. Their physical journey from bondage in Egypt, through the wilderness, toward the Promised Land, parallels our own life journey with many twists and unexpected turns, taking us to lands unknown, both physical and spiritual.

There is a life-altering debate in our country right now regarding immigration – who to open our doors to and who to keep at arm’s length. Which religious minorities to let in and which to keep out. Whether to build a wall or not to build a wall. To separate children from their parents or to keep them together. Even to provide a toothbrush and soap or not to provide a toothbrush and soap!

Cradled within these discussions often lies xenophobia, a fear of that which is foreign or strange. This sense of the ‘other’ lies at the heart of racism, sexism, heterosexism, anti-Semitism, anti-Muslim rhetoric, and more.

Send Her BackThis fear has now spread beyond those seeking entry into the US, to those who are already American citizens of many years but were born in another country. Chants by thousands of Americans at yesterday’s NC Trump Rally of “Send her back! Send her back!” are alarming and dangerous. Shouted in reference to Somali-born Rep. Ilhan Omar, the chants represent the height of fear of the other, a fear that has reached a frightening pitch in our country, a fear many of us never thought to see expressed by thousands of chanting Americans in the 21stcentury.

There is an urgency to heeding these words from the Book of Exodus that has not existed since the Civil Rights era when these same chants were used to taunt African-Americans who longed for equal education. People of faith, regardless of political persuasion, cannot look the other way. This depth of hatred for those born in other countries must stop and it must stop today.

How different the response might be if we could connect with our own experience of being the ‘other’, the stranger. It is not us versus them, it is all humankind together, struggling to find the common good. It is the most damaging kind of Fake News when we are made to believe that some people are more worthy than others, that some have the right to label and belittle others, that some have the right to stir up hatred and fear. Events in our country might look very different if viewed through the lens of this passage.

Can you remember a time when you were the stranger? How did you feel?

Posted in Immigration, Justice Issues, NC Trump Rally, Reflections on Life | 6 Comments

Longing

Posted on June 9, 2019 by Elizabeth Geitz

“As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God.”
-Psalm 42:1

 


Living in the mountains of northeast Pennsylvania, my husband and I are blessed to be surrounded by acres of forests and an abundance of wildlife. We often see deer sauntering up to our pond for a drink of cool water and they downloadcome back again and again. Once is never enough. How blessed they are to have found the sustenance they seek!

In his book Something More, John Pritchard shares, “I write in the belief that ‘God’ keeps leaking into our lives but that we have difficulty finding the language to describe the experience. I think many of us have intimations of ‘something more’, something that might even have on it the fingerprints of divine Source, but how can we admit that or pursue it further?”1

Do you long for satisfaction deep in your soul that seems just out of reach, a connectedness yearned for but unfulfilled? If so, you are not alone. Some people try to fill this empty space with work; others with alcohol, drugs, serial relationships, or frequent job changes. Advertisers prey on this sense of need, promising fulfillment if only we will purchase their product. This Fake News permeates our newsfeed and airwaves. Yet regardless of our actions, at the end of the day, there is still the aching feeling that there’s something more just around the corner.

“You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” Written by Augustine over 1600 years ago, these words are profound. Our hearts are restless until we connect with the divine Source. Whatever words we use to describe the reality of ‘something more’, the reality is the same and once we tap into that, our lives will be forever changed.

How to do that? We can sit quietly and meditate or pray. Or we can open our eyes to the Divine in our midst every day – in the majestic beauty of a sunset, the smile on a child’s face, the friend who is always there, the encouraging word spoken to us at just the right time. Our Creator is all around us, hoping our hearts will rest in her divine embrace.

Where do you see ‘something more’? Can you rest there, even for a moment?

1John Pritchard, Something More: Encountering the Beyond in the Everyday (Great Britain: SPCK, 2016). Pritchard is the Anglican Bishop of Oxford, retired.

 

Posted in Reflections on Life | Leave a comment

Why Jump In the Pond?

Posted on March 22, 2019 by Elizabeth Geitz

Why should we care about supporting and educating children in developing countries, when so many children in our own country need help? As a nonprofit entrepreneur building a residential high school in Africa, I am often asked this question. And there are many answers!

In the Hebrew scriptures the prophet Isaiah tells us, “Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow” (Isaiah 1:17). In the New Testament, St. Paul encourages Christians to reach out to others in this way, “If one member [of the body of Christ] suffers, all suffer together with it . . .  Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it” (1 Cor 12:26-27). At baptism Christians are grafted into the body of Christ, and as such have a responsibility to other members of Christ’s mystical body throughout the world. When one suffers, all suffer.

Educating children in developing countries also helps tackle some of the global challenges everyone in the world needs to address:

a) Preventing diseases that flow across borders
b) Protecting our environment, which knows no artificial borders like on maps
c) Enhancing global security – violent extremism is less likely to take root in countries  where there are a greater number of opportunities.1 Education is one of those opportunities.

In addition, sometimes we forget how much collective wealth we in the developed world truly have at our disposal. The UN Development Program estimates that Americans spend $8 billion on cosmetics each year, and that annually Europeans spend $11 billion on ice cream and $50 billion on cigarettes.

