It's Palm Sunday. The Crowds Are Celebrating. The Man Riding On The Donkey is Weeping.

Entry of Christ into Jerusalem, Pietro Lorenzetti, Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi

Every year there is a reenactment of a story that appears in each of the four gospels, that of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. The annual commemoration begins in the church of Bethphage, which has a mural inside of Jesus on a donkey parading into town. From there the procession travels to the Mount of Olives, then toward the Dome of the Rock in east Jerusalem and by the Golden Gate, now closed. After going by Gethsemane theyn enter the city through the Lion’s Gate (or Sheep Gate, next to the market selling sheep for sacrifice) and by the Pool of Bethsaida.  

As in John’s gospel the participants are waving palm branches like welcome flags, reminiscent of a scene less than two centuries before when the revolutionary Judas Maccabees entered the city in triumph, also with crowds waving palm branches welcoming him as their deliverer. This was followed by Judas cleansing the temple, something Jesus is also about to do, their pagan conquerers having defiled this holy place by sacrificing a pig on the altar.  

During their brief period of independence under the Maccabeans Jews had produced their own currency, with one of their coins engraved with a palm tree and the words “for the redemption of Zion.” Before that there had been the coronation of King Jehu, with people taking off their cloaks and laying them down for the new king to walk over as he was crowned to replace King Ahab and Queen Jezebel. And before that a young Solomon was welcomed into Jerusalem to take the throne of his father David, riding on a royal donkey as a sign of peace rather than riding into town on a war horse. 

Now Jesus is entering Jerusalem, having set his face toward Jerusalem during a time of renewed interest in his ministry as a teacher and miracle worker, and as the one who had just raised Lazarus from the dead. It was clearly a most dangerous and volatile time for the Son of Man to visit the capital city, joining the throngs of other pilgrims coming to Jerusalem for the Passover festival. And Jesus wasn’t just met by people as he entered the city, but was surrounded by crowds of followers who were choosing to travel with him to the Passover celebration of deliverance from Egyptian oppression. 

Earlier that same day, Governor Pontius Pilate had led an impressive parade of troops into the city from his headquarters in Caesarea as a show of force and as a warning to any who might dare create any kind of disturbance.

Jesus planned ahead for a different show of kingly power, arranging for borrowing someone’s young donkey to ride into the city. A crowd of followers welcome him with hosannas, literally “hosiah na,” "Lord save us, please” a part of a song of victory familiar to them all, based on Psalm 118:25-26:

Lord, save us!
    

Lord, grant us success!

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
    

From the house of the Lord we bless you.

So why, in light of this enthusiastic welcome, is Jesus crying, according to Luke’s account, and why doesn’t Luke even mention the hosannas? Rather, he quotes the people as proclaiming “Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven.”

Luke explains it was because Jesus, then as now, is deploring the violence of empire as well as of those who oppose it, “If only you knew the things that would bring you shalom, ” he laments, and adds, “indeed the days will come when …you and your children will be crushed to the ground and they will not leave one stone on another among you, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.”

Jesus, as Prince of Peace, has the words of the prophet Zechariah:9:9-10 in mind, who announced a reign of peace and the destruction of weapons of war:

Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion 
Shout, Daughter Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you,
    righteous and victorious,
lowly and riding on a donkey,
    on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
I will take away the chariots from Ephraim
    and the warhorses from Jerusalem,
    and the battle bow will be broken.
He will proclaim peace to the nations.
    His rule will extend from sea to sea
    and from the River to the ends of the earth.

As Steve Thomason writes:

“The final thing I observe from Luke’s version of this story is that this is not a celebration for Jesus. The crowds don’t understand. Jesus weeps over the city because he knows that, very soon, their violent attitude toward Rome, and their need to bring in the kingdom of God through military revolution, would lead to their destruction. And that broke his heart.”

Another author, Jason Porterfield, in the book Fight Like Jesus, draws three fundamental lessons from the Palm Sunday story:

1. Christlike peacemakers move toward conflict rather than running away from it. “We must seek out those places where God’s shalom is painfully absent. Or to use imagery Jesus used elsewhere, we must become like salt rubbed into the moral decay of society. We must become like light shining in the darkness.”

2. Christlike peacemakers extend peace to all people, friend and foe, ally and enemy. :As Zechariah predicted, Jesus rode into Jerusalem intent on removing the weapons of war. He would take away the battle bow, chariot and warhorse. And in their stead, he modeled a new way of making peace.” 

3. Christlike peacemakers follow the way of the Lamb, and reject the way of the hammer. “Though they were enemies, Jesus’s admirers and Pilate’s army both believed in the power of the hammer to construct peace… Both embraced the world’s approach to peacemaking, and Jesus was confronting it head-on.”

Heartbreaking And Hopeful Words From Inside

HARDTIME VIRGINIA Spring 2025 Vol. 10 No. 1 

(an occasional newsletter by and for the incarcerated) 

Excerpts From The Editor’s Mailbox (edited for brevity and clarity)

“I have been suffering from Long Covid and recently from congestive heart failure due to being taken off the Lasix my pulmonary doctor had ordered. I was at the hospital for a week and was feeling good when I came back to the facility. Then the Lasix that the hospital sent with me was kept from me for two days and I filled back up with fluid. The Nurse Practitioner ordered that I be given 40 mg of Lasix, but when she saw me the next day and I was still filled with fluid, she sent me to another hospital. They gave me a Lasix injection but not my KOP Lasix.     

