Countering Holocaust By Supporting HIAS (the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society)

Hatred of this Jewish organization appears to have been a
major motivation for the alleged killer Robert Bower's
recent rampage.

"HIAS likes to bring immigrants in to kill our people. I can't sit by and watch my people get slaughtered... I'm going in."

- Robert Bower's post on social media just before the killing of 11 people at the Tree of Life Jewish congregation October 27

The Jewish people have a long history of enduring enslavement, persecutions, pogroms, holocausts and forced migrations that goes all the way back to Exodus. Little wonder that they have a heart for people everywhere who experience similar traumas.

In 1881 the organization which later became known HIAS (Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society) was formed in Manhattan to offer help to Jewish refugees fleeing for their lives from anti-semitic purges in Russia and elsewhere. In the years since, they have helped literally millions of Jews emigrating to this country.

In 1975 the US State Department asked HIAS to help with the resettlement of Vietnamese, Laotians and Cambodian refugees in the aftermath of the Vietnam war. In that year alone HIAS found homes for over 3,600 in 150 communities in 38 states. This marked the organization becoming even more deeply involved in helping needy refugees of all faiths and nationalities, a tradition it carries on today.

One of the ways we can show our support for the Jewish community in mourning in Pittsburgh and elsewhere is to contribute to HIAS and other organizations that "Welcome the stranger" and "Protect the Refugee."

P. S. Check this link for some good news that came out of this tragedy.

"Go Down, Death, And Bring Her To Me"

Brenda Joyce (Beachy) Miller 1/26/41-10/22/18

Alma Jean and I attended a moving memorial service for 77-year-old Brenda Beachy Miller this afternoon. She was the loving wife of Dave Miller, who with their five children were good friends and members of our former congregation, Zion Mennonite, near Broadway. They had since moved to Florida to care for her parents, but recently returned to the area. Brenda was diagnosed with cancer right after attending their granddaughter's wedding here in August.

Brenda was an an active, gracious and committed follower of Jesus who will be greatly missed by all of the people she blessed, especially through her gifts of hospitality and service. 

I was reminded today of James Weldon Johnson's tribute to a "sister Caroline" in one of his Negro sermons in verse, "Go Down, Death." One could substitute the poem's references to her name and place for Brenda's in the fourth verse, as in "Go down to Timberville, Virginia, down in Rockingham County, and find sister Brenda." 

I post Johnson's piece here in her memory:

Weep not, weep not,

She is not dead;

She's resting in the bosom of Jesus.

Heart-broken husband--weep no more;

Grief-stricken son--weep no more;

Left-lonesome daughter --weep no more;

She only just gone home.

Day before yesterday morning,

God was looking down from his great, high heaven,

Looking down on all his children,

And his eye fell of Sister Caroline,

Tossing on her bed of pain.

And God's big heart was touched with pity,

With the everlasting pity.

And God sat back on his throne,

And he commanded that tall, bright angel standing at his right hand:

Call me Death!

And that tall, bright angel cried in a voice

That broke like a clap of thunder:

Call Death!--Call Death!

And the echo sounded down the streets of heaven

Till it reached away back to that shadowy place,

Where Death waits with his pale, white horses.

And Death heard the summons,

And he leaped on his fastest horse,

Pale as a sheet in the moonlight.

Up the golden street Death galloped,

And the hooves of his horses struck fire from the gold,

But they didn't make no sound.

Up Death rode to the Great White Throne,

And waited for God's command.

And God said: Go down, Death, go down,

Go down to Savannah, Georgia,

Down in Yamacraw,

And find Sister Caroline.

She's borne the burden and heat of the day,

She's labored long in my vineyard,

And she's tired--

She's weary--

Do down, Death, and bring her to me.

And Death didn't say a word,

But he loosed the reins on his pale, white horse,

And he clamped the spurs to his bloodless sides,

And out and down he rode,

Through heaven's pearly gates,

Past suns and moons and stars;

on Death rode,

Leaving the lightning's flash behind;

Straight down he came.

While we were watching round her bed,

She turned her eyes and looked away,

She saw what we couldn't see;

She saw Old Death.She saw Old Death

Coming like a falling star.

But Death didn't frighten Sister Caroline;

He looked to her like a welcome friend.

And she whispered to us: I'm going home,

And she smiled and closed her eyes.

And Death took her up like a baby,

And she lay in his icy arms,

But she didn't feel no chill.

And death began to ride again--

Up beyond the evening star,

Into the glittering light of glory,

On to the Great White Throne.