In contrast, globally we only need $6 billion annually to provide basic education for everyone, and $9 billion to provide clean water and sanitation facilities to people living in extreme poverty. We do indeed have the money to make small lifestyle changes that can radically improve the quality of life for the world’s neediest people without diminishing the quality of our own lives. These conscious changes can profoundly increase our ability to give with no inconvenience to ourselves.

In The Life You Can Save, Princeton philosopher Peter Singer tells the story of a man walking by a pond dressed for work who sees a drowning toddler. Will he jump in the pond to save the child’s life, becoming soaked and making himself late for work? Of course he does. Yet how many children die every day from hunger and the effects of poverty in developing countries because we ‘walk on by’, not giving of our excess?2

Simply put, education saves lives. Education is the difference in developing countries between a life of abject poverty and one of economic independence. Education is the difference between life and death. Yes, we are to defend the oppressed, wherever we find these beloved children of God.

Why help children in developing nations? Why jump in the pond and save the child?3

IMG_1423

1Rebecca Winthrop of the Brookings Institute on the video “The Education Crisis in Developing Countries”.

2Peter Singer, The Life You Can Save, New York: Random House Publishing Group, 2009

3Elizabeth Geitz, “The Academy – Frequently Asked Questions”, ImaginingTomorrow.org

 

Posted in Global Justice Issues, Justice Issues | 7 Comments

In the Dark

Posted on December 17, 2018 by Elizabeth Geitz

Advent, the Christian season that leads up to Christmas, is about hope in the midst of darkness, hope in a better future, hope in a better tomorrow in spite of the darkness that surrounds us.

Our secular calendars fit perfectly into the season. The shortest darkest day of 2018 is December 21st, known as the Winter Solstice. We are immersed in literal darkness as we await the coming of the light of Christ.

solsticeWhat does it mean to expectantly wait in darkness? In means that in spite of all the Christmas jingles, blockbuster sales, Santas on every street corner, and one party too many we are meant to take time to reflect, to sit in darkness. Rather than fighting the last light of December evenings, we are meant to embrace it, to use it for the gift it is.

I don’t know about you, but this is a tough one for me. I much prefer brightness, sunshine and the long lazy days of summer. But that’s not how God created our world! As we await the in-breaking of God’s kingdom coming to us as a tiny baby, we are meant to be in a receptive, contemplative state rather than so exhausted we’re relieved when Christmas is finally over and the last dish is cleaned, the last ornament is safely stored, and our house is quiet once more.

During this time of darkness, of contemplating the birth of Jesus, we are meant to not shy away from those dark places in our own lives. “Christmas reminds us that faith in the future does not erase our pain in the present”* – whether it’s the pain of Christmas without a dear loved one, pain of not knowing where our next meal is coming from, pain of knowing we’ve lost our health insurance, pain that consumes us when we worry night and day about our children, pain over the fractured state of our country and the world, pain of alienation from loved ones we shared holidays with long ago.

If you’re feeling out of sync with the outside world right now, you’re not alone. In fact, you’re experiencing this season as it is meant to be, without all the commercialism that we humans have added to it. So let us embrace those silent moments, those times of darkness and quiet, as we make room in our hearts to receive Jesus. Whether you view him as God incarnate as do Christians, a wise rabbi as do Jews, or just a pretty savvy guy who is a great example of kindness and compassion – get ready.

The time is almost here.

*Kelly Flanagan, “The Most Wonderfully Painful Time of the Year”, Christianity Today, December 10, 2018.

Posted in Advent, Christmas, Jesus, Waiting | Leave a comment

“I Love You, Too”

Posted on December 5, 2018 by Elizabeth Geitz

“I love you, too.”Are there any more comforting words to hear, regardless of the situation? Are there any more comforting words to say? These last words spoken by George H. W. Bush before his death last week, to his son George W., touch a deep chord within me.

In 1999, I had the privilege of hearing a mother give a speech whose child had been killed in the Columbine High School massacre. She ended her moving talk with these same words, “I love you, too.”

They were the last words she spoke to her daughter as she left for school that fateful morning. The last words she would ever speak to her beloved child as she walked out of the house on a seemingly normal day.

IMG_7832“I love you, too.”

Whether we are saying what we suspect may be our last goodbye to a beloved family member or friend, or just interacting on a daily basis with those we love, there are no more important words we can utter – both for the person who will hear them and for ourselves.

To say that life is uncertain goes without saying – whether we live in America where gun violence is at an all time high, or in a country with political instability that has escalated to the point of rampant killing like Cameroon, West Africa. Life is uncertain. We do not know what tomorrow will bring or if we will have a chance to say these words of care, comfort, and love ever again.

And how can we say them with surety? Because God loved us first and loves us still. We are surrounded by the unconditional love of God who is love itself. When we can embrace and take into our very being that we are loved unconditionally, we can reach out and say to others, “I love you, too.”

Regardless of what may have transpired between us and our loved one, regardless of how they may have hurt us or we may have hurt them, love abides. Love lives on. Love is unconditional. Love is eternal.

During this season of Hanukkah for Jews and Advent for Christians, let us remember to share God’s love for us with those around us – those we love dearly and those we may never meet. This is the season of giving and saying, “I love you, too” to those near and far.

Who needs to hear these very words from you today?                             

    (Photo by Elizabeth Geitz, 2018, Natural Rock Formation @ Machu Picchu)
Posted in Advent, Cameroon, West Africa, Machu Picchu, Reflections on Life | Tagged | Leave a comment