(5839,1,'2012-04-03 17:49:21','2012-04-04 00:49:21','I heard an interview with Archbishop Desmond Tutu recently.  In it he talked about the ongoing deep work that is needed as South Africa moves from Apartheid and three centuries of oppression and domination of people with white skin over people with black skin. Krista Tippet, the interviewer, posed the conversation of how one would know whether the work Bishop Tutu had been doing had “achieved” it’s goals and what “recovery” looked like for the people of South Africa.  Archbishop Tutu responded with this story: \r\n\r\nI recommend listening to the <a href=\"http://being.publicradio.org/programs/2012/tutu-god-of-surprises/\" target=\"_blank\">interview</a>. The story I\'m referencing can be found from: 22:52-25:21 \r\n\r\nTRANSCRIPT: “I think that we have very gravely underestimated the damage that apartheid inflicted on all of us. You know, the damage to our psyches, the damage that has made —I mean, it shocked me. I went to Nigeria when I was working for the World Council of Churches, and I was due to fly to Jos. And so I go to Lagos airport and I get onto the plane and the two pilots in the cockpit are both black. And whee, I just grew inches. You know, it was fantastic because we had been told that blacks can\'t do this. And we have a smooth takeoff and then we hit the mother and father of turbulence. I mean, it was quite awful, scary. Do you know, I can\'t believe it but the first thought that came to my mind was, \"Hey, there\'s no white men in that cockpit. Are those blacks going to be able to make it?\" And well of course, they obviously made it — here I am. But the thing is, I had not known that I was damaged to the extent of thinking that somehow actually what those white people who had kept drumming into us in South Africa about our being inferior, about our being incapable, it had lodged somewhere in me.”\r\n\r\n\r\nThis story stopped me in my tracks and brought home the deep contradictions that each one of us hold in our beings, in our words, in our history, in our actions, thoughts and feelings. Here is a man who has dedicated his life and his work to breaking down oppression, bringing justice and raising up the worth of all people.  A man who himself has rich black skin and a heritage of the people’s that he is dedicated to opening up a way for, even this man wrestles with the contradictions inside himself when the very thing he’s fighting against bubbles up in his own being.  \r\n\r\nContradiction. \r\n\r\nHere’s another example:<em> The next day the huge crowd that had arrived for the Feast heard that Jesus was entering Jerusalem. They broke off palm branches and went out to meet him. And they cheered: Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in God’s name! Yes! The King of Israel!</em>” (John 12:14).\r\n\r\nIn the same city, just a few days later, the same Jesus Christ was raised up in question in front of crowds of people.  The story goes something like this: \r\n<em>Pilate called together the chief priests, the rulers and the people, and said to them, “You brought me this man as one who was inciting the people to rebellion. I have examined him in your presence and have found no basis for your charges against him. Neither has Herod, for he sent him back to us; as you can see, he has done nothing to deserve death.  Therefore, I will punish him and then release him.”\r\nBut the whole crowd shouted, “Away with this man! Release Barabbas to us!”(Barabbas had been thrown into prison for an insurrection in the city, and for murder.)\r\nWanting to release Jesus, Pilate appealed to them again. But they kept shouting, “Crucify him! Crucify him!”\r\nFor the third time he spoke to them: “Why? What crime has this man committed? I have found in him no grounds for the death penalty. Therefore I will have him punished and then release him.”\r\nBut with loud shouts they insistently demanded that he be crucified, and their shouts prevailed.  So Pilate decided to grant their demand. He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, the one they asked for, and surrendered Jesus to their will</em> (Luke 23:13-24).\r\n\r\nIt’s uncomfortable to place ourselves in this story, particularly if we are part of the crowd on both days.  But are we not part the crowd? Is there not a place inside each of us that sings praises and asks for God to save us one day and then calls for crucifixion a few days later? Have we not stood in the shoes of Bishop Tutu? Seeing inside ourselves the very things that we have been working to change in the world around us? We are filled with these contradictions between how we want to live and how we speak and act and think and feel.\r\n\r\nThrough these weeks of Lent, as part of my practice, I have been striving to name these contradictions, these tensions inside. It is uncomfortable work and makes me squirm to realize how much like these crowds I am.   How I can cry out to God, “save me” when life is feeling difficult and I think God could remove the challenges, and then soon after deny my need for God or even reject God’s presence in the people around me.  I have noticed disconnects between my words and my actions, between my ideals and my reactions.   \r\n\r\nThere is something disturbing to consciously name these contradictions. There is something liberating and freeing in naming these contradictions.  To name that we carry selfishness and arrogance within us as we strive to do good and follow God and to admit that we are sinner and saint, villain and hero, benevolent and selfish and throughout it all—loved by God. \r\n\r\n\r\nWhat’s this? Loved by God? Even when we speak critical words? Even when we are arrogant and vindictive? Even when we go against what we know we are called to?  And here is the gospel, the good news, and the power of the Lord in our Holy Week Contradictions.  \r\n\r\nLet’s go back over the stories…we’ve noted the contradictions between the crowds cheers on Palm Sunday to the denial and calls for crucifixion just a few days later. We’ve noted the way we operate in these contradictions in our own lives and how we are continually in flux in our thoughts and actions.  Where is the Lord in all this? Jesus Christ, that of God, God Incarnate, gospel message to us, an example of how God acts in the world. How does Jesus respond throughout these stories in the gospel? Jesus consistently meets them where they are. With love and compassion. With truth and accountability. With forgiveness and reconciliation.\r\n\r\nEven to the point on the cross where Jesus calls out, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). Can you imagine being called to that level of forgiveness and compassionate response? Can you imagine being embraced by that level of understanding for the contradictions we hold in ourselves and being gently held and encouraged to continue to show up, to observe and name the contradictions, to keep inviting the Lord into our lives and move us in ways of reconciliation and wholeness? \r\n\r\nWhat does this look like? How do we do this? I believe each one of you have wisdom to bring to this conversation and I look forward to hearing your responses. To frame our conversation I’d like to offer us two doorways for receiving and connecting with God’s work in each of us.\r\n\r\nMystical theologian Emmanuel Swedenborg writes, “If we believed that—as is truly the case—everything good and true comes from the Lord and everything evil and false comes from hell, then we would not claim the goodness as our own and make it self-serving or claim the evil as our own and make ourselves guilty of it” (Divine Providence #320).  \r\n\r\nThere is such freedom from suffering and guilt and freedom from arrogance and pride when we integrate this concept into our lives. We can integrate this teaching by holding and returning to an awareness of our thoughts, our words and our actions.  And as we live this teaching, we let go of the strength of the thoughts and habits that have been ingrained and plague us, or as Bishop Tutu said, the things that have become “lodged” in us. The misshapen ideas of who we are and our need to beat ourselves up or clamber to be better than others. We can spend more time dwelling in the land of wholeness and peace where we know that we are a vessel and that we want to surrender and have the Lord be the one who is forming that vessel. \r\n\r\nAnd the second doorway that I want to suggest is to develop a practice of asking the question: “Where is the Lord in this?”   We asked this question of our gospel readings this morning and found the Lord being the constant presence of love and strength, healing and forgiveness, reconciliation, persistence, and hope. \r\n\r\nAnd we can ask this question as we navigate our inner and outer lives.  \r\nWhere is the Lord in a heated interaction? \r\nIn the deep breath we take? \r\nIn the flash of insight opening us up to a third way?  \r\n\r\nWhere is the Lord in the contradictions of grief and loss? \r\nIn the comfort from a friend? \r\nWhen we reach out to grasp at something in our places of great darkness?  \r\n\r\nWhere is the Lord when we are convicted with a way that we are living in arrogance and pride?  \r\nIn the challenge to be changed? \r\nIn the gentle spirit that we can be held in as we change?  \r\nIs it the humility of seeing ourselves in others?\r\n\r\nAs we walk into this Holy Week…let us notice the tensions and the contradictions, in the gospel story and in ourselves. And let us explore these two doorways. To remember that all good comes from God and all evil comes from hell. And to ask the question, “where is the Lord in this?” Drawing on God’s presence to be in us and through us and guide us. And loving us when we shout out “Hosanna” and loving and when we cry  “Crucify him”. \r\n','Holy Week Contradictions ','','inherit','open','open','','5783-revision-7','','','2012-04-03 17:49:21','2012-04-04 00:49:21','',5783,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/03/5783-revision-7/',0,'revision','',0),(5842,1,'2012-04-06 13:43:22','2012-04-06 20:43:22','<h3>Death Lives in Us</h3>\nWe all know there are <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacteria\">bacteria</a> and other microscopic organisms within our bodies right now that could kill us. As long as each of those simple, yet potentially harmful, life forms stay in the region of the body they’re supposed to, they\'re not a threat.\n\nHowever, if they spread or move out of their “designated area” – that’s where the trouble begins. For instance if the e-coli bacteria in your lower intestines was somehow introduced farther up your digestive track there is a strong likelihood that you would get very sick and even die. That potential for death abides in all of us right now, that’s how we were created.\n\nIn addition, there are dozens of more common microorganisms and viruses all around and inside the body that could kill if it wasn’t for something else we were created with – that \"something else\" is our <a href=\"http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/life/human-biology/immune-system.htm\">immune system</a>. The immune system is one of the best defenses we have against sickness and disease.\n<h3>Our Immune System Protects Against Current and Future Illness</h3>\nThere are many facets and aspects of the immune system, which are very complex – but basically it has three primary functions:\n<ol>\n	<li>To keep potential pathogens that exist within your body in check;</li>\n	<li>Fight against the attack of other harmful pathogens from outside the body that somehow invade the closed physical system;</li>\n	<li>It also prepares itself against future invasions.</li>\n</ol>\nPoint number three is the basis for vaccine technology. Basically a vaccine is a nonlethal dose of some dangerous virus or bacteria that’s introduced into the physical system, to allow the body to build up a resistance against that specific threat.\n\nThat’s in fact, exactly how the influenza, measles, mumps and rubella fever vaccines all operate.\n\nBut it’s our immune system that does the actual work – it’s the immune system that God created in us that enables our body to stay healthy against those viral and bacterial invaders.\n<h3>A Weakened Immune System Can Be Deadly</h3>\nBut what happens if the human immune system is compromised? Once the immune system is compromised – it’s very difficult for the body to successfully fight and defend against one of these unfriendly, ever-present organisms and the results tend to be fatal.\n\nFor the point of this illustration let’s consider the <a href=\"http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/\">HIV</a> pathogen, which stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus -- meaning a virus that causes the immune system to become weak.\n\nViruses, including HIV, <strong>cannot replicate on their own</strong> – this is an important  point. To survive, HIV must invade a healthy cell within someone\'s body. Specifically, HIV likes to invade CD4 cells -- special \"bug-fighting\" cells that help the body\'s immune system protect against germs and viruses that can make a person sick.\n\nWhat HIV does is that it uses different enzymes – which are proteins responsible for a variety of cell functions – to “unlock” and enter the healthy CD4 cell, invading its command-and-control center which is called the nucleus.\n<h3>HIV Hi-Jacks the Immune System - But HIV Doesn\'t Actually Kill</h3>\nOnce that healthy command center is breached the HIV takes control, inserting its own destructive instructions into the cellular operation so that the reprogrammed CD4 cell will make new HIV copies instead of protective CD4 figthers. The infected CD4 cell is now an HIV factory, pumping out new viral material that will spread and invade other healthy immune cells. What happens is that the immune cells are no longer able to tell the rest of the body how to fight and defend against the other pathogens in the body. The only thing an HIV-infected immune cell is able to do is produce HIV - and then tell other CD4 cells to do the same.\n\nWhat happens is, <strong>the body doesn’t die from the HIV</strong> – the body dies because the HIV blocks the immune system from doing its previous job of fighting and defending against microscopic attacks. Because the body isn’t instructed how to fight one of those other common germs or bacteria - those ever-present bugs are able to spread, multiply and kill the body.\n\nUltimately, the healthy immune cells, which are supposed to protect the body from sickness, disease and death, have been overrun. They are now preoccupied with replicating unproductive viral material that seeks only to multiply itself – becoming passive weapons that allow the true death to occur.\n\nThis example of the immune system and common microscopic threats, coupled with the insidious nature of HIV, is a helpful metaphor regarding the spiritual battle we face with sin everyday.\n<strong></strong>\n<h3>Sin Acts Exactly Like HIV</h3>\n<a href=\"http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=James+1%3A13-15&amp;version=TNIV\">James chapter 1, verses 13-15</a>\n“<em>Let no one say when he is tempted, I am tempted from God; for God is incapable of being tempted by what is evil and He Himself tempts no one….But every person is tempted when he is drawn away, enticed and baited by his or her own evil desires, lust and passions. Then the evil desire, when it is conceived gives birth to sin and sin, when it is fully matured, brings forth death.”</em>\n\nThe potential for the deadly sin that James wrote about in this passage is always present in the metaphorical “body” of a believer, in much the same way that the deadly common germs and bacteria are ever present in our physical bodies.\n<ul>\n	<li>Physically speaking, those microorganisms can kill, but our immune system delivers us.</li>\n	<li>Spiritually speaking, that potential for sin could ultimately kill us as well; however, believing in Jesus is the spiritual immune system that delivers us.</li>\n</ul>\n<h3>Faith Acts Like a Spiritual Immune System Against Sin</h3>\nSin acts as a killer spiritual virus that’s kept in check through faith. But if we allow that sin the opportunity, the spiritual immune system of the believer can be compromised. Such a compromise then allows the sin principle, which was dormant in their lives, to be resurrected.\n\nEach of us as a believer, needs to be watchful and vigilante recognizing that apart from Christ, “…there is no good thing in me…” because even though Jesus is alive and resurrected in the hearts of true believers - He is not the only thing that can be resurrected into our lives.\n\nIf we allow it, sin can be resurrected in our spiritual body where it multiples itself - leading to our death.\n\n<em>Photo Credit: Flickr Creative Commons - image by BinaryCoCo</em>','How Sin Mirrors HIV','','inherit','open','open','','5804-autosave','','','2012-04-06 13:43:22','2012-04-06 20:43:22','',5804,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/06/5804-autosave/',0,'revision','',0),(5841,1,'2012-04-06 13:40:34','2012-04-06 20:40:34','<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/bubbles4.jpg\"><img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-5672\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/bubbles4.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"550\" height=\"260\" /></a>\r\n\r\n<strong>Every day, I listen to NPR. I also watch Fox News on a daily basis.</strong> Jokingly, I tell people that I am either perfectly balanced or totally schizophrenic.\r\n\r\n<strong>Some of the shows on the more biased news networks </strong>are just straight forward news. Some get high marks for production excellence. Few get high marks for in-depth reporting. They each have their entertainers masquerading as journalists or news analysts who overstate their case, holding up the most extreme example from the opposing view to conveniently ridicule them. They try their darnedest to rile people up and increase their ratings; rather than help their audience truly understand an issue. These so-called news outlets are bubbles presenting their version of what is happening in the world.\r\n\r\n<strong>I have voted for Republicans and for Democrats.</strong> Politicians over promise and under deliver. Seldom do they ever finish well. Political parties are just two more bubbles so locked into ideologies and paradigms, that they have paralyzed our government.\r\n\r\n<strong>For over twenty years I was a pastor.</strong> Now that I am removed from that scene, I see the church as one of the hardiest bubbles or all. While some churches are doing great things in their communities, the vast majority of most churches resources are internalized. They emphasize to their own their need to get worshipped-up, taught-up, fixed-up, and dedicated-up in their support of the church. I find this to be generally ineffective, self-serving, and not much like Jesus.\r\n\r\n<strong>As I have attempted to venture into social service work </strong>and community involvement over the last few years, I found another bubble. Social service agencies are locked into programs that are usually funded by the government or foundations. They measure output, instead of outcome. Their client/provider paradigm is a weird symbiotic relationship in which the client becomes dependent upon the services of the agency and the agency is dependent upon having a steady stream of clients to maintain their funding.\r\n\r\n<strong>One can wonder what would happen if agencies opted out of the quick fix</strong> of the hand-out and treated people like human beings, instead of cattle, helping them with acute needs and working with them to develop and pursue their own plan for improving their life.\r\n\r\n<strong>I have never seen an open bubble.</strong> It’s very difficult to get into a bubble. People in the bubble have paid their dues. They have drunk the Kool-Aid. They have earned the favor of the other bubbliest by their adherence to principles of the bubble. Outsiders and newbies may be tolerated, but they will not be heard.\r\n\r\n<strong>It’s also hard to see out of a bubble.</strong> The rest of the world is seen through a soapy blur of refracted light. Since bubbleists are secluded in their bubble, they can only speculate about those outside. Some think the outsiders are evil and to be feared and avoided. Certainly, they are ignorant of the ways of the bubble and they “just don’t get it.”\r\n\r\nSo, it’s hard to get in and hard to see out of a bubble.\r\n\r\n<strong>Yet, bubbles are fragile.</strong> They have to be protected or all will be lost. Therefore, there are guardians of the ways of the bubble who seek to detect dangers, like someone who has different idea or a person who is asking strange questions. If the bubble breaks, it would be horrible. Bubbleists could lose their job, their pension, and their sense of significance.\r\n\r\n<strong>What if we just stopped worrying about the bubbles </strong>and the ways of the bubble? What if we just admitted that some of the bubbles may not be for everyone? What if we concluded that these societal structures simply are not serving us well? What if we quit trying the break back into the cage, I mean, bubble? What if we moved on from cataloging the faultiness of their ways and began to criticize by creating? What if we changed the system by ignoring it? What if we began to use more and more of our energy in positive ways? What if our dreams began to take flight?\r\n\r\n<strong>The unrest that we are seeing around the world indicates that some changes are in order.</strong> We are in desperate need of visionaries, entrepreneurs, creators and collaborators. So, if you have been given the left hand of fellowship or have been invited to leave a bubble, don’t despair. If you have opted out of a bubble; you are not an oddball or a troublemaker. It might just be one of the most important moves you have ever made.\r\n\r\nYou never change things by fighting the existing reality.  To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete. - Buckminster Fuller','Tiny Bubbles','','inherit','open','open','','5659-revision-18','','','2012-04-06 13:40:34','2012-04-06 20:40:34','',5659,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/06/5659-revision-18/',0,'revision','',0),(5843,1,'2012-04-05 17:53:36','2012-04-06 00:53:36','[caption id=\"attachment_5821\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Flickr Creative Commons - image by BinaryCoCo\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/sinmirrorshiv21.jpg\"><img class=\" wp-image-5821\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/sinmirrorshiv21.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n<h3>Death Lives in Us</h3>\r\nWe all know there are <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacteria\">bacteria</a> and other microscopic organisms within our bodies right now that could kill us. As long as each of those simple, yet potentially harmful, life forms stay in the region of the body they’re supposed to, they\'re not a threat.\r\n\r\nHowever, if they spread or move out of their “designated area” – that’s where the trouble begins. For instance if the e-coli bacteria in your lower intestines was somehow introduced farther up your digestive track there is a strong likelihood that you would get very sick and even die. That potential for death abides in all of us right now, that’s how we were created.\r\n\r\nIn addition, there are dozens of more common microorganisms and viruses all around and inside the body that could kill if it wasn’t for something else we were created with – that \"something else\" is our <a href=\"http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/life/human-biology/immune-system.htm\">immune system</a>. The immune system is one of the best defenses we have against sickness and disease.\r\n<h3>Our Immune System Protects Against Current and Future Illness</h3>\r\nThere are many facets and aspects of the immune system, which are very complex – but basically it has three primary functions:\r\n<ol>\r\n	<li>To keep potential pathogens that exist within your body in check;</li>\r\n	<li>Fight against the attack of other harmful pathogens from outside the body that somehow invade the closed physical system;</li>\r\n	<li>It also prepares itself against future invasions.</li>\r\n</ol>\r\nPoint number three is the basis for vaccine technology. Basically a vaccine is a nonlethal dose of some dangerous virus or bacteria that’s introduced into the physical system, to allow the body to build up a resistance against that specific threat.\r\n\r\nThat’s in fact, exactly how the influenza, measles, mumps and rubella fever vaccines all operate.\r\n\r\nBut it’s our immune system that does the actual work – it’s the immune system that God created in us that enables our body to stay healthy against those viral and bacterial invaders.\r\n<h3>A Weakened Immune System Can Be Deadly</h3>\r\nBut what happens if the human immune system is compromised? Once the immune system is compromised – it’s very difficult for the body to successfully fight and defend against one of these unfriendly, ever-present organisms and the results tend to be fatal.\r\n\r\nFor the point of this illustration let’s consider the <a href=\"http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/\">HIV</a> pathogen, which stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus -- meaning a virus that causes the immune system to become weak.\r\n\r\nViruses, including HIV, <strong>cannot replicate on their own</strong> – this is an important  point. To survive, HIV must invade a healthy cell within someone\'s body. Specifically, HIV likes to invade CD4 cells -- special \"bug-fighting\" cells that help the body\'s immune system protect against germs and viruses that can make a person sick.\r\n\r\nWhat HIV does is that it uses different enzymes – which are proteins responsible for a variety of cell functions – to “unlock” and enter the healthy CD4 cell, invading its command-and-control center which is called the nucleus.\r\n<h3>HIV Hi-Jacks the Immune System - But HIV Doesn\'t Actually Kill</h3>\r\nOnce that healthy command center is breached the HIV takes control, inserting its own destructive instructions into the cellular operation so that the reprogrammed CD4 cell will make new HIV copies instead of protective CD4 figthers. The infected CD4 cell is now an HIV factory, pumping out new viral material that will spread and invade other healthy immune cells. What happens is that the immune cells are no longer able to tell the rest of the body how to fight and defend against the other pathogens in the body. The only thing an HIV-infected immune cell is able to do is produce HIV - and then tell other CD4 cells to do the same.\r\n\r\nWhat happens is, <strong>the body doesn’t die from the HIV</strong> – the body dies because the HIV blocks the immune system from doing its previous job of fighting and defending against microscopic attacks. Because the body isn’t instructed how to fight one of those other common germs or bacteria - those ever-present bugs are able to spread, multiply and kill the body.\r\n\r\nUltimately, the healthy immune cells, which are supposed to protect the body from sickness, disease and death, have been overrun. They are now preoccupied with replicating unproductive viral material that seeks only to multiply itself – becoming passive weapons that allow the true death to occur.\r\n\r\nThis example of the immune system and common microscopic threats, coupled with the insidious nature of HIV, is a helpful metaphor regarding the spiritual battle we face with sin everyday.\r\n<strong></strong>\r\n<h3>Sin Acts Exactly Like HIV</h3>\r\n<a href=\"http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=James+1%3A13-15&amp;version=TNIV\">James chapter 1, verses 13-15</a>\r\n“<em>Let no one say when he is tempted, I am tempted from God; for God is incapable of being tempted by what is evil and He Himself tempts no one….But every person is tempted when he is drawn away, enticed and baited by his or her own evil desires, lust and passions. Then the evil desire, when it is conceived gives birth to sin and sin, when it is fully matured, brings forth death.”</em>\r\n\r\nThe potential for the deadly sin that James wrote about in this passage is always present in the metaphorical “body” of a believer, in much the same way that the deadly common germs and bacteria are ever present in our physical bodies.\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Physically speaking, those microorganisms can kill, but our immune system delivers us.</li>\r\n	<li>Spiritually speaking, that potential for sin could ultimately kill us as well; however, believing in Jesus is the spiritual immune system that delivers us.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<h3>Faith Acts Like a Spiritual Immune System Against Sin</h3>\r\nSin acts as a killer spiritual virus that’s kept in check through faith. But if we allow that sin the opportunity, the spiritual immune system of the believer can be compromised. Such a compromise then allows the sin principle, which was dormant in their lives, to be resurrected.\r\n\r\nEach of us as a believer, needs to be watchful and vigilante recognizing that apart from Christ, “…there is no good thing in me…” because even though Jesus is alive and resurrected in the hearts of true believers - He is not the only thing that can be resurrected into our lives.\r\n\r\nIf we allow it, sin can be resurrected in our spiritual body where it multiples itself - leading to our death.','How Sin Mirrors HIV','','inherit','open','open','','5804-revision-20','','','2012-04-05 17:53:36','2012-04-06 00:53:36','',5804,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/05/5804-revision-20/',0,'revision','',0),(5845,1,'2012-04-06 14:09:00','2012-04-06 21:09:00','','mirror image','','inherit','open','open','','mirror-image','','','2012-04-06 14:09:00','2012-04-06 21:09:00','',5844,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/mirror-image.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(5846,1,'2012-04-06 13:53:41','2012-04-06 20:53:41','I was at a friends house the other day and he took me aside and showed me a mirror. And at first I was assuming it was a carnival mirror that distorted the reflection to make us laugh, something like that. But it wasn’t. It did something for him I’ve never seen another mirror do. It allowed him to see himself the way God sees him. And no matter how much he beat himself up for something he’d done, he’d always walk away knowing that he is forgiven and that God loves him. The first time I saw him use the mirror I was actually stunned at how well it worked. It would completely change his countenance from sorrow to joy, or anger to compassion. When I asked him if I could try it, he said that it only worked for the person who bought it. Naturally, I asked him how to get one of these mirrors and his response surprised me.\n\n“It’s really expensive,” he said, which almost seemed like he was assuming I couldn’t afford it.\n\n“I still want to buy one,” I said, asking him again. “Where can I get one?” wondering if he hadn’t heard me. He looked at me with a queer turn of his lip. His reluctance to answer was honestly strange. I rolled my eyes, giving the not so subtle hint that he was being annoying and asked again. “Where can I get one of these mirrors.”\n\n“I don’t know if you’re going to like it,” he said, changing his tactics. “I didn’t want to at first.” He looked away almost as if he was recounting his own experience of something. He said something under his breath that sounded like, “I didn’t.”\n\n“How much is it?” I asked again. My curiosity was now peaked.\n\n“A lot,” he said, still not giving me the information I wanted. His reluctance was actually beginning to annoy me. But then he said, “It will cost you everything that’s really, really important?” he said.\n\n“What?” My patience had grown to its limit. “Are you gonna be straight with me or what?” I asked. Well, demanded.\n\n“I’m serious.” The look on his face revealed that he wasn’t telling me something, but it also caught me in a way that let me know that I didn’t really want to hear it either. I looked away, contemplating what it could possibly be that I would have to give up that would make him say that. Was it my house or my car, or my family? This honestly seemed strange that God would ask me to give up all of these things just to have a mirror just to hear what He wanted to tell me anyways. My mind was splitting at that point from a lack of caffeine and unending possibilities. And then he said, “And I’m not talking about stuff.”\n\nI laughed in a way that was not humorous. I was stumped. “Then what are you talking about?” I said, just wanting to know.\n\n“I’m talking about you.” There was a long silence as I tried to grasp what he was saying. And yet something inside of me didn’t let me speak. He continued, “You can’t buy the mirror unless you are willing to give up how you see yourself. Unless you are willing to give up all the lies you’ve been told about how bad you were and how worthless someone thought you were, or how great you tried to believe you were on your own. It won’t work.” My pulse began to race as I looked away. I wanted to discount what he had to say. I wanted to run actually. What kind of B.S. was he talking about?\n\nAnd then it hit me, “but that would mean…”\n\n“Yep,” he said, knowing that what I was thinking. “It would mean that there really is no magic mirror. There’s only the truth. That’s God loves me and you more than we can imagine. And that only He can establish us and validate us. Because everything else is second best. And the question is not is this true, but am I willing to give up what is in the way so I can accept it.”','The Magic Mirror','','inherit','open','open','','5844-revision','','','2012-04-06 13:53:41','2012-04-06 20:53:41','',5844,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/06/5844-revision/',0,'revision','',0),(5847,1,'2012-04-06 14:09:36','2012-04-06 21:09:36','I was at a friends house the other day and he took me aside and showed me a mirror. And at first I was assuming it was a carnival mirror that distorted the reflection to make us laugh, something like that. But it wasn’t. It did something for him I’ve never seen another mirror do. It allowed him to see himself the way God sees him. And no matter how much he beat himself up for something he’d done, he’d always walk away knowing that he is forgiven and that God loves him. The first time I saw him use the mirror I was actually stunned at how well it worked. It would completely change his countenance from sorrow to joy, or anger to compassion. When I asked him if I could try it, he said that it only worked for the person who bought it. Naturally, I asked him how to get one of these mirrors and his response surprised me.\r\n\r\n“It’s really expensive,” he said, which almost seemed like he was assuming I couldn’t afford it.\r\n\r\n“I still want to buy one,” I said, asking him again. “Where can I get one?” wondering if he hadn’t heard me. He looked at me with a queer turn of his lip. His reluctance to answer was honestly strange. I rolled my eyes, giving the not so subtle hint that he was being annoying and asked again. “Where can I get one of these mirrors.”\r\n\r\n“I don’t know if you’re going to like it,” he said, changing his tactics. “I didn’t want to at first.” He looked away almost as if he was recounting his own experience of something. He said something under his breath that sounded like, “I didn’t.”\r\n\r\n“How much is it?” I asked again. My curiosity was now peaked.\r\n\r\n“A lot,” he said, still not giving me the information I wanted. His reluctance was actually beginning to annoy me. But then he said, “It will cost you everything that’s really, really important?” he said.\r\n\r\n“What?” My patience had grown to its limit. “Are you gonna be straight with me or what?” I asked. Well, demanded.\r\n\r\n“I’m serious.” The look on his face revealed that he wasn’t telling me something, but it also caught me in a way that let me know that I didn’t really want to hear it either. I looked away, contemplating what it could possibly be that I would have to give up that would make him say that. Was it my house or my car, or my family? This honestly seemed strange that God would ask me to give up all of these things just to have a mirror just to hear what He wanted to tell me anyways. My mind was splitting at that point from a lack of caffeine and unending possibilities. And then he said, “And I’m not talking about stuff.”\r\n\r\nI laughed in a way that was not humorous. I was stumped. “Then what are you talking about?” I said, just wanting to know.\r\n\r\n“I’m talking about you.” There was a long silence as I tried to grasp what he was saying. And yet something inside of me didn’t let me speak. He continued, “You can’t buy the mirror unless you are willing to give up how you see yourself. Unless you are willing to give up all the lies you’ve been told about how bad you were and how worthless someone thought you were, or how great you tried to believe you were on your own. It won’t work.” My pulse began to race as I looked away. I wanted to discount what he had to say. I wanted to run actually. What kind of B.S. was he talking about?\r\n\r\nAnd then it hit me, “but that would mean…”\r\n\r\n“Yep,” he said, knowing that what I was thinking. “It would mean that there really is no magic mirror. There’s only the truth. That’s God loves me and you more than we can imagine. And that only He can establish us and validate us. Because everything else is second best. And the question is not is this true, but am I willing to give up what is in the way so I can accept it.”','The Magic Mirror','','inherit','open','open','','5844-revision-2','','','2012-04-06 14:09:36','2012-04-06 21:09:36','',5844,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/06/5844-revision-2/',0,'revision','',0),(7371,136,'2012-07-31 21:56:05','2012-08-01 04:56:05','In practical and academic theological circles it\'s popular to ponder, write, consider, and act upon the meaning of following Jesus, especially following Jesus to the cross. You read scripture and start to realize going to the cross of Calvary means resisting death-dealing secular and religious bureaucratic and \"other\" assorted authorities, rejecting anything but love and justice as the measuring line, disallowing all that\'s other than righteousness as the plumbline; after a few years of living out our baptism, we start discovering Resurrection Sunday morning is every bit as demanding as Good Friday afternoon. It\'s easy to take pride in demonstrating visibly for ecclesiastically popular causes, maybe getting onto the evening news, feeling good about ourselves for sometimes getting too involved with concerns not popular with our local judicatories. Soundbite on the late night news, anyone? Spending a season with Mother Teresa\'s peeps or serving Thanksgiving dinner at Father Joe Carroll\'s place. Those bigger, more obvious, more stars-in-our-crowns activities. And for the most part, they\'re all good. Often very good and life-transformative.\n\nBut in the ambient heat and humidity of mid-summer 2012, I like to remember Jesus partying with friends and with strangers. A spontaneous feast because they\'d hauled in a big catch, had freshly baked bread, and the grapes were ripe and juicy. Or a quick roundup of \"whatever\" resources because so many hungry people had surrounded them. I love stories of Jesus making sure everyone got enough to eat, commanding and demanding his disciples feed others, too. I love how we keep celebrating holy communion, the sacrament of the welcome table, the holy eucharist, with each other. More than simply \"liking\" the way potluck dinners, annual picnics, and strawberry ice cream socials have becoming close to definitive for the church. Ever attended a new to you church that didn\'t have an after worship (or between services) social hour? It\'s all about gathering, talking, relating, feeding, eating, and being fed. And we\'re not likely to keep on performing an action unless it has meaning, unless it says something to us and about us, unless it meets a basic need.\n\nA religious ritual? There are plenty of those. If we are to remember Jesus, do we need bread and wine? Do we need potlucks and picnics? Throughout the records of Jesus\' life we find accounts of Jesus feeding other people and feasting with his friends; Jesus repeatedly talks about those who will banquet in the Kingdom... and about giving his body for the life of the world. But is that gift of a body broken unto death for the life of the world the whole, entire thing?\n\nIn feeding friends and strangers, in celebrating bounty of the sea, gifts from the ground, and fruit of the vine, Jesus reveals a worldview that\'s at a 180-degree angle to most common ideas of religion and religiousness. We find loving justice, mercy, and embrace graciously at work wherever Jesus goes, and wherever we follow him into the world so hunger, greed, need, judgment, and exclusion are wiped out.\n\nLike Jesus, will we actively search for the lonely, the different, the outcast, and the stranger, welcoming them not only to our more formally scheduled eucharistic liturgies (well, turning them out of the narthex, back into the street <em>would</em> be awkward), but also afterwards at social hour (no snarkiness allowed), week night potlucks or annual picnics (I brought enough for everyone and would love to try your special dish), ice cream socials (we\'ve never done it that way, but we\'d love to try your way)? Will we be making our worlds, our neighborhoods and our churches into sanctuaries, holy places, into a foretaste of the reign of God on earth? Will we follow Jesus by including everyone, excluding no one? Will the world recognize us as the body of Christ when we pour out our everyday lives with compassion just as we pour out the eucharistic wine? I hope so!','following Jesus wherever he goes','','inherit','open','open','','7367-revision-4','','','2012-07-31 21:56:05','2012-08-01 04:56:05','',7367,'http://provoketive.com/2012/07/31/7367-revision-4/',0,'revision','',0),(5849,0,'2012-04-07 06:04:01','2012-04-07 13:04:01','Hi,\r\n\r\nI\'m just following up on a message I sent awhile back about writing for Provoketive?\r\n\r\nthanks,\r\n\r\nKiva\n<!--more-->\nAUTHOR: Kiva Bottero\nAUTHOR EMAIL: k@themindfulword.org\nAUTHOR URL: \nSUBJECT: [Provoketive Magazine] Contact Us\nIP: 106.79.52.161\nArray\n(\n    [Name] =&gt; Kiva Bottero\n    [Email] =&gt; k@themindfulword.org\n    [Comment] =&gt; Hi,\r\n\r\nI\'m just following up on a message I sent awhile back about writing for Provoketive?\r\n\r\nthanks,\r\n\r\nKiva\n)\n','Kiva Bottero - 2012-04-07 06:04:01','','publish','open','open','','6727f4a199254430593512b387f06816','','','2012-04-07 06:04:01','2012-04-07 13:04:01','',16,'http://provoketive.com/?post_type=feedback&p=5849',0,'feedback','',0),(5977,90,'2012-04-25 10:06:21','2012-04-25 17:06:21','Maybe,\r\nEducation is not a contest.\r\nSeeing how many tomes\r\nand theories we can\r\nload\r\ninto\r\nour\r\nbrain.\r\n\r\nMaybe,\r\nEducation is a fine set\r\nof carving tools.\r\nCreating new pathways,\r\nClipping off unneeded wood,\r\nOpening new spaces,\r\nDiscovering beauty in the\r\ntangled mess of a burl,\r\nSanding the rough places until\r\nthey are soft,\r\npliable,\r\nporous.\r\n\r\nEmerges,\r\nThe solid beauty\r\nof a worked over piece of art.\r\n\r\nA person being formed.','Education','','publish','open','open','','education','','','2012-04-25 15:34:29','2012-04-25 22:34:29','',0,'http://provoketive.com/?p=5977',0,'post','',0),(5851,38,'2012-05-11 08:00:29','2012-05-11 15:00:29','I pulled up to the Gurdwara in Rochester Hills, a small white and brick building. “Gurdwara” is the term for a place of worship for those of the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikhism\" target=\"_blank\">Sikh faith</a>. “God is One” was printed prominently on their sign near the road. Two boys playing in the parking lot pointed me to the right door and I entered the gurdwara. I was greeted by Mandheer Singh, a tall gentleman with electric brown eyes and a warm smile. Mandheer Singh is a real estate agent, is married and has two children. (Singh is the last name adopted by Sikh men to signify brotherhood and it means “lion\". Women use “Kaur” which means “Princess”.)\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5852\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"A Gurdwara\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/47450200@N02/4350484055/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5852 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/gurdwara_flickr_sohoandproud-300x184.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"184\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\n“Now, the first thing we do is we take off our shoes and cover our hair.” I removed my shoes and he handed me a cream-colored scarf to wear, which I place over the top of my hair and wrapped the excess around each shoulder. Mandheer Singh was wearing a black turban. “The reason we take off our shoes is because we believe God is everywhere and so this is a holy place. And the reason we cover our hair is to show modesty and respect.”\r\n<h2>About the Gurdwara</h2>\r\nMandheer Singh first gave me a tour of the gurdwara. Down one hallway was a kitchen. “This kitchen is used to make food that we serve every week for free. Everyone is welcome to eat with us. And this is consistent all across the world, so if you are traveling in a city and need food, or if you are homeless and need a meal, go to a gurdwara and they will take care of you. This is one way we give back to the community, and is one of our core beliefs.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5858\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Sikh women and children\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/graphia/5662116967/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5858\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/sikh-children_flickr_graphia-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nHe then showed me to the room at the end of the hall. There were several women and children sitting on the floor. “This is where the meal will be served after the service. Everyone sits on the floor during the meal to symbolize equality.” In Sikhism, women are not considered any less than men, but are regarded as complete equals in the congregation.\r\n\r\nHe then showed me to the main room down the other hallway where a service was in process, where everyone was sitting on the floor in two main sections with an aisle down the middle.  In the front of the room there was a Sikh man, a Granthi, sitting and reading from scripture.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5860\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Inside a gurdwara\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/hari_singh/6523149179/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5860\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/gurdwara_flickr_hari-singh-300x240.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"240\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\n“They just finished about an hour and a half of singing hymns which are directly taken from our scriptures, and now will go for about another half hour of reading and reciting from the Guru Granth Sahib,” (which is their sacred scriptures). There is a screen with the English translation for those who aren’t familiar with Gurmukhi (the Punjabi language alphabet).\r\n<h2>Life as a Sikh</h2>\r\nMandheer Singh wasn’t always a practicing Sikh, he told me. Mandheer Singh’s parents moved from India to the US. He was born in Sacramento, and grew up in a small town in Ohio where his father worked for the Air Force as a civilian. “I grew up in Ohio, so I grew up like any other American. I watched Hulk Hogan, listened to Led Zeppelin, Run DMC, Beastie Boys, all of that.”\r\n\r\nSo how did he come to the Sikh faith? His family came into contact with a few Sikhs who were very dedicated and knowledgable about the religion, and then they went on to introduce his family to more Sikhs in the US and Canada. When he looked around he saw them were being doctors, artists, athletes, professors—fully participating citizens. “I mean, I looked at myself,” said Mandheer Singh. “I have brown skin and dark hair. I was never really going to blend in completely. So it was alright for me to blend in just a little bit less to join this faith. There was something that compelled me to it, and as I learned more about it I felt it was who I really was on the inside.