So we're showing up again, in Nairobi, Kenya, that is. Making a repeat appearance to work and connect with other health care professionals on the other side of the planet. Its been 3 years since we've been to the campus of Kenyatta University,..think Kenya's version of Penn, or UCLA,... with its 70,000 students. The KU school of pharmacy and complimentary medicine excitedly awaits us, and we're a team of 5 ---my traveling companions, 4 courageous and seeking pharmacy students, wanting to touch the world--- and me.
There's lots of joy here,...there's much anticipation, and there's an eagerness to explore that's palpable. Faith Lee reached out to me over a year ago expressing her desire to move in a direction outside the traditional realm of pharmacy. Then came Terrence Caldwell, followed quickly by Cameron Golden and Vivian Chen. A perfect blend of intellectual curiosity, laughter and fortitude that creates a team desiring to heal the world. Watch them,... they will do it.
But these guys are on a journey, one they've started long ago, within their families, their churches, their communities, and this is just a stop along the way. Nairobi Kenya will offer them mentorship among individuals that have truly been tried and have succeeded. Many of us think of Kenya as a developing nation. But no, ...its a developed nation. Developed in spirit, in character, in hope and in love. Faith, Terrence, Cameron and Vivian have chosen and have asked to dwell among the people of Kenya, to learn ad be mentored by the people of Kenya for 3 weeks. I would be hard pressed to be among those who might deny them this. And so, I am blessed to be their guide, to be their mentor on this part of their journey.
And let's not forget their parents, who have sent them on their way, with trust, and yes, concern, but with much love. It takes much love to allow your child to travel 7,000 miles away from your protection, to explore how your child might become an instrument of God's peace. But it also takes a village to teach all of us to be instruments of that peace. And yes, sometimes this takes you to your global village.
And so here we are,...Nairobi, Kenya. Showing up again.
Welcome
Welcome to All. This blog is a discussion site, looking at our lives through our experiences, our spiritual, and, not so spiritual lens, ....what our lives look like at The Front. We are and some would argue, always have been, in interesting times. Servants, past and present have been at constant struggle with whatever the issues of the day have been. Where do we even begin to name them: poverty, hunger, education, shelter, .... and did I mention poverty? Fifty-one years ago, President Lyndon Johnson declared war on poverty, a war by the way, we're still fighting. Then again, we've always been at war with poverty, and yet poverty has remained steadfast. Jesus apparently got it right: "The poor will always be with you." But Jesus was a smart man. Did he mean what we think? Does poverty always have to be with us. Let's talk about this, and whatever else, in real and truthful ways. Let's view our lives from The Front.
If you have come to help me, then you are wasting your time. If you have come because your liberation is linked to mine, then we will work together.
----(Anonymous) Australian Aborigine Activist
--mailto:--neilpitts@aol.com
----(Anonymous) Australian Aborigine Activist
--mailto:--neilpitts@aol.com
Contemplative Action
The Rite of Initiation: You are going to die
A shocking statement. Perhaps. But the Franciscan Priest, Richard Rohr,,who has studied the Rite of Initiation has said the following::
"Every initiation rite I've studied had some ritual, dramatic, or theatrical way to experience crossing the threshold from life to death in symbolic form. Some ritual of death and resurrection was the centerpiece of all male initiation. It is probably why Jesus sought out and submitted to John the Baptist's offbeat death and rebirth ritual down by the riverside, when his own temple had become more concerned with purity codes than with transformation. It is probably why Jesus kept talking to his disciples, three times in Mark's Gospel, about the necessity of this death journey, and why three times they changed the subject (8:31-10:45). It is undoubtedly why Jesus finally stopped talking about it, and just did it, not ritually but actually. Death and resurrection, the paschal mystery, is the theme of every single Eucharist no matter what the feast or season. It takes us many seasons and even years to overcome our resistance to death.
"The transformational journey of death and resurrection is the only real message. It makes you indestructible. The real life, God's life, is running through you and in you already. But allowing it to flow freely doesn't come easily. When you do, the spiritual journey really begins. Up to that moment it is just religion. Everything up to then is creating the container, but you have not yet found the contents; you are creating the wineskins, as Jesus says, but you are not yet drinking the intoxicating wine."
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