“Meanwhile my aging friend, who is blind, is lying in the infirmary here waiting to die, along with others. Very sad. And my aging mother really needs me to help take of her, so I’m praying for a long awaited parole release after decades in prison.”  - Charles Zellers, Sr., Deerfield C.C.

“Instead of wasting millions on hired labor for unnecessary, oppressive ‘security measures’ the VADOC should be using the willing skilled labor available to create a campus community with adult literacy programs, music and art programs, and critical thinking and leadership classes, all of which are proven to help break the cycle.  Adding 21st century based vocational training like IT and coding would likewise be wise to supplement the existing HVAC and electrician classes which are the only real blue collar job training options.” - David Annarelli, Lawrenceville C. C.

“What got me in prison initially was one count of armed robbery, one count of attempted armed robbery and two counts of use of a gun, for which I was given a sentence of 13 years. This was in 1980. What  Virginia is using to keep me in solitary confinement is that in my early years of imprisonment my response to the corruption and barbarity of the Virginia prison officers was to get physical with them, as in a 1996 incident when I and a couple of guys took a number of prison guards hostage and a couple of nurses as a statement against conditions at the prison, all of which has added a total of 80 years to my time.  Yes, criminal convictions are criminal convictions, but I can say I never physically harmed anyone. All of my convictions are as a black man against a savage and dehumanizing system.”       

- William Thorpe, now in solitary confinement in Texas

“On the day before my birthday two officers came to my pod and told me to pack up for a transfer. I was told that my DOC time was over and I was being sent to a jail. My mind was blown. Did the courts release me? Did some kind of good time bill cut my time? I quickly picked up the property I would need at the jail.  We had just received canteen items, but I figured my friends could celebrate my good fortune so I blessed them with it. That night I hardly slept. At around 9 am on my birthday the transportation officer picked me up. The jail was less than an hour away, but then I was told I was going to a different prison. “No, I am not,” I protested. My DOC time is over and I’m to go to a local jail.” “Not according to this,” the officer said, as she looked at the paper work. I was numb. I asked why they would do this to me and she said, “I have no idea.” About a month later my counselor sent an email admitting she had made a mistake. No apology, No accountability. No excuse. The problem of getting an ombudsman involved is that if you write stuff up using a grievance process you will likely face retaliation.”    

 - anonymous prisoner                                                                                                            

One Parole Release in January, None In February or March

In a recent visit to Lawrenceville Correctional Center Parole Board Chair Patricia West made it clear that she will never agree to grant parole in cases where individuals have committed serious violent crimes. Period. This in spite of its mission to do for “those whose release is compatible with public safety.” This also assumes that the Department of Corrections is incapable of “correcting” the individuals it incarcerates, and that the DOC is primarily a “Department of Punishment.”

Jonathan White and a friend at Lawrenceville are proposing legislation that would require the board to base their decisions on clearly defined criteria as outlined in a 14-point “Inmate Parole Criteria Score Sheet.” The following is from their introduction to the proposed legislation:

In Virginia parole has always been recognized as a societal good by all political parties for prisoners who have demonstrated rehabilitation and pro-social positive behavior. The parole system is a reflection of the penal system functioning as an institution of reform and transformation of individuals.

However the current board’s decision making has resulted in the lowest parole grant in the history of Virginia, not a mark of distinction. For the year 2024 the grant rate was a scant .5%, a mere 16 people… In total, approximately 3,200 of 24,000 women and men are parole eligible under existing law.

 The main reason for the abysmal parole rate, contrary to most people’s beliefs, is that the Board has no standard criteria for parole. Each member has their own voting concept. So for the five members there are five unknown criteria each prisoner has to overcome.

So how can the General Assembly fix the current parole voting system and ensure public safety? The answer is to release individuals who have demonstrated rehabilitation and have transformed their lives and that they will be successful returning citizens.

We need elected officials to radically change the Board’s decision-making process by passing a law that establishes a viable Static voting Criteria the Board must adhere to, one that establishes justice with fairness. The current board’s modus operandi was established in the 1940’s and is akin to boilerplate language, “Not Grant,” “Seriousness of the Crime,” etc. 

All crimes are serious but these continuous decisions undermine the idea of true criminal justice reform, rehabilitation and fairness.

The common sense attached amended C.O.V. 53.1-134.2 establishes a Compulsory Parole Criteria the Board must follow:

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

That the code of Virginia is amended by adding a section numbered 53.1-134.2 as follows: 

53.1-134.2 Parole Board compulsory voting requirements: parole criteria.

(this is followed by a four-page text of the bill and a 14 item score sheet) 

Feel free to contact Jonathan White 1161021 at LCC, 1607 Planters Road, Lawrenceville, VA 23868 with your comments or questions. ********************************************************

Harvey Yoder, editor, Valley Justice Coalition, P.O. Box 434, Harrisonburg, VA 22803

Guest Post: How Do We Offer Hope Amid Fear?