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5871\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The Golden Temple (Amritsar) in the Sikhism capital, Punjab in India\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/azwegers/6289556477/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5871  \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/golden-temple_flickr_arian-zwegers-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh and his brother embraced the faith before their parents in to the faith. “He and I stopped cutting our hair and starting wearing our turbans. In fact, I remember chiding my father by saying things like ‘Why do you keep cutting your hair? Don’t you want to be respectful to the faith?’” Mandheer Singh’s father starting making notes when he would talk to people or learn about the Sikh faith. Those notes turned into a folder, which turned into a binder of its own, and now his father is one of the most highly regarded speakers and scholars of Sikhism.\r\n\r\nThe strengthening of his faith changed his desires as a person. “I stopped listening to all the bands that I used to. Like, if you were to play Run DMC right now, I’ll still know all the words, but it doesn’t feel the same to me anymore. I started listening to our hymns all the time and I just wanted to listen to them even more than everything else.”\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh went on to explain the things that Sikh men have on them at all times, known as the Five Ks.\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kesh_(Sikhism)\" target=\"_blank\">Kesh</a> – Uncut hair</li>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanga_(Sikhism)\" target=\"_blank\">Kanga</a> – A small, wooden comb (“The comb is basically supposed to show us that we are not to cut our hair, but that we are also supposed to take care of it and ourselves out of respect”)</li>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kara_(Sikhism)\" target=\"_blank\">Kara</a> – A metal bracelet (which Mandheer Singh said is very much like a wedding ring)</li>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kachera\" target=\"_blank\">Kachera</a> – A specific type of cotton briefs (which represent chastity and preparedness)</li>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirpan\" target=\"_blank\">Kirpan</a> – A small dagger (you may only fight in <em>defense</em>, never offense)</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5864\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"A Sikh couple\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/petercastleton/5018035205/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5864\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/sikh-couple_flickr_petercastleton-300x221.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"221\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nThe Five Ks give Sikhs a unique outward identity. “I could go into a bar or a club,” (Sikhs are not allowed to drink alcohol) “but I know that I am a walking image of the Gurus and their teachings,” he said. “I could take off my turban and bracelet, but it’s the same thing as if you were to go into a club and take off your wedding rings.”\r\n<h2>How 9/11 Affected the Sikh Community</h2>\r\nI asked about cross-discrimination and racism since September 11<sup>th</sup>, which he said did affect the Sikh community. There were some profane things written on a nearby gurdwara just a few weeks ago.\r\n\r\n“It thought it was unfair that an image I had associated all my life as holy was hijacked; literally hijacked.”\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh remembers the looks he got when he went to the gym after 9/11. He has a Sikh friend in NYC who was attacked on a subway because someone thought he was a Muslim. (“It wouldn’t be right even he had been a Muslim,” Mandheer Singh added.) The judge wanted to send the attacker to jail, but Mandheer Singh’s friend insisted instead that he serve community service at their gurdwara. After getting to know the people and who they were, the man who attacked him apologized and said, “I am so sorry, I didn’t know who you were. Had I known ... I am <em>so</em> sorry.”\r\n\r\n“I have a confession,” Mandheer Singh said to me.\r\n<blockquote>I remember going to a Chinese restaurant with a bunch of people and on our way in there were two very white people coming our direction. You know, blonde hair, blue eyes. They were just staring at us. I could feel myself tensing up and I just knew what they were thinking. As we got closer, they said, \"Hello!\" And I thought, \"I just did it to them!\" My prejudgment of them was no better than what others had done to me. And that was when I knew I couldn’t live like that anymore. I can’t assume those kinds of things of people. Walking around with a chip on my shoulder just makes things worse.</blockquote>\r\nWhen I asked him what he loved about being a Sikh, he said sheepishly, “As cliché as it is … everything. I love everything about it. It gives me such a sense of purpose and meaning in my life.”\r\n<h2>Conclusion</h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5856\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Khanda, a Sikh symbol\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/khanda_flickr_sikhiwiki.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-5856\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/khanda_flickr_sikhiwiki-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nEveryone I interacted with at the gurdwara made sure I felt comfortable and explained whatever I wanted to know. I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into before going in, as I had only studied Sikhism through a World Religion class, but the kindness of the Sikh community I visited was overwhelming. My conversation with Mandheer Singh lasted a long time and he was open to any question I had to ask.\r\n\r\nWhat’s interesting is that the kindness they displayed has been consistent across the few other Sikhs I’ve met. (For instance, my doctor is a Sikh. His kind smile puts me at ease and he very good at his job.) I was moved by their hospitality and by their emphasis on equality and community service, and I am proud to count them as my friends.\r\n\r\n<strong>Thanks to Manheer Singh, Mandeep Singh, Kulwinder Singh, and the Sikh Gurdwara of Rochester Hills for allowing me the chance to get to know them and see into their community.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong><em>Next, we\'ll hear from one of the most influential Jews in social media, a Rabbi in Detroit.</em></strong>\r\n\r\n<em>Photo credit: </em><em>Flickr / <em><a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/graphia/5648545143/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">graphia</a> (Sikh young man), </em><a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/47450200@N02/4350484055/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">sohoandproud</a> (gurdwara), </em><em><a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/sikhiwiki/2300262427/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">sikhiwiki</a> (khanda, a Sikh symbol), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/graphia/5662116967/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">graphia</a> (Sikh children), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/hari_singh/6523149179/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Hari Singh</a> (inside a gurdwara), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/azwegers/6289556477/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Arian Zwegers</a> (Amritsar, the Golden Temple in Punjab)</em>','Faith Interview Series: Sikhism','','publish','open','open','','faith-interview-series-sikhism','','','2012-05-11 08:30:39','2012-05-11 15:30:39','',0,'http://provoketive.com/?p=5851',0,'post','',0),(5852,38,'2012-04-07 11:58:48','2012-04-07 18:58:48','','gurdwara_flickr_sohoandproud','A Gurdwara','inherit','open','open','','gurdwara_flickr_sohoandproud','','','2012-04-07 11:58:48','2012-04-07 18:58:48','',5851,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/gurdwara_flickr_sohoandproud.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(5853,38,'2012-04-07 11:57:41','2012-04-07 18:57:41','I pulled up to the Gurdwara in Rochester Hills, a small white and brick building. “Gurdwara” is the term for a place of worship for those of the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikhism\" target=\"_blank\">Sikh faith</a>. “God is One” was printed prominently on their sign near the road. Two boys playing in the parking lot pointed me to the right door and I entered the gurdwara. I was greeted by Mandheer Singh, a tall gentleman with electric brown eyes and a warm smile. Mandheer Singh is a real estate agent, is married and has two children. (Singh is the last name adopted by Sikh men to signify brotherhood and it means “lion”. Women use “Kaur” which means “Princess”).\n\n“Now, the first thing we do is we take off our shoes and cover our hair.” I removed my shoes and he handed me a cream-colored scarf to wear, which I place over the top of my hair and wrapped the excess around each shoulder. Mandheer Singh was wearing a black turban. “The reason we take off our shoes is because we believe God is everywhere and so this is a holy place. And the reason we cover our hair is to show modesty and respect.”\n\nMandheer Singh first gave me a tour of the gurdwara. Down one hallway was a kitchen. “This kitchen is used to make food that we serve every week for free. Everyone is welcome to eat with us. And this is consistent all across the world, so if you are traveling in a city and need food, or if you are homeless and need a meal, go to a gurdwara and they will take care of you. This is one way we give back to the community, and is one of our core beliefs.”\n\nHe then showed me to the room at the end of the hall. There were several women and children sitting on the floor. “This is where the meal will be served after the service. Everyone sits on the floor during the meal to symbolize equality.” In Sikhism, women are not considered any less than men, but are regarded as complete equals in the congregation.\n\nHe then showed me to the main room down the other hallway where a service was in process, where everyone was sitting on the floor in two main sections with an aisle down the middle.  In the front of the room there was a Sikh man, a Granthi, sitting and reading from scripture.\n\n“They just finished about an hour and a half of singing hymns which are directly taken from our scriptures, and now will go for about another half hour of reading and reciting from the Guru Granth Sahib,” (which is their sacred scriptures). There is a screen with the English translation for those who aren’t familiar with Gurmukhi (the Punjabi language alphabet).\n\nMandheer Singh wasn’t always a practicing Sikh, he told me. Mandheer Singh’s parents moved from India to the US. He was born in Sacramento, and grew up in a small town in Ohio where his father worked for the Air Force as a civilian. “I grew up in Ohio, so I grew up like any other American. I watched Hulk Hogan, listened to Led Zeppelin, Run DMC, Beastie Boys, all of that.”\n\nSo how did he come to the Sikh faith? His family came into contact with a few Sikhs who were very dedicated and knowledgable about the religion, and then they went on to introduce his family to more Sikhs in the US and Canada. When he looked around he saw them were being doctors, artists, athletes, professors—fully participating citizens. “I mean, I looked at myself,” said Mandheer Singh. “I have brown skin and dark hair. I was never really going to blend in completely. So it was alright for me to blend in just a little bit less to join this faith. There was something that compelled me to it, and as I learned more about it I felt it was who I really was on the inside.”\n\nMandheer Singh and his brother embraced the faith before their parents in to the faith. “He and I stopped cutting our hair and starting wearing our turbans. In fact, I remember chiding my father by saying things like ‘Why do you keep cutting your hair? Don’t you want to be respectful to the faith?’” Mandheer Singh’s father starting making notes when he would talk to people or learn about the Sikh faith. Those notes turned into a folder, which turned into a binder of its own, and now his father is one of the most highly-regarded speakers and scholars of Sikhism.\n\nThe strengthening of his faith changed his desires as a person. “I stopped listening to all the bands that I used to. Like, if you were to play Run DMC right now, I’ll still know all the words, but it doesn’t feel the same to me anymore. I started listening to our hymns all the time and I just wanted to listen to them even more than everything else.”\n\nMandheer Singh went on to explain the things that Sikh men have on them at all times, known as the Five Ks.\n<ul>\n	<li>Kesh – Uncut hair</li>\n	<li>Kanga – A small, wooden comb (“The comb is basically supposed to show us that we are not to cut our hair, but that we are also supposed to take care of it and ourselves out of respect”)</li>\n	<li>Kara – A metal bracelet (which Mandheer Singh said is very much like a wedding ring)</li>\n	<li>Kachera – A specific type of cotton briefs (which represent chastity and preparedness)</li>\n	<li>Kirpan – A small dagger (you may only fight in <em>defense</em>, never offense)</li>\n</ul>\nThe Five Ks give Sikhs a unique outward identity. “I could go into a bar or a club,” (Sikhs are not allowed to drink alcohol) “but I know that I am a walking image of the Gurus and their teachings,” he said. “I could take off my turban and bracelet, but it’s the same thing as if you were to go into a club and take off your wedding rings.”\n\nI asked about cross-discrimination and racism since September 11<sup>th</sup>, which he said did affect the Sikh community. There were some profane things written on a nearby gurdwara just a few weeks ago.\n\n“It thought it was unfair that an image I had associated all my life as holy was hijacked; literally hijacked.”\n\nMandheer Singh remembers the looks he got when he went to the gym after 9/11. He has a Sikh friend in NYC who was attacked on a subway because someone thought he was a Muslim. (“It wouldn’t be right even he had been a Muslim,” Mandheer Singh added.) The judge wanted to send the attacker to jail, but Mandheer Singh’s friend insisted instead that he serve community service at their gurdwara. After getting to know the people and who they were, the man who attacked him apologized and said, “I am so sorry, I didn’t know who you were. Had I known ... I am <em>so</em> sorry.”\n\n“I have a confession,” Mandheer Singh said to me.\n\n“I remember going to a Chinese restaurant with a bunch of people and on our way in there were two very white people coming our direction. You know, blonde hair, blue eyes. They were just staring at us. I could feel myself tensing up and I just knew what they were thinking. As we got closer, they said, ‘Hello!’ And I thought, ‘I just did it to them!’ My prejudgment of them was no better than what others had done to me. And that was when I knew I couldn’t live like that anymore. I can’t assume those kinds of things of people. Walking around with a chip on my shoulder just makes things worse.”\n\nWhen I asked him what he loved about being a Sikh, he said sheepishly, “As cliché as it is … everything. I love everything about it. It gives me such a sense of purpose and meaning in my life.”\n\nEveryone I interacted with at the gurdwara made sure I felt comfortable and explained whatever I wanted to know. I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into before going in, as I had only studied Sikhism through a World Religion class, but the kindness of the Sikh community I visited was overwhelming. My conversation with Mandheer Singh lasted a long time and he was open to any question I had to ask.\n\nWhat’s interesting is that the kindness they displayed has been consistent across the few other Sikhs I’ve met. (For instance, my doctor is a Sikh and his is great at putting me at ease, helping me not freak out, and is very good at his job.) I was moved by their hospitality and by their emphasis on equality and community service, and I am proud to count them as my friends.\n\n<em>Thanks to Manheer Singh, Mandeep Singh, Kulwinder Singh, and the Sikh Gurdwara of Rochester Hills for allowing me the chance to get to know them and see into their community.</em>\n\nPhoto credit: Flickr /','Faith Interview Series: Sikhism','','inherit','open','open','','5851-revision','','','2012-04-07 11:57:41','2012-04-07 18:57:41','',5851,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/07/5851-revision/',0,'revision','',0),(5854,38,'2012-04-07 11:59:41','2012-04-07 18:59:41','<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/gurdwara_flickr_sohoandproud.jpg\"><img class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-5852\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/gurdwara_flickr_sohoandproud-300x184.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"184\" /></a>I pulled up to the Gurdwara in Rochester Hills, a small white and brick building. “Gurdwara” is the term for a place of worship for those of the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikhism\" target=\"_blank\">Sikh faith</a>. “God is One” was printed prominently on their sign near the road. Two boys playing in the parking lot pointed me to the right door and I entered the gurdwara. I was greeted by Mandheer Singh, a tall gentleman with electric brown eyes and a warm smile. Mandheer Singh is a real estate agent, is married and has two children. (Singh is the last name adopted by Sikh men to signify brotherhood and it means “lion”. Women use “Kaur” which means “Princess”).\n\n“Now, the first thing we do is we take off our shoes and cover our hair.” I removed my shoes and he handed me a cream-colored scarf to wear, which I place over the top of my hair and wrapped the excess around each shoulder. Mandheer Singh was wearing a black turban. “The reason we take off our shoes is because we believe God is everywhere and so this is a holy place. And the reason we cover our hair is to show modesty and respect.”\n\nMandheer Singh first gave me a tour of the gurdwara. Down one hallway was a kitchen. “This kitchen is used to make food that we serve every week for free. Everyone is welcome to eat with us. And this is consistent all across the world, so if you are traveling in a city and need food, or if you are homeless and need a meal, go to a gurdwara and they will take care of you. This is one way we give back to the community, and is one of our core beliefs.”\n\nHe then showed me to the room at the end of the hall. There were several women and children sitting on the floor. “This is where the meal will be served after the service. Everyone sits on the floor during the meal to symbolize equality.” In Sikhism, women are not considered any less than men, but are regarded as complete equals in the congregation.\n\nHe then showed me to the main room down the other hallway where a service was in process, where everyone was sitting on the floor in two main sections with an aisle down the middle.  In the front of the room there was a Sikh man, a Granthi, sitting and reading from scripture.\n\n“They just finished about an hour and a half of singing hymns which are directly taken from our scriptures, and now will go for about another half hour of reading and reciting from the Guru Granth Sahib,” (which is their sacred scriptures). There is a screen with the English translation for those who aren’t familiar with Gurmukhi (the Punjabi language alphabet).\n\nMandheer Singh wasn’t always a practicing Sikh, he told me. Mandheer Singh’s parents moved from India to the US. He was born in Sacramento, and grew up in a small town in Ohio where his father worked for the Air Force as a civilian. “I grew up in Ohio, so I grew up like any other American. I watched Hulk Hogan, listened to Led Zeppelin, Run DMC, Beastie Boys, all of that.”\n\nSo how did he come to the Sikh faith? His family came into contact with a few Sikhs who were very dedicated and knowledgable about the religion, and then they went on to introduce his family to more Sikhs in the US and Canada. When he looked around he saw them were being doctors, artists, athletes, professors—fully participating citizens. “I mean, I looked at myself,” said Mandheer Singh. “I have brown skin and dark hair. I was never really going to blend in completely. So it was alright for me to blend in just a little bit less to join this faith. There was something that compelled me to it, and as I learned more about it I felt it was who I really was on the inside.”\n\nMandheer Singh and his brother embraced the faith before their parents in to the faith. “He and I stopped cutting our hair and starting wearing our turbans. In fact, I remember chiding my father by saying things like ‘Why do you keep cutting your hair? Don’t you want to be respectful to the faith?’” Mandheer Singh’s father starting making notes when he would talk to people or learn about the Sikh faith. Those notes turned into a folder, which turned into a binder of its own, and now his father is one of the most highly-regarded speakers and scholars of Sikhism.\n\nThe strengthening of his faith changed his desires as a person. “I stopped listening to all the bands that I used to. Like, if you were to play Run DMC right now, I’ll still know all the words, but it doesn’t feel the same to me anymore. I started listening to our hymns all the time and I just wanted to listen to them even more than everything else.”\n\nMandheer Singh went on to explain the things that Sikh men have on them at all times, known as the Five Ks.\n<ul>\n	<li>Kesh – Uncut hair</li>\n	<li>Kanga – A small, wooden comb (“The comb is basically supposed to show us that we are not to cut our hair, but that we are also supposed to take care of it and ourselves out of respect”)</li>\n	<li>Kara – A metal bracelet (which Mandheer Singh said is very much like a wedding ring)</li>\n	<li>Kachera – A specific type of cotton briefs (which represent chastity and preparedness)</li>\n	<li>Kirpan – A small dagger (you may only fight in <em>defense</em>, never offense)</li>\n</ul>\nThe Five Ks give Sikhs a unique outward identity. “I could go into a bar or a club,” (Sikhs are not allowed to drink alcohol) “but I know that I am a walking image of the Gurus and their teachings,” he said. “I could take off my turban and bracelet, but it’s the same thing as if you were to go into a club and take off your wedding rings.”\n\nI asked about cross-discrimination and racism since September 11<sup>th</sup>, which he said did affect the Sikh community. There were some profane things written on a nearby gurdwara just a few weeks ago.\n\n“It thought it was unfair that an image I had associated all my life as holy was hijacked; literally hijacked.”\n\nMandheer Singh remembers the looks he got when he went to the gym after 9/11. He has a Sikh friend in NYC who was attacked on a subway because someone thought he was a Muslim. (“It wouldn’t be right even he had been a Muslim,” Mandheer Singh added.) The judge wanted to send the attacker to jail, but Mandheer Singh’s friend insisted instead that he serve community service at their gurdwara. After getting to know the people and who they were, the man who attacked him apologized and said, “I am so sorry, I didn’t know who you were. Had I known ... I am <em>so</em> sorry.”\n\n“I have a confession,” Mandheer Singh said to me.\n\n“I remember going to a Chinese restaurant with a bunch of people and on our way in there were two very white people coming our direction. You know, blonde hair, blue eyes. They were just staring at us. I could feel myself tensing up and I just knew what they were thinking. As we got closer, they said, ‘Hello!’ And I thought, ‘I just did it to them!’ My prejudgment of them was no better than what others had done to me. And that was when I knew I couldn’t live like that anymore. I can’t assume those kinds of things of people. Walking around with a chip on my shoulder just makes things worse.”\n\nWhen I asked him what he loved about being a Sikh, he said sheepishly, “As cliché as it is … everything. I love everything about it. It gives me such a sense of purpose and meaning in my life.”\n\nEveryone I interacted with at the gurdwara made sure I felt comfortable and explained whatever I wanted to know. I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into before going in, as I had only studied Sikhism through a World Religion class, but the kindness of the Sikh community I visited was overwhelming. My conversation with Mandheer Singh lasted a long time and he was open to any question I had to ask.\n\nWhat’s interesting is that the kindness they displayed has been consistent across the few other Sikhs I’ve met. (For instance, my doctor is a Sikh and his is great at putting me at ease, helping me not freak out, and is very good at his job.) I was moved by their hospitality and by their emphasis on equality and community service, and I am proud to count them as my friends.\n\n<em>Thanks to Manheer Singh, Mandeep Singh, Kulwinder Singh, and the Sikh Gurdwara of Rochester Hills for allowing me the chance to get to know them and see into their community.</em>\n\n<em>Photo credit: </em>\n\n<em>Flickr / <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/47450200@N02/4350484055/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">sohoandproud</a> (gurdwara)</em>','Faith Interview Series: Sikhism','','inherit','open','open','','5851-revision-2','','','2012-04-07 11:59:41','2012-04-07 18:59:41','',5851,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/07/5851-revision-2/',0,'revision','',0),(5855,38,'2012-04-07 12:00:13','2012-04-07 19:00:13','[caption id=\"attachment_5852\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"A gurdwara\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/gurdwara_flickr_sohoandproud.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5852\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/gurdwara_flickr_sohoandproud-300x184.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"184\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI pulled up to the Gurdwara in Rochester Hills, a small white and brick building. “Gurdwara” is the term for a place of worship for those of the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikhism\" target=\"_blank\">Sikh faith</a>. “God is One” was printed prominently on their sign near the road. Two boys playing in the parking lot pointed me to the right door and I entered the gurdwara. I was greeted by Mandheer Singh, a tall gentleman with electric brown eyes and a warm smile. Mandheer Singh is a real estate agent, is married and has two children. (Singh is the last name adopted by Sikh men to signify brotherhood and it means “lion”. Women use “Kaur” which means “Princess”).\r\n\r\n“Now, the first thing we do is we take off our shoes and cover our hair.” I removed my shoes and he handed me a cream-colored scarf to wear, which I place over the top of my hair and wrapped the excess around each shoulder. Mandheer Singh was wearing a black turban. “The reason we take off our shoes is because we believe God is everywhere and so this is a holy place. And the reason we cover our hair is to show modesty and respect.”\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh first gave me a tour of the gurdwara. Down one hallway was a kitchen. “This kitchen is used to make food that we serve every week for free. Everyone is welcome to eat with us. And this is consistent all across the world, so if you are traveling in a city and need food, or if you are homeless and need a meal, go to a gurdwara and they will take care of you. This is one way we give back to the community, and is one of our core beliefs.”\r\n\r\nHe then showed me to the room at the end of the hall. There were several women and children sitting on the floor. “This is where the meal will be served after the service. Everyone sits on the floor during the meal to symbolize equality.” In Sikhism, women are not considered any less than men, but are regarded as complete equals in the congregation.\r\n\r\nHe then showed me to the main room down the other hallway where a service was in process, where everyone was sitting on the floor in two main sections with an aisle down the middle.  In the front of the room there was a Sikh man, a Granthi, sitting and reading from scripture.\r\n\r\n“They just finished about an hour and a half of singing hymns which are directly taken from our scriptures, and now will go for about another half hour of reading and reciting from the Guru Granth Sahib,” (which is their sacred scriptures). There is a screen with the English translation for those who aren’t familiar with Gurmukhi (the Punjabi language alphabet).\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh wasn’t always a practicing Sikh, he told me. Mandheer Singh’s parents moved from India to the US. He was born in Sacramento, and grew up in a small town in Ohio where his father worked for the Air Force as a civilian. “I grew up in Ohio, so I grew up like any other American. I watched Hulk Hogan, listened to Led Zeppelin, Run DMC, Beastie Boys, all of that.”\r\n\r\nSo how did he come to the Sikh faith? His family came into contact with a few Sikhs who were very dedicated and knowledgable about the religion, and then they went on to introduce his family to more Sikhs in the US and Canada. When he looked around he saw them were being doctors, artists, athletes, professors—fully participating citizens. “I mean, I looked at myself,” said Mandheer Singh. “I have brown skin and dark hair. I was never really going to blend in completely. So it was alright for me to blend in just a little bit less to join this faith. There was something that compelled me to it, and as I learned more about it I felt it was who I really was on the inside.”\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh and his brother embraced the faith before their parents in to the faith. “He and I stopped cutting our hair and starting wearing our turbans. In fact, I remember chiding my father by saying things like ‘Why do you keep cutting your hair? Don’t you want to be respectful to the faith?’” Mandheer Singh’s father starting making notes when he would talk to people or learn about the Sikh faith. Those notes turned into a folder, which turned into a binder of its own, and now his father is one of the most highly-regarded speakers and scholars of Sikhism.\r\n\r\nThe strengthening of his faith changed his desires as a person. “I stopped listening to all the bands that I used to. Like, if you were to play Run DMC right now, I’ll still know all the words, but it doesn’t feel the same to me anymore. I started listening to our hymns all the time and I just wanted to listen to them even more than everything else.”\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh went on to explain the things that Sikh men have on them at all times, known as the Five Ks.\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Kesh – Uncut hair</li>\r\n	<li>Kanga – A small, wooden comb (“The comb is basically supposed to show us that we are not to cut our hair, but that we are also supposed to take care of it and ourselves out of respect”)</li>\r\n	<li>Kara – A metal bracelet (which Mandheer Singh said is very much like a wedding ring)</li>\r\n	<li>Kachera – A specific type of cotton briefs (which represent chastity and preparedness)</li>\r\n	<li>Kirpan – A small dagger (you may only fight in <em>defense</em>, never offense)</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nThe Five Ks give Sikhs a unique outward identity. “I could go into a bar or a club,” (Sikhs are not allowed to drink alcohol) “but I know that I am a walking image of the Gurus and their teachings,” he said. “I could take off my turban and bracelet, but it’s the same thing as if you were to go into a club and take off your wedding rings.”\r\n\r\nI asked about cross-discrimination and racism since September 11<sup>th</sup>, which he said did affect the Sikh community. There were some profane things written on a nearby gurdwara just a few weeks ago.\r\n\r\n“It thought it was unfair that an image I had associated all my life as holy was hijacked; literally hijacked.”\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh remembers the looks he got when he went to the gym after 9/11. He has a Sikh friend in NYC who was attacked on a subway because someone thought he was a Muslim. (“It wouldn’t be right even he had been a Muslim,” Mandheer Singh added.) The judge wanted to send the attacker to jail, but Mandheer Singh’s friend insisted instead that he serve community service at their gurdwara. After getting to know the people and who they were, the man who attacked him apologized and said, “I am so sorry, I didn’t know who you were. Had I known ... I am <em>so</em> sorry.”\r\n\r\n“I have a confession,” Mandheer Singh said to me.\r\n\r\n“I remember going to a Chinese restaurant with a bunch of people and on our way in there were two very white people coming our direction. You know, blonde hair, blue eyes. They were just staring at us. I could feel myself tensing up and I just knew what they were thinking. As we got closer, they said, ‘Hello!’ And I thought, ‘I just did it to them!’ My prejudgment of them was no better than what others had done to me. And that was when I knew I couldn’t live like that anymore. I can’t assume those kinds of things of people. Walking around with a chip on my shoulder just makes things worse.”\r\n\r\nWhen I asked him what he loved about being a Sikh, he said sheepishly, “As cliché as it is … everything. I love everything about it. It gives me such a sense of purpose and meaning in my life.”\r\n\r\nEveryone I interacted with at the gurdwara made sure I felt comfortable and explained whatever I wanted to know. I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into before going in, as I had only studied Sikhism through a World Religion class, but the kindness of the Sikh community I visited was overwhelming. My conversation with Mandheer Singh lasted a long time and he was open to any question I had to ask.\r\n\r\nWhat’s interesting is that the kindness they displayed has been consistent across the few other Sikhs I’ve met. (For instance, my doctor is a Sikh and his is great at putting me at ease, helping me not freak out, and is very good at his job.) I was moved by their hospitality and by their emphasis on equality and community service, and I am proud to count them as my friends.\r\n\r\n<em>Thanks to Manheer Singh, Mandeep Singh, Kulwinder Singh, and the Sikh Gurdwara of Rochester Hills for allowing me the chance to get to know them and see into their community.</em>\r\n\r\n<em>Photo credit: </em>\r\n\r\n<em>Flickr / <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/47450200@N02/4350484055/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">sohoandproud</a> (gurdwara)</em>','Faith Interview Series: Sikhism','','inherit','open','open','','5851-revision-3','','','2012-04-07 12:00:13','2012-04-07 19:00:13','',5851,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/07/5851-revision-3/',0,'revision','',0),(5856,38,'2012-04-07 12:05:55','2012-04-07 19:05:55','','khanda_flickr_sikhiwiki','Khanda, a Sikh symbol','inherit','open','open','','khanda_flickr_sikhiwiki','','','2012-04-07 12:05:55','2012-04-07 19:05:55','',5851,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/khanda_flickr_sikhiwiki.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(5857,38,'2012-04-07 12:01:50','2012-04-07 19:01:50','I pulled up to the Gurdwara in Rochester Hills, a small white and brick building. “Gurdwara” is the term for a place of worship for those of the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikhism\" target=\"_blank\">Sikh faith</a>. “God is One” was printed prominently on their sign near the road. Two boys playing in the parking lot pointed me to the right door and I entered the gurdwara. I was greeted by Mandheer Singh, a tall gentleman with electric brown eyes and a warm smile. Mandheer Singh is a real estate agent, is married and has two children. (Singh is the last name adopted by Sikh men to signify brotherhood and it means “lion”. Women use “Kaur” which means “Princess”).\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5852\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"A Gurdwara\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/gurdwara_flickr_sohoandproud.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5852\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/gurdwara_flickr_sohoandproud-300x184.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"184\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\n“Now, the first thing we do is we take off our shoes and cover our hair.” I removed my shoes and he handed me a cream-colored scarf to wear, which I place over the top of my hair and wrapped the excess around each shoulder. Mandheer Singh was wearing a black turban. “The reason we take off our shoes is because we believe God is everywhere and so this is a holy place. And the reason we cover our hair is to show modesty and respect.”\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh first gave me a tour of the gurdwara. Down one hallway was a kitchen. “This kitchen is used to make food that we serve every week for free. Everyone is welcome to eat with us. And this is consistent all across the world, so if you are traveling in a city and need food, or if you are homeless and need a meal, go to a gurdwara and they will take care of you. This is one way we give back to the community, and is one of our core beliefs.”\r\n\r\nHe then showed me to the room at the end of the hall. There were several women and children sitting on the floor. “This is where the meal will be served after the service. Everyone sits on the floor during the meal to symbolize equality.” In Sikhism, women are not considered any less than men, but are regarded as complete equals in the congregation.\r\n\r\nHe then showed me to the main room down the other hallway where a service was in process, where everyone was sitting on the floor in two main sections with an aisle down the middle.  In the front of the room there was a Sikh man, a Granthi, sitting and reading from scripture.\r\n\r\n“They just finished about an hour and a half of singing hymns which are directly taken from our scriptures, and now will go for about another half hour of reading and reciting from the Guru Granth Sahib,” (which is their sacred scriptures). There is a screen with the English translation for those who aren’t familiar with Gurmukhi (the Punjabi language alphabet).\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh wasn’t always a practicing Sikh, he told me. Mandheer Singh’s parents moved from India to the US. He was born in Sacramento, and grew up in a small town in Ohio where his father worked for the Air Force as a civilian. “I grew up in Ohio, so I grew up like any other American. I watched Hulk Hogan, listened to Led Zeppelin, Run DMC, Beastie Boys, all of that.”\r\n\r\nSo how did he come to the Sikh faith? His family came into contact with a few Sikhs who were very dedicated and knowledgable about the religion, and then they went on to introduce his family to more Sikhs in the US and Canada. When he looked around he saw them were being doctors, artists, athletes, professors—fully participating citizens. “I mean, I looked at myself,” said Mandheer Singh. “I have brown skin and dark hair. I was never really going to blend in completely. So it was alright for me to blend in just a little bit less to join this faith. There was something that compelled me to it, and as I learned more about it I felt it was who I really was on the inside.”\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh and his brother embraced the faith before their parents in to the faith. “He and I stopped cutting our hair and starting wearing our turbans. In fact, I remember chiding my father by saying things like ‘Why do you keep cutting your hair? Don’t you want to be respectful to the faith?’” Mandheer Singh’s father starting making notes when he would talk to people or learn about the Sikh faith. Those notes turned into a folder, which turned into a binder of its own, and now his father is one of the most highly-regarded speakers and scholars of Sikhism.\r\n\r\nThe strengthening of his faith changed his desires as a person. “I stopped listening to all the bands that I used to. Like, if you were to play Run DMC right now, I’ll still know all the words, but it doesn’t feel the same to me anymore. I started listening to our hymns all the time and I just wanted to listen to them even more than everything else.”\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh went on to explain the things that Sikh men have on them at all times, known as the Five Ks.\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Kesh – Uncut hair</li>\r\n	<li>Kanga – A small, wooden comb (“The comb is basically supposed to show us that we are not to cut our hair, but that we are also supposed to take care of it and ourselves out of respect”)</li>\r\n	<li>Kara – A metal bracelet (which Mandheer Singh said is very much like a wedding ring)</li>\r\n	<li>Kachera – A specific type of cotton briefs (which represent chastity and preparedness)</li>\r\n	<li>Kirpan – A small dagger (you may only fight in <em>defense</em>, never offense)</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nThe Five Ks give Sikhs a unique outward identity. “I could go into a bar or a club,” (Sikhs are not allowed to drink alcohol) “but I know that I am a walking image of the Gurus and their teachings,” he said. “I could take off my turban and bracelet, but it’s the same thing as if you were to go into a club and take off your wedding rings.”\r\n\r\nI asked about cross-discrimination and racism since September 11<sup>th</sup>, which he said did affect the Sikh community. There were some profane things written on a nearby gurdwara just a few weeks ago.\r\n\r\n“It thought it was unfair that an image I had associated all my life as holy was hijacked; literally hijacked.”\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh remembers the looks he got when he went to the gym after 9/11. He has a Sikh friend in NYC who was attacked on a subway because someone thought he was a Muslim. (“It wouldn’t be right even he had been a Muslim,” Mandheer Singh added.) The judge wanted to send the attacker to jail, but Mandheer Singh’s friend insisted instead that he serve community service at their gurdwara. After getting to know the people and who they were, the man who attacked him apologized and said, “I am so sorry, I didn’t know who you were. Had I known ... I am <em>so</em> sorry.”\r\n\r\n“I have a confession,” Mandheer Singh said to me.\r\n\r\n“I remember going to a Chinese restaurant with a bunch of people and on our way in there were two very white people coming our direction. You know, blonde hair, blue eyes. They were just staring at us. I could feel myself tensing up and I just knew what they were thinking. As we got closer, they said, ‘Hello!’ And I thought, ‘I just did it to them!’ My prejudgment of them was no better than what others had done to me. And that was when I knew I couldn’t live like that anymore. I can’t assume those kinds of things of people. Walking around with a chip on my shoulder just makes things worse.”\r\n\r\nWhen I asked him what he loved about being a Sikh, he said sheepishly, “As cliché as it is … everything. I love everything about it. It gives me such a sense of purpose and meaning in my life.”\r\n\r\nEveryone I interacted with at the gurdwara made sure I felt comfortable and explained whatever I wanted to know. I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into before going in, as I had only studied Sikhism through a World Religion class, but the kindness of the Sikh community I visited was overwhelming. My conversation with Mandheer Singh lasted a long time and he was open to any question I had to ask.\r\n\r\nWhat’s interesting is that the kindness they displayed has been consistent across the few other Sikhs I’ve met. (For instance, my doctor is a Sikh and his is great at putting me at ease, helping me not freak out, and is very good at his job.) I was moved by their hospitality and by their emphasis on equality and community service, and I am proud to count them as my friends.\r\n\r\n<em>Thanks to Manheer Singh, Mandeep Singh, Kulwinder Singh, and the Sikh Gurdwara of Rochester Hills for allowing me the chance to get to know them and see into their community.</em>\r\n\r\n<em>Photo credit: </em>\r\n\r\n<em>Flickr / <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/47450200@N02/4350484055/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">sohoandproud</a> (gurdwara)</em>','Faith Interview Series: Sikhism','','inherit','open','open','','5851-revision-4','','','2012-04-07 12:01:50','2012-04-07 19:01:50','',5851,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/07/5851-revision-4/',0,'revision','',0),(5858,38,'2012-04-07 12:09:54','2012-04-07 19:09:54','','sikh-children_flickr_graphia','Sikh women and children','inherit','open','open','','sikh-children_flickr_graphia','','','2012-04-07 12:09:54','2012-04-07 19:09:54','',5851,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/sikh-children_flickr_graphia.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(5859,38,'2012-04-07 12:06:36','2012-04-07 19:06:36','I pulled up to the Gurdwara in Rochester Hills, a small white and brick building. “Gurdwara” is the term for a place of worship for those of the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikhism\" target=\"_blank\">Sikh faith</a>. “God is One” was printed prominently on their sign near the road. Two boys playing in the parking lot pointed me to the right door and I entered the gurdwara. I was greeted by Mandheer Singh, a tall gentleman with electric brown eyes and a warm smile. Mandheer Singh is a real estate agent, is married and has two children. (Singh is the last name adopted by Sikh men to signify brotherhood and it means “lion”. Women use “Kaur” which means “Princess”).\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5852\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"A Gurdwara\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/47450200@N02/4350484055/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5852 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/gurdwara_flickr_sohoandproud-300x184.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"184\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\n“Now, the first thing we do is we take off our shoes and cover our hair.” I removed my shoes and he handed me a cream-colored scarf to wear, which I place over the top of my hair and wrapped the excess around each shoulder. Mandheer Singh was wearing a black turban. “The reason we take off our shoes is because we believe God is everywhere and so this is a holy place. And the reason we cover our hair is to show modesty and respect.”\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh first gave me a tour of the gurdwara. Down one hallway was a kitchen. “This kitchen is used to make food that we serve every week for free. Everyone is welcome to eat with us. And this is consistent all across the world, so if you are traveling in a city and need food, or if you are homeless and need a meal, go to a gurdwara and they will take care of you. This is one way we give back to the community, and is one of our core beliefs.”\r\n\r\nHe then showed me to the room at the end of the hall. There were several women and children sitting on the floor. “This is where the meal will be served after the service. Everyone sits on the floor during the meal to symbolize equality.” In Sikhism, women are not considered any less than men, but are regarded as complete equals in the congregation.\r\n\r\nHe then showed me to the main room down the other hallway where a service was in process, where everyone was sitting on the floor in two main sections with an aisle down the middle.  In the front of the room there was a Sikh man, a Granthi, sitting and reading from scripture.\r\n\r\n“They just finished about an hour and a half of singing hymns which are directly taken from our scriptures, and now will go for about another half hour of reading and reciting from the Guru Granth Sahib,” (which is their sacred scriptures). There is a screen with the English translation for those who aren’t familiar with Gurmukhi (the Punjabi language alphabet).\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh wasn’t always a practicing Sikh, he told me. Mandheer Singh’s parents moved from India to the US. He was born in Sacramento, and grew up in a small town in Ohio where his father worked for the Air Force as a civilian. “I grew up in Ohio, so I grew up like any other American. I watched Hulk Hogan, listened to Led Zeppelin, Run DMC, Beastie Boys, all of that.”