And there he laid Sister Caroline

On the loving breast of Jesus.

And Jesus took his own hand and wiped away her tears,

And he smoothed the furrows from her face,

And the angels sang a little song,

And Jesus rocked her in his arms,

And kept a-saying: Take your rest,

Take your rest.

Weep not--weep not,

She is not dead;

She's resting in the bosom of Jesus.

Putting Our "Putting Off" Abilities To Good Use

"The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing."  

- Stephen Covey

As something of a procrastinator myself, I had a light bulb moment some time ago. I realized that the reason I wasn't getting some important things done was because I wasn't good enough at "putting things off."

Example #1: I'm at work, and need to finish writing up my session notes for the day. As I prepare to do so, I recall I haven't checked my emails lately, which then leads to my also checking my Facebook page while I'm at it. And there's a phone call I need to make about a medical appointment. Then I note I have a voice message on my phone requesting some information. I return the call. A half hour has gone by, and I haven't even gotten started, because I failed to put off my less-important-for-now items.

Example #2: I have an early morning meeting, followed by a busy day at work, so I plan to get ready for bed by 10 pm in order to get a needed good night of sleep. In addition to some prayer time with Alma Jean, I usually do some other reading before settling down for the night. The book I'm into is really interesting. Instead of stopping at chapter's end, I decide to read just one more. Then another. Before I realize it, it's past 11 pm.

Example #3: I have friends at a nearby retirement community I like to stop by to see about every other week. So on one of my days off I add that to my to do list. But there's also some outside work that should be done sometime, so I start on a couple of those projects first. For one of these, I need something at the hardware store. On my way I decide to stop at the Conference Center to get our house church's mail. There I check about an upcoming seminar I might want to register for. And, oh, there are a couple of grocery items I may as well pick up on the way, too, that I'm pretty sure we need. The day slips by. Maybe I can make my VMRC visit some other time. 

Maybe.

So here's my point. We get to decide on any given day what we see as the main thing(s) we want to give priority to. In order to accomplish them, other things must be postponed or placed lower on our priority list. Our success depends on our putting off those things we decide are secondary. On another day, of course, they may well deserve to be on one of our "main things" list.

In summary, we have the gift of 24-hours a day to get everything done that's really important and needed, including getting enough rest and exercise. One "main thing" at a time.

The rest can wait.

An Emergency Need At My Place Of Work

Family Life Resource Center is a faith-based, non-profit counseling agency where I have been privileged to work for over thirty years. Our current facility, a former home built over 100 years ago, is one we've enjoyed since 2000, and is on Newman Avenue in Harrisonburg. Our mission is to offer "health, hope and healing" to any individuals and families in our community who are in need of our services.

Upon inspection of FLRC's heating units this fall, it was discovered our chimney had collapsed, leaving no venting for the carbon monoxide from our boiler unit that we use for heat. The cost of this repair was astronomical and involves an aging boiler heating system that itself could go any day.  

It has been strongly suggested by multiple contractors that we replace the unit. Meanwhile, the main building currently has NO central heat (only space heaters) until we get this repaired! The estimated cost of this is $16,500. 

Would you be willing to help us install this kind of heating unit? You can donate at flrc.org or call the agency at 540-434-8450 to have our receptionist take your gift over the phone during office hours Monday-Thursdays from 8:30 am-4:30 pm. Or if you can give by check please mail to FLRC, 273 Newman Ave, Harrisonburg, VA 22801. 

No amount is too small!

Revealing Letter From Inside A Virginia Prison

Augusta Correctional Center, Estaline Valley Road,
Craigsville, Virginia

An inmate at the nearby Augusta Correctional Center recently sent the following to his parents, who are friends of ours. We print it here with their son's permission:

October 7, 2018

I welcomed the return of the glorious sun this past week after the endless rainfall we've endured this summer. This past week I've basked in its warmth while working out, and the drier weather is beginning to lower the humidity in our cells where I've battled to keep envelopes from sticking together and the paper from wanting to become warped and rippled. Let’s hope the colder temperatures on the way do not collide with the rains that may continue or else there will be lots of school missed and roads to navigate that may keep visitors away from Estaline Valley.

I have called this little valley my residence for the last eight years and yet I often don't feel much a part of this community. Even when I attend church here I feel somewhat of a misfit because my journey includes a heritage of faith very dissimilar from what I experience here. No matter how much my heart is in tune with the songs and sermons I hear each week, others probably perceive me as disconnected. I would confess that my most spiritual moments of those evenings are the walk to and from the dining hall where I am privileged to look up and see the moon and stars twinkling or glowing bright in the black night that is aglow from the orange security lights that light my pathway. What a privilege it will be some day to look upon a midnight black sky in its awesome natural state untainted by man’s created lights. 