These numbers were published in an era of misinformation in which we were told that the U.S. was being invaded by thousands of criminals and gang members crossing our borders. 

Focusing on our local immigrants, the following is the third of a monthly Justice Matters column published by the Valley Justice Coalition, this one by guest writer Chris Hoover, interim executive director at NewBridges Immigrant Resource Center in Harrisonburg.

On March 6, I was simultaneously noting the news of the SpaceX Starship rocket launch alongside the reality that our organization’s immigrant resource navigation program could not get bucket garden kits to families in our community due to fear of drawing unwanted attention to individuals and families. 

“We can send a rocket into space, but we can’t get buckets on people’s doorsteps in the United States right now,” I thought while doing the dishes that evening.

The level of fear within immigrant communities is devastating, and it’s putting the health, safety and basic needs of our immigrant neighbors at risk. People are basically in survival mode, just trying to stay safe and with their families, making sure their children will be taken care of in the event of sudden arrest, detention, and/or deportation.

As Interim Executive Director of NewBridges Immigrant Resource Center, I am learning a great deal as I work to strengthen the work of this Shenandoah Valley nonprofit. I am witnessing our program leaders diving in to navigate extremely complex situations amid rapidly changing laws, systems, and reactions.

One essential awareness I’m conveying to other concerned community members is that an incredible amount of nuance is needed as those of us who are not at risk seek to be supportive neighbors in our communities right now.

One important resource being offered is the Know Your Right (“KYR”) workshops and webinars. We also see certain rights listed on the bilingual “Red Cards.” One such right is to remain silent if questioned by an ICE agent. The information is essential, and the intention is good. However, we must also understand that one’s legal status, and even where one is physically present if an encounter with ICE occurs, may determine whether or not to exercise the right to remain silent. At a minimum, this right must be verbally articulated, if articulated at all.

NewBridges Immigration Attorney Steve Smith knows these nuances well and said, for example, “A 60-year-old El Salvadoran, with little or no education, who experienced that country’s civil war, and forces of an oppressive government, may not readily be able to remain silent. They would understand that when someone pounds on the door, you must answer.”

Practicing immigration law means that each client consultation must include its own individually tailored Know Your Rights review and that caution and nuance must be exercised when presenting a KYR workshop, which may include individuals whose immigration history and legal status may differ.

Currently, for many, pursuing any process involves putting sensitive information into a system that feels dangerous. Silence has long been considered golden when it comes to not putting yourself in legal jeopardy, but it can also be problematic. If anything, people should be encouraged to say that they would like to speak with an attorney first, especially upon being asked to sign anything. Finding trustworthy attorneys is also a challenge, as many predatory actors exist.

These systems also have global implications. Church World Service (CWS) Director Susannah Lepley has stated her concerns that we are seeing the end of refugee resettlement in the U.S. She has shared that, given that federal aid was frozen and the resettlement system was dismantled in about a month’s time, it’s unreasonable to think that it could be reconstructed quickly or easily. And the years of process that would be required would mean that the people who are most familiar with the work will likely have been lost to other jobs.

One thing we need to hold alongside the intense fear within the immigrant community is our ability to respond in ways that are most helpful and are practiced with great care. I am encouraged by the response of our local community, organizing to show up in prudent ways that address the needs of this moment, which are rapidly changing

SpaceX Starship exploded during its eighth and most recent launch. Interestingly, Elon Musk had this to say in response to the failure: “As always, success comes from what we learn…”

I ask us to seriously reflect on what we have learned from our history, both the successes and the failures. What are we learning at this moment in time? How are we using that knowledge to empower citizens to help make our community a place that offers hope amid so much fear?

An Alternative To Two Heresies, Christian Individualism And Christian Nationalism

Christians have largely embraced the
 individualism of American culture.

In keeping with the ego-centered mindset and world view of the times, many Christians see the Bible as primarily an inspired book of wisdom and inspiration addressing our personal stresses and problems. 

Many of our favorite hymns reflect this kind of "God and I" theology, such as in the chorus of the well known "I Come to the Garden Alone":

... he walks with me and he talks with me

and he tells me I am his own,

and the joy we share as we tarry there

none other has ever known.

Or this one, "My God and I":

My God and I go through the fields together,

We walk and talk as good friends should and do,

We clasp our hands, our voices ring with laughter

My God and I go though the meadow's hue.

Then there is this men's quartet favorite, "On the Jericho Road":

On the Jericho Road, there is room for just two,

No more and no less, just Jesus and you.

Each burden he'll bear, each sorrow he'll share,

There's never a care when Jesus is there.

And we likewise tend to do our Bible reading that way, in spite of it being primarily addressed to whole nations and groups of people rather than to individuals. The Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) represents the mission, vision and values of the nation of Israel, a people through whom God aims to bless all nations of the earth. The New Testament represents instructions to whole congregations of believers, who in turn are a part of a worldwide community of Jesus followers. 