\r\n\r\nSo how did he come to the Sikh faith? His family came into contact with a few Sikhs who were very dedicated and knowledgable about the religion, and then they went on to introduce his family to more Sikhs in the US and Canada. When he looked around he saw them were being doctors, artists, athletes, professors—fully participating citizens. “I mean, I looked at myself,” said Mandheer Singh. “I have brown skin and dark hair. I was never really going to blend in completely. So it was alright for me to blend in just a little bit less to join this faith. There was something that compelled me to it, and as I learned more about it I felt it was who I really was on the inside.”\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh and his brother embraced the faith before their parents in to the faith. “He and I stopped cutting our hair and starting wearing our turbans. In fact, I remember chiding my father by saying things like ‘Why do you keep cutting your hair? Don’t you want to be respectful to the faith?’” Mandheer Singh’s father starting making notes when he would talk to people or learn about the Sikh faith. Those notes turned into a folder, which turned into a binder of its own, and now his father is one of the most highly-regarded speakers and scholars of Sikhism.\r\n\r\nThe strengthening of his faith changed his desires as a person. “I stopped listening to all the bands that I used to. Like, if you were to play Run DMC right now, I’ll still know all the words, but it doesn’t feel the same to me anymore. I started listening to our hymns all the time and I just wanted to listen to them even more than everything else.”\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh went on to explain the things that Sikh men have on them at all times, known as the Five Ks.\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Kesh – Uncut hair</li>\r\n	<li>Kanga – A small, wooden comb (“The comb is basically supposed to show us that we are not to cut our hair, but that we are also supposed to take care of it and ourselves out of respect”)</li>\r\n	<li>Kara – A metal bracelet (which Mandheer Singh said is very much like a wedding ring)</li>\r\n	<li>Kachera – A specific type of cotton briefs (which represent chastity and preparedness)</li>\r\n	<li>Kirpan – A small dagger (you may only fight in <em>defense</em>, never offense)</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nThe Five Ks give Sikhs a unique outward identity. “I could go into a bar or a club,” (Sikhs are not allowed to drink alcohol) “but I know that I am a walking image of the Gurus and their teachings,” he said. “I could take off my turban and bracelet, but it’s the same thing as if you were to go into a club and take off your wedding rings.”\r\n\r\nI asked about cross-discrimination and racism since September 11<sup>th</sup>, which he said did affect the Sikh community. There were some profane things written on a nearby gurdwara just a few weeks ago.\r\n\r\n“It thought it was unfair that an image I had associated all my life as holy was hijacked; literally hijacked.”\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh remembers the looks he got when he went to the gym after 9/11. He has a Sikh friend in NYC who was attacked on a subway because someone thought he was a Muslim. (“It wouldn’t be right even he had been a Muslim,” Mandheer Singh added.) The judge wanted to send the attacker to jail, but Mandheer Singh’s friend insisted instead that he serve community service at their gurdwara. After getting to know the people and who they were, the man who attacked him apologized and said, “I am so sorry, I didn’t know who you were. Had I known ... I am <em>so</em> sorry.”\r\n\r\n“I have a confession,” Mandheer Singh said to me.\r\n\r\n“I remember going to a Chinese restaurant with a bunch of people and on our way in there were two very white people coming our direction. You know, blonde hair, blue eyes. They were just staring at us. I could feel myself tensing up and I just knew what they were thinking. As we got closer, they said, ‘Hello!’ And I thought, ‘I just did it to them!’ My prejudgment of them was no better than what others had done to me. And that was when I knew I couldn’t live like that anymore. I can’t assume those kinds of things of people. Walking around with a chip on my shoulder just makes things worse.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5856\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Khanda, a Sikh symbol\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/sikhiwiki/2300262427/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-5856\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/khanda_flickr_sikhiwiki-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nWhen I asked him what he loved about being a Sikh, he said sheepishly, “As cliché as it is … everything. I love everything about it. It gives me such a sense of purpose and meaning in my life.”\r\n\r\nEveryone I interacted with at the gurdwara made sure I felt comfortable and explained whatever I wanted to know. I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into before going in, as I had only studied Sikhism through a World Religion class, but the kindness of the Sikh community I visited was overwhelming. My conversation with Mandheer Singh lasted a long time and he was open to any question I had to ask.\r\n\r\nWhat’s interesting is that the kindness they displayed has been consistent across the few other Sikhs I’ve met. (For instance, my doctor is a Sikh and his is great at putting me at ease, helping me not freak out, and is very good at his job.) I was moved by their hospitality and by their emphasis on equality and community service, and I am proud to count them as my friends.\r\n\r\n<em>Thanks to Manheer Singh, Mandeep Singh, Kulwinder Singh, and the Sikh Gurdwara of Rochester Hills for allowing me the chance to get to know them and see into their community.</em>\r\n\r\n<em>Photo credit: </em>\r\n\r\n<em>Flickr / <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/47450200@N02/4350484055/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">sohoandproud</a> (gurdwara), </em><em><a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/sikhiwiki/2300262427/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">sikhiwiki</a> (khanda, a Sikh symbol)</em>','Faith Interview Series: Sikhism','','inherit','open','open','','5851-revision-5','','','2012-04-07 12:06:36','2012-04-07 19:06:36','',5851,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/07/5851-revision-5/',0,'revision','',0),(5860,38,'2012-04-07 12:12:20','2012-04-07 19:12:20','','gurdwara_flickr_hari-singh','','inherit','open','open','','gurdwara_flickr_hari-singh','','','2012-04-07 12:12:20','2012-04-07 19:12:20','',5851,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/gurdwara_flickr_hari-singh.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(5861,38,'2012-04-07 12:10:31','2012-04-07 19:10:31','I pulled up to the Gurdwara in Rochester Hills, a small white and brick building. “Gurdwara” is the term for a place of worship for those of the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikhism\" target=\"_blank\">Sikh faith</a>. “God is One” was printed prominently on their sign near the road. Two boys playing in the parking lot pointed me to the right door and I entered the gurdwara. I was greeted by Mandheer Singh, a tall gentleman with electric brown eyes and a warm smile. Mandheer Singh is a real estate agent, is married and has two children. (Singh is the last name adopted by Sikh men to signify brotherhood and it means “lion”. Women use “Kaur” which means “Princess”).\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5852\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"A Gurdwara\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/47450200@N02/4350484055/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5852 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/gurdwara_flickr_sohoandproud-300x184.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"184\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\n“Now, the first thing we do is we take off our shoes and cover our hair.” I removed my shoes and he handed me a cream-colored scarf to wear, which I place over the top of my hair and wrapped the excess around each shoulder. Mandheer Singh was wearing a black turban. “The reason we take off our shoes is because we believe God is everywhere and so this is a holy place. And the reason we cover our hair is to show modesty and respect.”\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh first gave me a tour of the gurdwara. Down one hallway was a kitchen. “This kitchen is used to make food that we serve every week for free. Everyone is welcome to eat with us. And this is consistent all across the world, so if you are traveling in a city and need food, or if you are homeless and need a meal, go to a gurdwara and they will take care of you. This is one way we give back to the community, and is one of our core beliefs.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5858\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Sikh women and children\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/graphia/5662116967/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5858\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/sikh-children_flickr_graphia-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nHe then showed me to the room at the end of the hall. There were several women and children sitting on the floor. “This is where the meal will be served after the service. Everyone sits on the floor during the meal to symbolize equality.” In Sikhism, women are not considered any less than men, but are regarded as complete equals in the congregation.\r\n\r\nHe then showed me to the main room down the other hallway where a service was in process, where everyone was sitting on the floor in two main sections with an aisle down the middle.  In the front of the room there was a Sikh man, a Granthi, sitting and reading from scripture.\r\n\r\n“They just finished about an hour and a half of singing hymns which are directly taken from our scriptures, and now will go for about another half hour of reading and reciting from the Guru Granth Sahib,” (which is their sacred scriptures). There is a screen with the English translation for those who aren’t familiar with Gurmukhi (the Punjabi language alphabet).\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh wasn’t always a practicing Sikh, he told me. Mandheer Singh’s parents moved from India to the US. He was born in Sacramento, and grew up in a small town in Ohio where his father worked for the Air Force as a civilian. “I grew up in Ohio, so I grew up like any other American. I watched Hulk Hogan, listened to Led Zeppelin, Run DMC, Beastie Boys, all of that.”\r\n\r\nSo how did he come to the Sikh faith? His family came into contact with a few Sikhs who were very dedicated and knowledgable about the religion, and then they went on to introduce his family to more Sikhs in the US and Canada. When he looked around he saw them were being doctors, artists, athletes, professors—fully participating citizens. “I mean, I looked at myself,” said Mandheer Singh. “I have brown skin and dark hair. I was never really going to blend in completely. So it was alright for me to blend in just a little bit less to join this faith. There was something that compelled me to it, and as I learned more about it I felt it was who I really was on the inside.”\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh and his brother embraced the faith before their parents in to the faith. “He and I stopped cutting our hair and starting wearing our turbans. In fact, I remember chiding my father by saying things like ‘Why do you keep cutting your hair? Don’t you want to be respectful to the faith?’” Mandheer Singh’s father starting making notes when he would talk to people or learn about the Sikh faith. Those notes turned into a folder, which turned into a binder of its own, and now his father is one of the most highly-regarded speakers and scholars of Sikhism.\r\n\r\nThe strengthening of his faith changed his desires as a person. “I stopped listening to all the bands that I used to. Like, if you were to play Run DMC right now, I’ll still know all the words, but it doesn’t feel the same to me anymore. I started listening to our hymns all the time and I just wanted to listen to them even more than everything else.”\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh went on to explain the things that Sikh men have on them at all times, known as the Five Ks.\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Kesh – Uncut hair</li>\r\n	<li>Kanga – A small, wooden comb (“The comb is basically supposed to show us that we are not to cut our hair, but that we are also supposed to take care of it and ourselves out of respect”)</li>\r\n	<li>Kara – A metal bracelet (which Mandheer Singh said is very much like a wedding ring)</li>\r\n	<li>Kachera – A specific type of cotton briefs (which represent chastity and preparedness)</li>\r\n	<li>Kirpan – A small dagger (you may only fight in <em>defense</em>, never offense)</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nThe Five Ks give Sikhs a unique outward identity. “I could go into a bar or a club,” (Sikhs are not allowed to drink alcohol) “but I know that I am a walking image of the Gurus and their teachings,” he said. “I could take off my turban and bracelet, but it’s the same thing as if you were to go into a club and take off your wedding rings.”\r\n\r\nI asked about cross-discrimination and racism since September 11<sup>th</sup>, which he said did affect the Sikh community. There were some profane things written on a nearby gurdwara just a few weeks ago.\r\n\r\n“It thought it was unfair that an image I had associated all my life as holy was hijacked; literally hijacked.”\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh remembers the looks he got when he went to the gym after 9/11. He has a Sikh friend in NYC who was attacked on a subway because someone thought he was a Muslim. (“It wouldn’t be right even he had been a Muslim,” Mandheer Singh added.) The judge wanted to send the attacker to jail, but Mandheer Singh’s friend insisted instead that he serve community service at their gurdwara. After getting to know the people and who they were, the man who attacked him apologized and said, “I am so sorry, I didn’t know who you were. Had I known ... I am <em>so</em> sorry.”\r\n\r\n“I have a confession,” Mandheer Singh said to me.\r\n\r\n“I remember going to a Chinese restaurant with a bunch of people and on our way in there were two very white people coming our direction. You know, blonde hair, blue eyes. They were just staring at us. I could feel myself tensing up and I just knew what they were thinking. As we got closer, they said, ‘Hello!’ And I thought, ‘I just did it to them!’ My prejudgment of them was no better than what others had done to me. And that was when I knew I couldn’t live like that anymore. I can’t assume those kinds of things of people. Walking around with a chip on my shoulder just makes things worse.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5856\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Khanda, a Sikh symbol\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/sikhiwiki/2300262427/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-5856\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/khanda_flickr_sikhiwiki-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nWhen I asked him what he loved about being a Sikh, he said sheepishly, “As cliché as it is … everything. I love everything about it. It gives me such a sense of purpose and meaning in my life.”\r\n\r\nEveryone I interacted with at the gurdwara made sure I felt comfortable and explained whatever I wanted to know. I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into before going in, as I had only studied Sikhism through a World Religion class, but the kindness of the Sikh community I visited was overwhelming. My conversation with Mandheer Singh lasted a long time and he was open to any question I had to ask.\r\n\r\nWhat’s interesting is that the kindness they displayed has been consistent across the few other Sikhs I’ve met. (For instance, my doctor is a Sikh and his is great at putting me at ease, helping me not freak out, and is very good at his job.) I was moved by their hospitality and by their emphasis on equality and community service, and I am proud to count them as my friends.\r\n\r\n<strong>Thanks to Manheer Singh, Mandeep Singh, Kulwinder Singh, and the Sikh Gurdwara of Rochester Hills for allowing me the chance to get to know them and see into their community.</strong>\r\n\r\n<em>Photo credit: </em><em>Flickr / <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/47450200@N02/4350484055/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">sohoandproud</a> (gurdwara), </em><em><a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/sikhiwiki/2300262427/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">sikhiwiki</a> (khanda, a Sikh symbol), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/graphia/5662116967/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">graphia</a> (Sikh children)</em>','Faith Interview Series: Sikhism','','inherit','open','open','','5851-revision-6','','','2012-04-07 12:10:31','2012-04-07 19:10:31','',5851,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/07/5851-revision-6/',0,'revision','',0),(5862,38,'2012-04-07 12:15:25','2012-04-07 19:15:25','','sikh-man_flickr_graphia','A Sikh young man','inherit','open','open','','sikh-man_flickr_graphia','','','2012-04-07 12:15:25','2012-04-07 19:15:25','',5851,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/sikh-man_flickr_graphia.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(5863,38,'2012-04-07 12:12:49','2012-04-07 19:12:49','I pulled up to the Gurdwara in Rochester Hills, a small white and brick building. “Gurdwara” is the term for a place of worship for those of the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikhism\" target=\"_blank\">Sikh faith</a>. “God is One” was printed prominently on their sign near the road. Two boys playing in the parking lot pointed me to the right door and I entered the gurdwara. I was greeted by Mandheer Singh, a tall gentleman with electric brown eyes and a warm smile. Mandheer Singh is a real estate agent, is married and has two children. (Singh is the last name adopted by Sikh men to signify brotherhood and it means “lion”. Women use “Kaur” which means “Princess”).\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5852\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"A Gurdwara\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/47450200@N02/4350484055/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5852 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/gurdwara_flickr_sohoandproud-300x184.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"184\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\n“Now, the first thing we do is we take off our shoes and cover our hair.” I removed my shoes and he handed me a cream-colored scarf to wear, which I place over the top of my hair and wrapped the excess around each shoulder. Mandheer Singh was wearing a black turban. “The reason we take off our shoes is because we believe God is everywhere and so this is a holy place. And the reason we cover our hair is to show modesty and respect.”\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh first gave me a tour of the gurdwara. Down one hallway was a kitchen. “This kitchen is used to make food that we serve every week for free. Everyone is welcome to eat with us. And this is consistent all across the world, so if you are traveling in a city and need food, or if you are homeless and need a meal, go to a gurdwara and they will take care of you. This is one way we give back to the community, and is one of our core beliefs.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5858\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Sikh women and children\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/graphia/5662116967/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5858\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/sikh-children_flickr_graphia-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nHe then showed me to the room at the end of the hall. There were several women and children sitting on the floor. “This is where the meal will be served after the service. Everyone sits on the floor during the meal to symbolize equality.” In Sikhism, women are not considered any less than men, but are regarded as complete equals in the congregation.\r\n\r\nHe then showed me to the main room down the other hallway where a service was in process, where everyone was sitting on the floor in two main sections with an aisle down the middle.  In the front of the room there was a Sikh man, a Granthi, sitting and reading from scripture.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5860\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Inside a gurdwara\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/hari_singh/6523149179/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5860\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/gurdwara_flickr_hari-singh-300x240.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"240\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\n“They just finished about an hour and a half of singing hymns which are directly taken from our scriptures, and now will go for about another half hour of reading and reciting from the Guru Granth Sahib,” (which is their sacred scriptures). There is a screen with the English translation for those who aren’t familiar with Gurmukhi (the Punjabi language alphabet).\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh wasn’t always a practicing Sikh, he told me. Mandheer Singh’s parents moved from India to the US. He was born in Sacramento, and grew up in a small town in Ohio where his father worked for the Air Force as a civilian. “I grew up in Ohio, so I grew up like any other American. I watched Hulk Hogan, listened to Led Zeppelin, Run DMC, Beastie Boys, all of that.”\r\n\r\nSo how did he come to the Sikh faith? His family came into contact with a few Sikhs who were very dedicated and knowledgable about the religion, and then they went on to introduce his family to more Sikhs in the US and Canada. When he looked around he saw them were being doctors, artists, athletes, professors—fully participating citizens. “I mean, I looked at myself,” said Mandheer Singh. “I have brown skin and dark hair. I was never really going to blend in completely. So it was alright for me to blend in just a little bit less to join this faith. There was something that compelled me to it, and as I learned more about it I felt it was who I really was on the inside.”\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh and his brother embraced the faith before their parents in to the faith. “He and I stopped cutting our hair and starting wearing our turbans. In fact, I remember chiding my father by saying things like ‘Why do you keep cutting your hair? Don’t you want to be respectful to the faith?’” Mandheer Singh’s father starting making notes when he would talk to people or learn about the Sikh faith. Those notes turned into a folder, which turned into a binder of its own, and now his father is one of the most highly-regarded speakers and scholars of Sikhism.\r\n\r\nThe strengthening of his faith changed his desires as a person. “I stopped listening to all the bands that I used to. Like, if you were to play Run DMC right now, I’ll still know all the words, but it doesn’t feel the same to me anymore. I started listening to our hymns all the time and I just wanted to listen to them even more than everything else.”\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh went on to explain the things that Sikh men have on them at all times, known as the Five Ks.\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Kesh – Uncut hair</li>\r\n	<li>Kanga – A small, wooden comb (“The comb is basically supposed to show us that we are not to cut our hair, but that we are also supposed to take care of it and ourselves out of respect”)</li>\r\n	<li>Kara – A metal bracelet (which Mandheer Singh said is very much like a wedding ring)</li>\r\n	<li>Kachera – A specific type of cotton briefs (which represent chastity and preparedness)</li>\r\n	<li>Kirpan – A small dagger (you may only fight in <em>defense</em>, never offense)</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nThe Five Ks give Sikhs a unique outward identity. “I could go into a bar or a club,” (Sikhs are not allowed to drink alcohol) “but I know that I am a walking image of the Gurus and their teachings,” he said. “I could take off my turban and bracelet, but it’s the same thing as if you were to go into a club and take off your wedding rings.”\r\n\r\nI asked about cross-discrimination and racism since September 11<sup>th</sup>, which he said did affect the Sikh community. There were some profane things written on a nearby gurdwara just a few weeks ago.\r\n\r\n“It thought it was unfair that an image I had associated all my life as holy was hijacked; literally hijacked.”\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh remembers the looks he got when he went to the gym after 9/11. He has a Sikh friend in NYC who was attacked on a subway because someone thought he was a Muslim. (“It wouldn’t be right even he had been a Muslim,” Mandheer Singh added.) The judge wanted to send the attacker to jail, but Mandheer Singh’s friend insisted instead that he serve community service at their gurdwara. After getting to know the people and who they were, the man who attacked him apologized and said, “I am so sorry, I didn’t know who you were. Had I known ... I am <em>so</em> sorry.”\r\n\r\n“I have a confession,” Mandheer Singh said to me.\r\n\r\n“I remember going to a Chinese restaurant with a bunch of people and on our way in there were two very white people coming our direction. You know, blonde hair, blue eyes. They were just staring at us. I could feel myself tensing up and I just knew what they were thinking. As we got closer, they said, ‘Hello!’ And I thought, ‘I just did it to them!’ My prejudgment of them was no better than what others had done to me. And that was when I knew I couldn’t live like that anymore. I can’t assume those kinds of things of people. Walking around with a chip on my shoulder just makes things worse.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5856\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Khanda, a Sikh symbol\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/sikhiwiki/2300262427/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-5856\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/khanda_flickr_sikhiwiki-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nWhen I asked him what he loved about being a Sikh, he said sheepishly, “As cliché as it is … everything. I love everything about it. It gives me such a sense of purpose and meaning in my life.”\r\n\r\nEveryone I interacted with at the gurdwara made sure I felt comfortable and explained whatever I wanted to know. I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into before going in, as I had only studied Sikhism through a World Religion class, but the kindness of the Sikh community I visited was overwhelming. My conversation with Mandheer Singh lasted a long time and he was open to any question I had to ask.\r\n\r\nWhat’s interesting is that the kindness they displayed has been consistent across the few other Sikhs I’ve met. (For instance, my doctor is a Sikh and his is great at putting me at ease, helping me not freak out, and is very good at his job.) I was moved by their hospitality and by their emphasis on equality and community service, and I am proud to count them as my friends.\r\n\r\n<strong>Thanks to Manheer Singh, Mandeep Singh, Kulwinder Singh, and the Sikh Gurdwara of Rochester Hills for allowing me the chance to get to know them and see into their community.</strong>\r\n\r\n<em>Photo credit: </em><em>Flickr / <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/47450200@N02/4350484055/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">sohoandproud</a> (gurdwara), </em><em><a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/sikhiwiki/2300262427/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">sikhiwiki</a> (khanda, a Sikh symbol), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/graphia/5662116967/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">graphia</a> (Sikh children), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/hari_singh/6523149179/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Hari Singh</a> (inside a gurdwara)</em>','Faith Interview Series: Sikhism','','inherit','open','open','','5851-revision-7','','','2012-04-07 12:12:49','2012-04-07 19:12:49','',5851,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/07/5851-revision-7/',0,'revision','',0),(5864,38,'2012-04-07 12:19:51','2012-04-07 19:19:51','','sikh-couple_flickr_petercastleton','A Sikh couple','inherit','open','open','','sikh-couple_flickr_petercastleton','','','2012-04-07 12:19:51','2012-04-07 19:19:51','',5851,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/sikh-couple_flickr_petercastleton.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(5865,38,'2012-04-07 12:16:02','2012-04-07 19:16:02','I pulled up to the Gurdwara in Rochester Hills, a small white and brick building. “Gurdwara” is the term for a place of worship for those of the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikhism\" target=\"_blank\">Sikh faith</a>. “God is One” was printed prominently on their sign near the road. Two boys playing in the parking lot pointed me to the right door and I entered the gurdwara. I was greeted by Mandheer Singh, a tall gentleman with electric brown eyes and a warm smile. Mandheer Singh is a real estate agent, is married and has two children. (Singh is the last name adopted by Sikh men to signify brotherhood and it means “lion”. Women use “Kaur” which means “Princess”).\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5852\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"A Gurdwara\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/47450200@N02/4350484055/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5852 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/gurdwara_flickr_sohoandproud-300x184.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"184\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\n“Now, the first thing we do is we take off our shoes and cover our hair.” I removed my shoes and he handed me a cream-colored scarf to wear, which I place over the top of my hair and wrapped the excess around each shoulder. Mandheer Singh was wearing a black turban. “The reason we take off our shoes is because we believe God is everywhere and so this is a holy place. And the reason we cover our hair is to show modesty and respect.”\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh first gave me a tour of the gurdwara. Down one hallway was a kitchen. “This kitchen is used to make food that we serve every week for free. Everyone is welcome to eat with us. And this is consistent all across the world, so if you are traveling in a city and need food, or if you are homeless and need a meal, go to a gurdwara and they will take care of you. This is one way we give back to the community, and is one of our core beliefs.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5858\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Sikh women and children\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/graphia/5662116967/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5858\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/sikh-children_flickr_graphia-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nHe then showed me to the room at the end of the hall. There were several women and children sitting on the floor. “This is where the meal will be served after the service. Everyone sits on the floor during the meal to symbolize equality.” In Sikhism, women are not considered any less than men, but are regarded as complete equals in the congregation.\r\n\r\nHe then showed me to the main room down the other hallway where a service was in process, where everyone was sitting on the floor in two main sections with an aisle down the middle.  In the front of the room there was a Sikh man, a Granthi, sitting and reading from scripture.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5860\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Inside a gurdwara\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/hari_singh/6523149179/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5860\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/gurdwara_flickr_hari-singh-300x240.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"240\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\n“They just finished about an hour and a half of singing hymns which are directly taken from our scriptures, and now will go for about another half hour of reading and reciting from the Guru Granth Sahib,” (which is their sacred scriptures). There is a screen with the English translation for those who aren’t familiar with Gurmukhi (the Punjabi language alphabet).\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh wasn’t always a practicing Sikh, he told me. Mandheer Singh’s parents moved from India to the US. He was born in Sacramento, and grew up in a small town in Ohio where his father worked for the Air Force as a civilian. “I grew up in Ohio, so I grew up like any other American. I watched Hulk Hogan, listened to Led Zeppelin, Run DMC, Beastie Boys, all of that.”\r\n\r\nSo how did he come to the Sikh faith? His family came into contact with a few Sikhs who were very dedicated and knowledgable about the religion, and then they went on to introduce his family to more Sikhs in the US and Canada. When he looked around he saw them were being doctors, artists, athletes, professors—fully participating citizens. “I mean, I looked at myself,” said Mandheer Singh. “I have brown skin and dark hair. I was never really going to blend in completely. So it was alright for me to blend in just a little bit less to join this faith. There was something that compelled me to it, and as I learned more about it I felt it was who I really was on the inside.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5862\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"A Sikh young man\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/graphia/5648545143/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5862\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/sikh-man_flickr_graphia-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh and his brother embraced the faith before their parents in to the faith. “He and I stopped cutting our hair and starting wearing our turbans. In fact, I remember chiding my father by saying things like ‘Why do you keep cutting your hair? Don’t you want to be respectful to the faith?’” Mandheer Singh’s father starting making notes when he would talk to people or learn about the Sikh faith. Those notes turned into a folder, which turned into a binder of its own, and now his father is one of the most highly-regarded speakers and scholars of Sikhism.\r\n\r\nThe strengthening of his faith changed his desires as a person. “I stopped listening to all the bands that I used to. Like, if you were to play Run DMC right now, I’ll still know all the words, but it doesn’t feel the same to me anymore. I started listening to our hymns all the time and I just wanted to listen to them even more than everything else.”\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh went on to explain the things that Sikh men have on them at all times, known as the Five Ks.\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Kesh – Uncut hair</li>\r\n	<li>Kanga – A small, wooden comb (“The comb is basically supposed to show us that we are not to cut our hair, but that we are also supposed to take care of it and ourselves out of respect”)</li>\r\n	<li>Kara – A metal bracelet (which Mandheer Singh said is very much like a wedding ring)</li>\r\n	<li>Kachera – A specific type of cotton briefs (which represent chastity and preparedness)</li>\r\n	<li>Kirpan – A small dagger (you may only fight in <em>defense</em>, never offense)</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nThe Five Ks give Sikhs a unique outward identity. “I could go into a bar or a club,” (Sikhs are not allowed to drink alcohol) “but I know that I am a walking image of the Gurus and their teachings,” he said. “I could take off my turban and bracelet, but it’s the same thing as if you were to go into a club and take off your wedding rings.”\r\n\r\nI asked about cross-discrimination and racism since September 11<sup>th</sup>, which he said did affect the Sikh community. There were some profane things written on a nearby gurdwara just a few weeks ago.\r\n\r\n“It thought it was unfair that an image I had associated all my life as holy was hijacked; literally hijacked.”\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh remembers the looks he got when he went to the gym after 9/11. He has a Sikh friend in NYC who was attacked on a subway because someone thought he was a Muslim. (“It wouldn’t be right even he had been a Muslim,” Mandheer Singh added.) The judge wanted to send the attacker to jail, but Mandheer Singh’s friend insisted instead that he serve community service at their gurdwara. After getting to know the people and who they were, the man who attacked him apologized and said, “I am so sorry, I didn’t know who you were. Had I known ... I am <em>so</em> sorry.”\r\n\r\n“I have a confession,” Mandheer Singh said to me.\r\n\r\n“I remember going to a Chinese restaurant with a bunch of people and on our way in there were two very white people coming our direction. You know, blonde hair, blue eyes. They were just staring at us. I could feel myself tensing up and I just knew what they were thinking. As we got closer, they said, ‘Hello!’ And I thought, ‘I just did it to them!’ My prejudgment of them was no better than what others had done to me. And that was when I knew I couldn’t live like that anymore. I can’t assume those kinds of things of people. Walking around with a chip on my shoulder just makes things worse.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5856\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Khanda, a Sikh symbol\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/sikhiwiki/2300262427/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-5856\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/khanda_flickr_sikhiwiki-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nWhen I asked him what he loved about being a Sikh, he said sheepishly, “As cliché as it is … everything. I love everything about it. It gives me such a sense of purpose and meaning in my life.”\r\n\r\nEveryone I interacted with at the gurdwara made sure I felt comfortable and explained whatever I wanted to know. I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into before going in, as I had only studied Sikhism through a World Religion class, but the kindness of the Sikh community I visited was overwhelming. My conversation with Mandheer Singh lasted a long time and he was open to any question I had to ask.\r\n\r\nWhat’s interesting is that the kindness they displayed has been consistent across the few other Sikhs I’ve met. (For instance, my doctor is a Sikh and his is great at putting me at ease, helping me not freak out, and is very good at his job.) I was moved by their hospitality and by their emphasis on equality and community service, and I am proud to count them as my friends.\r\n\r\n<strong>Thanks to Manheer Singh, Mandeep Singh, Kulwinder Singh, and the Sikh Gurdwara of Rochester Hills for allowing me the chance to get to know them and see into their community.</strong>\r\n\r\n<em>Photo credit: </em><em>Flickr / <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/47450200@N02/4350484055/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">sohoandproud</a> (gurdwara), </em><em><a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/sikhiwiki/2300262427/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">sikhiwiki</a> (khanda, a Sikh symbol), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/graphia/5662116967/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">graphia</a> (Sikh children), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/hari_singh/6523149179/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Hari Singh</a> (inside a gurdwara), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/graphia/5648545143/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">graphia</a> (Sikh man)</em>','Faith Interview Series: Sikhism','','inherit','open','open','','5851-revision-8','','','2012-04-07 12:16:02','2012-04-07 19:16:02','',5851,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/07/5851-revision-8/',0,'revision','',0),(5871,38,'2012-04-07 12:32:48','2012-04-07 19:32:48','','golden-temple_flickr_arian-zwegers','The Golden Temple (Amritsar) in the Sikhism capital, the state of Punjab','inherit','open','open','','golden-temple_flickr_arian-zwegers','','','2012-04-07 12:32:48','2012-04-07 19:32:48','',5851,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/golden-temple_flickr_arian-zwegers.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(5866,38,'2012-04-07 12:20:19','2012-04-07 19:20:19','I pulled up to the Gurdwara in Rochester Hills, a small white and brick building. “Gurdwara” is the term for a place of worship for those of the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikhism\" target=\"_blank\">Sikh faith</a>. “God is One” was printed prominently on their sign near the road. Two boys playing in the parking lot pointed me to the right door and I entered the gurdwara. I was greeted by Mandheer Singh, a tall gentleman with electric brown eyes and a warm smile. Mandheer Singh is a real estate agent, is married and has two children. (Singh is the last name adopted by Sikh men to signify brotherhood and it means “lion”. Women use “Kaur” which means “Princess”).\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5852\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"A Gurdwara\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/47450200@N02/4350484055/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5852 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/gurdwara_flickr_sohoandproud-300x184.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"184\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\n“Now, the first thing we do is we take off our shoes and cover our hair.” I removed my shoes and he handed me a cream-colored scarf to wear, which I place over the top of my hair and wrapped the excess around each shoulder. Mandheer Singh was wearing a black turban. “The reason we take off our shoes is because we believe God is everywhere and so this is a holy place. And the reason we cover our hair is to show modesty and respect.”\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh first gave me a tour of the gurdwara. Down one hallway was a kitchen. “This kitchen is used to make food that we serve every week for free. Everyone is welcome to eat with us. And this is consistent all across the world, so if you are traveling in a city and need food, or if you are homeless and need a meal, go to a gurdwara and they will take care of you. This is one way we give back to the community, and is one of our core beliefs.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5858\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Sikh women and children\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/graphia/5662116967/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5858\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/sikh-children_flickr_graphia-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nHe then showed me to the room at the end of the hall. There were several women and children sitting on the floor. “This is where the meal will be served after the service. Everyone sits on the floor during the meal to symbolize equality.” In Sikhism, women are not considered any less than men, but are regarded as complete equals in the congregation.\r\n\r\nHe then showed me to the main room down the other hallway where a service was in process, where everyone was sitting on the floor in two main sections with an aisle down the middle.  In the front of the room there was a Sikh man, a Granthi, sitting and reading from scripture.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5860\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Inside a gurdwara\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/hari_singh/6523149179/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5860\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/gurdwara_flickr_hari-singh-300x240.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"240\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\n“They just finished about an hour and a half of singing hymns which are directly taken from our scriptures, and now will go for about another half hour of reading and reciting from the Guru Granth Sahib,” (which is their sacred scriptures). There is a screen with the English translation for those who aren’t familiar with Gurmukhi (the Punjabi language alphabet).\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh wasn’t always a practicing Sikh, he told me. Mandheer Singh’s parents moved from India to the US. He was born in Sacramento, and grew up in a small town in Ohio where his father worked for the Air Force as a civilian. “I grew up in Ohio, so I grew up like any other American. I watched Hulk Hogan, listened to Led Zeppelin, Run DMC, Beastie Boys, all of that.”\r\n\r\nSo how did he come to the Sikh faith? His family came into contact with a few Sikhs who were very dedicated and knowledgable about the religion, and then they went on to introduce his family to more Sikhs in the US and Canada. When he looked around he saw them were being doctors, artists, athletes, professors—fully participating citizens. “I mean, I looked at myself,” said Mandheer Singh. “I have brown skin and dark hair. I was never really going to blend in completely. So it was alright for me to blend in just a little bit less to join this faith. There was something that compelled me to it, and as I learned more about it I felt it was who I really was on the inside.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5862\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"A Sikh young man\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/graphia/5648545143/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5862\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/sikh-man_flickr_graphia-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh and his brother embraced the faith before their parents in to the faith. “He and I stopped cutting our hair and starting wearing our turbans. In fact, I remember chiding my father by saying things like ‘Why do you keep cutting your hair? Don’t you want to be respectful to the faith?’” Mandheer Singh’s father starting making notes when he would talk to people or learn about the Sikh faith. Those notes turned into a folder, which turned into a binder of its own, and now his father is one of the most highly-regarded speakers and scholars of Sikhism.\r\n\r\nThe strengthening of his faith changed his desires as a person. “I stopped listening to all the bands that I used to. Like, if you were to play Run DMC right now, I’ll still know all the words, but it doesn’t feel the same to me anymore. I started listening to our hymns all the time and I just wanted to listen to them even more than everything else.”\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh went on to explain the things that Sikh men have on them at all times, known as the Five Ks.\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kesh_(Sikhism)\" target=\"_blank\">Kesh</a> – Uncut hair</li>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanga_(Sikhism)\" target=\"_blank\">Kanga</a> – A small, wooden comb (“The comb is basically supposed to show us that we are not to cut our hair, but that we are also supposed to take care of it and ourselves out of respect”)</li>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kara_(Sikhism)\" target=\"_blank\">Kara</a> – A metal bracelet (which Mandheer Singh said is very much like a wedding ring)</li>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kachera\" target=\"_blank\">Kachera</a> – A specific type of cotton briefs (which represent chastity and preparedness)</li>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirpan\" target=\"_blank\">Kirpan</a> – A small dagger (you may only fight in <em>defense</em>, never offense)</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5864\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"A Sikh couple\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/petercastleton/5018035205/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5864\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/sikh-couple_flickr_petercastleton-300x221.