The pastor we affectionately call 'Amen Denny' because he is continually saying the word Amen in our prison services was as animated as you could imagine last night. He is an older man in the generation we define as golden who has been serving the Lord here for over 30 years, ever since this facility opened. I know most of his stories and sermons by heart and he closes each service with some semblance of an alter call. My heritage finds that to be an unnecessary weekly event because salvation doesn’t have to move oneself physically from the back of the service to the front. It is a matter of the heart, and yet I move to the front when he includes a gathering of people who need prayer for life’s trials and physical issues. It is obvious that he wants us all to be included in the kingdom and his heart is in the right place.

Last night we marched around the dining hall to raise walls of protection for those being attacked by things that discourage us on our journey. His brief message was out of the story of David’s journey and with his adversaries Saul and Goliath. What the pastor gleaned from the story had more to do with Saul, and the truth that God desires our obedience over the sacrifices made under the law for our failures.

Those of you who are steeped in the stories of David and Saul know how often they were in conflict with each other due to Saul’s jealousy of David’s relationship with God. I believe you could argue that Saul was a far more difficult Goliath in David’s life than the actual Philistine he was able to dispatch because of God’s power within him. 

Goliaths come in all shapes and sizes and they may not always take the form of a man. For eight years now I have lived within a system we call the DOC (Department of Corrections), a Goliath that I have watched intensely for almost a decade now. Much like David, I have hidden in the shadows and kept away from engaging in conflict the way David did with Saul. My silence has come at a great cost as I continue to see changes in policy that affect me.

Marching around that room last night was sort of a catalyst for me to begin writing out some of my feelings and emotions that others may define as opinion-based and not based in fact. There are facts, however, that cannot be disputed, and there are policies going into effect that will never change the facts or statistics of this experience. Cause and effect relationships are impacting the rehabilitation process far more than the contraband that does get inside these walls of steel, stone and twisted wire. Perhaps what I am writing will be seen as a tirade of sorts or a venting of emotions, but I assure you I have been processing each word I am writing, praying that God gives me the words I write. I am also praying that those of you who know me will keep me in your prayers and pray for the wall of protection we marched for last evening.

I will be so bold as to say that contraband entering the prisons can serve at least one useful purpose and that is to show which inmates are making positive changes in their lives and which are not making such changes. The DOC, our Goliath, labels such behaviors as correctional changes. Such inmates reject participation in contraband activities and take educational courses, do quality work for which they are paid a small wage, and seek to live uprightly which can reduce their sentence by 15 percent. I would also suggest that the DOC grant a greater percentage reduction in sentences for good behavior and attempts to learn new skills and do quality work which prepares inmates to re-enter their communities as productive citizens.

The DOC has a motto or mission statement that hangs in the visitation room. It reads: Talking together – Thinking together – Learning together – Finding common ground – Creating new meaning – Suspending judgment as we dialogue together. 

This statement suggests the DOC, the Goliath, cares about connecting us offenders with our loved ones and ultimately the community, but all the recent changes in visitation procedures have only limited our access to those we love and the communities we hope to be a part of again one day. I believe Goliath needs to rewrite what the purpose of visitation is in their view.

Personally it is no longer the experience it once was. It has become a source of ionized radiation [via a full body scan] for those I love who are mostly in their 80s and do not need one more health risk added to their lives. It has become a place of physical violation of their personal space including feeling physically violated by members of their own sex who may or may not have opposite sexual orientation. Who would know? I would ask the question, At what age is it appropriate to assume that a child is able to endure the procedures witnessed in this place and the ones [that may come] we are unaware of?

The facility has been in the paper several times this year for various issues pertaining to the ability to staff the facility adequately. I can attest to the fact that there are grave issues here with keeping the proper number of officers here at a given time. I would be of the opinion that often this facility is managed on a daily basis with less than the number of officers recommended. You will, however, never get me to believe that some recent incidents were caused by the lack of officers. There is no doubt that the place is a necessary part of our society, but I despise being lumped into a group as a whole. On a camp that has a majority of sexually deviant offenders it should have been obvious that one such offender should have annual evaluations done in a secure location when being treated by a female counselor.