But we are inclined to read a text like "Be still and know that I am God" as an invitation to experience our own inner peace, when in its Psalm 46 context it is clearly a call for God's people to end their reliance on war making and to trust God for their defense and security.  

Likewise the oft quoted Jeremiah 29 passage with the words, "For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you..." is one we take as a personal promise rather than God's assurance that the people who have been exiled in Babylon will be able to return to their homeland.

Even the prophet Isaiah's familiar invitation, "Though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow," though certainly applicable to individuals in need of repentance, is addressed to a "sinful nation" that is urged to "seek justice," "defend the oppressed," "take up the cause of the fatherless," and "plead the case of the widow."

Most would agree that we're all created with strong needs to identify with, and belong to, larger communities of people--families, neighborhoods, congregations, and nations. Often Christians, like others, have bought into forms of patriotism and nationalism as a way of meeting that need.

But "Christian nationalism," like "Christian individualism," represents a vision far too small. The alternative to each of these half truths or heresies is for followers of Jesus to identify as "Christian internationalists," becoming a part of what the apostle Peter refers to as a "chosen people, a royal priesthood, and a holy nation," one ruled by God, encompasses the globe and knows no boundaries.

This would mean needing to declare every human of whatever race, color or creed as being our neighbor, and as deserving as many privileges as we claim for ourselves. No one would claim the right to greater share of the world's goods than any other man, woman or child on earth.

This would represent a revolutionary paradigm shift and call for a radical lifestyle change for most of us. 

But what are the alternatives? To consider those who don't look like us, don't believe like us and/or who live at a distance from us as not being a part of God's one worldwide neighborhood? And to continue to see ourselves as a part of privileged class of people who deserve more of everything than our fellow humans around the globe?

I'd love to know what you think, but I'm drawn to seeing congregations as being "Experimental Prototype Communities of Tomorrow" (EPCOT), as local embassies of the worldwide reign of God's shalom, where "nothing is marred and nothing is missing."

False Speech Or Fake News? It's Your Call

Of the past 23 blog pieces I have posted none that has had anything to do with the current administration with the exception of one right after the November election. Today I feel compelled to comment on some of the many false and misleading statements we hear from politicians these days, including those found in our president's recent speech to the joint session of Congress. 

The following is a sample of such statements cited by fact-checker Glen Kessler and published in the March 9 issue of the Washington Post, now owned by a holding company of billionaire Jeff Bezos, the founder and executive chairman of Amazon and someone with increasingly close ties to Trump. 

Whatever opinions one may have about whether Bezo's newspaper is an objective news source, the Post has won the Pulitzer Prize 76 times for its work, the second highest of any newspaper in US history.

Here are a few excerpts from the speech, with my own brief summaries of Kessler's responses:

We won the popular vote by big numbers and won counties in our country 2,700 to 525.

Fact: Harris lost by a mere 1.5%, the fourth smallest margin of loss since 1960. The counties cited are ones with small populations versus densely populated ones.

Illegal border crossings last month were by far the lowest ever recorded.

Fact: There have been many years in the past in which the numbers have been well below half of the 8,300 crossings in February.

Hundreds of thousands of illegal crossings a month, and virtually all of them, including murderers, drug dealers, gang members and people from mental institutions and insane asylums, were released into our country.

Fact: There is no evidence whatsoever of any countries intentionally releasing such people, with the possible exception of Cuba in 1960.

I withdrew from the unfair climate accord, which was costing us trillions of dollars.

Fact: The agreement was non-binding, and studies on costs have not factored in any benefits from reducing climate change.

We ended the last administration's insane electric vehicle mandate, saving our auto workers and companies from economic destruction.

Fact: While there have been incentives offered for purchasing electric vehicles, there have been no mandates, and the United Auto Workers Union has stated, "We reject the fear mongering that says that tackling the climate crisis must come at the cost of union jobs."

These are but the first five of 26 examples of false or misleading statements cited in the article, suggesting that when in doubt, any speech or article should be checked for accuracy.

It behooves all of us to observe the commandment against bearing false witness against anyone or for any reason. No community or nation can thrive without trust, and there can be no trust without truth.

I welcome any correction or response to any of the above.

P.S. As to the claims of widespread fraud in the Social Security system, the rate is less than 1% in this gigantic agency, and funeral directors risk huge consequences for failing to fax an SSA-721 form certifying every individual death. Yet the majority of lawmakers in the chamber gave repeated standing ovations in response to such outright falsehoods.

Sobering.

Join The 'Christian Internationalism' Movement!

"Blue Marble" photo taken from Apollo 17 in 1972. From this angle, the setting of the Pentecost story would be near the top of the globe.

"We are from Parthia, Media, and Elam; from Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappadocia; from Pontus and Asia, from Phrygia and Pamphylia, from Egypt and the regions of Libya near Cyrene. Some of us are from Rome, both Jews and Gentiles converted to Judaism, and some of us are from Crete and Arabia—yet all of us hear them speaking in our own languages about the great things that God has done!” 