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"221\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nThe Five Ks give Sikhs a unique outward identity. “I could go into a bar or a club,” (Sikhs are not allowed to drink alcohol) “but I know that I am a walking image of the Gurus and their teachings,” he said. “I could take off my turban and bracelet, but it’s the same thing as if you were to go into a club and take off your wedding rings.”\r\n\r\nI asked about cross-discrimination and racism since September 11<sup>th</sup>, which he said did affect the Sikh community. There were some profane things written on a nearby gurdwara just a few weeks ago.\r\n\r\n“It thought it was unfair that an image I had associated all my life as holy was hijacked; literally hijacked.”\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh remembers the looks he got when he went to the gym after 9/11. He has a Sikh friend in NYC who was attacked on a subway because someone thought he was a Muslim. (“It wouldn’t be right even he had been a Muslim,” Mandheer Singh added.) The judge wanted to send the attacker to jail, but Mandheer Singh’s friend insisted instead that he serve community service at their gurdwara. After getting to know the people and who they were, the man who attacked him apologized and said, “I am so sorry, I didn’t know who you were. Had I known ... I am <em>so</em> sorry.”\r\n\r\n“I have a confession,” Mandheer Singh said to me.\r\n\r\n“I remember going to a Chinese restaurant with a bunch of people and on our way in there were two very white people coming our direction. You know, blonde hair, blue eyes. They were just staring at us. I could feel myself tensing up and I just knew what they were thinking. As we got closer, they said, ‘Hello!’ And I thought, ‘I just did it to them!’ My prejudgment of them was no better than what others had done to me. And that was when I knew I couldn’t live like that anymore. I can’t assume those kinds of things of people. Walking around with a chip on my shoulder just makes things worse.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5856\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Khanda, a Sikh symbol\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/sikhiwiki/2300262427/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-5856\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/khanda_flickr_sikhiwiki-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nWhen I asked him what he loved about being a Sikh, he said sheepishly, “As cliché as it is … everything. I love everything about it. It gives me such a sense of purpose and meaning in my life.”\r\n\r\nEveryone I interacted with at the gurdwara made sure I felt comfortable and explained whatever I wanted to know. I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into before going in, as I had only studied Sikhism through a World Religion class, but the kindness of the Sikh community I visited was overwhelming. My conversation with Mandheer Singh lasted a long time and he was open to any question I had to ask.\r\n\r\nWhat’s interesting is that the kindness they displayed has been consistent across the few other Sikhs I’ve met. (For instance, my doctor is a Sikh and his is great at putting me at ease, helping me not freak out, and is very good at his job.) I was moved by their hospitality and by their emphasis on equality and community service, and I am proud to count them as my friends.\r\n\r\n<strong>Thanks to Manheer Singh, Mandeep Singh, Kulwinder Singh, and the Sikh Gurdwara of Rochester Hills for allowing me the chance to get to know them and see into their community.</strong>\r\n\r\n<em>Photo credit: </em><em>Flickr / <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/47450200@N02/4350484055/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">sohoandproud</a> (gurdwara), </em><em><a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/sikhiwiki/2300262427/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">sikhiwiki</a> (khanda, a Sikh symbol), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/graphia/5662116967/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">graphia</a> (Sikh children), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/hari_singh/6523149179/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Hari Singh</a> (inside a gurdwara), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/graphia/5648545143/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">graphia</a> (Sikh man)</em>','Faith Interview Series: Sikhism','','inherit','open','open','','5851-revision-9','','','2012-04-07 12:20:19','2012-04-07 19:20:19','',5851,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/07/5851-revision-9/',0,'revision','',0),(5867,38,'2012-04-07 12:21:18','2012-04-07 19:21:18','I pulled up to the Gurdwara in Rochester Hills, a small white and brick building. “Gurdwara” is the term for a place of worship for those of the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikhism\" target=\"_blank\">Sikh faith</a>. “God is One” was printed prominently on their sign near the road. Two boys playing in the parking lot pointed me to the right door and I entered the gurdwara. I was greeted by Mandheer Singh, a tall gentleman with electric brown eyes and a warm smile. Mandheer Singh is a real estate agent, is married and has two children. (Singh is the last name adopted by Sikh men to signify brotherhood and it means “lion”. Women use “Kaur” which means “Princess”).\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5852\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"A Gurdwara\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/47450200@N02/4350484055/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5852 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/gurdwara_flickr_sohoandproud-300x184.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"184\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\n“Now, the first thing we do is we take off our shoes and cover our hair.” I removed my shoes and he handed me a cream-colored scarf to wear, which I place over the top of my hair and wrapped the excess around each shoulder. Mandheer Singh was wearing a black turban. “The reason we take off our shoes is because we believe God is everywhere and so this is a holy place. And the reason we cover our hair is to show modesty and respect.”\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh first gave me a tour of the gurdwara. Down one hallway was a kitchen. “This kitchen is used to make food that we serve every week for free. Everyone is welcome to eat with us. And this is consistent all across the world, so if you are traveling in a city and need food, or if you are homeless and need a meal, go to a gurdwara and they will take care of you. This is one way we give back to the community, and is one of our core beliefs.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5858\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Sikh women and children\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/graphia/5662116967/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5858\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/sikh-children_flickr_graphia-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nHe then showed me to the room at the end of the hall. There were several women and children sitting on the floor. “This is where the meal will be served after the service. Everyone sits on the floor during the meal to symbolize equality.” In Sikhism, women are not considered any less than men, but are regarded as complete equals in the congregation.\r\n\r\nHe then showed me to the main room down the other hallway where a service was in process, where everyone was sitting on the floor in two main sections with an aisle down the middle.  In the front of the room there was a Sikh man, a Granthi, sitting and reading from scripture.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5860\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Inside a gurdwara\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/hari_singh/6523149179/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5860\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/gurdwara_flickr_hari-singh-300x240.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"240\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\n“They just finished about an hour and a half of singing hymns which are directly taken from our scriptures, and now will go for about another half hour of reading and reciting from the Guru Granth Sahib,” (which is their sacred scriptures). There is a screen with the English translation for those who aren’t familiar with Gurmukhi (the Punjabi language alphabet).\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh wasn’t always a practicing Sikh, he told me. Mandheer Singh’s parents moved from India to the US. He was born in Sacramento, and grew up in a small town in Ohio where his father worked for the Air Force as a civilian. “I grew up in Ohio, so I grew up like any other American. I watched Hulk Hogan, listened to Led Zeppelin, Run DMC, Beastie Boys, all of that.”\r\n\r\nSo how did he come to the Sikh faith? His family came into contact with a few Sikhs who were very dedicated and knowledgable about the religion, and then they went on to introduce his family to more Sikhs in the US and Canada. When he looked around he saw them were being doctors, artists, athletes, professors—fully participating citizens. “I mean, I looked at myself,” said Mandheer Singh. “I have brown skin and dark hair. I was never really going to blend in completely. So it was alright for me to blend in just a little bit less to join this faith. There was something that compelled me to it, and as I learned more about it I felt it was who I really was on the inside.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5862\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"A Sikh young man\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/graphia/5648545143/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5862\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/sikh-man_flickr_graphia-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh and his brother embraced the faith before their parents in to the faith. “He and I stopped cutting our hair and starting wearing our turbans. In fact, I remember chiding my father by saying things like ‘Why do you keep cutting your hair? Don’t you want to be respectful to the faith?’” Mandheer Singh’s father starting making notes when he would talk to people or learn about the Sikh faith. Those notes turned into a folder, which turned into a binder of its own, and now his father is one of the most highly-regarded speakers and scholars of Sikhism.\r\n\r\nThe strengthening of his faith changed his desires as a person. “I stopped listening to all the bands that I used to. Like, if you were to play Run DMC right now, I’ll still know all the words, but it doesn’t feel the same to me anymore. I started listening to our hymns all the time and I just wanted to listen to them even more than everything else.”\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh went on to explain the things that Sikh men have on them at all times, known as the Five Ks.\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kesh_(Sikhism)\" target=\"_blank\">Kesh</a> – Uncut hair</li>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanga_(Sikhism)\" target=\"_blank\">Kanga</a> – A small, wooden comb (“The comb is basically supposed to show us that we are not to cut our hair, but that we are also supposed to take care of it and ourselves out of respect”)</li>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kara_(Sikhism)\" target=\"_blank\">Kara</a> – A metal bracelet (which Mandheer Singh said is very much like a wedding ring)</li>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kachera\" target=\"_blank\">Kachera</a> – A specific type of cotton briefs (which represent chastity and preparedness)</li>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirpan\" target=\"_blank\">Kirpan</a> – A small dagger (you may only fight in <em>defense</em>, never offense)</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5864\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"A Sikh couple\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/petercastleton/5018035205/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5864\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/sikh-couple_flickr_petercastleton-300x221.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"221\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nThe Five Ks give Sikhs a unique outward identity. “I could go into a bar or a club,” (Sikhs are not allowed to drink alcohol) “but I know that I am a walking image of the Gurus and their teachings,” he said. “I could take off my turban and bracelet, but it’s the same thing as if you were to go into a club and take off your wedding rings.”\r\n\r\nI asked about cross-discrimination and racism since September 11<sup>th</sup>, which he said did affect the Sikh community. There were some profane things written on a nearby gurdwara just a few weeks ago.\r\n\r\n“It thought it was unfair that an image I had associated all my life as holy was hijacked; literally hijacked.”\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh remembers the looks he got when he went to the gym after 9/11. He has a Sikh friend in NYC who was attacked on a subway because someone thought he was a Muslim. (“It wouldn’t be right even he had been a Muslim,” Mandheer Singh added.) The judge wanted to send the attacker to jail, but Mandheer Singh’s friend insisted instead that he serve community service at their gurdwara. After getting to know the people and who they were, the man who attacked him apologized and said, “I am so sorry, I didn’t know who you were. Had I known ... I am <em>so</em> sorry.”\r\n\r\n“I have a confession,” Mandheer Singh said to me.\r\n\r\n“I remember going to a Chinese restaurant with a bunch of people and on our way in there were two very white people coming our direction. You know, blonde hair, blue eyes. They were just staring at us. I could feel myself tensing up and I just knew what they were thinking. As we got closer, they said, ‘Hello!’ And I thought, ‘I just did it to them!’ My prejudgment of them was no better than what others had done to me. And that was when I knew I couldn’t live like that anymore. I can’t assume those kinds of things of people. Walking around with a chip on my shoulder just makes things worse.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5856\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Khanda, a Sikh symbol\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/sikhiwiki/2300262427/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-5856 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/khanda_flickr_sikhiwiki-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nWhen I asked him what he loved about being a Sikh, he said sheepishly, “As cliché as it is … everything. I love everything about it. It gives me such a sense of purpose and meaning in my life.”\r\n\r\nEveryone I interacted with at the gurdwara made sure I felt comfortable and explained whatever I wanted to know. I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into before going in, as I had only studied Sikhism through a World Religion class, but the kindness of the Sikh community I visited was overwhelming. My conversation with Mandheer Singh lasted a long time and he was open to any question I had to ask.\r\n\r\nWhat’s interesting is that the kindness they displayed has been consistent across the few other Sikhs I’ve met. (For instance, my doctor is a Sikh and his is great at putting me at ease, helping me not freak out, and is very good at his job.) I was moved by their hospitality and by their emphasis on equality and community service, and I am proud to count them as my friends.\r\n\r\n<strong>Thanks to Manheer Singh, Mandeep Singh, Kulwinder Singh, and the Sikh Gurdwara of Rochester Hills for allowing me the chance to get to know them and see into their community.</strong>\r\n\r\n<em>Photo credit: </em><em>Flickr / <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/47450200@N02/4350484055/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">sohoandproud</a> (gurdwara), </em><em><a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/sikhiwiki/2300262427/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">sikhiwiki</a> (khanda, a Sikh symbol), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/graphia/5662116967/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">graphia</a> (Sikh children), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/hari_singh/6523149179/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Hari Singh</a> (inside a gurdwara), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/graphia/5648545143/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">graphia</a> (Sikh man)</em>','Faith Interview Series: Sikhism','','inherit','open','open','','5851-revision-10','','','2012-04-07 12:21:18','2012-04-07 19:21:18','',5851,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/07/5851-revision-10/',0,'revision','',0),(5868,38,'2012-04-07 12:29:07','2012-04-07 19:29:07','','sikh-man_flickr_graphia_2','','inherit','open','open','','sikh-man_flickr_graphia_2','','','2012-04-07 12:29:07','2012-04-07 19:29:07','',5851,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/sikh-man_flickr_graphia_2.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(5869,38,'2012-04-07 12:21:24','2012-04-07 19:21:24','I pulled up to the Gurdwara in Rochester Hills, a small white and brick building. “Gurdwara” is the term for a place of worship for those of the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikhism\" target=\"_blank\">Sikh faith</a>. “God is One” was printed prominently on their sign near the road. Two boys playing in the parking lot pointed me to the right door and I entered the gurdwara. I was greeted by Mandheer Singh, a tall gentleman with electric brown eyes and a warm smile. Mandheer Singh is a real estate agent, is married and has two children. (Singh is the last name adopted by Sikh men to signify brotherhood and it means “lion”. Women use “Kaur” which means “Princess”).\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5852\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"A Gurdwara\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/47450200@N02/4350484055/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5852 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/gurdwara_flickr_sohoandproud-300x184.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"184\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\n“Now, the first thing we do is we take off our shoes and cover our hair.” I removed my shoes and he handed me a cream-colored scarf to wear, which I place over the top of my hair and wrapped the excess around each shoulder. Mandheer Singh was wearing a black turban. “The reason we take off our shoes is because we believe God is everywhere and so this is a holy place. And the reason we cover our hair is to show modesty and respect.”\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh first gave me a tour of the gurdwara. Down one hallway was a kitchen. “This kitchen is used to make food that we serve every week for free. Everyone is welcome to eat with us. And this is consistent all across the world, so if you are traveling in a city and need food, or if you are homeless and need a meal, go to a gurdwara and they will take care of you. This is one way we give back to the community, and is one of our core beliefs.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5858\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Sikh women and children\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/graphia/5662116967/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5858\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/sikh-children_flickr_graphia-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nHe then showed me to the room at the end of the hall. There were several women and children sitting on the floor. “This is where the meal will be served after the service. Everyone sits on the floor during the meal to symbolize equality.” In Sikhism, women are not considered any less than men, but are regarded as complete equals in the congregation.\r\n\r\nHe then showed me to the main room down the other hallway where a service was in process, where everyone was sitting on the floor in two main sections with an aisle down the middle.  In the front of the room there was a Sikh man, a Granthi, sitting and reading from scripture.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5860\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Inside a gurdwara\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/hari_singh/6523149179/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5860\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/gurdwara_flickr_hari-singh-300x240.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"240\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\n“They just finished about an hour and a half of singing hymns which are directly taken from our scriptures, and now will go for about another half hour of reading and reciting from the Guru Granth Sahib,” (which is their sacred scriptures). There is a screen with the English translation for those who aren’t familiar with Gurmukhi (the Punjabi language alphabet).\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh wasn’t always a practicing Sikh, he told me. Mandheer Singh’s parents moved from India to the US. He was born in Sacramento, and grew up in a small town in Ohio where his father worked for the Air Force as a civilian. “I grew up in Ohio, so I grew up like any other American. I watched Hulk Hogan, listened to Led Zeppelin, Run DMC, Beastie Boys, all of that.”\r\n\r\nSo how did he come to the Sikh faith? His family came into contact with a few Sikhs who were very dedicated and knowledgable about the religion, and then they went on to introduce his family to more Sikhs in the US and Canada. When he looked around he saw them were being doctors, artists, athletes, professors—fully participating citizens. “I mean, I looked at myself,” said Mandheer Singh. “I have brown skin and dark hair. I was never really going to blend in completely. So it was alright for me to blend in just a little bit less to join this faith. There was something that compelled me to it, and as I learned more about it I felt it was who I really was on the inside.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5862\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"A Sikh young man\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/graphia/5648545143/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5862\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/sikh-man_flickr_graphia-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh and his brother embraced the faith before their parents in to the faith. “He and I stopped cutting our hair and starting wearing our turbans. In fact, I remember chiding my father by saying things like ‘Why do you keep cutting your hair? Don’t you want to be respectful to the faith?’” Mandheer Singh’s father starting making notes when he would talk to people or learn about the Sikh faith. Those notes turned into a folder, which turned into a binder of its own, and now his father is one of the most highly-regarded speakers and scholars of Sikhism.\r\n\r\nThe strengthening of his faith changed his desires as a person. “I stopped listening to all the bands that I used to. Like, if you were to play Run DMC right now, I’ll still know all the words, but it doesn’t feel the same to me anymore. I started listening to our hymns all the time and I just wanted to listen to them even more than everything else.”\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh went on to explain the things that Sikh men have on them at all times, known as the Five Ks.\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kesh_(Sikhism)\" target=\"_blank\">Kesh</a> – Uncut hair</li>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanga_(Sikhism)\" target=\"_blank\">Kanga</a> – A small, wooden comb (“The comb is basically supposed to show us that we are not to cut our hair, but that we are also supposed to take care of it and ourselves out of respect”)</li>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kara_(Sikhism)\" target=\"_blank\">Kara</a> – A metal bracelet (which Mandheer Singh said is very much like a wedding ring)</li>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kachera\" target=\"_blank\">Kachera</a> – A specific type of cotton briefs (which represent chastity and preparedness)</li>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirpan\" target=\"_blank\">Kirpan</a> – A small dagger (you may only fight in <em>defense</em>, never offense)</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5864\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"A Sikh couple\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/petercastleton/5018035205/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5864\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/sikh-couple_flickr_petercastleton-300x221.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"221\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nThe Five Ks give Sikhs a unique outward identity. “I could go into a bar or a club,” (Sikhs are not allowed to drink alcohol) “but I know that I am a walking image of the Gurus and their teachings,” he said. “I could take off my turban and bracelet, but it’s the same thing as if you were to go into a club and take off your wedding rings.”\r\n\r\nI asked about cross-discrimination and racism since September 11<sup>th</sup>, which he said did affect the Sikh community. There were some profane things written on a nearby gurdwara just a few weeks ago.\r\n\r\n“It thought it was unfair that an image I had associated all my life as holy was hijacked; literally hijacked.”\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh remembers the looks he got when he went to the gym after 9/11. He has a Sikh friend in NYC who was attacked on a subway because someone thought he was a Muslim. (“It wouldn’t be right even he had been a Muslim,” Mandheer Singh added.) The judge wanted to send the attacker to jail, but Mandheer Singh’s friend insisted instead that he serve community service at their gurdwara. After getting to know the people and who they were, the man who attacked him apologized and said, “I am so sorry, I didn’t know who you were. Had I known ... I am <em>so</em> sorry.”\r\n\r\n“I have a confession,” Mandheer Singh said to me.\r\n\r\n“I remember going to a Chinese restaurant with a bunch of people and on our way in there were two very white people coming our direction. You know, blonde hair, blue eyes. They were just staring at us. I could feel myself tensing up and I just knew what they were thinking. As we got closer, they said, ‘Hello!’ And I thought, ‘I just did it to them!’ My prejudgment of them was no better than what others had done to me. And that was when I knew I couldn’t live like that anymore. I can’t assume those kinds of things of people. Walking around with a chip on my shoulder just makes things worse.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5856\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Khanda, a Sikh symbol\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/sikhiwiki/2300262427/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-5856 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/khanda_flickr_sikhiwiki-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nWhen I asked him what he loved about being a Sikh, he said sheepishly, “As cliché as it is … everything. I love everything about it. It gives me such a sense of purpose and meaning in my life.”\r\n\r\nEveryone I interacted with at the gurdwara made sure I felt comfortable and explained whatever I wanted to know. I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into before going in, as I had only studied Sikhism through a World Religion class, but the kindness of the Sikh community I visited was overwhelming. My conversation with Mandheer Singh lasted a long time and he was open to any question I had to ask.\r\n\r\nWhat’s interesting is that the kindness they displayed has been consistent across the few other Sikhs I’ve met. (For instance, my doctor is a Sikh and his is great at putting me at ease, helping me not freak out, and is very good at his job.) I was moved by their hospitality and by their emphasis on equality and community service, and I am proud to count them as my friends.\r\n\r\n<strong>Thanks to Manheer Singh, Mandeep Singh, Kulwinder Singh, and the Sikh Gurdwara of Rochester Hills for allowing me the chance to get to know them and see into their community.</strong>\r\n\r\n<em>Photo credit: </em><em>Flickr / <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/47450200@N02/4350484055/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">sohoandproud</a> (gurdwara), </em><em><a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/sikhiwiki/2300262427/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">sikhiwiki</a> (khanda, a Sikh symbol), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/graphia/5662116967/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">graphia</a> (Sikh children), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/hari_singh/6523149179/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Hari Singh</a> (inside a gurdwara), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/graphia/5648545143/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">graphia</a> (Sikh man)</em>','Faith Interview Series: Sikhism','','inherit','open','open','','5851-revision-11','','','2012-04-07 12:21:24','2012-04-07 19:21:24','',5851,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/07/5851-revision-11/',0,'revision','',0),(5870,38,'2012-04-07 12:29:38','2012-04-07 19:29:38','I pulled up to the Gurdwara in Rochester Hills, a small white and brick building. “Gurdwara” is the term for a place of worship for those of the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikhism\" target=\"_blank\">Sikh faith</a>. “God is One” was printed prominently on their sign near the road. Two boys playing in the parking lot pointed me to the right door and I entered the gurdwara. I was greeted by Mandheer Singh, a tall gentleman with electric brown eyes and a warm smile. Mandheer Singh is a real estate agent, is married and has two children. (Singh is the last name adopted by Sikh men to signify brotherhood and it means “lion”. Women use “Kaur” which means “Princess”).\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5852\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"A Gurdwara\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/47450200@N02/4350484055/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5852 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/gurdwara_flickr_sohoandproud-300x184.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"184\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\n“Now, the first thing we do is we take off our shoes and cover our hair.” I removed my shoes and he handed me a cream-colored scarf to wear, which I place over the top of my hair and wrapped the excess around each shoulder. Mandheer Singh was wearing a black turban. “The reason we take off our shoes is because we believe God is everywhere and so this is a holy place. And the reason we cover our hair is to show modesty and respect.”\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh first gave me a tour of the gurdwara. Down one hallway was a kitchen. “This kitchen is used to make food that we serve every week for free. Everyone is welcome to eat with us. And this is consistent all across the world, so if you are traveling in a city and need food, or if you are homeless and need a meal, go to a gurdwara and they will take care of you. This is one way we give back to the community, and is one of our core beliefs.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5858\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Sikh women and children\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/graphia/5662116967/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5858\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/sikh-children_flickr_graphia-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nHe then showed me to the room at the end of the hall. There were several women and children sitting on the floor. “This is where the meal will be served after the service. Everyone sits on the floor during the meal to symbolize equality.” In Sikhism, women are not considered any less than men, but are regarded as complete equals in the congregation.\r\n\r\nHe then showed me to the main room down the other hallway where a service was in process, where everyone was sitting on the floor in two main sections with an aisle down the middle.  In the front of the room there was a Sikh man, a Granthi, sitting and reading from scripture.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5860\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Inside a gurdwara\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/hari_singh/6523149179/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5860\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/gurdwara_flickr_hari-singh-300x240.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"240\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\n“They just finished about an hour and a half of singing hymns which are directly taken from our scriptures, and now will go for about another half hour of reading and reciting from the Guru Granth Sahib,” (which is their sacred scriptures). There is a screen with the English translation for those who aren’t familiar with Gurmukhi (the Punjabi language alphabet).\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh wasn’t always a practicing Sikh, he told me. Mandheer Singh’s parents moved from India to the US. He was born in Sacramento, and grew up in a small town in Ohio where his father worked for the Air Force as a civilian. “I grew up in Ohio, so I grew up like any other American. I watched Hulk Hogan, listened to Led Zeppelin, Run DMC, Beastie Boys, all of that.”\r\n\r\nSo how did he come to the Sikh faith? His family came into contact with a few Sikhs who were very dedicated and knowledgable about the religion, and then they went on to introduce his family to more Sikhs in the US and Canada. When he looked around he saw them were being doctors, artists, athletes, professors—fully participating citizens. “I mean, I looked at myself,” said Mandheer Singh. “I have brown skin and dark hair. I was never really going to blend in completely. So it was alright for me to blend in just a little bit less to join this faith. There was something that compelled me to it, and as I learned more about it I felt it was who I really was on the inside.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5862\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"A Sikh young man\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/graphia/5648545143/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5862\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/sikh-man_flickr_graphia-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh and his brother embraced the faith before their parents in to the faith. “He and I stopped cutting our hair and starting wearing our turbans. In fact, I remember chiding my father by saying things like ‘Why do you keep cutting your hair? Don’t you want to be respectful to the faith?’” Mandheer Singh’s father starting making notes when he would talk to people or learn about the Sikh faith. Those notes turned into a folder, which turned into a binder of its own, and now his father is one of the most highly regarded speakers and scholars of Sikhism.\r\n\r\nThe strengthening of his faith changed his desires as a person. “I stopped listening to all the bands that I used to. Like, if you were to play Run DMC right now, I’ll still know all the words, but it doesn’t feel the same to me anymore. I started listening to our hymns all the time and I just wanted to listen to them even more than everything else.”\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh went on to explain the things that Sikh men have on them at all times, known as the Five Ks.\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kesh_(Sikhism)\" target=\"_blank\">Kesh</a> – Uncut hair</li>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanga_(Sikhism)\" target=\"_blank\">Kanga</a> – A small, wooden comb (“The comb is basically supposed to show us that we are not to cut our hair, but that we are also supposed to take care of it and ourselves out of respect”)</li>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kara_(Sikhism)\" target=\"_blank\">Kara</a> – A metal bracelet (which Mandheer Singh said is very much like a wedding ring)</li>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kachera\" target=\"_blank\">Kachera</a> – A specific type of cotton briefs (which represent chastity and preparedness)</li>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirpan\" target=\"_blank\">Kirpan</a> – A small dagger (you may only fight in <em>defense</em>, never offense)</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5864\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"A Sikh couple\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/petercastleton/5018035205/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5864\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/sikh-couple_flickr_petercastleton-300x221.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"221\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nThe Five Ks give Sikhs a unique outward identity. “I could go into a bar or a club,” (Sikhs are not allowed to drink alcohol) “but I know that I am a walking image of the Gurus and their teachings,” he said. “I could take off my turban and bracelet, but it’s the same thing as if you were to go into a club and take off your wedding rings.”\r\n\r\nI asked about cross-discrimination and racism since September 11<sup>th</sup>, which he said did affect the Sikh community. There were some profane things written on a nearby gurdwara just a few weeks ago.\r\n\r\n“It thought it was unfair that an image I had associated all my life as holy was hijacked; literally hijacked.”\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh remembers the looks he got when he went to the gym after 9/11. He has a Sikh friend in NYC who was attacked on a subway because someone thought he was a Muslim. (“It wouldn’t be right even he had been a Muslim,” Mandheer Singh added.) The judge wanted to send the attacker to jail, but Mandheer Singh’s friend insisted instead that he serve community service at their gurdwara. After getting to know the people and who they were, the man who attacked him apologized and said, “I am so sorry, I didn’t know who you were. Had I known ... I am <em>so</em> sorry.”\r\n\r\n“I have a confession,” Mandheer Singh said to me.\r\n\r\n“I remember going to a Chinese restaurant with a bunch of people and on our way in there were two very white people coming our direction. You know, blonde hair, blue eyes. They were just staring at us. I could feel myself tensing up and I just knew what they were thinking. As we got closer, they said, ‘Hello!’ And I thought, ‘I just did it to them!’ My prejudgment of them was no better than what others had done to me. And that was when I knew I couldn’t live like that anymore. I can’t assume those kinds of things of people. Walking around with a chip on my shoulder just makes things worse.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5856\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Khanda, a Sikh symbol\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/sikhiwiki/2300262427/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-5856 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/khanda_flickr_sikhiwiki-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nWhen I asked him what he loved about being a Sikh, he said sheepishly, “As cliché as it is … everything. I love everything about it. It gives me such a sense of purpose and meaning in my life.”\r\n\r\nEveryone I interacted with at the gurdwara made sure I felt comfortable and explained whatever I wanted to know. I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into before going in, as I had only studied Sikhism through a World Religion class, but the kindness of the Sikh community I visited was overwhelming. My conversation with Mandheer Singh lasted a long time and he was open to any question I had to ask.\r\n\r\nWhat’s interesting is that the kindness they displayed has been consistent across the few other Sikhs I’ve met. (For instance, my doctor is a Sikh and his is great at putting me at ease, helping me not freak out, and is very good at his job.) I was moved by their hospitality and by their emphasis on equality and community service, and I am proud to count them as my friends.\r\n\r\n<strong>Thanks to Manheer Singh, Mandeep Singh, Kulwinder Singh, and the Sikh Gurdwara of Rochester Hills for allowing me the chance to get to know them and see into their community.</strong>\r\n\r\n<em>Photo credit: </em><em>Flickr / <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/47450200@N02/4350484055/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">sohoandproud</a> (gurdwara), </em><em><a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/sikhiwiki/2300262427/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">sikhiwiki</a> (khanda, a Sikh symbol), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/graphia/5662116967/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">graphia</a> (Sikh children), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/hari_singh/6523149179/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Hari Singh</a> (inside a gurdwara), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/graphia/5648545143/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">graphia</a> (Sikh man)</em>','Faith Interview Series: Sikhism','','inherit','open','open','','5851-revision-12','','','2012-04-07 12:29:38','2012-04-07 19:29:38','',5851,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/07/5851-revision-12/',0,'revision','',0),(5872,38,'2012-04-07 12:31:44','2012-04-07 19:31:44','I pulled up to the Gurdwara in Rochester Hills, a small white and brick building. “Gurdwara” is the term for a place of worship for those of the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikhism\" target=\"_blank\">Sikh faith</a>. “God is One” was printed prominently on their sign near the road. Two boys playing in the parking lot pointed me to the right door and I entered the gurdwara. I was greeted by Mandheer Singh, a tall gentleman with electric brown eyes and a warm smile. Mandheer Singh is a real estate agent, is married and has two children. (Singh is the last name adopted by Sikh men to signify brotherhood and it means “lion”. Women use “Kaur” which means “Princess”).\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_5852\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"A Gurdwara\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/47450200@N02/4350484055/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5852 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/gurdwara_flickr_sohoandproud-300x184.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"184\" /></a>[/caption]\n\n“Now, the first thing we do is we take off our shoes and cover our hair.” I removed my shoes and he handed me a cream-colored scarf to wear, which I place over the top of my hair and wrapped the excess around each shoulder. Mandheer Singh was wearing a black turban. “The reason we take off our shoes is because we believe God is everywhere and so this is a holy place. And the reason we cover our hair is to show modesty and respect.”\n\nMandheer Singh first gave me a tour of the gurdwara. Down one hallway was a kitchen. “This kitchen is used to make food that we serve every week for free. Everyone is welcome to eat with us. And this is consistent all across the world, so if you are traveling in a city and need food, or if you are homeless and need a meal, go to a gurdwara and they will take care of you. This is one way we give back to the community, and is one of our core beliefs.”\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_5858\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Sikh women and children\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/graphia/5662116967/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5858\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/sikh-children_flickr_graphia-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nHe then showed me to the room at the end of the hall. There were several women and children sitting on the floor. “This is where the meal will be served after the service. Everyone sits on the floor during the meal to symbolize equality.” In Sikhism, women are not considered any less than men, but are regarded as complete equals in the congregation.\n\nHe then showed me to the main room down the other hallway where a service was in process, where everyone was sitting on the floor in two main sections with an aisle down the middle.  In the front of the room there was a Sikh man, a Granthi, sitting and reading from scripture.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_5860\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Inside a gurdwara\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/hari_singh/6523149179/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5860\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/gurdwara_flickr_hari-singh-300x240.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"240\" /></a>[/caption]\n\n“They just finished about an hour and a half of singing hymns which are directly taken from our scriptures, and now will go for about another half hour of reading and reciting from the Guru Granth Sahib,” (which is their sacred scriptures). There is a screen with the English translation for those who aren’t familiar with Gurmukhi (the Punjabi language alphabet).\n\nMandheer Singh wasn’t always a practicing Sikh, he told me. Mandheer Singh’s parents moved from India to the US. He was born in Sacramento, and grew up in a small town in Ohio where his father worked for the Air Force as a civilian. “I grew up in Ohio, so I grew up like any other American. I watched Hulk Hogan, listened to Led Zeppelin, Run DMC, Beastie Boys, all of that.”\n\nSo how did he come to the Sikh faith? His family came into contact with a few Sikhs who were very dedicated and knowledgable about the religion, and then they went on to introduce his family to more Sikhs in the US and Canada. When he looked around he saw them were being doctors, artists, athletes, professors—fully participating citizens. “I mean, I looked at myself,” said Mandheer Singh. “I have brown skin and dark hair. I was never really going to blend in completely. So it was alright for me to blend in just a little bit less to join this faith. There was something that compelled me to it, and as I learned more about it I felt it was who I really was on the inside.”\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_5862\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"A Sikh young man\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/graphia/5648545143/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5862\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/sikh-man_flickr_graphia-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nMandheer Singh and his brother embraced the faith before their parents in to the faith. “He and I stopped cutting our hair and starting wearing our turbans. In fact, I remember chiding my father by saying things like ‘Why do you keep cutting your hair? Don’t you want to be respectful to the faith?’” Mandheer Singh’s father starting making notes when he would talk to people or learn about the Sikh faith. Those notes turned into a folder, which turned into a binder of its own, and now his father is one of the most highly regarded speakers and scholars of Sikhism.