What has been left out of local news and papers is the effect this lack of officers is having on us as offenders. To manage the shortage, Goliath is bringing in officers from other facilities. It may fill the vacancies but it is becoming a more volatile place to live here, especially if you are of the majority and are a sex offender. Officers filling booth positions that manage the entryways of our pods are never here long enough to learn who lives in what pod and who is out of place. This leads to guys being able to sneak about stealing and extorting from sex offenders and moving contraband pod to pod. 

Recently in my own pod a man had a television stolen out of his room while he was at work, and another young man was beaten up in the pod by someone connected to someone he owned money to. I have tried to help staff see systemic problems in the past leaving out individual offenders [names]. There are plenty of snitches here they can get specific names from. For eight years I have seen very few changes that work because no one will invest the time it takes to see the things I see. There are not enough officers to see the things I see, but perhaps no one cares.

I hope it is an issue with being over tasked. I believe being over tasked will continue to be a problem at this facility. I have great respect for all but a few of the officers who walk this beat everyday. Unlike most of the men here, I realize that their duties include protecting the disadvantaged here. I do not see this as a conflict between us and them, like most guys here. I am on a road of corrections, but it is a path that is getting more difficult with each passing policy, policies that are causing good staff to leave this facility. Not only officers are choosing to leave because of dysfunctions in the policies but other staff that some of us value, good people dedicated to teaching us the skills we need beyond our desert journeys… leaving because they too are fearful of the ionized radiation they are being subjected to everyday as they enter to be engaged in our lives.

I understand that Goliath doesn’t want to be sued by someone’s family when their loved one dies in here because of the drugs they overdose on. I would challenge family and friends to be more aware of what your offender is doing with his life in here. Ask yourself if you are making sacrifices in your life to give them enough support financially to support a drug addiction in prison. Be engaged enough in your own offender’s life to know what his/her needs are in a place like his. I assure you they are few. I believe with all my heart if all parties affected by these issues participate in productive conversation that somewhere there is a better place to be. A place where the sign in the visitation room [saying they are trying to make it a better place for visitors to meet with offenders] has meaning, and we as offenders and you as the public can believe it is the purpose of the Virginia Department of Corrections.

On current pace I have about 12 years left to endure my correction. I want them to be a better 12 years than what I have endured since this drug, whoops, contraband interdiction policy and practice. My heritage includes making meals together, and fellowship is defined by the sharing of a meal. I want my friends to visit without fear of being groped to the point of being violated. I want to wear a pair of blue jeans and a denim shirt to feel a sense of dignity for the few hours I spent with my family. I do not think it is too much to ask and I think it is possible to see things again the way they once were because it all has impact on the process of our rehabilitation and the way we live while we wait to go home. I believe if our route towards change had better defined goals and ways to gauge the progress it would be easier to find men and women to work here because they could believe in that purpose and find some fulfillment in their work.

At this moment it just feels like chaos regardless if you are staff or offender. I can report a staff viewpoint because I hear it all the time from them as they must work over [hours], or on their days off. 

I covet your prayers of protection and I may write to you next or see you in Timbuktu if Goliath chooses to “slay” me for what I speak out about. I believe somewhere in the story of Saul and David is the point that obedience to God and to what you believe does require sacrifice. I am ready for the suffering if they so choose.

Sincerely,

Your kingdom companion, highway sojourner and fact-driven “fool” who still hopes positive change is possible.

B. Brubaker #1315055

Hasn't Something Like This Happened Before?

Thousands of men, women and children are fleeing corrupt,
violent and gang-ridden Central American nations.

"The Israelites journeyed from Rameses to Succoth. There were about 600,000 men on foot, besides women and children." 

- Exodus 12:37

This week we are witnessing an unprecedented migration of people fleeing for their lives from one of the poorest and most violence-ridden countries in the world, Honduras. I can't help thinking of similarities between their plight and that of the Israelites deprived of their freedom and in fear of their future under Egyptian Pharaohs many years ago.

In this case the 'Pharaoh' is a corrupt and drug-infested government of a nation that has a higher poverty rate than that of Haiti. Teen age girls and boys are in particular danger of being raped and pressured to cooperate with drug cartels, with precious little protection from Honduran police. Unemployment is at a record high, and wages for those who are working are among the lowest in the world. 

But this isn't a case of people simply looking for better economic opportunity. Most of these migrants' very lives are in danger.

On our side of the border we have a choice. Will we work with our neighbors to the south to help provide reasonable protection and better opportunities for them, and by investing in "cities of refuge" on both sides of the border? Or will be like the Philistines in the biblical story who do everything we can to keep them from 'invading' the very part of our West we once invaded and conquered as Mexican-held territory?

Historically, God has always been on the side of needy refugees rather than on the side of world powers who have shunned them.