Acts 2:9-11 story of Pentecost (Living Bible)

We hear a lot about Christian nationalism these days, the belief that the United States is an exceptional nation that is to be ruled by a certain narrow understanding of the Bible. But Jesus and the prophets announced God's sovereignty as encompassing all of humanity in every part of the globe. Together we are called to be a part of an international order subject to God's shalom of justice, grace and redemption.

The following paraphrase of Psalm 146 provides an example:

Our International Anthem

Praise Yahweh! Praise Yahweh!

All of us with united voice shout praise to Yahweh!

Our Pledge of Allegiance

We pledge allegiance to Yahweh as long as we live.

    We proclaim God’s praises with every breath.

We will never place our confidence in the heads of nations;

    We will never trust in them for help.

We know that when their brief time is over,

    that all their vain promises will evaporate with them.

But our unwavering confidence is in Yahweh 

our supreme commander-in-chief,

    our hope is in the Creator and Lord of all,

Lord of heaven and earth,

    the sea, and everything in them,

    who keeps every promise forever.

Our God Movement Manifesto

Yahweh brings about justice for the oppressed,

    offers food for the hungry.

Yahweh frees prisoners

     opens the eyes of the blind.

Yahweh lifts up those who are downtrodden

    loves the godly and upright.

The Lord protects refugees and immigrants,

    cares for orphans and the homeless,

    but frustrates the plans of the wicked.

The Lord will reign forever

    and will remain faithful throughout all generations.

Praise Yahweh!

Justice Matters Column in today's News-Record

The following piece by Kathleen Temple is the second of what will be a series of monthly columns by the Valley Justice Coalition that will appear in the Daily News-Record on the fourth Friday of each month:

State Exceeds Nation's Incarceration Rate

Our General Assembly is about to approve another $1.5 billion of our tax dollars to fund the Virginia Department of Corrections. This is the single most costly institution in the Commonwealth’s budget, and doesn’t include the staggering costs of all of the city and county jails in our communities.

There may be some accused persons who need to be locked away for the sake of public safety, but the numbers of people we incarcerate in the US and in the Commonwealth far exceed our population growth and the incarceration rates of other developed countries. And the rate of violent crimes in our country has actually been in decline.

And that $1,500,000,000 doesn’t even come close to matching the cost of lost wages, increased social services and other consequences that negatively affect all of us taxpayers. Nor does it take into account the emotional cost to children who through no fault of their own grow up without one or more of their parents. Nor does it account for the many other costs to our community when non-violent offenders are warehoused in our jails and prisons, including large numbers of our jail inmates are being confined while awaiting their court hearings, presumably innocent until tried and proven guilty.  

So given the extremely high criminal-legal costs here in Virginia—in dollars and in the lives of children and others—we should consider every possible alternative to incarceration, keeping non-dangerous persons out of this expensive system whenever possible. We should also recognize that a large portion of those in our carceral facilities have demonstrated changed behaviors, have taken classes while in prison to gain valuable work skills, and could thus be safely returned to their families and communities. In addition, many have aged out of crime and also require increasingly costly healthcare that adds to the strain on our state budget.

The primary purpose of our criminal justice system, according to the DOC’s mission statement, is public safety. For those we do retain, may we ask, Whose safety? The child who has no parent to sing her to sleep, and no parent to provide for her is certainly not safer in this system.

And if, according to the DOC’s name, one of its primary purposes is correction, we should ask whether an understaffed Department of Corrections is effectively “correcting” (rehabilitating) the 40,000  people in its charge? Of the many who do actually experience transformations during incarceration, is it more often due to their individual heroism or to the carceral system itself?. We would like to be able to say both.

Meanwhile, the current Parole Board released only 16 incarcerated persons in 2024, a pathetically small percentage of the over 3000 men and women who are still eligible for parole, that is, those who were incarcerated before Virginia abolished parole in 1995, and more recently including “Fishback” cases and those incarcerated as minors. So with only a few more than one individual released per month, it appears that either the DOC is not “correcting” or the Parole Board is not carrying out its mission to “grant parole or conditional release to inmates whose release is compatible with public safety.”

We can do better than that.

Kathleen Temple

Overcoming Our Addiction To Autophilia

Carpooling was widely promoted during
the oil crisis of 1973.

I attended an inspirational meeting yesterday led by counselors Troy and Melissa Haas of HopeQuest. Attendance was around 200, mostly members of more conservative Mennonite groups in the Dayton area. 

Judging by the number of buggies and bicycles at the rural school where the meeting was held, a large number of those attending belonged to groups who avoid owning cars and use alternative means of transportation. While they hire drivers as needed, they see their way of life as supporting family and community solidarity and a slower-paced and simpler lifestyle.

As I drove our 2012 Corolla out of the parking lot (with me as the the sole occupant) I reflected on some on the positive value of their choice. Seeing grown men and women driving their buggies and riding their bikes together on a brisk February evening, I had to ask, Do they have a point? Is everything that is more modern and more convenient really better for our physical, emotional and relational health? And are our communities better off having become ever more dependent on our vehicle dominated culture? Are all of the changes that have resulted been for the good, and for the good of the planet?