\n\nThe strengthening of his faith changed his desires as a person. “I stopped listening to all the bands that I used to. Like, if you were to play Run DMC right now, I’ll still know all the words, but it doesn’t feel the same to me anymore. I started listening to our hymns all the time and I just wanted to listen to them even more than everything else.”\n\nMandheer Singh went on to explain the things that Sikh men have on them at all times, known as the Five Ks.\n<ul>\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kesh_(Sikhism)\" target=\"_blank\">Kesh</a> – Uncut hair</li>\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanga_(Sikhism)\" target=\"_blank\">Kanga</a> – A small, wooden comb (“The comb is basically supposed to show us that we are not to cut our hair, but that we are also supposed to take care of it and ourselves out of respect”)</li>\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kara_(Sikhism)\" target=\"_blank\">Kara</a> – A metal bracelet (which Mandheer Singh said is very much like a wedding ring)</li>\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kachera\" target=\"_blank\">Kachera</a> – A specific type of cotton briefs (which represent chastity and preparedness)</li>\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirpan\" target=\"_blank\">Kirpan</a> – A small dagger (you may only fight in <em>defense</em>, never offense)</li>\n</ul>\n[caption id=\"attachment_5864\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"A Sikh couple\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/petercastleton/5018035205/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5864\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/sikh-couple_flickr_petercastleton-300x221.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"221\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThe Five Ks give Sikhs a unique outward identity. “I could go into a bar or a club,” (Sikhs are not allowed to drink alcohol) “but I know that I am a walking image of the Gurus and their teachings,” he said. “I could take off my turban and bracelet, but it’s the same thing as if you were to go into a club and take off your wedding rings.”\n\nI asked about cross-discrimination and racism since September 11<sup>th</sup>, which he said did affect the Sikh community. There were some profane things written on a nearby gurdwara just a few weeks ago.\n\n“It thought it was unfair that an image I had associated all my life as holy was hijacked; literally hijacked.”\n\nMandheer Singh remembers the looks he got when he went to the gym after 9/11. He has a Sikh friend in NYC who was attacked on a subway because someone thought he was a Muslim. (“It wouldn’t be right even he had been a Muslim,” Mandheer Singh added.) The judge wanted to send the attacker to jail, but Mandheer Singh’s friend insisted instead that he serve community service at their gurdwara. After getting to know the people and who they were, the man who attacked him apologized and said, “I am so sorry, I didn’t know who you were. Had I known ... I am <em>so</em> sorry.”\n\n“I have a confession,” Mandheer Singh said to me.\n\n“I remember going to a Chinese restaurant with a bunch of people and on our way in there were two very white people coming our direction. You know, blonde hair, blue eyes. They were just staring at us. I could feel myself tensing up and I just knew what they were thinking. As we got closer, they said, ‘Hello!’ And I thought, ‘I just did it to them!’ My prejudgment of them was no better than what others had done to me. And that was when I knew I couldn’t live like that anymore. I can’t assume those kinds of things of people. Walking around with a chip on my shoulder just makes things worse.”\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_5856\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Khanda, a Sikh symbol\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/sikhiwiki/2300262427/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-5856 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/khanda_flickr_sikhiwiki-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nWhen I asked him what he loved about being a Sikh, he said sheepishly, “As cliché as it is … everything. I love everything about it. It gives me such a sense of purpose and meaning in my life.”\n\nEveryone I interacted with at the gurdwara made sure I felt comfortable and explained whatever I wanted to know. I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into before going in, as I had only studied Sikhism through a World Religion class, but the kindness of the Sikh community I visited was overwhelming. My conversation with Mandheer Singh lasted a long time and he was open to any question I had to ask.\n\nWhat’s interesting is that the kindness they displayed has been consistent across the few other Sikhs I’ve met. (For instance, my doctor is a Sikh and his is great at putting me at ease, helping me not freak out, and is very good at his job.) I was moved by their hospitality and by their emphasis on equality and community service, and I am proud to count them as my friends.\n\n<strong>Thanks to Manheer Singh, Mandeep Singh, Kulwinder Singh, and the Sikh Gurdwara of Rochester Hills for allowing me the chance to get to know them and see into their community.</strong>\n\n<em>Photo credit: </em><em>Flickr / <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/47450200@N02/4350484055/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">sohoandproud</a> (gurdwara), </em><em><a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/sikhiwiki/2300262427/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">sikhiwiki</a> (khanda, a Sikh symbol), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/graphia/5662116967/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">graphia</a> (Sikh children), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/hari_singh/6523149179/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Hari Singh</a> (inside a gurdwara), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/graphia/5648545143/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">graphia</a> (Sikh man), aria</em>','Faith Interview Series: Sikhism','','inherit','open','open','','5851-revision-13','','','2012-04-07 12:31:44','2012-04-07 19:31:44','',5851,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/07/5851-revision-13/',0,'revision','',0),(5873,38,'2012-04-07 12:34:15','2012-04-07 19:34:15','I pulled up to the Gurdwara in Rochester Hills, a small white and brick building. “Gurdwara” is the term for a place of worship for those of the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikhism\" target=\"_blank\">Sikh faith</a>. “God is One” was printed prominently on their sign near the road. Two boys playing in the parking lot pointed me to the right door and I entered the gurdwara. I was greeted by Mandheer Singh, a tall gentleman with electric brown eyes and a warm smile. Mandheer Singh is a real estate agent, is married and has two children. (Singh is the last name adopted by Sikh men to signify brotherhood and it means “lion”. Women use “Kaur” which means “Princess”).\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5852\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"A Gurdwara\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/47450200@N02/4350484055/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5852 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/gurdwara_flickr_sohoandproud-300x184.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"184\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\n“Now, the first thing we do is we take off our shoes and cover our hair.” I removed my shoes and he handed me a cream-colored scarf to wear, which I place over the top of my hair and wrapped the excess around each shoulder. Mandheer Singh was wearing a black turban. “The reason we take off our shoes is because we believe God is everywhere and so this is a holy place. And the reason we cover our hair is to show modesty and respect.”\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh first gave me a tour of the gurdwara. Down one hallway was a kitchen. “This kitchen is used to make food that we serve every week for free. Everyone is welcome to eat with us. And this is consistent all across the world, so if you are traveling in a city and need food, or if you are homeless and need a meal, go to a gurdwara and they will take care of you. This is one way we give back to the community, and is one of our core beliefs.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5858\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Sikh women and children\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/graphia/5662116967/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5858\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/sikh-children_flickr_graphia-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nHe then showed me to the room at the end of the hall. There were several women and children sitting on the floor. “This is where the meal will be served after the service. Everyone sits on the floor during the meal to symbolize equality.” In Sikhism, women are not considered any less than men, but are regarded as complete equals in the congregation.\r\n\r\nHe then showed me to the main room down the other hallway where a service was in process, where everyone was sitting on the floor in two main sections with an aisle down the middle.  In the front of the room there was a Sikh man, a Granthi, sitting and reading from scripture.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5860\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Inside a gurdwara\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/hari_singh/6523149179/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5860\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/gurdwara_flickr_hari-singh-300x240.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"240\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\n“They just finished about an hour and a half of singing hymns which are directly taken from our scriptures, and now will go for about another half hour of reading and reciting from the Guru Granth Sahib,” (which is their sacred scriptures). There is a screen with the English translation for those who aren’t familiar with Gurmukhi (the Punjabi language alphabet).\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh wasn’t always a practicing Sikh, he told me. Mandheer Singh’s parents moved from India to the US. He was born in Sacramento, and grew up in a small town in Ohio where his father worked for the Air Force as a civilian. “I grew up in Ohio, so I grew up like any other American. I watched Hulk Hogan, listened to Led Zeppelin, Run DMC, Beastie Boys, all of that.”\r\n\r\nSo how did he come to the Sikh faith? His family came into contact with a few Sikhs who were very dedicated and knowledgable about the religion, and then they went on to introduce his family to more Sikhs in the US and Canada. When he looked around he saw them were being doctors, artists, athletes, professors—fully participating citizens. “I mean, I looked at myself,” said Mandheer Singh. “I have brown skin and dark hair. I was never really going to blend in completely. So it was alright for me to blend in just a little bit less to join this faith. There was something that compelled me to it, and as I learned more about it I felt it was who I really was on the inside.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5871\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The Golden Temple (Amritsar) in the Sikhism capital, the state of Punjab\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/golden-temple_flickr_arian-zwegers.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5871\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/golden-temple_flickr_arian-zwegers-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh and his brother embraced the faith before their parents in to the faith. “He and I stopped cutting our hair and starting wearing our turbans. In fact, I remember chiding my father by saying things like ‘Why do you keep cutting your hair? Don’t you want to be respectful to the faith?’” Mandheer Singh’s father starting making notes when he would talk to people or learn about the Sikh faith. Those notes turned into a folder, which turned into a binder of its own, and now his father is one of the most highly regarded speakers and scholars of Sikhism.\r\n\r\nThe strengthening of his faith changed his desires as a person. “I stopped listening to all the bands that I used to. Like, if you were to play Run DMC right now, I’ll still know all the words, but it doesn’t feel the same to me anymore. I started listening to our hymns all the time and I just wanted to listen to them even more than everything else.”\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh went on to explain the things that Sikh men have on them at all times, known as the Five Ks.\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kesh_(Sikhism)\" target=\"_blank\">Kesh</a> – Uncut hair</li>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanga_(Sikhism)\" target=\"_blank\">Kanga</a> – A small, wooden comb (“The comb is basically supposed to show us that we are not to cut our hair, but that we are also supposed to take care of it and ourselves out of respect”)</li>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kara_(Sikhism)\" target=\"_blank\">Kara</a> – A metal bracelet (which Mandheer Singh said is very much like a wedding ring)</li>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kachera\" target=\"_blank\">Kachera</a> – A specific type of cotton briefs (which represent chastity and preparedness)</li>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirpan\" target=\"_blank\">Kirpan</a> – A small dagger (you may only fight in <em>defense</em>, never offense)</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5864\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"A Sikh couple\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/petercastleton/5018035205/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5864\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/sikh-couple_flickr_petercastleton-300x221.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"221\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nThe Five Ks give Sikhs a unique outward identity. “I could go into a bar or a club,” (Sikhs are not allowed to drink alcohol) “but I know that I am a walking image of the Gurus and their teachings,” he said. “I could take off my turban and bracelet, but it’s the same thing as if you were to go into a club and take off your wedding rings.”\r\n\r\nI asked about cross-discrimination and racism since September 11<sup>th</sup>, which he said did affect the Sikh community. There were some profane things written on a nearby gurdwara just a few weeks ago.\r\n\r\n“It thought it was unfair that an image I had associated all my life as holy was hijacked; literally hijacked.”\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh remembers the looks he got when he went to the gym after 9/11. He has a Sikh friend in NYC who was attacked on a subway because someone thought he was a Muslim. (“It wouldn’t be right even he had been a Muslim,” Mandheer Singh added.) The judge wanted to send the attacker to jail, but Mandheer Singh’s friend insisted instead that he serve community service at their gurdwara. After getting to know the people and who they were, the man who attacked him apologized and said, “I am so sorry, I didn’t know who you were. Had I known ... I am <em>so</em> sorry.”\r\n\r\n“I have a confession,” Mandheer Singh said to me.\r\n\r\n“I remember going to a Chinese restaurant with a bunch of people and on our way in there were two very white people coming our direction. You know, blonde hair, blue eyes. They were just staring at us. I could feel myself tensing up and I just knew what they were thinking. As we got closer, they said, ‘Hello!’ And I thought, ‘I just did it to them!’ My prejudgment of them was no better than what others had done to me. And that was when I knew I couldn’t live like that anymore. I can’t assume those kinds of things of people. Walking around with a chip on my shoulder just makes things worse.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5856\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Khanda, a Sikh symbol\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/sikhiwiki/2300262427/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-5856 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/khanda_flickr_sikhiwiki-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nWhen I asked him what he loved about being a Sikh, he said sheepishly, “As cliché as it is … everything. I love everything about it. It gives me such a sense of purpose and meaning in my life.”\r\n\r\nEveryone I interacted with at the gurdwara made sure I felt comfortable and explained whatever I wanted to know. I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into before going in, as I had only studied Sikhism through a World Religion class, but the kindness of the Sikh community I visited was overwhelming. My conversation with Mandheer Singh lasted a long time and he was open to any question I had to ask.\r\n\r\nWhat’s interesting is that the kindness they displayed has been consistent across the few other Sikhs I’ve met. (For instance, my doctor is a Sikh and his is great at putting me at ease, helping me not freak out, and is very good at his job.) I was moved by their hospitality and by their emphasis on equality and community service, and I am proud to count them as my friends.\r\n\r\n<strong>Thanks to Manheer Singh, Mandeep Singh, Kulwinder Singh, and the Sikh Gurdwara of Rochester Hills for allowing me the chance to get to know them and see into their community.</strong>\r\n\r\n<em>Photo credit: </em><em>Flickr / <em><a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/graphia/5648545143/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">graphia</a> (Sikh young man), </em><a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/47450200@N02/4350484055/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">sohoandproud</a> (gurdwara), </em><em><a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/sikhiwiki/2300262427/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">sikhiwiki</a> (khanda, a Sikh symbol), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/graphia/5662116967/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">graphia</a> (Sikh children), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/hari_singh/6523149179/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Hari Singh</a> (inside a gurdwara), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/azwegers/6289556477/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Arian Zwegers</a> (Amritsar, the Golden Temple in Punjab)</em>','Faith Interview Series: Sikhism','','inherit','open','open','','5851-revision-14','','','2012-04-07 12:34:15','2012-04-07 19:34:15','',5851,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/07/5851-revision-14/',0,'revision','',0),(5874,38,'2012-04-07 12:34:46','2012-04-07 19:34:46','I pulled up to the Gurdwara in Rochester Hills, a small white and brick building. “Gurdwara” is the term for a place of worship for those of the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikhism\" target=\"_blank\">Sikh faith</a>. “God is One” was printed prominently on their sign near the road. Two boys playing in the parking lot pointed me to the right door and I entered the gurdwara. I was greeted by Mandheer Singh, a tall gentleman with electric brown eyes and a warm smile. Mandheer Singh is a real estate agent, is married and has two children. (Singh is the last name adopted by Sikh men to signify brotherhood and it means “lion”. Women use “Kaur” which means “Princess”).\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5852\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"A Gurdwara\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/47450200@N02/4350484055/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5852 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/gurdwara_flickr_sohoandproud-300x184.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"184\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\n“Now, the first thing we do is we take off our shoes and cover our hair.” I removed my shoes and he handed me a cream-colored scarf to wear, which I place over the top of my hair and wrapped the excess around each shoulder. Mandheer Singh was wearing a black turban. “The reason we take off our shoes is because we believe God is everywhere and so this is a holy place. And the reason we cover our hair is to show modesty and respect.”\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh first gave me a tour of the gurdwara. Down one hallway was a kitchen. “This kitchen is used to make food that we serve every week for free. Everyone is welcome to eat with us. And this is consistent all across the world, so if you are traveling in a city and need food, or if you are homeless and need a meal, go to a gurdwara and they will take care of you. This is one way we give back to the community, and is one of our core beliefs.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5858\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Sikh women and children\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/graphia/5662116967/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5858\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/sikh-children_flickr_graphia-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nHe then showed me to the room at the end of the hall. There were several women and children sitting on the floor. “This is where the meal will be served after the service. Everyone sits on the floor during the meal to symbolize equality.” In Sikhism, women are not considered any less than men, but are regarded as complete equals in the congregation.\r\n\r\nHe then showed me to the main room down the other hallway where a service was in process, where everyone was sitting on the floor in two main sections with an aisle down the middle.  In the front of the room there was a Sikh man, a Granthi, sitting and reading from scripture.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5860\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Inside a gurdwara\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/hari_singh/6523149179/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5860\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/gurdwara_flickr_hari-singh-300x240.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"240\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\n“They just finished about an hour and a half of singing hymns which are directly taken from our scriptures, and now will go for about another half hour of reading and reciting from the Guru Granth Sahib,” (which is their sacred scriptures). There is a screen with the English translation for those who aren’t familiar with Gurmukhi (the Punjabi language alphabet).\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh wasn’t always a practicing Sikh, he told me. Mandheer Singh’s parents moved from India to the US. He was born in Sacramento, and grew up in a small town in Ohio where his father worked for the Air Force as a civilian. “I grew up in Ohio, so I grew up like any other American. I watched Hulk Hogan, listened to Led Zeppelin, Run DMC, Beastie Boys, all of that.”\r\n\r\nSo how did he come to the Sikh faith? His family came into contact with a few Sikhs who were very dedicated and knowledgable about the religion, and then they went on to introduce his family to more Sikhs in the US and Canada. When he looked around he saw them were being doctors, artists, athletes, professors—fully participating citizens. “I mean, I looked at myself,” said Mandheer Singh. “I have brown skin and dark hair. I was never really going to blend in completely. So it was alright for me to blend in just a little bit less to join this faith. There was something that compelled me to it, and as I learned more about it I felt it was who I really was on the inside.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5871\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The Golden Temple (Amritsar) in the Sikhism capital, Punjab\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/azwegers/6289556477/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5871 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/golden-temple_flickr_arian-zwegers-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh and his brother embraced the faith before their parents in to the faith. “He and I stopped cutting our hair and starting wearing our turbans. In fact, I remember chiding my father by saying things like ‘Why do you keep cutting your hair? Don’t you want to be respectful to the faith?’” Mandheer Singh’s father starting making notes when he would talk to people or learn about the Sikh faith. Those notes turned into a folder, which turned into a binder of its own, and now his father is one of the most highly regarded speakers and scholars of Sikhism.\r\n\r\nThe strengthening of his faith changed his desires as a person. “I stopped listening to all the bands that I used to. Like, if you were to play Run DMC right now, I’ll still know all the words, but it doesn’t feel the same to me anymore. I started listening to our hymns all the time and I just wanted to listen to them even more than everything else.”\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh went on to explain the things that Sikh men have on them at all times, known as the Five Ks.\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kesh_(Sikhism)\" target=\"_blank\">Kesh</a> – Uncut hair</li>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanga_(Sikhism)\" target=\"_blank\">Kanga</a> – A small, wooden comb (“The comb is basically supposed to show us that we are not to cut our hair, but that we are also supposed to take care of it and ourselves out of respect”)</li>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kara_(Sikhism)\" target=\"_blank\">Kara</a> – A metal bracelet (which Mandheer Singh said is very much like a wedding ring)</li>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kachera\" target=\"_blank\">Kachera</a> – A specific type of cotton briefs (which represent chastity and preparedness)</li>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirpan\" target=\"_blank\">Kirpan</a> – A small dagger (you may only fight in <em>defense</em>, never offense)</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5864\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"A Sikh couple\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/petercastleton/5018035205/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5864\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/sikh-couple_flickr_petercastleton-300x221.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"221\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nThe Five Ks give Sikhs a unique outward identity. “I could go into a bar or a club,” (Sikhs are not allowed to drink alcohol) “but I know that I am a walking image of the Gurus and their teachings,” he said. “I could take off my turban and bracelet, but it’s the same thing as if you were to go into a club and take off your wedding rings.”\r\n\r\nI asked about cross-discrimination and racism since September 11<sup>th</sup>, which he said did affect the Sikh community. There were some profane things written on a nearby gurdwara just a few weeks ago.\r\n\r\n“It thought it was unfair that an image I had associated all my life as holy was hijacked; literally hijacked.”\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh remembers the looks he got when he went to the gym after 9/11. He has a Sikh friend in NYC who was attacked on a subway because someone thought he was a Muslim. (“It wouldn’t be right even he had been a Muslim,” Mandheer Singh added.) The judge wanted to send the attacker to jail, but Mandheer Singh’s friend insisted instead that he serve community service at their gurdwara. After getting to know the people and who they were, the man who attacked him apologized and said, “I am so sorry, I didn’t know who you were. Had I known ... I am <em>so</em> sorry.”\r\n\r\n“I have a confession,” Mandheer Singh said to me.\r\n\r\n“I remember going to a Chinese restaurant with a bunch of people and on our way in there were two very white people coming our direction. You know, blonde hair, blue eyes. They were just staring at us. I could feel myself tensing up and I just knew what they were thinking. As we got closer, they said, ‘Hello!’ And I thought, ‘I just did it to them!’ My prejudgment of them was no better than what others had done to me. And that was when I knew I couldn’t live like that anymore. I can’t assume those kinds of things of people. Walking around with a chip on my shoulder just makes things worse.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5856\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Khanda, a Sikh symbol\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/sikhiwiki/2300262427/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-5856 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/khanda_flickr_sikhiwiki-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nWhen I asked him what he loved about being a Sikh, he said sheepishly, “As cliché as it is … everything. I love everything about it. It gives me such a sense of purpose and meaning in my life.”\r\n\r\nEveryone I interacted with at the gurdwara made sure I felt comfortable and explained whatever I wanted to know. I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into before going in, as I had only studied Sikhism through a World Religion class, but the kindness of the Sikh community I visited was overwhelming. My conversation with Mandheer Singh lasted a long time and he was open to any question I had to ask.\r\n\r\nWhat’s interesting is that the kindness they displayed has been consistent across the few other Sikhs I’ve met. (For instance, my doctor is a Sikh and his is great at putting me at ease, helping me not freak out, and is very good at his job.) I was moved by their hospitality and by their emphasis on equality and community service, and I am proud to count them as my friends.\r\n\r\n<strong>Thanks to Manheer Singh, Mandeep Singh, Kulwinder Singh, and the Sikh Gurdwara of Rochester Hills for allowing me the chance to get to know them and see into their community.</strong>\r\n\r\n<em>Photo credit: </em><em>Flickr / <em><a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/graphia/5648545143/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">graphia</a> (Sikh young man), </em><a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/47450200@N02/4350484055/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">sohoandproud</a> (gurdwara), </em><em><a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/sikhiwiki/2300262427/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">sikhiwiki</a> (khanda, a Sikh symbol), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/graphia/5662116967/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">graphia</a> (Sikh children), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/hari_singh/6523149179/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Hari Singh</a> (inside a gurdwara), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/azwegers/6289556477/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Arian Zwegers</a> (Amritsar, the Golden Temple in Punjab)</em>','Faith Interview Series: Sikhism','','inherit','open','open','','5851-revision-15','','','2012-04-07 12:34:46','2012-04-07 19:34:46','',5851,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/07/5851-revision-15/',0,'revision','',0),(5875,38,'2012-04-07 12:35:23','2012-04-07 19:35:23','I pulled up to the Gurdwara in Rochester Hills, a small white and brick building. “Gurdwara” is the term for a place of worship for those of the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikhism\" target=\"_blank\">Sikh faith</a>. “God is One” was printed prominently on their sign near the road. Two boys playing in the parking lot pointed me to the right door and I entered the gurdwara. I was greeted by Mandheer Singh, a tall gentleman with electric brown eyes and a warm smile. Mandheer Singh is a real estate agent, is married and has two children. (Singh is the last name adopted by Sikh men to signify brotherhood and it means “lion”. Women use “Kaur” which means “Princess”).\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5852\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"A Gurdwara\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/47450200@N02/4350484055/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5852 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/gurdwara_flickr_sohoandproud-300x184.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"184\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\n“Now, the first thing we do is we take off our shoes and cover our hair.” I removed my shoes and he handed me a cream-colored scarf to wear, which I place over the top of my hair and wrapped the excess around each shoulder. Mandheer Singh was wearing a black turban. “The reason we take off our shoes is because we believe God is everywhere and so this is a holy place. And the reason we cover our hair is to show modesty and respect.”\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh first gave me a tour of the gurdwara. Down one hallway was a kitchen. “This kitchen is used to make food that we serve every week for free. Everyone is welcome to eat with us. And this is consistent all across the world, so if you are traveling in a city and need food, or if you are homeless and need a meal, go to a gurdwara and they will take care of you. This is one way we give back to the community, and is one of our core beliefs.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5858\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Sikh women and children\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/graphia/5662116967/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5858\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/sikh-children_flickr_graphia-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nHe then showed me to the room at the end of the hall. There were several women and children sitting on the floor. “This is where the meal will be served after the service. Everyone sits on the floor during the meal to symbolize equality.” In Sikhism, women are not considered any less than men, but are regarded as complete equals in the congregation.\r\n\r\nHe then showed me to the main room down the other hallway where a service was in process, where everyone was sitting on the floor in two main sections with an aisle down the middle.  In the front of the room there was a Sikh man, a Granthi, sitting and reading from scripture.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5860\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Inside a gurdwara\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/hari_singh/6523149179/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5860\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/gurdwara_flickr_hari-singh-300x240.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"240\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\n“They just finished about an hour and a half of singing hymns which are directly taken from our scriptures, and now will go for about another half hour of reading and reciting from the Guru Granth Sahib,” (which is their sacred scriptures). There is a screen with the English translation for those who aren’t familiar with Gurmukhi (the Punjabi language alphabet).\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh wasn’t always a practicing Sikh, he told me. Mandheer Singh’s parents moved from India to the US. He was born in Sacramento, and grew up in a small town in Ohio where his father worked for the Air Force as a civilian. “I grew up in Ohio, so I grew up like any other American. I watched Hulk Hogan, listened to Led Zeppelin, Run DMC, Beastie Boys, all of that.”\r\n\r\nSo how did he come to the Sikh faith? His family came into contact with a few Sikhs who were very dedicated and knowledgable about the religion, and then they went on to introduce his family to more Sikhs in the US and Canada. When he looked around he saw them were being doctors, artists, athletes, professors—fully participating citizens. “I mean, I looked at myself,” said Mandheer Singh. “I have brown skin and dark hair. I was never really going to blend in completely. So it was alright for me to blend in just a little bit less to join this faith. There was something that compelled me to it, and as I learned more about it I felt it was who I really was on the inside.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5871\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The Golden Temple (Amritsar) in the Sikhism capital, Punjab in India\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/azwegers/6289556477/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5871  \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/golden-temple_flickr_arian-zwegers-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh and his brother embraced the faith before their parents in to the faith. “He and I stopped cutting our hair and starting wearing our turbans. In fact, I remember chiding my father by saying things like ‘Why do you keep cutting your hair? Don’t you want to be respectful to the faith?’” Mandheer Singh’s father starting making notes when he would talk to people or learn about the Sikh faith. Those notes turned into a folder, which turned into a binder of its own, and now his father is one of the most highly regarded speakers and scholars of Sikhism.\r\n\r\nThe strengthening of his faith changed his desires as a person. “I stopped listening to all the bands that I used to. Like, if you were to play Run DMC right now, I’ll still know all the words, but it doesn’t feel the same to me anymore. I started listening to our hymns all the time and I just wanted to listen to them even more than everything else.”\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh went on to explain the things that Sikh men have on them at all times, known as the Five Ks.\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kesh_(Sikhism)\" target=\"_blank\">Kesh</a> – Uncut hair</li>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanga_(Sikhism)\" target=\"_blank\">Kanga</a> – A small, wooden comb (“The comb is basically supposed to show us that we are not to cut our hair, but that we are also supposed to take care of it and ourselves out of respect”)</li>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kara_(Sikhism)\" target=\"_blank\">Kara</a> – A metal bracelet (which Mandheer Singh said is very much like a wedding ring)</li>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kachera\" target=\"_blank\">Kachera</a> – A specific type of cotton briefs (which represent chastity and preparedness)</li>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirpan\" target=\"_blank\">Kirpan</a> – A small dagger (you may only fight in <em>defense</em>, never offense)</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5864\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"A Sikh couple\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/petercastleton/5018035205/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5864\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/sikh-couple_flickr_petercastleton-300x221.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"221\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nThe Five Ks give Sikhs a unique outward identity. “I could go into a bar or a club,” (Sikhs are not allowed to drink alcohol) “but I know that I am a walking image of the Gurus and their teachings,” he said. “I could take off my turban and bracelet, but it’s the same thing as if you were to go into a club and take off your wedding rings.”\r\n\r\nI asked about cross-discrimination and racism since September 11<sup>th</sup>, which he said did affect the Sikh community. There were some profane things written on a nearby gurdwara just a few weeks ago.\r\n\r\n“It thought it was unfair that an image I had associated all my life as holy was hijacked; literally hijacked.”\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh remembers the looks he got when he went to the gym after 9/11. He has a Sikh friend in NYC who was attacked on a subway because someone thought he was a Muslim. (“It wouldn’t be right even he had been a Muslim,” Mandheer Singh added.) The judge wanted to send the attacker to jail, but Mandheer Singh’s friend insisted instead that he serve community service at their gurdwara. After getting to know the people and who they were, the man who attacked him apologized and said, “I am so sorry, I didn’t know who you were. Had I known ... I am <em>so</em> sorry.”\r\n\r\n“I have a confession,” Mandheer Singh said to me.\r\n\r\n“I remember going to a Chinese restaurant with a bunch of people and on our way in there were two very white people coming our direction. You know, blonde hair, blue eyes. They were just staring at us. I could feel myself tensing up and I just knew what they were thinking. As we got closer, they said, ‘Hello!’ And I thought, ‘I just did it to them!’ My prejudgment of them was no better than what others had done to me. And that was when I knew I couldn’t live like that anymore. I can’t assume those kinds of things of people. Walking around with a chip on my shoulder just makes things worse.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5856\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Khanda, a Sikh symbol\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/sikhiwiki/2300262427/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-5856 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/khanda_flickr_sikhiwiki-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nWhen I asked him what he loved about being a Sikh, he said sheepishly, “As cliché as it is … everything. I love everything about it. It gives me such a sense of purpose and meaning in my life.”\r\n\r\nEveryone I interacted with at the gurdwara made sure I felt comfortable and explained whatever I wanted to know. I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into before going in, as I had only studied Sikhism through a World Religion class, but the kindness of the Sikh community I visited was overwhelming. My conversation with Mandheer Singh lasted a long time and he was open to any question I had to ask.\r\n\r\nWhat’s interesting is that the kindness they displayed has been consistent across the few other Sikhs I’ve met. (For instance, my doctor is a Sikh and his is great at putting me at ease, helping me not freak out, and is very good at his job.) I was moved by their hospitality and by their emphasis on equality and community service, and I am proud to count them as my friends.\r\n\r\n<strong>Thanks to Manheer Singh, Mandeep Singh, Kulwinder Singh, and the Sikh Gurdwara of Rochester Hills for allowing me the chance to get to know them and see into their community.</strong>\r\n\r\n<em>Photo credit: </em><em>Flickr / <em><a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/graphia/5648545143/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">graphia</a> (Sikh young man), </em><a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/47450200@N02/4350484055/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">sohoandproud</a> (gurdwara), </em><em><a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/sikhiwiki/2300262427/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">sikhiwiki</a> (khanda, a Sikh symbol), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/graphia/5662116967/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">graphia</a> (Sikh children), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/hari_singh/6523149179/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Hari Singh</a> (inside a gurdwara), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/azwegers/6289556477/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Arian Zwegers</a> (Amritsar, the Golden Temple in Punjab)</em>','Faith Interview Series: Sikhism','','inherit','open','open','','5851-revision-16','','','2012-04-07 12:35:23','2012-04-07 19:35:23','',5851,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/07/5851-revision-16/',0,'revision','',0),(5876,38,'2012-04-07 12:35:24','2012-04-07 19:35:24','I pulled up to the Gurdwara in Rochester Hills, a small white and brick building. “Gurdwara” is the term for a place of worship for those of the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikhism\" target=\"_blank\">Sikh faith</a>. “God is One” was printed prominently on their sign near the road. Two boys playing in the parking lot pointed me to the right door and I entered the gurdwara. I was greeted by Mandheer Singh, a tall gentleman with electric brown eyes and a warm smile. Mandheer Singh is a real estate agent, is married and has two children. (Singh is the last name adopted by Sikh men to signify brotherhood and it means “lion”. Women use “Kaur” which means “Princess”).\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5852\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"A Gurdwara\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/47450200@N02/4350484055/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5852 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/gurdwara_flickr_sohoandproud-300x184.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"184\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\n“Now, the first thing we do is we take off our shoes and cover our hair.” I removed my shoes and he handed me a cream-colored scarf to wear, which I place over the top of my hair and wrapped the excess around each shoulder. Mandheer Singh was wearing a black turban. “The reason we take off our shoes is because we believe God is everywhere and so this is a holy place. And the reason we cover our hair is to show modesty and respect.”\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh first gave me a tour of the gurdwara. Down one hallway was a kitchen. “This kitchen is used to make food that we serve every week for free. Everyone is welcome to eat with us. And this is consistent all across the world, so if you are traveling in a city and need food, or if you are homeless and need a meal, go to a gurdwara and they will take care of you. This is one way we give back to the community, and is one of our core beliefs.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5858\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Sikh women and children\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/graphia/5662116967/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5858\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/sikh-children_flickr_graphia-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nHe then showed me to the room at the end of the hall. There were several women and children sitting on the floor. “This is where the meal will be served after the service. Everyone sits on the floor during the meal to symbolize equality.” In Sikhism, women are not considered any less than men, but are regarded as complete equals in the congregation.\r\n\r\nHe then showed me to the main room down the other hallway where a service was in process, where everyone was sitting on the floor in two main sections with an aisle down the middle.  In the front of the room there was a Sikh man, a Granthi, sitting and reading from scripture.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5860\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Inside a gurdwara\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/hari_singh/6523149179/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5860\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/gurdwara_flickr_hari-singh-300x240.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"240\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\n“They just finished about an hour and a half of singing hymns which are directly taken from our scriptures, and now will go for about another half hour of reading and reciting from the Guru Granth Sahib,” (which is their sacred scriptures). There is a screen with the English translation for those who aren’t familiar with Gurmukhi (the Punjabi language alphabet).\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh wasn’t always a practicing Sikh, he told me. Mandheer Singh’s parents moved from India to the US. He was born in Sacramento, and grew up in a small town in Ohio where his father worked for the Air Force as a civilian. “I grew up in Ohio, so I grew up like any other American. I watched Hulk Hogan, listened to Led Zeppelin, Run DMC, Beastie Boys, all of that.”