Here's one historical perspective https://theconversation.com/how-us-policy-in-honduras-set-the-stage-for-todays-mass-migration-65935?fbclid=IwAR3nqmw4bXO2LyqQsIpojBpFaI5MQnGx15ht8Y1W2eKB7pBt1uoQEnvSgxw

GOD: Seven Things That Make Me Furious

No, it's not about God having an anger problem. It's about God
loving and deeply caring for all creation.

Most of us don't like to hear anything about God's wrath, but here's where I see our Creator having some serious outrage, as follows:

1. World Hunger

Please understand that I created a fertile earth with the capacity for producing plenty of food for billions of inhabitants. So I can't stand seeing children starving when I've made "every seed bearing plant and every tree producing fruit" available to satisfy everyone's needs. Yet some of you keep on feasting and "faring sumptuously every day" while others can never be sure where their next meal is coming from. This must stop.

2. A Polluted Planet

I gave you--as humans made in my image--a clear mandate to take good care of this precious earth. But you've exploited and wasted its resources on all kinds of stuff you don't need, then treated the planet, its soil, its rivers and oceans, and the atmosphere surrounding it, as if it were an open sewer in which you could dump all the carbon, coal and plastic waste you wished with no thought for tomorrow. You insist on having far more meat in your diet than you need (remember the seed bearing plants and the fruit producing trees I gave you for food?), resulting in vitally needed rain forests being destroyed largely to produce cheap grain for livestock to satisfy your cravings. This is only one of the human factors that contribute to the oceans becoming warmer and the ice caps melting, with all of the disastrous consequences that follow. But in your pursuit of ever more comfort, convenience and irresponsible consumption, you who are privileged refuse to take responsibility for being a part of the top 10% of the world's wealthiest people who keep creating half of the world's trash and pollution.

3. War

I can't tell you how I detest the warmongering going on all over the globe. For centuries I've had my prophets ramp up the "study war no more" theme in their preaching, and then made my shalom message abundantly clear through Jesus and his first century followers. Instead of taking up their swords, they laid them down and chose to take up Jesus' cross instead.
So hear me, the day of people arming themselves to carry out my will on earth is over. Done. There are no "just wars" of any kind I'm willing to support. They're all just wars, period--increasingly barbaric, callously murderous and unthinkably immoral. Remember, your enemies are not your fellow humans, but the dark forces that motivate people to bomb, maim and brutalize their fellow human beings. So never, ever engage in any of this heartless carnage and claim to be doing it in my name or for my sake.

4. Disparity Between Rich And Poor

Many of you pray every day that God's will be done "on earth as it is in heaven." Surely you know that where I have my headquarters there are no separate sections for rich and poor. And no citizens of my eternal kingdom will ever be enjoying all kinds of luxuries while others are begging for bread. So in order to get ready for how things are going to be in the future, you need to keep selling and giving away your surplus stuff, both for the sake of helping the poor and for the sake of freeing yourselves from the chokehold the god Mammon has on your life. Remember the rule about "You shall have no other gods before me?" It's in my list of Top Ten commandments.

5. Homelessness

In one of my first acts as Creator, I prepared a beautiful place, Eden, for humans to make their home and to take care of. And in the end, I'm seeing to it that all my people have a forever home where they can live in peace and safety. But today there is nearly one in ten men, women, and children on earth who have been driven from their homes by human-caused famine, war and other forms of violence And there are millions of others who live in shacks and in slums unfit for human habitation. There are also people being released from jails and prisons who can't find landlords who will rent to them. And rich nations are turning desperate people away from their borders. This is simply not acceptable.

6. Disunity and Divisions

The millions of you who claim to be children of Abraham keep dividing yourselves into liberals and conservatives, progressives and traditionalists, each assuming you are superior to those on the other side. I hate that. Again, in the after life there aren't going to be different sections for different sects of my people. Remember how Jesus prayed that all his followers would be one? I approve that message, and am grieved beyond belief at how people have taken things in such opposite, multi-splintered directions.

7. Torture and Abuse

It breaks my heart to see anyone, anywhere, at any time being physically, verbally, sexually or psychologically abused. I never created innocent children to be neglected and traumatized. Nor did I create women and girls--or boys--to be harassed, exploited and raped. And I never dreamed of parents being forcibly separated from their sons and daughters, or children and teens being used and abused as sex slaves or child workers. You'll never know how much all of that offends and angers me, not because I'm by nature vengeful or wrathful, but because I love and deeply care about all I have created.

Wouldn't you feel the same?