When we moved just outside of Harrisonburg in 1988, nearby Highway 42 entering the city from Broadway was a two lane road with a growing amount of traffic. Now that portion of the road is an even busier five-lane stretch of Virginia Avenue next to where we now live at VMRC's Park Village.

By far the majority of vehicles speeding up and down Virginia Avenue have only one occupant. In our neighborhood, as is the case across the nation, in the last 50 years we have more licensed vehicles than there are licensed drivers. And the average passenger vehicle on our roads and highways weighs over a ton, has all kinds of high tech features, comfortably seats five or more passengers, and offers convenience, comfort and speed even the wealthiest monarchs could never have imagined a century ago.

One of the benefits of our location is being within walking distance of access to groceries, prescriptions, eye and dental care, the Park View Federal Credit Union and other services without my having to use a car. 

Speaking of cars, most of us in VMRC's independent living facilities own at least one of them, even as our need for this kind of convenient transportation diminishes. In fact, free transportation service is available to any other part of the VMRC campus, a Harrisonburg transit city bus stops by Heritage Haven on an hourly basis every weekday, and medical and other transportation services are also available on call fir a reasonable fee.

While only about 38% of the world's households owns a car, we North Americans have felt entitled to our SUV's, RV's, sports cars and monster pickups, resulting in a surplus of energy-guzzling machines that pose a threat to the planet.

So what if we did more walking and biking, carpooled when possible, used public transportation whenever feasible, and created car sharing co-ops as numerous groups have done across the nation? 

While our addiction to comfort, convenience (and class?) may take a hit, I'm sure our Creator God and our beloved earth would abundantly bless us.

Either We Outlaw War Or We Will Perish By It

Some 70% of Gaza, smaller than Rockingham County, has been reduced to rubble, and an astounding number of men, women and children have lost their lives, many of their bodies unrecognizable and/or unrecoverable.

There is a widespread belief that human beings have gradually become more civilized over time, eventually passing laws against things like cannibalism, human trafficking, dueling, torturing, and other practices finally seen as barbaric.

Actually, the opposite appears to be true. In the past century we have become ever more sophisticated in our means of killing, maiming and dismembering people, along with inventing ever more efficient ways of destroying their habitat and the very earth on which we all depend.

Among the books I've read recently are Killing Crazy Horse--The Merciless Indian Wars in America, by Bill O'Reilly and historian Martin Dugard and A Long Way Gone--Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, by Ismael Beah. Each details recent examples in history of barbaric cruelty we tend to think humans are no longer capable of. But we are.

And we now have weapons that are infinitely more lethal than could have ever been imagined in the past. One small atomic or hydrogen bomb alone is capable of creating the kind of instant devastation pictured above, as demonstrated in Hiroshima and Nagasaki near the end of World War II. 

That war resulted in an estimated total of 50-85 million deaths, including millions of innocent civilians who died from starvation, disease, massive bombings and in extermination camps.

Most of us North Americans were spared this level of suffering. But World War III would be far worse for all the earth's inhabitants, and would undoubtedly result in the end of civilization as we know it. Thus there is no way for the world to survive other than through our beating our swords into plowshares and banning war forever as immoral, uncivilized and unthinkable. 

The 16th century reformer Menno Simons wrote, "All Christians are commanded to love their enemies; to do good to those who abuse and persecute them... Tell me, how can a Christian defend scripturally retaliation, rebellion, war, striking, slaying, torturing, stealing, robbing and plundering and burning cities and conquering countries? ...They (Christians) are the children of peace. their hearts overflow with peace; their mouths speak peace, and they walk in the way of peace... They seek, desire and know nothing but peace; and are prepared to forsake country, goods, life, and all for the sake of peace." 

A Record Number of Local Marriages Last Year

Each year I ask for divorce and marriage statistics from our local circuit court, numbers I have been graciously provided since 1996.  I find it noteworthy that while our Rockingham/Harrisonburg population has grown by over 50% since then, the number of annual divorces has remained fairly steady, 400 in 2024. Last year did see the most ever marriage licenses issued, 1025, though that number is only slightly higher than the previous record set over two decades ago, which was 1003.

Of those experiencing marital breakups last year, 141 were contested cases and the rest were no fault divorces. While 400 is well within our average range, it nevertheless means the distressing disruption of the lives of 800 individual partners, to say nothing of the potential trauma created for their children (if any) and countless numbers of friends, parents, grandparents and other loved ones. 

Meanwhile, while we have good records of documented marriages in our community, we lack statistics on the increased number of partners living together without registering their de facto (common law) marriages, though many do not realize that Virginia gives no legal status to such couples. Nor do we have any record of how many of these undocumented couples are experiencing undocumented breakups, with equally stressful effects on children and other close family members and friends.