\r\n\r\nSo how did he come to the Sikh faith? His family came into contact with a few Sikhs who were very dedicated and knowledgable about the religion, and then they went on to introduce his family to more Sikhs in the US and Canada. When he looked around he saw them were being doctors, artists, athletes, professors—fully participating citizens. “I mean, I looked at myself,” said Mandheer Singh. “I have brown skin and dark hair. I was never really going to blend in completely. So it was alright for me to blend in just a little bit less to join this faith. There was something that compelled me to it, and as I learned more about it I felt it was who I really was on the inside.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5871\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The Golden Temple (Amritsar) in the Sikhism capital, Punjab in India\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/azwegers/6289556477/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5871  \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/golden-temple_flickr_arian-zwegers-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh and his brother embraced the faith before their parents in to the faith. “He and I stopped cutting our hair and starting wearing our turbans. In fact, I remember chiding my father by saying things like ‘Why do you keep cutting your hair? Don’t you want to be respectful to the faith?’” Mandheer Singh’s father starting making notes when he would talk to people or learn about the Sikh faith. Those notes turned into a folder, which turned into a binder of its own, and now his father is one of the most highly regarded speakers and scholars of Sikhism.\r\n\r\nThe strengthening of his faith changed his desires as a person. “I stopped listening to all the bands that I used to. Like, if you were to play Run DMC right now, I’ll still know all the words, but it doesn’t feel the same to me anymore. I started listening to our hymns all the time and I just wanted to listen to them even more than everything else.”\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh went on to explain the things that Sikh men have on them at all times, known as the Five Ks.\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kesh_(Sikhism)\" target=\"_blank\">Kesh</a> – Uncut hair</li>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanga_(Sikhism)\" target=\"_blank\">Kanga</a> – A small, wooden comb (“The comb is basically supposed to show us that we are not to cut our hair, but that we are also supposed to take care of it and ourselves out of respect”)</li>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kara_(Sikhism)\" target=\"_blank\">Kara</a> – A metal bracelet (which Mandheer Singh said is very much like a wedding ring)</li>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kachera\" target=\"_blank\">Kachera</a> – A specific type of cotton briefs (which represent chastity and preparedness)</li>\r\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirpan\" target=\"_blank\">Kirpan</a> – A small dagger (you may only fight in <em>defense</em>, never offense)</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5864\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"A Sikh couple\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/petercastleton/5018035205/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5864\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/sikh-couple_flickr_petercastleton-300x221.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"221\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nThe Five Ks give Sikhs a unique outward identity. “I could go into a bar or a club,” (Sikhs are not allowed to drink alcohol) “but I know that I am a walking image of the Gurus and their teachings,” he said. “I could take off my turban and bracelet, but it’s the same thing as if you were to go into a club and take off your wedding rings.”\r\n\r\nI asked about cross-discrimination and racism since September 11<sup>th</sup>, which he said did affect the Sikh community. There were some profane things written on a nearby gurdwara just a few weeks ago.\r\n\r\n“It thought it was unfair that an image I had associated all my life as holy was hijacked; literally hijacked.”\r\n\r\nMandheer Singh remembers the looks he got when he went to the gym after 9/11. He has a Sikh friend in NYC who was attacked on a subway because someone thought he was a Muslim. (“It wouldn’t be right even he had been a Muslim,” Mandheer Singh added.) The judge wanted to send the attacker to jail, but Mandheer Singh’s friend insisted instead that he serve community service at their gurdwara. After getting to know the people and who they were, the man who attacked him apologized and said, “I am so sorry, I didn’t know who you were. Had I known ... I am <em>so</em> sorry.”\r\n\r\n“I have a confession,” Mandheer Singh said to me.\r\n\r\n“I remember going to a Chinese restaurant with a bunch of people and on our way in there were two very white people coming our direction. You know, blonde hair, blue eyes. They were just staring at us. I could feel myself tensing up and I just knew what they were thinking. As we got closer, they said, ‘Hello!’ And I thought, ‘I just did it to them!’ My prejudgment of them was no better than what others had done to me. And that was when I knew I couldn’t live like that anymore. I can’t assume those kinds of things of people. Walking around with a chip on my shoulder just makes things worse.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5856\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Khanda, a Sikh symbol\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/sikhiwiki/2300262427/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-5856 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/khanda_flickr_sikhiwiki-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nWhen I asked him what he loved about being a Sikh, he said sheepishly, “As cliché as it is … everything. I love everything about it. It gives me such a sense of purpose and meaning in my life.”\r\n\r\nEveryone I interacted with at the gurdwara made sure I felt comfortable and explained whatever I wanted to know. I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into before going in, as I had only studied Sikhism through a World Religion class, but the kindness of the Sikh community I visited was overwhelming. My conversation with Mandheer Singh lasted a long time and he was open to any question I had to ask.\r\n\r\nWhat’s interesting is that the kindness they displayed has been consistent across the few other Sikhs I’ve met. (For instance, my doctor is a Sikh and his is great at putting me at ease, helping me not freak out, and is very good at his job.) I was moved by their hospitality and by their emphasis on equality and community service, and I am proud to count them as my friends.\r\n\r\n<strong>Thanks to Manheer Singh, Mandeep Singh, Kulwinder Singh, and the Sikh Gurdwara of Rochester Hills for allowing me the chance to get to know them and see into their community.</strong>\r\n\r\n<em>Photo credit: </em><em>Flickr / <em><a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/graphia/5648545143/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">graphia</a> (Sikh young man), </em><a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/47450200@N02/4350484055/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">sohoandproud</a> (gurdwara), </em><em><a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/sikhiwiki/2300262427/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">sikhiwiki</a> (khanda, a Sikh symbol), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/graphia/5662116967/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">graphia</a> (Sikh children), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/hari_singh/6523149179/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Hari Singh</a> (inside a gurdwara), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/azwegers/6289556477/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Arian Zwegers</a> (Amritsar, the Golden Temple in Punjab)</em>','Faith Interview Series: Sikhism','','inherit','open','open','','5851-revision-17','','','2012-04-07 12:35:24','2012-04-07 19:35:24','',5851,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/07/5851-revision-17/',0,'revision','',0),(5877,38,'2012-05-11 08:31:53','2012-05-11 15:31:53','I pulled up to the Gurdwara in Rochester Hills, a small white and brick building. “Gurdwara” is the term for a place of worship for those of the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikhism\" target=\"_blank\">Sikh faith</a>. “God is One” was printed prominently on their sign near the road. Two boys playing in the parking lot pointed me to the right door and I entered the gurdwara. I was greeted by Mandheer Singh, a tall gentleman with electric brown eyes and a warm smile. Mandheer Singh is a real estate agent, is married and has two children. (Singh is the last name adopted by Sikh men to signify brotherhood and it means “lion\". Women use “Kaur” which means “Princess”.)\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_5852\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"A Gurdwara\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/47450200@N02/4350484055/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5852 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/gurdwara_flickr_sohoandproud-300x184.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"184\" /></a>[/caption]\n\n“Now, the first thing we do is we take off our shoes and cover our hair.” I removed my shoes and he handed me a cream-colored scarf to wear, which I place over the top of my hair and wrapped the excess around each shoulder. Mandheer Singh was wearing a black turban. “The reason we take off our shoes is because we believe God is everywhere and so this is a holy place. And the reason we cover our hair is to show modesty and respect.”\n<h2>About the Gurdwara</h2>\nMandheer Singh first gave me a tour of the gurdwara. Down one hallway was a kitchen. “This kitchen is used to make food that we serve every week for free. Everyone is welcome to eat with us. And this is consistent all across the world, so if you are traveling in a city and need food, or if you are homeless and need a meal, go to a gurdwara and they will take care of you. This is one way we give back to the community, and is one of our core beliefs.”\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_5858\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Sikh women and children\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/graphia/5662116967/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5858\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/sikh-children_flickr_graphia-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nHe then showed me to the room at the end of the hall. There were several women and children sitting on the floor. “This is where the meal will be served after the service. Everyone sits on the floor during the meal to symbolize equality.” In Sikhism, women are not considered any less than men, but are regarded as complete equals in the congregation.\n\nHe then showed me to the main room down the other hallway where a service was in process, where everyone was sitting on the floor in two main sections with an aisle down the middle.  In the front of the room there was a Sikh man, a Granthi, sitting and reading from scripture.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_5860\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Inside a gurdwara\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/hari_singh/6523149179/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5860\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/gurdwara_flickr_hari-singh-300x240.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"240\" /></a>[/caption]\n\n“They just finished about an hour and a half of singing hymns which are directly taken from our scriptures, and now will go for about another half hour of reading and reciting from the Guru Granth Sahib,” (which is their sacred scriptures). There is a screen with the English translation for those who aren’t familiar with Gurmukhi (the Punjabi language alphabet).\n<h2>Life as a Sikh</h2>\nMandheer Singh wasn’t always a practicing Sikh, he told me. Mandheer Singh’s parents moved from India to the US. He was born in Sacramento, and grew up in a small town in Ohio where his father worked for the Air Force as a civilian. “I grew up in Ohio, so I grew up like any other American. I watched Hulk Hogan, listened to Led Zeppelin, Run DMC, Beastie Boys, all of that.”\n\nSo how did he come to the Sikh faith? His family came into contact with a few Sikhs who were very dedicated and knowledgable about the religion, and then they went on to introduce his family to more Sikhs in the US and Canada. When he looked around he saw them were being doctors, artists, athletes, professors—fully participating citizens. “I mean, I looked at myself,” said Mandheer Singh. “I have brown skin and dark hair. I was never really going to blend in completely. So it was alright for me to blend in just a little bit less to join this faith. There was something that compelled me to it, and as I learned more about it I felt it was who I really was on the inside.”\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_5871\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The Golden Temple (Amritsar) in the Sikhism capital, Punjab in India\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/azwegers/6289556477/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5871  \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/golden-temple_flickr_arian-zwegers-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nMandheer Singh and his brother embraced the faith before their parents in to the faith. “He and I stopped cutting our hair and starting wearing our turbans. In fact, I remember chiding my father by saying things like ‘Why do you keep cutting your hair? Don’t you want to be respectful to the faith?’” Mandheer Singh’s father starting making notes when he would talk to people or learn about the Sikh faith. Those notes turned into a folder, which turned into a binder of its own, and now his father is one of the most highly regarded speakers and scholars of Sikhism.\n\nThe strengthening of his faith changed his desires as a person. “I stopped listening to all the bands that I used to. Like, if you were to play Run DMC right now, I’ll still know all the words, but it doesn’t feel the same to me anymore. I started listening to our hymns all the time and I just wanted to listen to them even more than everything else.”\n\nMandheer Singh went on to explain the things that Sikh men have on them at all times, known as the Five Ks.\n<ul>\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kesh_(Sikhism)\" target=\"_blank\">Kesh</a> – Uncut hair</li>\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanga_(Sikhism)\" target=\"_blank\">Kanga</a> – A small, wooden comb (“The comb is basically supposed to show us that we are not to cut our hair, but that we are also supposed to take care of it and ourselves out of respect”)</li>\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kara_(Sikhism)\" target=\"_blank\">Kara</a> – A metal bracelet (which Mandheer Singh said is very much like a wedding ring)</li>\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kachera\" target=\"_blank\">Kachera</a> – A specific type of cotton briefs (which represent chastity and preparedness)</li>\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirpan\" target=\"_blank\">Kirpan</a> – A small dagger (you may only fight in <em>defense</em>, never offense)</li>\n</ul>\n[caption id=\"attachment_5864\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"A Sikh couple\"]<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/petercastleton/5018035205/in/photostream/\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-5864\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/sikh-couple_flickr_petercastleton-300x221.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"221\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThe Five Ks give Sikhs a unique outward identity. “I could go into a bar or a club,” (Sikhs are not allowed to drink alcohol) “but I know that I am a walking image of the Gurus and their teachings,” he said. “I could take off my turban and bracelet, but it’s the same thing as if you were to go into a club and take off your wedding rings.”\n<h2>How 9/11 Affected the Sikh Community</h2>\nI asked about cross-discrimination and racism since September 11<sup>th</sup>, which he said did affect the Sikh community. There were some profane things written on a nearby gurdwara just a few weeks ago.\n\n“It thought it was unfair that an image I had associated all my life as holy was hijacked; literally hijacked.”\n\nMandheer Singh remembers the looks he got when he went to the gym after 9/11. He has a Sikh friend in NYC who was attacked on a subway because someone thought he was a Muslim. (“It wouldn’t be right even he had been a Muslim,” Mandheer Singh added.) The judge wanted to send the attacker to jail, but Mandheer Singh’s friend insisted instead that he serve community service at their gurdwara. After getting to know the people and who they were, the man who attacked him apologized and said, “I am so sorry, I didn’t know who you were. Had I known ... I am <em>so</em> sorry.”\n\n“I have a confession,” Mandheer Singh said to me.\n<blockquote>I remember going to a Chinese restaurant with a bunch of people and on our way in there were two very white people coming our direction. You know, blonde hair, blue eyes. They were just staring at us. I could feel myself tensing up and I just knew what they were thinking. As we got closer, they said, \"Hello!\" And I thought, \"I just did it to them!\" My prejudgment of them was no better than what others had done to me. And that was when I knew I couldn’t live like that anymore. I can’t assume those kinds of things of people. Walking around with a chip on my shoulder just makes things worse.</blockquote>\nWhen I asked him what he loved about being a Sikh, he said sheepishly, “As cliché as it is … everything. I love everything about it. It gives me such a sense of purpose and meaning in my life.”\n<h2>Conclusion</h2>\n[caption id=\"attachment_5856\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Khanda, a Sikh symbol\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/khanda_flickr_sikhiwiki.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-5856\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/khanda_flickr_sikhiwiki-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nEveryone I interacted with at the gurdwara made sure I felt comfortable and explained whatever I wanted to know. I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into before going in, as I had only studied Sikhism through a World Religion class, but the kindness of the Sikh community I visited was overwhelming. My conversation with Mandheer Singh lasted a long time and he was open to any question I had to ask.\n\nWhat’s interesting is that the kindness they displayed has been consistent across the few other Sikhs I’ve met. (For instance, my doctor is a Sikh. His kind smile puts me at ease and he very good at his job.) I was moved by their hospitality and by their emphasis on equality and community service, and I am proud to count them as my friends.\n\n<strong>Thanks to Manheer Singh, Mandeep Singh, Kulwinder Singh, and the Sikh Gurdwara of Rochester Hills for allowing me the chance to get to know them and see into their community.</strong>\n\n<strong><em>Next, we\'ll hear from one of the most influential Jews in social media, a Rabbi in Detroit.</em></strong>\n\n<em>Photo credit: </em><em>Flickr / <em><a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/graphia/5648545143/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">graphia</a> (Sikh young man), </em><a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/47450200@N02/4350484055/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">sohoandproud</a> (gurdwara), </em><em><a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/sikhiwiki/2300262427/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">sikhiwiki</a> (khanda, a Sikh symbol), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/graphia/5662116967/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">graphia</a> (Sikh children), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/hari_singh/6523149179/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Hari Singh</a> (inside a gurdwara), <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/azwegers/6289556477/in/photostream/\" target=\"_blank\">Arian Zwegers</a> (Amritsar, the Golden Temple in Punjab)</em>','Faith Interview Series: Sikhism','','inherit','open','open','','5851-autosave','','','2012-05-11 08:31:53','2012-05-11 15:31:53','',5851,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/07/5851-autosave/',0,'revision','',0),(5878,125,'2012-04-15 08:00:56','2012-04-15 15:00:56','It is widely known that Lion is the King of all within the forest. Yet what is less widely known is that Lion once prowled the grounds alongside several quieter and more impoverished-looking animals. Following his every step across the leaf-riddled forest floor were Hare, Turtle, Crow, and nine other animals. The others within Lion\'s family saw this group make their way through the trees and laughed to themselves, feeling like Lion had given up his strength and wisdom in spending his quieter times with these creatures instead of going out and hunting.\r\n\r\nBut Lion was not the King because he always did what the other animals expected. He was the King because he did what was right.\r\n\r\nOne crisp evening, as the first bits of wintertime snow collected around the bases of the trees and rocks, Lion laid down to dine with the twelve animals. Hare, the most devoted of all the group, decided to declare his allegiance to Lion by cutting off his tail and giving it to Lion. As he readied a sharp stone, the other animals gathered near and told Lion that they were ready to do the same.\r\n\r\nLion stood, ruffled out the crystals of snow that had gathered in his mane, and took the stone away. He looked at each of the animals with sadness in his eyes, and roared a roar that seemed to hang in the air for several minutes. All the animals stood quietly as the roar spread its way through the forest floor, and then Lion retreated towards a tunnel in the woods, one that the other animals had never seen before but that seemed darker than any other part of the forest they had encountered.\r\n\r\nThe other animals seemed frozen in time. Turtle and Crow took a few steps backwards and then moved together towards the light of the clearing where the animals had spent most of their time together. Lizard and Pig made sounds towards the tunnel where Lion had gone, beckoning him to return. But when he didn\'t, they sat where they were and began to moan softly.\r\n\r\nHare, on the other hand, as he was the most passionate of all the other animals that had been following Lion, mustered all his courage. And with a thump of his tail, he began to hop towards to dark of the tunnel.\r\n\r\nThe woods seem to bend and contort in on themselves. They curled in ways Hare had never seen, reaching their tangled fingers down as if to steal him away into their shadows. Hare\'s courage quickly drained, and he soon found himself in complete darkness, completely alone, completely forgotten. He took four more hops forward, then heard a faint sound in his large ear. It was the slither of Snake, creeping his way towards him in the darkness. He looked down to see the yellow shine in his eyes against the otherwise blackened landscape.\r\n\r\n\"Sssssss...are you looking for Lion, sssssssir?\" I have ssssseen you with him...\"\r\n\r\nHare quivered and then spit out four words without thinking:\r\n\r\n\"I don\'t know Lion.\"\r\n\r\nSnake slithered away slowly, and all was silent for a moment until Hare heard the resounding thump of Elephant\'s paws as he entered the part of the woods where Hare now stood.\r\n\r\n\"Is that you, Hare? Where is Lion? Aren\'t you one of the animals he travels alongside?\"\r\n\r\nHare shook his head so quickly his ears flopped against one another.\r\n\r\nElephant lumbered away, and Hare took a few more steps. There seemed to be some moonlight forcing its way into this part of the trail. As he walked towards it, tiny Grasshopper clicked and bounced his way onto Hare\'s shoulder.\r\n\r\n\"You are one of Lion\'s animals. You smell like Lion, you even walk like him.\"\r\n\r\nHare brushed Grasshopper off of his shoulder and began jumping at full-speed towards the growing moonlight, yelling back over his shoulder, \"No!\"\r\n\r\nGuilt and fear crept in on Hare like the branches of all the trees and he felt as if he could do nothing but burst when he emptied out into a small clearing...\r\n\r\n...and came face-to-face with Lion, bound tightly by several taut ropes that were staked through each of his paws and into the ground.\r\n\r\nIf it weren\'t for the rich, red blood that seeped from his wounds, Lion would have looked peaceful. Hare tentatively stepped up where his head lay against a clump of damp grass. He glanced at his closed eyes, and then his gaze was drawn to the woods behind Lion. Through the trees, he could just make out the haunting gaze of no less than seven other lions, smugly overseeing their handiwork.\r\n\r\nHare tried to muster the strength to say Lion\'s name, but all that came out of his mouth was a breath.\r\n\r\nLion moaned quietly, and shifted his body just the tiniest bit. This movement was enough to snap Hare back into the reality of what was happening. He bounded back the way he had come, and arrived back at the animals\' clearing in an instant.\r\n\r\nHe explained to Turtle, Crow, and the others what had happened. They gathered together, wept, and fell asleep in the clearing, not knowing what to do.\r\n\r\nThey stayed together in that spot for nearly three days, until the urge for food was too great to bear. Hare went with Turtle to forage for some vegetables in a nearby garden. As they sniffed around in an ancient patch of lettuce, a familiar sound echoed through their ears. Hare thought nothing of it the first time, so focused he was on gathering breakfast. But then it happened again, a roaring sound. Hare\'s ears twitched as he looked up, and found himself staring directly into Lion\'s kind eyes.\r\n\r\n\"Look over on that side...there is a whole field of lettuce.\"\r\n\r\nWhen Lion spoke these words, Hare bounded forward, burying his ears and face in Lion\'s mane. He purred softly, tears welling in his eyes. After a few moments, he stepped back, looking at Lion as if for the first time. He noticed that Lion still had holes from the stakes in his paws, but he was very much alive. Hare had thought for certain that Lion had been killed. This joyous wonder was stabbed through by the knife of guilt he felt at denying Lion.\r\n\r\nBut before he could say anything about it, Lion put his great paw on Hare\'s head. It was then that Hare noticed Lion wearing a bright gold crown, brighter than any object he had ever seen. Lion looked into Hare\'s eyes, and told him how those ropes were meant for him. Lion told Hare that it should have been him staked to the ground.\r\n\r\n\"But\", Lion said, \"the love I have for you is such that I was bound by that trap so that you never need be. In return, I ask simply that you follow my lead, that you care for the animals that have not met me, and that you make sure every animal in the forest knows they need never fear being trapped by those ropes again.\"\r\n\r\nLion and Hare, along with Turtle, Crow and the others returned to the forest, a forest forever changed because of what Lion did that day. It is said that since then, the whole forest has heard the tale of Lion and his animals. Some believe the story, others don\'t. But the most important thing to remember is that the traps have been removed, whether the other animals believe it or not.\r\n\r\nLion still wears his crown to this very day, and Hare grew old telling of their adventures and of how the love of Lion is what made him the King of all the forest.\r\n\r\nThe End\r\n\r\n(a fable concerning itself with Mark 14-16 and John 21)','King Lion and Fearful Hare (A Fable)','','publish','open','open','','king-lion-and-fearful-hare-a-fable','','','2012-04-14 09:30:21','2012-04-14 16:30:21','',0,'http://provoketive.com/?p=5878',0,'post','',0),(5879,125,'2012-04-07 13:52:16','2012-04-07 20:52:16','','Auto Draft','','inherit','open','open','','5878-revision','','','2012-04-07 13:52:16','2012-04-07 20:52:16','',5878,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/07/5878-revision/',0,'revision','',0),(5880,125,'2012-04-21 08:00:51','2012-04-21 15:00:51','There was a moment a few weeks ago when I looked out across my living room, guitar in hand, and watched Spirit bring people to their knees. Others were dancing, some were praying, some may have been a bit distracted by other things, but in that moment I had the immediate revelation that what I was witnessing was a glimpse of the type of community that God has defined for us in the example of the Trinity.\r\n\r\nAnd in that moment, my wife and I opening up our apartment each week to host house church made perfect sense.\r\n\r\nIt doesn’t always make as much sense as it did in that moment, and there will be plenty of times in the future where it will be a big struggle. But the necessity of us allowing God to move through our community is not predicated on the ease at which it happens. As we have grown into this role over the past year and a half, I have come to realize more and more that the refinement we go through as human beings created in the image of God is meant to be an experience that is shared and transparent. The love so freely poured into us by God is meant to be spread throughout a small group of like-minded people. The unity that Paul speaks to us as what our hearts should desire to be eagerly maintained is far more easily pursued with 20 than with 20,000.\r\n\r\nSomething I have come to realize lately is that I am far more in touch with what house church should NOT be than ever before, and in analyzing these things we can get a far better view of what house church should be.\r\n\r\n1. House church is not an event\r\n\r\nIn our church society here in the West, the past several decades have seen us not only shift to the extreme of severe separation from culture at hand on the one side of things to casting ourselves as cultural doppelgängers, producing and distributing faulty reproductions of what we feel people really want under the banner of “Christianity”. Part of that mimicry is the false notion that in order for people to attend church regularly it must be promoted and held aloft by regular events.\r\n\r\nHouse church could not be farther from this type of thing.\r\n\r\nAnd people attending house churches with the paradigm that it is some sort of revival, some sort of promotional tool used to make them get excited about “real” church will never come to a place of truly diving in deep with a community of people because they will always see these gatherings as a chance for them to be entertained. The early church gathered in houses because they did not have access to large buildings and because, due in large part to the governmental oppression they faced, meeting in larger groups would have been dangerous to the vibrancy of their congregation. Also, I genuinely feel that God guided the church to develop in this way because of the level of intimacy that can be achieved unique to this type of setting.\r\n\r\n2. House church is not “more biblical” than institutional church\r\n\r\nAgain, many in our society (specifically those that have grown up in a church setting) have become polarized when it comes to how the church in the West has represented itself to the world at large. Apart from the more historical hypocrisies such as the Inquisition and the Crusades, the church has faced its fair share of bastardizing from those within it, in hugely detrimental ways during the past few decades.\r\n\r\nBut as quick as many believers are to separate themselves from these misuses, we must be careful to remember that we should not separate ourselves from the church itself. First, and most importantly, the Church is Christ’s bride. As an institution, it represents the relationship that Jesus wants to have with each one of us on a personal level. Secondly, the church was created by God, guided by God, and continues to get its breath from God. Apart from the things done in its name that are against God himself, the Church is where it is today because God wants to use it in our society, broken as it is, right now. Thus, the institution of the church should not be abandoned simply because of its wounds.\r\n\r\n3. House church is not a response to what the church is doing wrong\r\n\r\nThis follows closely from the last point, but can be further clarified. Many of the people I have encountered that find fulfillment and growth within a house church environment also bring with them severe amounts of baggage and anger at the traditional church. If you approach a house church setting with the idea that you are countering the woes of “big church” then you run the dangerous risk of allowing yourself to create an “us vs. them” mentality that is cancerous. Our house church exists as a response to what we feel Christ wants to do right through us, not what we feel the church is doing wrong. Making yourself or your group an island, setting a precedent that what you are doing is any better than what anyone else is doing is a quick route to letting your pride and lack of accountability crumble what God wants to do through you.\r\n\r\n4. House church is not perfect\r\n\r\nAs leaders, we realize the huge responsibility we have to shepherd. We realize that it is vital for us to be under the leadership and accountability of a larger body. And while we realize that none of them are perfect, we realize that God has set them in place above us and our submission is necessary for our growth. Our teachings, our decisions, and our mission should all be tested and prayed into by not only ourselves but our leaders as well. To blindly assume that, in our broken state, we can fully trust what we feel is the Holy Spirit teaching us directly through the Scriptures is an ominous and arrogant path to tread. It must be remembered that much of the New Testament deals with the heresies arising from within the church itself. And with the structure we see them clinging to, those heresies came about in the midst of house churches. There is no guarantee that our teaching or leadership is protected from false doctrine, nor should those from within our group be so bold as to assume that they are free from it either.\r\n\r\n5. House church is not traditional church\r\n\r\nI have said a lot about the important distinctions between house church and institutional church, but it is important to remember that there are some awesome ways in which house church does not at all look like traditional church, nor should it. House church opens immense opportunities for the community. It removes many barriers unintentionally imposed in a larger congregation that keep people from using the gifts God wants to manifest through them. It massively increases the level of intimacy between members, simply because if done well a house church results in lives lived in close contact with others. It disintegrates the commonly assumed divide between clergy and laity, the wall that has for years single-handedly kept members lazy and pastors overworked. It gives more freedom to worship, simply because it doesn’t “have” to look like regular church.\r\n\r\nAnd it allows, if you step back and watch, a closer look at what the body of Christ is meant to look like. If people realize something just will not work without their help, they are far more likely to step in and do their job.\r\n\r\nThe biggest challenge that I currently face in leading this house church is making sure I am offering a space with equal amounts of invitation and challenge. While I desire in my heart for it to be a place where any and all are welcome with open arms, that invitation does come at a cost. It comes with the cost of knowing what you are responsible for. I lead from a place of being led. I feel there should be submission because I myself am submitting. I understand the importance of both work and rest, and want all alongside me to pursue both of those things as well.\r\n\r\nAnd, ultimately, I recognize that the church at large is not broken. It is filled with broken people, but it should not be abandoned. It has places that should be refined, but we must allow God to refine us before thinking we could make something better.\r\n\r\nThe promise that I make is to seek unity through humbly leading a ministry that I seek God and my leaders about on a daily basis, to boldly pursue what God leads no matter the cost while never allowing my pride to tell me I can do it alone, to seek the voice of the Father and the guidance of the Spirit while making sure that the things I hear and the paths I seek are tested by others, and to worship with full abandon as a member within a body that, while still ugly and broken, is being pruned, fired, and washed in the constant care of my God and the church that is His Son’s bride. And all I ask is that you promise the same.\r\n\r\nThe invitation is open, but making the promise is required.\r\n\r\nThat is what house church is to me.\r\n\r\n1 Corinthians 14:26 – “What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up.”','What House Church Is to Me','','publish','open','open','','what-house-church-is-to-me','','','2012-04-20 13:23:28','2012-04-20 20:23:28','',0,'http://provoketive.com/?p=5880',0,'post','',0),(5881,12,'2012-04-10 13:00:45','2012-04-10 20:00:45','In my town, there are a lot of living nativity scenes every year. <a href=\"http://provoketive.com/2011/12/17/three-reasons-to-tear-down-the-nativity-scene/\">I don\'t like them</a>. I\'ve blogged about before. There\'s only one thing I can\'t stand more than a living nativity.\r\n\r\nA living crucifixion reenactment.\r\n\r\nThere are three in this county every year. I get my boxers in a wad about it every year. I want to drive by them every year and yell, \"Get him down from there!\"\r\n\r\nI hate to say that they \"offend\" me. Everyone is offended these days. It takes so little to offend the modern mind. So, I\'m not offended. I just run afoul of the fact that churches think that the gospel is being spread by putting middle-aged men on a cross so people can see them on there. In a world filled with suffering, what good does it do to see a picture of more suffering without explanation? People drive by without any idea why the Christ suffered. (more thoughts below)\r\n\r\nI drove by this year and had one of my \"oh, snap\" moments, though. I did get offended. Severely offended. Good Friday should be seriously offensive to every Christian.\r\n\r\nThe day Christ went to Calvary, he went so willingly. In the Garden of Gethsemane, he asked that the cup of suffering would pass from him, but then said, \"but not my will, but yours,\" speaking of his father. Then, we willingly went to the cross, bore our sins and endured the wrath of God.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/living-crucifixion.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-5883\" style=\"margin-left: 6px; margin-right: 6px;\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/living-crucifixion-300x184.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"184\" /></a>He bore my sins. My daily, sickening, evil, nasty sins. For me. So I would not have to endure the wrath of God. He stood in my place. I am offended by my own sin. My sin is offensive to me. It is offensive to God. And it was so offensive, He turned His back on His Son.\r\n\r\nThe name of \"Good Friday\" is filled with irony. It was a horrific day. An awful day. But it bought me redemption.\r\n\r\nI\'m not brought to remembrance of those things by seeing untanned modern men on a cross by the side of the road. I am reminded of it when I read Scripture. And the passerby who does not know needs to be told by a messenger. A messenger who understands the proclamation - \"Go forth and preach to the nations.\"\r\n\r\nGood Friday and Resurrection Sunday are not days of reenactment. They are days of proclamation. Days of reflection. Resurrection Sunday in particular, is a day of celebration when we recall Jesus\' victory over sin and death once and for all.\r\n\r\nSo, I\'ll ignore those who want to put on a play, I suppose. The words of the Bible are the way we remember. Christ revealed himself as the Word and it is in the word that we will find solace.\r\n\r\n____________________________\r\n\r\nAdditional thoughts on the living crucifixion scenes:\r\n\r\nI just had a discussion with my friend about these scenes. His point was that these scenes might give passerby\'s a notion to stop into the church and ask about Christ. The response? No, they don\'t. They are about as helpful as cliché church signs. I was a member of a church that did living crucifixions and the pastor told me that they never had anyone visit who had seen the living crucifixion.\r\n\r\nMy friend also had a thought: \"<em>What if one person saw it and got saved?</em>\" Response - that\'s an argument from pragmatism. It\'s akin to the youth rally preacher who asks all the youth at the event to pray the sinners prayer and then says, \"<em>Anyone who prayed that prayer, come up front, you\'re saved.</em>\" At times, I\'ve heard of 400-800 kids responding. The reality? Less than 1% of the kids are saved. The rest have a false sense of security about their salvation. But the response of most is, \"Well, but what if one kid got saved?\" Our methods are poor.\r\n\r\nOn Good Friday at one of these living nativities, I saw forty church members there. What if those church members instead decided to share the gospel with their friends and loved ones directly? What if they decided to show the love of Christ to those around them? I guarantee a better result. A community filled with the love of Christ and changed lives.','Post-Good Friday Traumatic Stress','','publish','open','open','','post-good-friday-traumatic-stress','','','2012-04-10 09:51:53','2012-04-10 16:51:53','',0,'http://provoketive.com/?p=5881',0,'post','',2),(5882,12,'2012-04-07 16:26:20','2012-04-07 23:26:20','','church sign crucifixion','','inherit','open','open','','church-sign-crucifixion','','','2012-04-07 16:26:20','2012-04-07 23:26:20','',5881,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/church-sign-crucifixion.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(5883,12,'2012-04-07 16:27:14','2012-04-07 23:27:14','','living crucifixion','','inherit','open','open','','living-crucifixion','','','2012-04-07 16:27:14','2012-04-07 23:27:14','',5881,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/living-crucifixion.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(5884,12,'2012-04-07 16:27:25','2012-04-07 23:27:25','In my town, there are a lot of living nativity scenes every year. I don\'t like them. I have reason that I\'ve blogged about before. There\'s only one thing I can\'t stand more than a living nativity.\n\nA living crucifixion reenactment.\n\nThere are three in this county every year. I get my boxers in a wad about it every year. I want to drive by them every year and yell, \"Get him down from there!\"\n\nI hate to say that they \"offend\" me. Everyone is offended these days. It takes so little to offend the modern mind. So, I\'m not offended. I just run afoul of the fact that churches think that the gospel is being spread by putting middle-aged men on a cross so people can see them on there. In a world filled with suffering, what good does it do to see a picture of more suffering without explanation? People drive by without any idea why the Christ suffered. (more thoughts below)\n\nI drove by this year and had one of my \"oh, snap\" moments, though. I did get offended. Severely offended. Good Friday should be seriously offensive to every Christian.\n\nThe day Christ went to Calvary, he went so willingly. In the Garden of Gethsemane, he asked that the cup of suffering would pass from him, but then said, \"but not my will, but yours,\" speaking of his father. Then, we willingly went to the cross, bore our sins and endured the wrath of God.\n\n<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/living-crucifixion.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-5883\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/living-crucifixion-300x184.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"184\" /></a>He bore my sins. My daily, sickening, evil, nasty sins. For me. So I would not have to endure the wrath of God. He stood in my place. I am offended by my own sin. My sin is offensive to me. It is offensive to God. And it was so offensive, He turned His back on His Son.\n\nThe name of \"Good Friday\" is filled with irony. It was a horrific day. An awful day. But it bought me redemption.\n\nI\'m not brought to remembrance of those things by seeing untanned modern men on a cross by the side of the road. I am reminded of it when I read Scripture. And the passerby who does not know needs to be told by a messenger. A messenger who understands the proclamation - \"Go forth and preach to the nations.\"\n\nGood Friday and Resurrection Sunday are not days of reenactment. They are days of proclamation. Days of reflection. Resurrection Sunday in particular, is a day of celebration when we recall Jesus\' victory over sin and death once and for all.\n\nSo, I\'ll ignore those who want to put on a play, I suppose. The words of the Bible are the way we remember. Christ revealed himself as the Word and it is in the word that we will find solace.\n\n____________________________\n\nAdditional thoughts on the living crucifixion scenes:\n\nI just had a discussion with my friend about these scenes. His point was that these scenes might give passerbys a notion to stop into the church and ask about Christ. The response? No, they don\'t. They are about as helpful as cliche church signs. I was a member of a church that did living crucifixions and the pastor told me that they never had anyone visit who had seen the living crucifixion.\n\nMy friend also had a thought: \"What if one person saw it and got saved?\" Response - that\'s an argument from pragmatism. It\'s akin to the youth rally preacher who asks all the youth at the event to pray the sinners prayer and then says, \"Anyone who prayed that prayer, come up front, you\'re saved.\" At times, I\'ve heard of 400-800 kids responding. The reality? Less than 1% of the kids are saved. The rest have a false sense of security about their salvation. But the response of most is, \"Well, but what if one kid got saved?\" Our methods are poor.\n\nOn Good Friday at one of these living nativities, I saw forty church members there. What if those church members instead decided to share the gospel with their friends and loved ones directly? What if they decided to show the love of Christ to those around them? I guarantee a better result. A community filled with the love of Christ and changed lives.','Post-Good Friday Traumatic Stress','','inherit','open','open','','5881-revision','','','2012-04-07 16:27:25','2012-04-07 23:27:25','',5881,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/07/5881-revision/',0,'revision','',0),(5885,12,'2012-04-08 19:44:35','2012-04-09 02:44:35','In my town, there are a lot of living nativity scenes every year. <a href=\"http://provoketive.com/2011/12/17/three-reasons-to-tear-down-the-nativity-scene/\">I don\'t like them</a>. I\'ve blogged about before. There\'s only one thing I can\'t stand more than a living nativity.\n\nA living crucifixion reenactment.\n\nThere are three in this county every year. I get my boxers in a wad about it every year. I want to drive by them every year and yell, \"Get him down from there!\"\n\nI hate to say that they \"offend\" me. Everyone is offended these days. It takes so little to offend the modern mind. So, I\'m not offended. I just run afoul of the fact that churches think that the gospel is being spread by putting middle-aged men on a cross so people can see them on there. In a world filled with suffering, what good does it do to see a picture of more suffering without explanation? People drive by without any idea why the Christ suffered. (more thoughts below)\n\nI drove by this year and had one of my \"oh, snap\" moments, though. I did get offended. Severely offended. Good Friday should be seriously offensive to every Christian.\n\nThe day Christ went to Calvary, he went so willingly. In the Garden of Gethsemane, he asked that the cup of suffering would pass from him, but then said, \"but not my will, but yours,\" speaking of his father. Then, we willingly went to the cross, bore our sins and endured the wrath of God.\n\n<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/living-crucifixion.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-5883\" style=\"margin-left: 6px;margin-right: 6px\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/living-crucifixion-300x184.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"184\" /></a>He bore my sins. My daily, sickening, evil, nasty sins. For me. So I would not have to endure the wrath of God. He stood in my place. I am offended by my own sin. My sin is offensive to me. It is offensive to God. And it was so offensive, He turned His back on His Son.\n\nThe name of \"Good Friday\" is filled with irony. It was a horrific day. An awful day. But it bought me redemption.\n\nI\'m not brought to remembrance of those things by seeing untanned modern men on a cross by the side of the road. I am reminded of it when I read Scripture. And the passerby who does not know needs to be told by a messenger. A messenger who understands the proclamation - \"Go forth and preach to the nations.\"\n\nGood Friday and Resurrection Sunday are not days of reenactment. They are days of proclamation. Days of reflection. Resurrection Sunday in particular, is a day of celebration when we recall Jesus\' victory over sin and death once and for all.\n\nSo, I\'ll ignore those who want to put on a play, I suppose. The words of the Bible are the way we remember. Christ revealed himself as the Word and it is in the word that we will find solace.\n\n____________________________\n\nAdditional thoughts on the living crucifixion scenes:\n\nI just had a discussion with my friend about these scenes. His point was that these scenes might give passerbys a notion to stop into the church and ask about Christ. The response? No, they don\'t. They are about as helpful as cliche church signs. I was a member of a church that did living crucifixions and the pastor told me that they never had anyone visit who had seen the living crucifixion.\n\nMy friend also had a thought: \"What if one person saw it and got saved?\" Response - that\'s an argument from pragmatism. It\'s akin to the youth rally preacher who asks all the youth at the event to pray the sinners prayer and then says, \"Anyone who prayed that prayer, come up front, you\'re saved.\" At times, I\'ve heard of 400-800 kids responding. The reality? Less than 1% of the kids are saved. The rest have a false sense of security about their salvation. But the response of most is, \"Well, but what if one kid got saved?\" Our methods are poor.\n\nOn Good Friday at one of these living nativities, I saw forty church members there. What if those church members instead decided to share the gospel with their friends and loved ones directly? What if they decided to show the love of Christ to those around them? I guarantee a better result. A community filled with the love of Christ and changed lives.','Post-Good Friday Traumatic Stress','','inherit','open','open','','5881-autosave','','','2012-04-08 19:44:35','2012-04-09 02:44:35','',5881,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/07/5881-autosave/',0,'revision','',0),(6384,30,'2012-05-01 09:29:26','2012-05-01 16:29:26','On April 27 and 28, fifty people met in a small church outside of Chicago to talk about friendship.\r\n\r\n<strong>But not just any friendships.</strong> For these two days, the discussion was specifically about friendships <a title=\"When Jesus Met Mary: A Sacred Friendship Gathering\" href=\"http://sacredfriendshipgathering.com/\" target=\"_blank\">between men and women</a>.\r\n\r\nFor many, cross-gender friendships are perfectly normal. We interact with people of the opposite sex all the time in our jobs, our churches, our day to day lives. But often when men and women develop close friendships, the response is to look for danger. The purpose of the Sacred Friendship Gathering was to encourage people to look at these friendships without the fear-filled lenses.<img class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-6405\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/sacred-friendship.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"180\" height=\"157\" />\r\n\r\nWe were welcomed to the event by <a title=\"Dan Brennan\" href=\"http://sacredfriendshipgathering.com/speakers/dan-brennan/\" target=\"_blank\">Dan Brennan</a>, author of <a title=\"Sacred Unions, Sacred Passions\" href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Sacred-Unions-Passions-Engaging-Friendship/dp/0982580703/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1335782568&amp;sr=1-1\" target=\"_blank\">Sacred Unions, Sacred Passions</a> and organizer of the conference. Right at the outset he assured the attendees that he was not looking to promote one kind of friendship, but rather to allow us a glimpse at many different kinds of cross-gender relationships. He shared that his desire was to encourage us to embrace the beauty and moral passion available in these relationships.\r\n\r\nThe first speaker of the night was <a title=\"Meredith Efken\" href=\"http://sacredfriendshipgathering.com/speakers/meredith-efken/\" target=\"_blank\">Meredith Efken</a>, author of <a title=\"Lucky Baby\" href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Lucky-Baby-Novel-Meredith-Efken/dp/B004L2KNWS/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1324916866&amp;sr=1-1\" target=\"_blank\">Lucky Baby</a>. She spoke of a close male friendship that developed as a result of the creative process of writing that they shared. She thought nothing of their friendship until someone disapproved and indicated that this friendship might cause a problem for her in the Christian publishing world. She acknowledged that when someone questions a cross-gender friendship, you can feel dirty even if that friendship is completely pure. As a result, she said that it can be important to exercise caution when discussing your close, opposite-sex friendships. However, Meredith also said that even when she went through seasons where she shielded her male friend, she needed to remember that <strong>outside opinions had no bearing on her ability to love</strong>. She encouraged us to avoid ever diminishing close, opposite-sex friendships. They aren\'t \"just\" friends, and we should not be shamed into referring to them as less than they are.\r\n\r\n<a title=\"Katie Driver\" href=\"http://sacredfriendshipgathering.com/speakers/katie-driver/\" target=\"_blank\">Katie Driver</a> spoke next, and she shared about several cross-gender friendships, some that went well, and some that did not. One in particular that struck me was a mentoring relationship that she had. She and a young man developed a friendship as a result of a mentoring process. His wife had been fully supportive of their relationship until a minister suggested that it was an \"unhealthy soul tie.\" (Soul ties are generally considered a close bond with another person, generally sexual in nature, but sometimes they can be a result of a close friendship.) Because of the poisoning words of the minister (who was not involved in the friendship at all, but was instead simply making an observation from the outside), the wife became deeply suspicious of the relationship and the young man completely cut ties with Katie without a good-bye. He contacted her later and told her what had happened, but the relationship had already suffered damage.\r\n\r\nKatie is a motorcycle safety instructor, and one of the ways that she related her experience with cross-gender friendship to motorcycle riding is that those who enjoy riding are aware of the \"what ifs\" of riding, but <strong>they choose not to live in the what ifs</strong>. Instead, they focus on the beauty and joy of the freedom of riding. Honesty allows us to recognize if there\'s any truth to accusations made against a cross-gender friendship, but we are not required to live in fear.\r\n\r\nFollowing a brief discussion asking what brought people to the event, Dan, Meredith, and Katie had a brief Q &amp; A. The main point of discussion was that of \"attraction.\" What do we do if we discover attraction in a cross-gender friendship. Dan suggested that we have conflated attraction and lust. We feel attraction in all friendships - it\'s simply the desire to be with that other person. However, we have framed the discussion of male-female friendship, that we assume that all attraction is lust and that we have no ability to control it. Instead, he suggested that we need to embrace attraction so that we can be more self-aware and therefore more honest. <strong>Problems arise when there is dishonesty. </strong>When we allow ourselves to be honest about our friendships and separate out lust from attraction, we can better embrace the moral passion that exists in <em>all</em> close friendships.\r\n\r\n<em>(Stop by tomorrow for part 2)</em>','Friendship Between the Genders: Sacred Friendship Gathering (Part 1)','','publish','open','open','','friendship-between-the-genders-sacred-friendship-gathering-part-1','','','2012-05-01 09:29:26','2012-05-01 16:29:26','',0,'http://provoketive.com/?p=6384',0,'post','',9),(5887,12,'2012-04-07 16:27:53','2012-04-07 23:27:53','In my town, there are a lot of living nativity scenes every year. I don\'t like them. I have reason that I\'ve blogged about before. There\'s only one thing I can\'t stand more than a living nativity.\r\n\r\nA living crucifixion reenactment.\r\n\r\nThere are three in this county every year. I get my boxers in a wad about it every year. I want to drive by them every year and yell, \"Get him down from there!\"\r\n\r\nI hate to say that they \"offend\" me. Everyone is offended these days. It takes so little to offend the modern mind. So, I\'m not offended. I just run afoul of the fact that churches think that the gospel is being spread by putting middle-aged men on a cross so people can see them on there. In a world filled with suffering, what good does it do to see a picture of more suffering without explanation? People drive by without any idea why the Christ suffered. (more thoughts below)\r\n\r\nI drove by this year and had one of my \"oh, snap\" moments, though. I did get offended. Severely offended. Good Friday should be seriously offensive to every Christian.\r\n\r\nThe day Christ went to Calvary, he went so willingly. In the Garden of Gethsemane, he asked that the cup of suffering would pass from him, but then said, \"but not my will, but yours,\" speaking of his father. Then, we willingly went to the cross, bore our sins and endured the wrath of God.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/living-crucifixion.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-5883\" style=\"margin-left: 6px;margin-right: 6px\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/living-crucifixion-300x184.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"184\" /></a>He bore my sins. My daily, sickening, evil, nasty sins. For me. So I would not have to endure the wrath of God. He stood in my place. I am offended by my own sin. My sin is offensive to me. It is offensive to God. And it was so offensive, He turned His back on His Son.\r\n\r\nThe name of \"Good Friday\" is filled with irony. It was a horrific day. An awful day. But it bought me redemption.\r\n\r\nI\'m not brought to remembrance of those things by seeing untanned modern men on a cross by the side of the road. I am reminded of it when I read Scripture. And the passerby who does not know needs to be told by a messenger. A messenger who understands the proclamation - \"Go forth and preach to the nations.\"\r\n\r\nGood Friday and Resurrection Sunday are not days of reenactment. They are days of proclamation. Days of reflection. Resurrection Sunday in particular, is a day of celebration when we recall Jesus\' victory over sin and death once and for all.\r\n\r\nSo, I\'ll ignore those who want to put on a play, I suppose. The words of the Bible are the way we remember. Christ revealed himself as the Word and it is in the word that we will find solace.\r\n\r\n____________________________\r\n\r\nAdditional thoughts on the living crucifixion scenes:\r\n\r\nI just had a discussion with my friend about these scenes. His point was that these scenes might give passerbys a notion to stop into the church and ask about Christ. The response? No, they don\'t. They are about as helpful as cliche church signs. I was a member of a church that did living crucifixions and the pastor told me that they never had anyone visit who had seen the living crucifixion.\r\n\r\nMy friend also had a thought: \"What if one person saw it and got saved?\" Response - that\'s an argument from pragmatism. It\'s akin to the youth rally preacher who asks all the youth at the event to pray the sinners prayer and then says, \"Anyone who prayed that prayer, come up front, you\'re saved.\" At times, I\'ve heard of 400-800 kids responding. The reality? Less than 1% of the kids are saved. The rest have a false sense of security about their salvation. But the response of most is, \"Well, but what if one kid got saved?\" Our methods are poor.\r\n\r\nOn Good Friday at one of these living nativities, I saw forty church members there. What if those church members instead decided to share the gospel with their friends and loved ones directly? What if they decided to show the love of Christ to those around them? I guarantee a better result. A community filled with the love of Christ and changed lives.','Post-Good Friday Traumatic Stress','','inherit','open','open','','5881-revision-2','','','2012-04-07 16:27:53','2012-04-07 23:27:53','',5881,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/07/5881-revision-2/',0,'revision','',0),(5914,12,'2012-04-08 19:43:27','2012-04-09 02:43:27','In my town, there are a lot of living nativity scenes every year. <a href=\"http://provoketive.com/2011/12/17/three-reasons-to-tear-down-the-nativity-scene/\">I don\'t like them</a>. I\'ve blogged about before. There\'s only one thing I can\'t stand more than a living nativity.\r\n\r\nA living crucifixion reenactment.\r\n\r\nThere are three in this county every year. I get my boxers in a wad about it every year. I want to drive by them every year and yell, \"Get him down from there!\"\r\n\r\nI hate to say that they \"offend\" me. Everyone is offended these days. It takes so little to offend the modern mind. So, I\'m not offended. I just run afoul of the fact that churches think that the gospel is being spread by putting middle-aged men on a cross so people can see them on there. In a world filled with suffering, what good does it do to see a picture of more suffering without explanation? People drive by without any idea why the Christ suffered. (more thoughts below)\r\n\r\nI drove by this year and had one of my \"oh, snap\" moments, though. I did get offended. Severely offended. Good Friday should be seriously offensive to every Christian.\r\n\r\nThe day Christ went to Calvary, he went so willingly. In the Garden of Gethsemane, he asked that the cup of suffering would pass from him, but then said, \"but not my will, but yours,\" speaking of his father. Then, we willingly went to the cross, bore our sins and endured the wrath of God.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/living-crucifixion.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-5883\" style=\"margin-left: 6px;margin-right: 6px\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/living-crucifixion-300x184.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"184\" /></a>He bore my sins. My daily, sickening, evil, nasty sins. For me. So I would not have to endure the wrath of God. He stood in my place. I am offended by my own sin. My sin is offensive to me. It is offensive to God. And it was so offensive, He turned His back on His Son.\r\n\r\nThe name of \"Good Friday\" is filled with irony. It was a horrific day. An awful day. But it bought me redemption.\r\n\r\nI\'m not brought to remembrance of those things by seeing untanned modern men on a cross by the side of the road. I am reminded of it when I read Scripture. And the passerby who does not know needs to be told by a messenger. A messenger who understands the proclamation - \"Go forth and preach to the nations.\"\r\n\r\nGood Friday and Resurrection Sunday are not days of reenactment. They are days of proclamation. Days of reflection. Resurrection Sunday in particular, is a day of celebration when we recall Jesus\' victory over sin and death once and for all.\r\n\r\nSo, I\'ll ignore those who want to put on a play, I suppose. The words of the Bible are the way we remember. Christ revealed himself as the Word and it is in the word that we will find solace.\r\n\r\n____________________________\r\n\r\nAdditional thoughts on the living crucifixion scenes:\r\n\r\nI just had a discussion with my friend about these scenes. His point was that these scenes might give passerbys a notion to stop into the church and ask about Christ. The response? No, they don\'t. They are about as helpful as cliche church signs. I was a member of a church that did living crucifixions and the pastor told me that they never had anyone visit who had seen the living crucifixion.\r\n\r\nMy friend also had a thought: \"What if one person saw it and got saved?\" Response - that\'s an argument from pragmatism. It\'s akin to the youth rally preacher who asks all the youth at the event to pray the sinners prayer and then says, \"Anyone who prayed that prayer, come up front, you\'re saved.\" At times, I\'ve heard of 400-800 kids responding. The reality? Less than 1% of the kids are saved. The rest have a false sense of security about their salvation. But the response of most is, \"Well, but what if one kid got saved?\" Our methods are poor.\r\n\r\nOn Good Friday at one of these living nativities, I saw forty church members there. What if those church members instead decided to share the gospel with their friends and loved ones directly? What if they decided to show the love of Christ to those around them? I guarantee a better result. A community filled with the love of Christ and changed lives.','Post-Good Friday Traumatic Stress','','inherit','open','open','','5881-revision-5','','','2012-04-08 19:43:27','2012-04-09 02:43:27','',5881,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/08/5881-revision-5/',0,'revision','',0),(7370,136,'2012-07-31 21:50:58','2012-08-01 04:50:58','In practical and academic theological circles it\'s popular to ponder, write, consider, and act upon the meaning of following Jesus, especially following Jesus to the cross. You read scripture and start to realize going to the cross of Calvary means resisting death-dealing secular and religious bureaucratic and \"other\" assorted authorities, rejecting anything but love and justice as the measuring line, disallowing all that\'s other than righteousness as the plumbline; after a few years of living out our baptism, we start discovering Resurrection Sunday morning is every bit as demanding as Good Friday afternoon. It\'s easy to take pride in demonstrating visibly for ecclesiastically popular causes, maybe getting onto the evening news, feeling good about ourselves for sometimes getting too involved with concerns not popular with our local judicatories. Soundbite on the late night news, anyone? Spending a season with Mother Teresa\'s peeps or serving Thanksgiving dinner at Father Joe Carroll\'s place. Those bigger, more obvious, more stars in our crowns activities. And for the most part, they\'re all good. Often very good and life-transformative.\r\n\r\nBut in the ambient heat and humidity of mid-summer 2012, I like to remember Jesus partying with friends and with strangers. A spontaneous feast because they\'d hauled in a big catch, had freshly baked bread, and the grapes were ripe and juicy. Or a quick roundup of \"whatever\" resources because so many hungry people had surrounded them. I love stories of Jesus making sure everyone got enough to eat, commanding and demanding his disciples feed others, too. I love how we keep celebrating holy communion, the sacrament of the welcome table, the holy eucharist, with each other. More than simply \"liking\" the way potluck dinners, annual picnics, and strawberry ice cream socials have becoming close to definitive for the church. Ever attended a new to you church that didn\'t have an after worship (or between services) social hour? It\'s all about gathering, talking, relating, feeding, eating, and being fed. And we\'re not likely to keep on performing an action unless it has meaning, unless it says something to us and about us, unless it meets a basic need.\r\n\r\nA religious ritual? There are plenty of those. If we are to remember Jesus, do we need bread and wine? Do we need potlucks and picnics? Throughout the records of Jesus\' life we find accounts of Jesus feeding other people and feasting with his friends; Jesus repeatedly talks about those who will banquet in the Kingdom...and about giving his body for the life of the world. But is that gift of a body broken unto death for the life of the world the whole, entire thing?\r\n\r\nIn feeding friends and strangers, in celebrating bounty of the sea, gifts from the ground, and fruit of the vine, Jesus reveals a worldview that\'s at a 180-degree angle to most common ideas of religion and religiousness. We find loving justice, mercy, and embrace graciously at work wherever Jesus goes, wherever we follow him into the world so hunger, greed, need, judgment, and exclusion are wiped out.\r\n\r\nLike Jesus will we actively search for the lonely, the different, the outcast, and the stranger, welcoming them not only to our more formally scheduled eucharistic liturgies (well, turning them out of the narthex, back into the street would be awkward), but also afterwards at social hour (no snarkiness allowed), week night potlucks or annual picnics (I brought enough for everyone and would love to try your special dish), ice cream socials (we\'ve never done it that way, but we\'d love to try your way)? Will we be making our worlds, our neighborhoods and our churches into sanctuaries, holy places, into a foretaste of the reign of God on earth? Will we follow Jesus by including everyone, excluding no one? Will the world recognize us as the body of Christ when we pour out our everyday lives with compassion just as we pour out the eucharistic wine? I hope so!','following Jesus wherever he goes','','inherit','open','open','','7367-revision-3','','','2012-07-31 21:50:58','2012-08-01 04:50:58','',7367,'http://provoketive.com/2012/07/31/7367-revision-3/',0,'revision','',0),(5889,0,'2012-04-07 19:55:48','2012-04-08 02:55:48','Doubt and the Christian faith. The lectionary reading for the Sunday after Easter this year is the \"Doubting Thomas\" text. I would be interested in fleshing that out a bit and pose my concern for our own society which seems to be too certain about things and how Doubting Thomas can help.\n<!--more-->\nAUTHOR: Timothy Wotrin\nAUTHOR EMAIL: timothywotring@gmail.com\nAUTHOR URL: http://www.blackflagtheology.com\nSUBJECT: Provoketive Magazine Writing For Provoketive\nIP: 184.77.132.143\nArray\n(\n    [Name] =&gt; Timothy Wotrin\n    [Email] =&gt; timothywotring@gmail.com\n    [Existing Blog or Website] =&gt; www.blackflagtheology.com\n    [List the topic you are interested writing about] =&gt; Doubt and the Christian faith. The lectionary reading for the Sunday after Easter this year is the \"Doubting Thomas\" text. I would be interested in fleshing that out a bit and pose my concern for our own society which seems to be too certain about things and how Doubting Thomas can help. \n    [Current or New WordPress Login Name (We\'ll send you a password.)] =&gt; anarchotimothie\n)\n','Timothy Wotrin - 2012-04-07 19:55:48','','publish','open','open','','0b5d06b8d0562c38113378af50a4647e','','','2012-04-07 19:55:48','2012-04-08 02:55:48','',358,'http://provoketive.com/?post_type=feedback&p=5889',0,'feedback','',0),(7512,191,'2012-08-18 08:00:39','2012-08-18 15:00:39','<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Well, I guess since you clicked on this, you must have read the title. Welcome. I appreciate you taking the few minutes of your day to peruse yet another blog. Much thanks. ;)</p>\r\nWith any good introduction comes the awkward part of the relationship. You don\'t know what to ask, you don\'t know the past, and you don\'t want to look like an ass. Well, very much understood. I\'ll start off with saying some things about myself and hope that my quirks and beliefs don\'t shipwreck our already tumultuous relationship.\r\n\r\nHmmmm.\r\n\r\nI will confess that I am nervous. But here it goes:\r\n\r\nI\'m a Christian.\r\n\r\n*crickets*\r\n\r\nOh, right. Of course, of course.\r\n\r\nI\'m a Christian, specifically with the loose distinction of American Protestant. When pressed by both my conservative and liberal friends, both will say that I am either liberal or conservative. I confess this confuses me. Please don\'t think of me as uninterested in choosing a label, but forgive me for being hesitant to claim such a label without clarification.\r\n\r\nYes, I am a Christian and that entails that I think Jesus is God and all of that. I hold to the inerrancy of Scripture, but I would maintain an openness to allowing for various kinds of interpretations to have their say within the kingdom.\r\n\r\nTo this end, I am a non-dogmatic theistic evolutionist. I believe that God is trinity, and that Christ was resurrected. Of course, this doesn\'t get into atonement theory (yet) but just to keep my evangelical cards, I offer this statement.\r\n\r\nI believe that Jesus provides the only method of salvation, therefore I would be an exclusivist. However, I do not think Jesus is restricted to working through other people\'s religions to bring them to Himself. So I would further clarify that I am a flexible exclusivist and not a restrictivist, though I am not in agreement with inclusivism.\r\n\r\nI affirm the classical view of the atonement, namely Christus Victor and it\'s older model, Ransom Theory. I do not deny substitutionary atonement, and think with is compatible with Christus Victor.\r\n\r\nYou still there? Okay cool. And might I say, you look fabulous. ;)\r\n\r\n*ahem*\r\n\r\nBack to it.\r\n\r\nI do not believe non-Christians will face eternal conscious torment. In fact, I hold that the wicked will either be annihilated (often called conditional immortality) or they will be redeemed (referred to as universalism). This is not to say I embrace either label, as I am only just beginning my pilgrimage. Nor do I want to claim that folks who believe in eternal conscious torment are unbiblical or unintelligent. I simply find no compelling evidence to suggest eternal torment.\r\n\r\nIn regards to the nature of the soul (or lack thereof), I am agnostic. If we have souls, great. If we don\'t, then the physical creation is still just as beautiful and deadly, and we are still as dependent upon the Resurrection. I haven\'t lost sleep over this issue.\r\n\r\nIn regards to women in ministry, I am an egalitarian (though I kinda like complementarian as I do believe men and woman complement each other).\r\n\r\nI believe in God\'s sovereignty and man\'s responsibility. And if that sounds like a cop-out answer, you are certainly right about that. ;)\r\n\r\nI do not affirm original guilt, but I affirm original sin. In accordance with the Eastern Church, I would agree. Along with their atonement theory of Christus Victor.\r\n\r\nI believe that social justice is an essential part of the Gospel, and we are called to live it out.\r\n\r\nI\'m a moderate/liberal Republican. Fiscally conservative (for the most part) and moderate socially (pro-life,  pro-immigration, pro-welfare).\r\n\r\nI love video games, action flicks and good beer. Depending on the day, I prefer Sin City and Avery\'s The Reverend.\r\n\r\nI really dislike ducks. I really do. No joke. If I become a universalist, I think ducks would be stuck in hell for a long time before they can be redeemed.\r\n\r\nI like the term \"progressive\" Christian, but it carries too much baggage and most progressives won;t like me referring to myself as such.\r\n\r\nI\'m in a dedicated relationship. Sorry about that.\r\n\r\nI still hate ducks.\r\n\r\nWell, our two minutes are up. Do you still want to go out with me?\r\n\r\n*crickets*\r\n\r\nCan we at least be friends?\r\n\r\n*crickets*\r\n\r\nLove you too.\r\n\r\n;)\r\n\r\n--Nick','Post-Evangelicalism and \"A New (Same) Kind (Type) of Christianity\"','','publish','open','open','','post-evangelicalism-and-a-new-same-kind-type-of-christianity','','','2012-08-11 11:33:45','2012-08-11 18:33:45','',0,'http://provoketive.com/?p=7512',0,'post','',3),(7513,191,'2012-08-10 18:07:10','2012-08-11 01:07:10','Well, I guess since you clicked on this, you must have read the title. Welcome. ;)\n\nI suppose I should begin with who I am and what I believe.','Post-Evangelicalism &amp; ','','inherit','open','open','','7512-revision','','','2012-08-10 18:07:10','2012-08-11 01:07:10','',7512,'http://provoketive.com/2012/08/10/7512-revision/',0,'revision','',0),(7514,191,'2012-08-10 18:09:36','2012-08-11 01:09:36','Well, I guess since you clicked on this, you must have read the title. Welcome. I appreciate you taking the few minutes of your day to peruse yet another blog. Much thanks. ;)\n\nWith any good introduction comes the','Post-Evangelicalism &amp; A New (Same) Kind (Type) of Christianity','','inherit','open','open','','7512-revision-2','','','2012-08-10 18:09:36','2012-08-11 01:09:36','',7512,'http://provoketive.com/2012/08/10/7512-revision-2/',0,'revision','',0),(7515,191,'2012-08-10 18:10:43','2012-08-11 01:10:43','','New+Kind+of+Christianity','','inherit','open','open','','newkindofchristianity','','','2012-08-10 18:10:43','2012-08-11 01:10:43','',7512,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/New+Kind+of+Christianity.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(7838,67,'2012-09-16 19:23:18','2012-09-17 02:23:18','“Life is like a Dave Matthews album, Forrest.  You never know what you’re gonna get.”  As this truth about life resonates with each of us from Forrest Gump, so it is for the faithful fan of the Dave Matthews Band.  With a collection of eclectic musical expression that spans almost 20 years, the group has tested most genres of music that produces live shows that draw upon most human emotions.  Even when sampling one particular record, one cannot rest into any single pattern of listening.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/dmb-away-from-the-world_article_story_main3.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-7750\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/dmb-away-from-the-world_article_story_main3-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>If “variety” can be named as the number one quality of The Dave Matthews Band, “live” would run a close second.  The Dave Matthews band is a live band.  With an incredible collection of 18 live recordings, they make it quite clear what recording medium fits them best.  Touring extensively to support demand, they have shown that video and radio are not always the best outlets to find success in today’s music industry.\r\n\r\nWith their first release in almost three years, the band returns with another diverse collection of songs that prove they are continuing to explore the range of talents that each member possesses.  Away From the World especially reveals more of the musical personalities of saxophonist Jeff Coffin and trumpeter, Rashawn Ross; added to the band after the tragic loss of LeRoi Moore who was killed in an ATV accident in 2008.  Moore’s distinctive sound covered the bands entire horn section, creating part of the bands distinctive sound.  Both Coffin and Ross follow in Moore’s tradition, but seem to have settled into their own style as well.\r\n\r\nReminiscing on the first time I listened to the bands previous release, Big Whiskey and the Groo Grux King, and my first taste of the new release yesterday, I was struck with the contrast in reaction.  While Big Whiskey produced a more instantaneous reaction of “Awesome!”, “Away From the World” slowly grew on me, lulling me into the eventual agreement that this is “a great album!”\r\n\r\nThere is a clear departure to a simpler restrained sound as evidenced by the bands reunion with Steve Lilywhite, who produced the band’s first three albums.  The stripped down subtlety that covers the entire recording begins with “Broken Things”, an old school Matthews tune with a familiar crooning chorus, “Oh my love my heart is set on you, set on you”\r\n\r\nThe album’s first single, “Mercy”, is a typical plea that imparts Dave’s passion for social transformation with love being the catalyst of change.  It’s a refreshing change from some of his more idealistic visions to musically change the world, in that he realizes that we “Can’t lay down and hope a miracle will change things” and “Can’t give up and hope God will intercede”.  But individually, and joining together in unity,  “one by one, could we turn it around”.\r\n\r\nOverall, the album is filled with images of nostalgia fueled by realistic hope.  There is a taste of his typical signature erotic sex/food tunes, with a fun funky beat on “Belly Belly Nice”.  It takes you back.  It brings you forward.  Like many of his old school fans, Dave is growing up.  His band is growing with him, and they are all finding comfort in their own skin.\r\n\r\n<cite>Photo: Fergus McDonald/Getty Images.</cite>','Dave Matthews Band: Review of Away From the World ','','inherit','open','open','','7741-revision-10','','','2012-09-16 19:23:18','2012-09-17 02:23:18','',7741,'http://provoketive.com/2012/09/16/7741-revision-10/',0,'revision','',0),(7658,75,'2012-08-28 21:03:48','2012-08-29 04:03:48','\"This can\'t be right...\"\n\nAs Dave studied the lush landscape through the spots on his windshield he quickly concluded that he had made an error somewhere along the way.\n\nFrom a young age Dave had come to acknowledge certain facts about his life. He would never be the biggest or strongest. The things that fascinated all the \"cool\" people held no interest for him. But Dave had two things that very few people could match, an insatiable curiosity that drove him to learn everything he could about subjects that piqued his interest and a deep hatred for being wrong.  This combination was strong enough to key to his rapid rise at Unified Solutions, the top engineering firm in the state, despite his deficiency of social skills.\n\nDave traded the comfort of his air conditioning for the thick heat of late morning. He needed more information. The idea of embarrassing himself was miniscule compared to the itch to know where his calculations had gone wrong. After locking his car, he began his trek towards the gleaming white building around which the parking lot wrapped.\n\nA scattering of individuals and families, dressed in their Sunday best, surrounded him as he walked among trees and flowers that could easily rival the city\'s botanical gardens. As he approached the entrance an elderly gentleman opened the door and greeted him as if they were old friends. Cool air seeped out from the lobby and Dave ducked inside quickly, grateful to escape the summer sun.\n\nBeige tiles stretched across the spacious lobby, filling the room a mix of echoes from each footstep, conversation, and laugh. Dave moved off to one side to study the situation and wait for his boss. Several doors lined the far side of the lobby, which led to what must be the main sanctuary. Dave was in the middle of counting the flat screens that were mounted on some of the walls when he felt a hand on his shoulder.\n\n\"Good morning Dave.\"\n\nDave turned to see the towering figure of his boss. His hand-tailored dark suit and grey tie contrasted sharply against his grey hair and the pale blue eyes that seemed to always be smiling.\n\n\"Good morning Mr. Stultz.\"\n\nThe Sr. V.P. had a legendary eye for detail, and an amused smile strained the corners of his mouth as he looked over one of the company\'s most valuable assets. Dave\'s blue t-shirt proudly displayed the smiling face of Mickey Mouse atop his faded jeans and sandals.\n\n\"Thank you for the invitation sir. I think I have made an error. You are a Christian correct?\"\n\nThe booming laughter that exploded from his boss\' mouth merged with the thousand other sounds that filled the lobby and to Dave\'s relief no one turned to see what had caused it.\n\n\"Yes Dave.\" Mr. Stultz said gently. \"That is why I invited you to come with me. To church.\"\n\nHe said the last two words slowly, trying to clear up any confusion. It did not have the desired effect.\n\n\"I did quite a bit of research on the Christian religion, including reading the New Testament, and I was under the impression that Christians went <em>out</em> to preach the \'good news\', feed the hungry, and clothe the poor.\"\n\n\"We do those things, but we also come together to hear the word and worship.\"\n\nDave looked around the room once more before asking his next question.\n\n\"I see. Well when do you go to help the needy? I think I would like to try that too.\"\n\nHis boss began speaking in a tone that one uses to address a child.\n\n\"Well I\'m not sure <em>exactly </em>when we help them out. I give money to the church and they have a system that helps make sure the people who need help get it.\"\n\n\"It was my understanding that <em>you</em> were the church?\"\n\nStultz took a breath and paused, realizing he would have to choose his words more carefully.\n\n\"I am. But what I can do on my own is very small compared to what we can all do together. The church has systems in place so that we can do the most good with the resources we have.\"\n\n\"Please forgive me if I am asking too many question, but I am trying to understand. I was under the impression that some of the good that comes from helping the needy is for you? And is it not your responsibility to share information that you believe will save a soul? I don\'t see how your character or soul benefits from outsourcing the commandments that...\"\n\n\"I am not outsourcing it. I am merely... doing what I am good at. Some people have a gift for empathizing with the hurting, caring for those in need, or speaking eloquently. I do not. I am more analytical by nature, which has helped facilitate my career and given me the ability to help provide the food, clothes, and other things that those people need by giving in the offering. Do you understand?\"\n\nA quiet voice deep inside urged Dave not to ask the question that rested on the tip of his tongue, but his mind would not rest until he had a satisfactory answer.\n\n\"Are you sure you\'re a Christian?\"\n\nFor the first time since he had met Andrew Stultz his eyes ceased to smile. His boss shoved his hands in his pant pockets in what looked like an attempt fight the urge to reach out and grab the man in front of him.\n\n\"Of course I\'m sure! Why would you even ask that?\"\n\nA uncomfortable silence suddenly filled the space between the men. Dave watched as his boss took a deep breath in an effort to calm himself. He realized that making an enemy out of his boss was too high a price to pay for curiosity and not knowing what else to do, began to study the tops of his shoes.\n\n\"Dave.\" Mr. Stultz\'s was calm again and Dave looked up. \"I\'m sorry. Please. Tell me why you asked that.\"\n\n\"I meant no offense sir. I guess I just see it differently.\"\n\n\"That\'s okay. It\'s one of the reasons you have been such a valuable asset for the company. How do you see it?\"\n\n\"If I took my child to class and each day the lady there turned him over to a tutor for his learning, I would not consider her a teacher. If I took my car to man to have it fixed and he passed it along to another to do the work, I would not consider him a mechanic, but a facilitator. A middle-man of sorts. If most of the people in church are just giving money to the few who are doing the things that Jesus commanded his followers to do, then I would estimate that there are far fewer Christians in the world than I thought, and quite a bit more facilitators of Christianity.\"\n\nDave watched his boss\' eyebrows slowly sink as he spoke, first in frustration, but then in contemplation. Although he stood almost a foot taller than him, to Dave he looked like a small boy standing at the edge of a high dive, desperately trying to decide if he has the courage to jump.\n\n\"Dave, you have given me a lot to think about. Please forgive me, but can we take a rain-check on church?\"\n\n\"Sir? Have I offended you?\"\n\n\"No Dave. You have done what you have always done for me. You have solved a problem that I never knew I had.\"','The Middle-man','','inherit','open','open','','7655-revision','','','2012-08-28 21:03:48','2012-08-29 04:03:48','',7655,'http://provoketive.com/2012/08/28/7655-revision/',0,'revision','',0),(7657,75,'2012-08-28 21:00:35','2012-08-29 04:00:35','','walking','','inherit','open','open','','walking','','','2012-08-28 21:00:35','2012-08-29 04:00:35','',7655,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/walking.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(7659,75,'2012-08-28 21:04:01','2012-08-29 04:04:01','\"This can\'t be right...\"\r\n\r\nAs Dave studied the lush landscape through the spots on his windshield he quickly concluded that he had made an error somewhere along the way.\r\n\r\nFrom a young age Dave had come to acknowledge certain facts about his life. He would never be the biggest or strongest. The things that fascinated all the \"cool\" people held no interest for him. But Dave had two things that very few people could match, an insatiable curiosity that drove him to learn everything he could about subjects that piqued his interest and a deep hatred for being wrong.  This combination was strong enough to key to his rapid rise at Unified Solutions, the top engineering firm in the state, despite his deficiency of social skills.\r\n\r\nDave traded the comfort of his air conditioning for the thick heat of late morning. He needed more information. The idea of embarrassing himself was miniscule compared to the itch to know where his calculations had gone wrong. After locking his car, he began his trek towards the gleaming white building around which the parking lot wrapped.\r\n\r\nA scattering of individuals and families, dressed in their Sunday best, surrounded him as he walked among trees and flowers that could easily rival the city\'s botanical gardens. As he approached the entrance an elderly gentleman opened the door and greeted him as if they were old friends. Cool air seeped out from the lobby and Dave ducked inside quickly, grateful to escape the summer sun.\r\n\r\nBeige tiles stretched across the spacious lobby, filling the room a mix of echoes from each footstep, conversation, and laugh. Dave moved off to one side to study the situation and wait for his boss. Several doors lined the far side of the lobby, which led to what must be the main sanctuary. Dave was in the middle of counting the flat screens that were mounted on some of the walls when he felt a hand on his shoulder.\r\n\r\n\"Good morning Dave.\"\r\n\r\nDave turned to see the towering figure of his boss. His hand-tailored dark suit and grey tie contrasted sharply against his grey hair and the pale blue eyes that seemed to always be smiling.\r\n\r\n\"Good morning Mr. Stultz.\"\r\n\r\nThe Sr. V.P. had a legendary eye for detail, and an amused smile strained the corners of his mouth as he looked over one of the company\'s most valuable assets. Dave\'s blue t-shirt proudly displayed the smiling face of Mickey Mouse atop his faded jeans and sandals.\r\n\r\n\"Thank you for the invitation sir. I think I have made an error. You are a Christian correct?\"\r\n\r\nThe booming laughter that exploded from his boss\' mouth merged with the thousand other sounds that filled the lobby and to Dave\'s relief no one turned to see what had caused it.\r\n\r\n\"Yes Dave.\" Mr. Stultz said gently. \"That is why I invited you to come with me. To church.\"\r\n\r\nHe said the last two words slowly, trying to clear up any confusion. It did not have the desired effect.\r\n\r\n\"I did quite a bit of research on the Christian religion, including reading the New Testament, and I was under the impression that Christians went <em>out</em> to preach the \'good news\', feed the hungry, and clothe the poor.\"\r\n\r\n\"We do those things, but we also come together to hear the word and worship.\"\r\n\r\nDave looked around the room once more before asking his next question.\r\n\r\n\"I see. Well when do you go to help the needy? I think I would like to try that too.\"\r\n\r\nHis boss began speaking in a tone that one uses to address a child.\r\n\r\n\"Well I\'m not sure <em>exactly </em>when we help them out. I give money to the church and they have a system that helps make sure the people who need help get it.\"\r\n\r\n\"It was my understanding that <em>you</em> were the church?\"\r\n\r\nStultz took a breath and paused, realizing he would have to choose his words more carefully.\r\n\r\n\"I am. But what I can do on my own is very small compared to what we can all do together. The church has systems in place so that we can do the most good with the resources we have.\"\r\n\r\n\"Please forgive me if I am asking too many question, but I am trying to understand. I was under the impression that some of the good that comes from helping the needy is for you? And is it not your responsibility to share information that you believe will save a soul? I don\'t see how your character or soul benefits from outsourcing the commandments that...\"\r\n\r\n\"I am not outsourcing it. I am merely... doing what I am good at. Some people have a gift for empathizing with the hurting, caring for those in need, or speaking eloquently. I do not. I am more analytical by nature, which has helped facilitate my career and given me the ability to help provide the food, clothes, and other things that those people need by giving in the offering. Do you understand?\"\r\n\r\nA quiet voice deep inside urged Dave not to ask the question that rested on the tip of his tongue, but his mind would not rest until he had a satisfactory answer.\r\n\r\n\"Are you sure you\'re a Christian?\"\r\n\r\nFor the first time since he had met Andrew Stultz his eyes ceased to smile. His boss shoved his hands in his pant pockets in what looked like an attempt fight the urge to reach out and grab the man in front of him.\r\n\r\n\"Of course I\'m sure! Why would you even ask that?\"\r\n\r\nA uncomfortable silence suddenly filled the space between the men. Dave watched as his boss took a deep breath in an effort to calm himself. He realized that making an enemy out of his boss was too high a price to pay for curiosity and not knowing what else to do, began to study the tops of his shoes.\r\n\r\n\"Dave.\" Mr. Stultz\'s was calm again and Dave looked up. \"I\'m sorry. Please. Tell me why you asked that.\"\r\n\r\n\"I meant no offense sir. I guess I just see it differently.\"\r\n\r\n\"That\'s okay. It\'s one of the reasons you have been such a valuable asset for the company. How do you see it?\"\r\n\r\n\"If I took my child to class and each day the lady there turned him over to a tutor for his learning, I would not consider her a teacher. If I took my car to man to have it fixed and he passed it along to another to do the work, I would not consider him a mechanic, but a facilitator. A middle-man of sorts. If most of the people in church are just giving money to the few who are doing the things that Jesus commanded his followers to do, then I would estimate that there are far fewer Christians in the world than I thought, and quite a bit more facilitators of Christianity.\"\r\n\r\nDave watched his boss\' eyebrows slowly sink as he spoke, first in frustration, but then in contemplation. Although he stood almost a foot taller than him, to Dave he looked like a small boy standing at the edge of a high dive, desperately trying to decide if he has the courage to jump.\r\n\r\n\"Dave, you have given me a lot to think about. Please forgive me, but can we take a rain-check on church?\"\r\n\r\n\"Sir? Have I offended you?\"\r\n\r\n\"No Dave. You have done what you have always done for me. You have solved a problem that I never knew I had.\"','The Middle-man','','inherit','open','open','','7655-revision-2','','','2012-08-28 21:04:01','2012-08-29 04:04:01','',7655,'http://provoketive.com/2012/08/28/7655-revision-2/',0,'revision','',0),(7278,12,'2012-07-26 23:51:38','2012-07-27 06:51:38','','raptur','','inherit','open','open','','raptur','','','2012-07-26 23:51:38','2012-07-27 06:51:38','',0,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/raptur.