Here are the numbers of registered marriages and divorces over the past 28 years:

Year       Marriages     Divorces

1996           873                 387

1997           950                 405

1998           964                 396

1999           932                 405

2000           947                 365

2001          1003                438     

2002           976                 421

2003           961                 399

2004           959                 437

2005           889                 381

2006           929                 389

2007           925                 434

2008           950                 405

2009           903                 347 

2010           879                 358     (fewest annual marriages)

2011           933                 433

2012           995                 445

2013           924                 484    

2014           972                 427

2015           955                 474

2016           985                 612     (most annual divorces)

2017           983                 426

2018           935                 476

2019           947                 487

2020           882                 445

2021           994                 466

2022           954                 332     (fewest annual divorces)

2023           961                 366

2024          1025               400     (most annual marriages)

It should be noted that the marriage numbers above are based solely on the number of licenses issued, and include those who come here from other localities to get married, whereas divorce numbers include only the official breakups of people who live here in the City or County. However, it is reasonable to assume that a roughly equal number of residents from here marry in other jurisdictions as marry here from other communities, so the numbers should be reasonably valid for comparison purposes.

It should also be noted that we cannot assume a rate of divorce based on any one year's numbers, as in "40% of first time marriages in our community will end in divorce,” since, for example, many of the above couples are marrying or divorcing for a second, third or fourth time, and future divorce rates could increase or decrease for a variety of reasons. But with numbers like these over a period of decades, we can safely conclude that the odds of a given first marriage surviving are well above 50%.

Separations and divorces may certainly be justified in cases of ongoing patterns of verbal or physical abuse, addictions or adultery. But we would all do well to do whatever we can to support stable and healthy marriages and seeing fewer severed relationships and broken families. At the very least I'm sure most of us would agree with what I once saw on a bumper sticker, "Children Want Happily Married Parents."

Benjamin Franklin In A Conversation With An Anabaptist About Church Creeds

Michael Wohlfahrt, an Anabaptist immigrant from Krefeld, Germany, and a member of the Brethren/Dunker community in Philadelphia, was a good friend of Ben Franklin.

Franklin, like many of the nation's founders, was a deist who acknowledged God as a Creator who established the laws of nature, but believed that humanity alone was responsible for governing human affairs and determining how to live a moral life. He was also a dedicated Freemason who, while he had a Methodist upbringing and occasionally attended Christ Church in Philadelphia (where he was buried), was never known to be a member of any church.

Nevertheless Franklin must have engaged in numerous conversations about religion with his friend Michael Wohlfahrt, and once suggested that Brethren and other Anabaptists should devise a creed to better clarify and define their beliefs. Mennonites did have their 1527 Schleitheim Confession and the Dordrecht Confession of Faith of 1632,  but the Brethren had no such written document.

In Franklin's autobiography, he cites Wohlfahrt's response to his suggestion as follows:

When we were first drawn together as a society, it had pleased God to enlighten our minds so far as to see that some doctrines, which we once esteemed truths, were errors; and that others, which we had esteemed errors, were real truths. From time to time He has been pleased to afford us farther light, and our principles have been improving, and our errors diminishing. Now we are not sure that we are arrived at the end of this progression, and at the perfection of spiritual or theological knowledge; and we fear that, if we should once print our confession of faith, we should feel ourselves as if bound and confin'd by it, and perhaps be unwilling to receive further improvement, and our successors still more so, as conceiving what we their elders and founders had done, to be something sacred, never to be departed from. 

Franklin responded with, "This modesty in a sect is perhaps a singular instance in the history of mankind, every other sect supposing itself in possession of all truth, and that those who differ are so far in the wrong."

According to seminary professor Scott Holland, the member of our son's church in Pittsburgh from whom I got this information, Wohlfahrt eventually joined the Ephrata Cloister, a utopian community influenced by both Radical Pietism and Anabaptism.   

How A Persecuted Sixteenth Century Movement Championed Religious Freedom

Anna Jansz on the way to her execution. Etching by Jan Luiken from the Martyrs Mirror, 1685

The following was published as an op ed piece in today's Daily News-Record:

"If I want kinship with my Anabaptist ancestors, I know where to look: in prison."

- title of an article by Melissa Florer-Bixler in the January 2025 issue of The Christian Century

This January marks the 500th anniversary of the beginning of the Swiss Anabaptist movement to which Mennonites and related groups trace their origin. Along with preaching non-violence and a refusal to engage in warfare, Anabaptists (rebaptizers) were influential in promoting the kind of freedom of religion we take for granted today. They simply acted on the conviction that following Jesus meant never using force or coercion, especially in matters of faith.

All of us who believe governments should never determine whether or what kind of faith we are to live by, or rule on what scripture texts or prayers are to be mandated in state funded schools or institutions, owe our gratitude to this once reviled and persecuted group.

For background, on a fateful night of January 21, 1525, a dozen or more like minded believers, mostly young adults, met in the home of Felix Manz, age 26, in Zurich for Bible study and prayer in defiance of a state enforced law forbidding religious gatherings held without official church approval.

The meeting proved to be a watershed event. In defying a law they believed to be wrong, members of the group baptized each other, a revolutionary act igniting the spread of  a free church movement that spread rapidly everywhere in both Catholic and Protestant jurisdictions in western Europe. Their courage also influenced groups like the Moravians, Quakers, Methodists, Baptists, Brethren and countless other later communities of faith. 

Today all major U.S. denominations, Catholic and Protestant alike, affirm and celebrate the freedom later enshrined in the U.S. Constitution’s Bill of Rights, as follows:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

To sixteenth century Christian nation states, this would have been considered heresy, an existential threat to Christendom itself.

Thus two church movements emerged in Zurich, the state supported Swiss Reformed (Protestant) church that met in spacious sanctuaries like Zurich's Grossmünster Cathedral, and an underground movement that met in homes, barns, caves, and other places to avoid detection and arrest. And since the baptism of infants was a part of every person being registered as a citizen of the state, not being officially christened affected many other rights, including land ownership and having ones marriage being recognized as valid.

In Melissa Florer-Bixler's recent article in the Christian Century she quotes from the Martyr's Mirror, a volume with over 1000 pages of accounts of Anabaptists martyrs, the words of Anna Jansz, who in the face of her execution for her faith wrote the following in a letter she left for her young son:

But where you hear of a poor, simple, cast-off little flock, which is despised and rejected by the world, join them; for where you hear of the cross, there is Christ. . . . Honor the Lord in the works of your hands, and let the light of the Gospel shine through you. Love your neighbor. Deal with an open, warm heart your bread to the hungry, clothe the naked, and do not tolerate having two of anything, because there are always those who are in need.

Menno Simons, a Catholic priest in Friesland who a decade later became an influential leader in the free church movement, lived with a price on his head and knew first hand the sacrifices made by those who risked their lives for their radical beliefs. In 1554 he wrote the following defense in a booklet called “The Cross of the Saints”:

… that we are disobedient to the magistracy in things to which they are ordained of God, this will never be found to be true—I mean in matters pertaining to dikes, roads, waterways, tax, tolls, tribute, etc.. But if they wish to rule and lord it above Christ Jesus… according to their whim, this we do not grant them. We would rather sacrifice possessions and life than knowingly to sin against Jesus Christ and his holy Word for the sake of any man, be he emperor or king.

Few of us may be prepared to be so bold in defending the right and the responsibility each of us has in matters of faith. But we are forever indebted to members of a movement in which adherents gave up everything to claim that right for generations to come.

First "Justice Matters" Column Published Today

For those of you who are not subscribers, the following was published as a Viewpoint piece in the January 24 edition of our local paper, the first of a series of monthly "Justice Matters" columns by the Valley Justice Coalition:

We should expand college access to incarcerated people 

- by Debra E. Turner

Did you know Pell Grants are available to incarcerated individuals in Virginia?

Pell Grants, which cover full tuition at public two-year schools and a portion of the cost at four-year schools, can help incarcerated students pay for tuition, fees, books, and supplies. The money goes directly to the academic institution and must not be repaid.

The reason this matters is education programs in prisons can help reduce recidivism and increase employment rates for ex-offenders. In fact, education in prison can reduce recidivism by about 15% and increase employment rates for ex-offenders by about 7%.

Although incarcerated people have been eligible for Pell Grants since July 2023, after a federal ban that lasted nearly 30 years, only about 600 Virginia inmates are currently using the grants.

The Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy (VICPP) is working to expand access to higher education in Virginia prisons. The VICPP is involving stakeholders across education, corrections, justice-impacted, employers, and legislators in a consensus-building process

“College programs in prisons and in jails were relatively normal. It was understood. It wasn’t a boutique,” says Terri Erwin, liaison to higher education for the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy, a statewide public policy advocacy organization. The passage of the 1994 Crime Bill “wrecked the business model for schools. It speaks to how important Pell is as a driver in making it possible for colleges to do what I think plenty of them want to do and will want to do, and that incarcerated people would benefit from.”

In 2015, with the 1990s “tough on crime” era in the rearview mirror, the U.S. Education Department requested colleges to begin rebuilding the pre-1994 model through the Second Chance Pell Grant Experiment. Last year, under the Free Application for Federal Student Aid  Simplification Act of 2020, the doors opened again for incarcerated people to apply for Pell grants (23 community colleges in Virginia).

The Virginia Legislature has also taken action to expand the use of Pell Grants in Virginia prisons with Pell Initiative for Virginia. The PIV is a program funded by the Virginia Legislature to increase the number of Pell Grant-eligible students enrolled in state-supported colleges and universities. The PIV requires annual reports that include data on the recruitment, retention, and graduation of Pell-eligible students.

The Virginia Consensus for Higher Education in Prison is another group working to expand higher education opportunities in prison. The group is calling for the University of Virginia to create a pathway to a bachelor’s degree for Piedmont Virginia Community College students.

Pell Grants are also available to incarcerated students. As of fall 2024, incarcerated students across the country have access to federal Pell Grant funds for the first time in a generation. This change was made possible by the FAFSA Simplification Act, which reauthorized the Pell Grant program through 2034.

Only 11 of Virginia’s 45 prisons offer college classes, but about 14,000 incarcerated people in Virginia prisons have access to Pell Grants.

You must submit a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form to apply for a Pell Grant, and fill out the FAFSA form every year to remain eligible.

Debra Turner is a legislative advisor for the Valley Justice Coalition. Monthly Justice Matters columns are provided by members of the VJC, a local citizen voice for criminal justice reform in our community and in the Commonwealth since 2104.  https://www.vjcharrisonburg.org/