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(7279,12,'2012-07-26 23:52:22','2012-07-27 06:52:22','','raptur','','inherit','open','open','','raptur-2','','','2012-07-26 23:52:22','2012-07-27 06:52:22','',0,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/raptur1.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(7280,12,'2012-07-26 23:53:42','2012-07-27 06:53:42','','thief','','inherit','open','open','','thief','','','2012-07-26 23:53:42','2012-07-27 06:53:42','',0,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/thief.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(7281,12,'2012-07-26 23:55:40','2012-07-27 06:55:40','','tribulation','','inherit','open','open','','tribulation','','','2012-07-26 23:55:40','2012-07-27 06:55:40','',0,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/tribulation.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(7282,12,'2012-07-26 23:57:18','2012-07-27 06:57:18','','kingdom2','','inherit','open','open','','kingdom2','','','2012-07-26 23:57:18','2012-07-27 06:57:18','',0,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/kingdom2.gif',0,'attachment','image/gif',0),(8151,43,'2012-12-19 08:00:52','2012-12-19 16:00:52','<blockquote>Open your mouth and taste, open your eyes and see—\r\nhow good God is.\r\nBlessed are you who run to him.\r\n\r\n[Psalm 34:8, <em>The Message</em>]</blockquote>\r\nA few weeks ago, the pastor of the church we\'ve been attending came to our house for a visit.  She wanted to get to know us and talk a little about the church.  One thing that she said stood out to me above everything else:\r\n<blockquote>Worship is such a sensory experience.</blockquote>\r\nShe elaborated, describing the taste and smell of the Communion elements, the candles, the stained glass, the sound of the songs of praise.  Even listening to her, I could feel my pulse quickening with the longing that good, deep worship brings to me.\r\n\r\nLater that night, as I lay in bed, her words ran through my mind.  The Scripture I quoted above sprang to mind, and I turned it over and over, meditating on it and thinking about what that meant.\r\n\r\nAdvent is here, and Christmas is nearly upon us, and I find myself feeling sad that we have reduced this beautiful season to a string of arguments about how to greet one another and whether or not writing \"Xmas\" is appropriate. We spend our time in stores and online, seeking the perfect gifts.  We plan and prepare elaborate feasts.  We stress about vacation plans, in-laws, and family drama.\r\n\r\nThe one thing we <em>don\'t</em> do is focus on why we celebrate.  We\'ve lost our ability to \"taste and see that the Lord is good,\" all while accusing others of taking Christ out of Christmas.\r\n\r\nEven in all the busy moments of December, I love this time of year.  I can recall in exquisite detail the very first Christmas that I celebrated as a follower of Jesus.  For the first time, I understood exactly what the words of the songs meant.  Everything took on a new meaning—the decorations in the mall and the lights on our tree and the stockings full of gifts.  Even Christmas cookies tasted different.  The almost-magic of the season permeated my whole life.  It still does now, even after almost twenty-five years, and even through all the challenges that life has brought.\r\n\r\nChristmas can be a difficult time for many people, with all its busyness and heartache and anxiety.  The usual suggestion I hear for easing holiday tension is to take time, slow down, and worry less.  However, I propose something radically different.  Instead of letting it go and stepping away from our holiday plans, why not seek the Lord <em>in</em> them?  Why not \"taste and see\" <em>through</em> our festivities?\r\n\r\nWhat if we...\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>Appreciate the beauty of the lights in store windows and on our streets, and let them remind us that Jesus is the light of the world?</li>\r\n	<li>Smell the baking cookies, holiday pine, and roast turkey and think of it as an aroma pleasing to God?</li>\r\n	<li>Feel the pen in hand as we write cards and know that we are sharing our joy with the ones we love?</li>\r\n	<li>Hear the carols and the organ and the bells and remember that among them, we can still hear the still, small voice of the Lord?</li>\r\n	<li>Taste the spice and sweetness of gingerbread and remember the sharp tang of our sin, but the forgiveness of the One who died for us?</li>\r\n	<li>Bustle about our tasks, remembering that it is God who is present in all of it and gives us strength to carry on?</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nWhat about you?  How will you \"taste and see that the Lord is good\" this Christmas?','Taste and See','','publish','open','open','','taste-and-see','','','2012-12-17 11:26:57','2012-12-17 19:26:57','',0,'http://provoketive.com/?p=8151',0,'post','',2),(7662,134,'2012-08-30 09:32:17','2012-08-30 16:32:17','','Stryper Band','','inherit','open','open','','stryperband_fb_187870_12785373419_1748814620_q','','','2012-08-30 09:32:17','2012-08-30 16:32:17','',0,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/StryperBand_FB_187870_12785373419_1748814620_q.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(7663,134,'2012-08-30 09:33:20','2012-08-30 16:33:20','','The Christian Noob','','inherit','open','open','','thechristiannoob_fb_371977_100002441343192_1831687315_q','','','2012-08-30 09:33:20','2012-08-30 16:33:20','',0,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/TheChristianNoob_FB_371977_100002441343192_1831687315_q.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(7713,178,'2012-11-05 08:00:10','2012-11-05 16:00:10','[caption id=\"attachment_7719\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\"]<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/2226145803_c420b399ed.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-7719 \" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/2226145803_c420b399ed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"456\" /></a> Photo Credit: CRASH: candy via Flickr[/caption]\r\n\r\nThe five of us have been sitting around the same antique table on a semi-monthly for more than four years. We rarely see each outside of these monthly get-togethers, yet I consider these women to be among some of my dearest friends. We come from different backgrounds, different demographics, and different parts of the metro Chicago area, yet we always have one thing in common – our mutual interest in facilitating each other’s spiritual accountability by engaging in respectful faith sharing.\r\n\r\nWe began meeting as part of a small group through the Unitarian Universalist church that we were attending at the time. Since then, our group’s members have changed slightly – some members leaving and a new member joining – but the purpose of the group has always been the same.\r\n\r\nWe eat. We drink. We talk. We share.\r\n\r\nWe talk about food and wine and sex and God. We talk about our jobs and our kids and our spouses and our spirituality.\r\n\r\nWe share our dreams, our insecurities, our doubts, and our faith. We share our joys and concerns. We share our thoughts and ideas about what it means to live a life of compassion, generosity, justice, and spirituality. We share our life stories and our faith stories.\r\n\r\nAnd in doing so, we share the deepest parts of ourselves. We share our faith and we share our relationship with God. We share our most vulnerable and sensitive beliefs, laying ourselves raw and fully open to the possibility of knowing each other on a deeper level.\r\n\r\nIn talking about our beliefs and sharing our faith with each other, we have granted one another a rare glimpse into the deepest recesses of our souls – a place that many of us don’t even let our closest friends and family members see.\r\n\r\nYou see, we live in a society that shuns faith sharing. We are scared of it. We are afraid of being judged and we are afraid of judging. We are afraid that if we talk about sensitive and personal issues such as faith and spirituality that we might be forced to acknowledge that there are differences between us.\r\n\r\nBut when we do this, we forget that differences do not need to divide us; rather, acknowledging differences can be a means of expanding our options and opening our minds. When we talk about beliefs – not necessarily <em>what</em> we believe but <em>why </em>we believe – we grant ourselves the opportunity to know someone on a deeper level and open our minds to alternative perspectives. When we share our faith – not just how we practice our faith but how our faith shapes our life – we give someone else the gift of knowing us more intimately.\r\n\r\nSo ask me what I believe; I will tell you.  And I will, in turn, ask you what you believe in the hopes that we can embark on an educational conversation, in which we both learn something about each other and our respective faiths.\r\n\r\nIf you shy away from religious or spiritual conversations, ask yourself two questions: Am I uncomfortable with this conversation because I am afraid that I will be judged?  Or am I uncomfortable with this conversation because I am unsure of what I believe?\r\n\r\nIf it is the former, and there is a genuine fear of judgment, feel empowered to say so. Let the listener know that you fear that you will be judged.  If the other person tends to judge, they deserve to be called out on it.  On the other hand, your fear of judgment may be unwarranted and you owe the other person the benefit of the doubt.\r\n\r\nI suspect, however, that fear of judgment is not the only thing that keeps us from talking about our faith. Many of us shy away from conversations about our faith simply because we are unsure of what we believe. We have doubts. We have questions. We see inconsistencies and, regardless of how strong our faith is, there are times when we just don’t know what we believe. But if you look into your heart – I mean <em>really</em> look into your heart – you just might come to some conclusions about your faith and spiritual beliefs. There is no shame in admitting your doubts. In fact, acknowledging doubts is a critical part of an authentic faith.\r\n\r\nEvangelism is not a dirty word. Evangelism (not to be confused with evangelical) is about faith <em>sharing</em> – listening to the beliefs and faiths of someone else without the expectation of conversion. Evangelism is <em>not</em> the act of proselytizing, which is a dictatorial one-sided persuasive commentary; rather, evangelism is the participation in a responsible and respectful conversation that involves a full and fair informational exchange.\r\n\r\nFor many of us, our faith – or lack of faith – is a large part of who we are and how we live our lives. By refraining from talking about our faith, we are preventing ourselves from really getting to know others, including those people who are closest to us. And when we fail to know and understand others and ourselves, we are ultimately preventing ourselves from fully knowing the power of a graceful and compassionate God.','Evangelism Is Not a Dirty Word','','publish','open','open','','evangelism-is-not-a-dirty-word','','','2012-11-01 20:56:08','2012-11-02 03:56:08','',0,'http://provoketive.com/?p=7713',0,'post','',0),(7640,160,'2012-08-27 15:12:07','2012-08-27 22:12:07','','rand-ryan','','inherit','open','open','','rand-ryan','','','2012-08-27 15:12:07','2012-08-27 22:12:07','',7639,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/rand-ryan.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(7641,160,'2012-08-27 15:12:25','2012-08-27 22:12:25','','rand-ryan','','inherit','open','open','','rand-ryan-2','','','2012-08-27 15:12:25','2012-08-27 22:12:25','',7639,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/rand-ryan1.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(7642,160,'2012-08-27 15:17:30','2012-08-27 22:17:30','<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/rand-ryan.jpg\"><img class=\"alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-7640\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/rand-ryan-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>\nI will admit it, when I read <em>Atlas Shrugged</em> several years ago, I got caught up in the scrawling epic with bigger than life characters.   Apparently, Paul Ryan enjoyed it too; so much so that in 2005, at a banquet honoring the author, he said, \"The reason I got involved in public service, by and large, if I had to credit one thinker, one person, it would be Ayn Rand.”  While he has since tried to walk back from those remarks, it’s clear that the Vice Presidential candidate’s political ideology has been heavily influenced by Alisa Rosenbaum, the Russian immigrant otherwise known as Ayn Rand.\n\nWhat I initially missed in <em>Atlas Shrugged</em> was the underlying themes of superiority of the successful and a disdain for the less fortunate.  In Ms. Rand’s novels, the poor are basically lazy dullards who deserve their lot in life.  Actually, they deserve worse, if only the government would get out of the way and stop propping them up with hand-outs.  The Paul Ryan budget proposal, which propelled him to national prominence, reflects the same basic belief system.  If the Ryan plan were passed, it would deny eight million people food stamps, thirty million people access to healthcare, and send two million kids into poverty; all the while giving even more tax cuts to the wealthiest in society.\n\nBehind Mr. Ryan’s budget is the ‘Ayn Randian’ notion that taxes and regulations reduce the incentive for the best and brightest in our society.   What we have actually seen is that reduced tax rates on the upper end of the economic scale have only created wider ‘wealth chasms.’   We got a tiny taste of laissez faire capitalism when an under-regulated financial industry nearly took down the whole economy.   And post-Katrina New Orleans gave us a glimpse of life without government intervention.   While the notion of carving out our destiny without government interference may sound rugged and romantic, in the real world, it would be a pretty chaotic place.\n\nEven more difficult to defend than the economic feasibility of Paul Ryan’s budget is its morality, or lack thereof.  When Mr. Ryan (a Catholic) spoke at Georgetown University, 90 Georgetown professors wrote a letter protesting his \"continuing misuse of Catholic teaching to defend a budget plan that decimates food programs for struggling families, radically weakens protections for the elderly and sick, and gives more tax breaks to the wealthiest few.\"  Mr. Ryan responded by saying, “I do not believe that the preferential option for the poor means a preferential option for big government.\"  That begs the follow-up question, if not from the government, from where will the needed assistance come?\n\nThat question, at least in part, is what prompted four nuns, who have devoted their lives to working with the poor, to get on a bus and take their message to the heartland of America.  It was outside of Ryan’s office in Wisconsin that Sister Simone Campbell told her audiences that if every church and synagogue and faith community in the nation were to try to do what federal programs now do, it would cost them each an additional $50,000 a year for the next 10 years.  While Ryan would not want to admit it, the only logical conclusion to his plan is that millions of struggling Americans will slip through the cracks.\n\nAyn Rand was much more open and honest about her belief system; publicly condemning the notion of ethical altruism, preferring her own “virtue of selfishness.”  A self-described atheist, she accepted this was contrary to Christ’s teachings to ‘take care of the least of these.”   Her religion was capitalism, and she unabashedly wrote that the individual “should exist for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others, nor sacrificing others to himself.”   Of course, Jesus did not “shrug” off the world like the heroes of <em>Atlas Shrugged.</em>  Instead, he became the ultimate sacrifice by giving his life for everyone.  That’s a very different message than the one you will find in Ayn Rand’s books or Paul Ryan’s budget.\n\nJeff Fulmer lives in Brentwood Tennessee and is the author of the book <a href=\"http://www.hometownprophetbook.com/\">Hometown Prophet.</a>   For a free copy of his new e-book, “As a Christian, Why the GOP Doesn’t Speak for Me,” simply subscribe to the Hometown Prophet Newsletter at <a href=\"http://www.hometownprophetbook.com/\">http://www.hometownprophetbook.com/</a>.','The Radical Agenda of Ryan and Rand','','inherit','open','open','','7639-revision','','','2012-08-27 15:17:30','2012-08-27 22:17:30','',7639,'http://provoketive.com/2012/08/27/7639-revision/',0,'revision','',0),(7799,43,'2012-10-15 08:00:04','2012-10-15 15:00:04','As I write this, our family is about to begin a journey into the Unknown.  We\'re stepping off the dock into our boat, setting sail in a sea of options.  It\'s a voyage we\'ve never undertaken together.  In fact, it\'s one I\'ve never taken at all.\r\n\r\nWe\'re in process of finding a new church.\r\n\r\nChurches have always found me.  A friend brought me as her guest to the first church in which I held membership.  My second church was one of convenience.  As a college student without a car, I simply attended church with a carload of friends.  My third church was a happy accident.  I wanted to volunteer with middle schoolers, I had met the youth director when I worked as a summer camp counselor, and he had a place for me there.  For ten years, it was home.  Our last church was a refuge, a place in a spiritual storm where we sought shelter until we were ready to move on.\r\n\r\nI\'ve never had to enter a search cold.\r\n\r\nBeing without a church has felt like a foray into a strange country all by itself.  It reminds me of the story of the elementary children on the playground.  When there were fences, the children used all the available space to play.  When the fences were removed, however, the children clustered toward the middle, uncertain where the boundaries lay.\r\n\r\nI happen to like boundaries.  They feel safe, comfortable.  I know where the lines are.  Sure, I might like to push at them a little, see if there\'s any give.  I might even fantasize about what it\'s like beyond them—would I be free of the things that make me feel angry or confined?  But I don\'t <em>really</em> like the idea of all that open space.  It\'s frightening.\r\n\r\nIsn\'t that what happens so often in our churches?  We erect fences around our theology to protect ourselves from what some might call \"the world.\"  We mustn\'t have any error in our interpretation of the Bible, and we must be clear on the things we stand against.  But instead of protecting ourselves, we end up continually moving the lines inward, shutting out not only that which we believe is wrong, but people as well.  We\'ve locked the gate to the fence and stationed guards, only allowing in those who are willing to play by our narrow set of rules.\r\n\r\nYet the opposite end of the spectrum is just as scary.\r\n\r\nFor the last several weeks, while we caught our collective breath and gathered our bearings, we\'ve stayed huddled in the middle of the playground.  We\'ve remained safe, pretending there\'s a fence holding us in and keeping us from chasing a stray ball into traffic.  We\'ve said prayers and read Scripture and sung songs.  We\'ve tried to pretend that we\'re \"having church.\"\r\n\r\nI wonder if that means that we\'ve stifled ourselves in some way.  We haven\'t given ourselves permission to explore freely, to think about what we want, what we need, even what we believe.  We no longer have a fence against which to push.  In these last hours on our own, I feel panic rising.  The desperate planner in me wants graphs, charts, and spreadsheets so we can measure the outcomes and perform statistical analysis on our church hunt.  I\'m grasping for anything that will let me build my fence again.\r\n\r\nThat\'s not how life works, is it?  We don\'t get a matrix for every decision-making process.  There\'s no road map, no answer key, no Cliffs Notes.  Sometimes, there isn\'t even a fence we can trust to protect us.  We can only keep our hearts, minds, eyes, and ears open.  And we can trust: Each other, those who have gone before us, and God.  The wide unknown may feel terrifying at first, but in the end, we may be better off on the outside of the fence.\r\n\r\nAs our time to board the ship draws near, we still have very little idea where the compass is pointing.  All we can hope is that we land safely on the shore, trusting our Captain to steer us.\r\n\r\nWhat journey are you on today?','No Boundaries','','publish','open','open','','no-boundaries','','','2012-10-10 19:30:54','2012-10-11 02:30:54','',0,'http://provoketive.com/?p=7799',0,'post','',2),(7800,43,'2012-09-27 19:33:25','2012-09-28 02:33:25','As I write this, our family is about to begin a journey into the Unknown.  We\'re stepping off the dock into our boat, setting sail in a sea of options.  It\'s a voyage we\'ve never undertaken together.  In fact, it\'s one I\'ve never taken at all.\n\nWe\'re in process of finding a new church.\n\nChurches have always found me.  A friend brought me as her guest to the first church in which I held membership.  My second church was one of convenience.  As a college student without a car, I simply attended church with a carload of friends.  My third church was a happy accident.  I wanted to volunteer with middle schoolers, I had met the youth director when I worked as a summer camp counselor, and he had a place for me there.  For ten years, it was home.  Our last church was a refuge, a place in a spiritual storm where we sought shelter until we were ready to move on.\n\nI\'ve never had to enter a search cold.\n\nBeing without a church has felt like a foray into a strange country all by itself.  It reminds me of the story of the elementary children on the playground.  When there were fences, the children used all the available space to play.  When the fences were removed, however, the children clustered toward the middle, uncertain where the boundaries lay.\n\nI happen to like boundaries.  They feel safe, comfortable.  I know where the lines are.  Sure, I might like to push at them a little, see if there\'s any give.  I might even fantasize about what it\'s like beyond them—would I be free of the things that make me feel angry or confined?  But I don\'t <em>really</em> like the idea of all that open space.  It\'s frightening.\n\nSo for the last several weeks, while we caught our collective breath and gathered our bearings, we\'ve stayed huddled in the middle of the playground.  We\'ve remained safe, pretending there\'s a fence holding us in and keeping us from chasing a stray ball into traffic.  We\'ve said prayers and read Scripture and sung songs.  We\'ve tried to pretend that we\'re \"having church.\"\n\nI wonder if that means that we\'ve stifled ourselves in some way.  We haven\'t given ourselves permission to explore freely, to think about what we want, what we need, even what we believe.  In these last hours on our own, I feel panic rising.  The desperate planner in me wants graphs, charts, and spreadsheets so we can measure the outcomes and perform statistical analysis on our church hunt.\n\nThat\'s not how life works, is it?  We don\'t get a matrix for every decision-making process.  There\'s no road map, no answer key, no Cliffs Notes.  We can only keep our hearts, minds, eyes, and ears open.  And we can trust: Each other, those who have gone before us, and God.\n\nAs our time to board the ship draws near, we still have very little idea where the compass is pointing.  All we can hope is that we land safely on the shore, trusting our Captain to steer us.\n\nWhat journey are you on?','No Boundaries','','inherit','open','open','','7799-revision','','','2012-09-27 19:33:25','2012-09-28 02:33:25','',7799,'http://provoketive.com/2012/09/27/7799-revision/',0,'revision','',0),(7649,1,'2012-08-28 13:07:40','2012-08-28 20:07:40','I will admit it, when I read <em>Atlas Shrugged</em> several years ago, I got caught up in the scrawling epic with bigger than life characters.  Apparently, Paul Ryan enjoyed it too; so much so that in 2005, at a banquet honoring the author, he said, \"The reason I got involved in public service, by and large, if I had to credit one thinker, one person, it would be Ayn Rand.”  While he has since tried to walk back from those remarks, it’s clear that the Vice Presidential candidate’s political ideology has been heavily influenced by Alisa Rosenbaum, the Russian immigrant otherwise known as Ayn Rand.\n\n<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/rand-ryan.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-7640 alignleft\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/rand-ryan-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>What I initially missed in <em>Atlas Shrugged</em> was the underlying themes of superiority of the successful and a disdain for the less fortunate.  In Ms. Rand’s novels, the poor are basically lazy dullards who deserve their lot in life.  Actually, they deserve worse, if only the government would get out of the way and stop propping them up with hand-outs.  The Paul Ryan budget proposal, which propelled him to national prominence, reflects the same basic belief system.  If the Ryan plan were passed, it would deny eight million people food stamps, thirty million people access to healthcare, and send two million kids into poverty; all the while giving even more tax cuts to the wealthiest in society.\n\nBehind Mr. Ryan’s budget is the ‘Ayn Randian’ notion that taxes and regulations reduce the incentive for the best and brightest in our society.   What we have actually seen is that reduced tax rates on the upper end of the economic scale have only created wider ‘wealth chasms.’   We got a tiny taste of laissez faire capitalism when an under-regulated financial industry nearly took down the whole economy.   And post-Katrina New Orleans gave us a glimpse of life without government intervention.   While the notion of carving out our destiny without government interference may sound rugged and romantic, in the real world, it would be a pretty chaotic place.\n\nEven more difficult to defend than the economic feasibility of Paul Ryan’s budget is its morality, or lack thereof.  When Mr. Ryan (a Catholic) spoke at Georgetown University, 90 Georgetown professors wrote a letter protesting his \"continuing misuse of Catholic teaching to defend a budget plan that decimates food programs for struggling families, radically weakens protections for the elderly and sick, and gives more tax breaks to the wealthiest few.\"  Mr. Ryan responded by saying, “I do not believe that the preferential option for the poor means a preferential option for big government.\"  That begs the follow-up question, if not from the government, from where will the needed assistance come?\n\nThat question, at least in part, is what prompted four nuns, who have devoted their lives to working with the poor, to get on a bus and take their message to the heartland of America.  It was outside of Ryan’s office in Wisconsin that Sister Simone Campbell told her audiences that if every church and synagogue and faith community in the nation were to try to do what federal programs now do, it would cost them each an additional $50,000 a year for the next 10 years.  While Ryan would not want to admit it, the only logical conclusion to his plan is that millions of struggling Americans will slip through the cracks.\n\nAyn Rand was much more open and honest about her belief system; publicly condemning the notion of ethical altruism, preferring her own “virtue of selfishness.”  A self-described atheist, she accepted this was contrary to Christ’s teachings to ‘take care of the least of these.”   Her religion was capitalism, and she unabashedly wrote that the individual “should exist for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others, nor sacrificing others to himself.”   Of course, Jesus did not “shrug” off the world like the heroes of <em>Atlas Shrugged.</em>  Instead, he became the ultimate sacrifice by giving his life for everyone.  That’s a very different message than the one you will find in Ayn Rand’s books or Paul Ryan’s budget.\n\nJeff Fulmer lives in Brentwood Tennessee and is the author of the book <a href=\"http://www.hometownprophetbook.com/\">Hometown Prophet.</a>   For a free copy of his new e-book, “As a Christian, Why the GOP Doesn’t Speak for Me,” simply subscribe to the Hometown Prophet Newsletter at <a href=\"http://www.hometownprophetbook.com/\">http://www.hometownprophetbook.com/</a>.','The Radical Agenda of Ryan and Rand','','inherit','open','open','','7639-autosave','','','2012-08-28 13:07:40','2012-08-28 20:07:40','',7639,'http://provoketive.com/2012/08/28/7639-autosave/',0,'revision','',0),(7650,1,'2012-08-28 13:12:40','2012-08-28 20:12:40','','paul ryan','','inherit','open','open','','paul-ryan','','','2012-08-28 13:12:40','2012-08-28 20:12:40','',7639,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/paul-ryan.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(7651,1,'2012-08-27 15:18:33','2012-08-27 22:18:33','<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/rand-ryan.jpg\"><img class=\"alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-7640\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/rand-ryan-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>\r\nI will admit it, when I read <em>Atlas Shrugged</em> several years ago, I got caught up in the scrawling epic with bigger than life characters.   Apparently, Paul Ryan enjoyed it too; so much so that in 2005, at a banquet honoring the author, he said, \"The reason I got involved in public service, by and large, if I had to credit one thinker, one person, it would be Ayn Rand.”  While he has since tried to walk back from those remarks, it’s clear that the Vice Presidential candidate’s political ideology has been heavily influenced by Alisa Rosenbaum, the Russian immigrant otherwise known as Ayn Rand.\r\n\r\nWhat I initially missed in <em>Atlas Shrugged</em> was the underlying themes of superiority of the successful and a disdain for the less fortunate.  In Ms. Rand’s novels, the poor are basically lazy dullards who deserve their lot in life.  Actually, they deserve worse, if only the government would get out of the way and stop propping them up with hand-outs.  The Paul Ryan budget proposal, which propelled him to national prominence, reflects the same basic belief system.  If the Ryan plan were passed, it would deny eight million people food stamps, thirty million people access to healthcare, and send two million kids into poverty; all the while giving even more tax cuts to the wealthiest in society.\r\n\r\nBehind Mr. Ryan’s budget is the ‘Ayn Randian’ notion that taxes and regulations reduce the incentive for the best and brightest in our society.   What we have actually seen is that reduced tax rates on the upper end of the economic scale have only created wider ‘wealth chasms.’   We got a tiny taste of laissez faire capitalism when an under-regulated financial industry nearly took down the whole economy.   And post-Katrina New Orleans gave us a glimpse of life without government intervention.   While the notion of carving out our destiny without government interference may sound rugged and romantic, in the real world, it would be a pretty chaotic place.\r\n\r\nEven more difficult to defend than the economic feasibility of Paul Ryan’s budget is its morality, or lack thereof.  When Mr. Ryan (a Catholic) spoke at Georgetown University, 90 Georgetown professors wrote a letter protesting his \"continuing misuse of Catholic teaching to defend a budget plan that decimates food programs for struggling families, radically weakens protections for the elderly and sick, and gives more tax breaks to the wealthiest few.\"  Mr. Ryan responded by saying, “I do not believe that the preferential option for the poor means a preferential option for big government.\"  That begs the follow-up question, if not from the government, from where will the needed assistance come?\r\n\r\nThat question, at least in part, is what prompted four nuns, who have devoted their lives to working with the poor, to get on a bus and take their message to the heartland of America.  It was outside of Ryan’s office in Wisconsin that Sister Simone Campbell told her audiences that if every church and synagogue and faith community in the nation were to try to do what federal programs now do, it would cost them each an additional $50,000 a year for the next 10 years.  While Ryan would not want to admit it, the only logical conclusion to his plan is that millions of struggling Americans will slip through the cracks.\r\n\r\nAyn Rand was much more open and honest about her belief system; publicly condemning the notion of ethical altruism, preferring her own “virtue of selfishness.”  A self-described atheist, she accepted this was contrary to Christ’s teachings to ‘take care of the least of these.”   Her religion was capitalism, and she unabashedly wrote that the individual “should exist for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others, nor sacrificing others to himself.”   Of course, Jesus did not “shrug” off the world like the heroes of <em>Atlas Shrugged.</em>  Instead, he became the ultimate sacrifice by giving his life for everyone.  That’s a very different message than the one you will find in Ayn Rand’s books or Paul Ryan’s budget.\r\n\r\nJeff Fulmer lives in Brentwood Tennessee and is the author of the book <a href=\"http://www.hometownprophetbook.com/\">Hometown Prophet.</a>   For a free copy of his new e-book, “As a Christian, Why the GOP Doesn’t Speak for Me,” simply subscribe to the Hometown Prophet Newsletter at <a href=\"http://www.hometownprophetbook.com/\">http://www.hometownprophetbook.com/</a>.','The Radical Agenda of Ryan and Rand','','inherit','open','open','','7639-revision-2','','','2012-08-27 15:18:33','2012-08-27 22:18:33','',7639,'http://provoketive.com/2012/08/27/7639-revision-2/',0,'revision','',0),(7289,34,'2012-08-03 08:00:50','2012-08-03 15:00:50','How can you know if someone is a follower of Jesus?\r\n\r\nAnswers to this question have split churches, destroyed friendships, and divided seminaries.\r\n\r\nSome believe that to follow Jesus you must only sign a creed or say a prayer. Others insist that following Jesus requires following a set of rules such as the Ten Commandments or a denominational Code of Conduct. Still others argue that following Jesus is best accomplished in a building at a certain time of week when certain activities take place, while others say that following Jesus means leaving our buildings and going to places where Jesus would go, such as to the poor and homeless.\r\n\r\nRather than take sides, let me suggest something different.\r\n\r\nWhen it comes to the question of who is truly a follower of Jesus, I believe that everyone is following Jesus. Every man, woman, and child on this earth, whether they subscribe to some version of Christianity or not, is following Jesus.\r\n\r\n<img class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-7292\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/crowd-of-people-300x187.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"187\" />\r\n\r\nNo, I do not believe everyone is \"saved\" (whatever that means to you). I am not  a universalist.\r\n\r\nSomeone can be a follower of Jesus, but not have eternal life. Remember that when Jesus walked this earth during His three years of ministry, there were many people who followed Him, but did not believe in Him for eternal life. Even one of His closest disciples, who followed Him for three years, watched His miracles, listened to His teachings, and spent many hours observing and learning from Jesus, ended up being the \"son of perdition\" (John 17:12).\r\n\r\nSo what do I mean when I say that everyone is a follower of Jesus? I believe that the redemptive work of Jesus was so powerful that when He died on the cross and rose again from the dead, everything in heaven and on earth was swept up in His wake, was drawn after His lead, and was pulled onward and inward toward Him.\r\n\r\nThe entire universe has been dropped into the torrential flow of His grace and redemption and no matter how much we might swim against the current or splash around in our own vain attempts at self-glorification, we cannot resist the direction that Jesus is pulling all creation toward.\r\n\r\nThis is why, I am convinced, the world has seen such advances in medicine, science, education, and art in the past 2000 years. Whether we realize it or not, we are being transformed into a creative, redeeming, reconciling, healing, God-glorifying world.\r\n\r\nWhen a doctor heals, it is because Jesus has pulled her. When an artist paints, it is because Jesus has pulled him. When parents love, teachers train, and musicians sing, it is because Jesus is pulling them after Him.\r\n\r\nMany people will not ever recognize that they have been following in the wake of Jesus, but they are.\r\n\r\nYes, there is still much evil, much pain, much hurt and hardship. But such things are not because of what Jesus has done, but are the lingering effects of the poison which was dumped into our river so long ago, and which will eventually be purged from the water once and for all.\r\n\r\nMeanwhile, it is the job of us who know we are following Jesus to show others that the beauty they create, the health they promote, the sustainability they encourage, the vibrancy and joy they strive for, is not killed and stifled in following Jesus but is enhanced and magnified when we learn to swim in the currents of God\'s reconciling power as found in Jesus Christ.\r\n\r\nThe magnetic pull of Jesus is so powerful that everyone is following Jesus. Those of us who know it can lead the way in showing what it means to redeem and reconcile the world to the fullness of the image of Jesus Christ.','Everyone is Following Jesus','','publish','open','open','','everyone-is-following-jesus','','','2012-08-01 16:59:15','2012-08-01 23:59:15','',0,'http://provoketive.com/?p=7289',0,'post','',13),(7290,34,'2012-07-28 22:47:34','2012-07-29 05:47:34','How can you know if someone is a follower of Jesus?\n\nAnswers to this question have split churches, destroyed friendships, and divided seminaries.\n\nSome believe that to follow Jesus you must only sign a creed or say a prayer. Others insist that following Jesus requires following a set of rules such as the Ten Commandments or a denominational Code of Conduct. Still others argue that following Jesus is best accomplished in a building at a certain time of week when certain activities take place, while others say that following Jesus means leaving our buildings and going to places where Jesus would go, such as to the poor and homeless.\n\nRather than take sides, let me suggest something different.\n\nWhen it comes to the question of who is truly a follower of Jesus, I believe that everyone is following Jesus. Every man, woman, and child on this earth, whether they subscribe to some version of Christianity or not, is following Jesus.\n\nNo, I do not believe everyone is \"saved\" (whatever that means to you). I am not  a universalist.\n\nSomeone can be a follower of Jesus, but not have eternal life. Remember that when Jesus walked this earth during His three years of ministry, there were many people who followed Him, but did not believe in Him for eternal life. Even one of His closest disciples, who followed Him for three years, watched His miracles, listened to His teachings, and spent many hours observing and learning from Jesus, ended up being the \"son of perdition\" (John 17:12).','Everyone is Following Jesus','','inherit','open','open','','7289-revision','','','2012-07-28 22:47:34','2012-07-29 05:47:34','',7289,'http://provoketive.com/2012/07/28/7289-revision/',0,'revision','',0),(7291,34,'2012-07-28 23:13:44','2012-07-29 06:13:44','','following Jesus','','inherit','open','open','','following-jesus','','','2012-07-28 23:13:44','2012-07-29 06:13:44','',7289,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/following-Jesus.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(7292,34,'2012-07-28 23:13:45','2012-07-29 06:13:45','','crowd-of-people','','inherit','open','open','','crowd-of-people','','','2012-07-28 23:13:45','2012-07-29 06:13:45','',7289,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/crowd-of-people.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(7293,34,'2012-07-28 23:14:45','2012-07-29 06:14:45','How can you know if someone is a follower of Jesus?\n\nAnswers to this question have split churches, destroyed friendships, and divided seminaries.\n\nSome believe that to follow Jesus you must only sign a creed or say a prayer. Others insist that following Jesus requires following a set of rules such as the Ten Commandments or a denominational Code of Conduct. Still others argue that following Jesus is best accomplished in a building at a certain time of week when certain activities take place, while others say that following Jesus means leaving our buildings and going to places where Jesus would go, such as to the poor and homeless.\n\nRather than take sides, let me suggest something different.\n\nWhen it comes to the question of who is truly a follower of Jesus, I believe that everyone is following Jesus. Every man, woman, and child on this earth, whether they subscribe to some version of Christianity or not, is following Jesus.\n\n<img class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-7292\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/crowd-of-people-300x187.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"187\" />\n\nNo, I do not believe everyone is \"saved\" (whatever that means to you). I am not  a universalist.\n\nSomeone can be a follower of Jesus, but not have eternal life. Remember that when Jesus walked this earth during His three years of ministry, there were many people who followed Him, but did not believe in Him for eternal life. Even one of His closest disciples, who followed Him for three years, watched His miracles, listened to His teachings, and spent many hours observing and learning from Jesus, ended up being the \"son of perdition\" (John 17:12).\n\nSo what do I mean when I say that everyone is a follower of Jesus? I believe that the redemptive work of Jesus was so powerful that when He died on the cross and rose again from the dead, everything in heaven and on earth was swept up in His wake, was drawn after His lead, and was pulled onward and inward toward Him.\n\nThe entire universe has been dropped into the torrential flow of His grace and redemption and no matter how much we might swim against the current or splash around in our own vain attempts at self-glorification, we cannot resist the direction that Jesus is pulling all creation toward.\n\nThis is why, I am convinced, the world has seen such advances in medicine, science, education, and art in the past 2000 years. Whether we realize it or not, we are being transformed into a creative, redeeming, reconciling, healing, God-glorifying world.\n\nWhen a doctor heals, it is because Jesus has pulled her. When an artist paints, it is because Jesus has pulled him. When parents love, teachers train, and musicians sing, it is because Jesus is pulling them after Him.\n\nMany people will not ever recognize that they have been following in the wake of Jesus, but they are.\n\nYes, there is still much evil, much pain, much hurt and hardship. But such things are not because of what Jesus has done, but are the lingering effects of the poison which was dumped into our river so long ago, and which will eventually be purged from the water once and for all.\n\nMeanwhile, it is the job of us who know we are following Jesus to show others that the beauty they create, the health they promote, the sustainability they encourage, the vibrancy and joy they strive for, is not killed and stifled in following Jesus but is enhanced and magnified when we learn to swim in the currents of God\'s reconciling power as found in Jesus Christ.\n\nThe magnetic pull of Jesus is so powerful that everyone is following Jesus. Those of us who know it can lead the way in showing what it means to redeem and reconcile the world to the fullness of the image of Jesus Christ. ','Everyone is Following Jesus','','inherit','open','open','','7289-revision-2','','','2012-07-28 23:14:45','2012-07-29 06:14:45','',7289,'http://provoketive.com/2012/07/28/7289-revision-2/',0,'revision','',0),(7294,145,'2012-08-04 08:00:13','2012-08-04 15:00:13','In this hot political season, with voices raised about guns, jobs, freedom, the American Way, I find myself pausing to ask: which Way am I called to follow? Whose priorities should I to pursue?\r\n\r\nBefore Christians were called Christians, they were called Followers of the Way. The Way was Jesus: simultaneously the path itself, guide and example, companion on the journey. Jesus said “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me.”\r\n\r\nBut he also said “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23). The way to relationship with God, to the full life Jesus promised, is through Jesus himself, but also through following the path he shows us, walking with him the road of sacrifice and self-denial.\r\n\r\nFollowing the Way of Christ starts with a willingness to set our native loyalties aside. Jesus said again and again: leave your nets, your fields, your money, your life, and come, follow me. The early believers understood that the first step of the Christian journey was a step away from all prior allegiance, including allegiance to self, to comfort, safety, the right to be right, the mistaken idea that somehow we, on our own, are good people, better than those others.\r\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The Apostle Paul understood this completely:</p>\r\n\r\n<blockquote>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">\"If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless. But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things.\" (Philippians 3)</p>\r\n</blockquote>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Too many contemporary Christians assume that today the first step is somehow different, somehow less demanding, that we can keep our old loyalties and still fit Christ in. But to follow Jesus, even now, requires a willingness to step away from tradition, denominational assumptions, national pride, comfort, safety, confidence in our own intellect or education, the mistaken idea that somehow we, on our own, are good people, better than those others.</p>\r\nI start here: I am a fallen, broken person, jealously loyal to my own ideas, selfishly committed to my own ways of seeing, in need of a hand of grace to help me stand free of the misguided assumptions that hold me hostage, that whisper I’m somehow of more value than those others not like me.\r\n\r\nI need help to start on the Way, and I need help to continue. If Jesus is the Way, then we’re called to live like him, visible agents of healing, compassion, reconciliation, forgiveness. Before creeds, before denominations, before tee-shirt slogans or bumper stickers, the early Christians were known by the visible difference in their daily lives. They embraced lepers, prostitutes, Roman soldiers. They fed widows and orphans. They refused to retaliate when faced with persecution. They offered healing to enemies, welcome to wanderers unlike themselves.\r\n\r\nThose early Christians were so convinced of the lasting love of Christ they turned and offered that love to those who maligned them, scorned them, punished them. Unevenly, imperfectly, they walked day by day in the Way they had been shown.\r\n\r\nAthanasius of Alexandria (ca. 296-298 – 373) described the visible influence of the Way of Christ on the surrounding culture:\r\n<blockquote>\"Christ is not only preached through His own disciples, but also wrought so persuasively on men’s understanding that, laying aside their savage habits and forsaking the worship of their ancestral gods, they learnt to know Him and through Him to worship the Father. While they were yet idolaters, the Greeks and Barbarians were always at war with each other, and were even cruel to their own kith and kin. Nobody could travel by land or sea at all unless he was armed with swords, because of their irreconcilable quarrels with each other. Indeed, the whole course of their life was carried on with weapons. But since they came over to the school of Christ, as men moved with real compunction they have laid aside their murderous cruelty and are war-minded no more. On the contrary, all is peace among them and nothing remains save desire for friendship.\" (On the Incarnation)</blockquote>\r\nI admit, as followers of the Way in the 21st century, we face a challenge not known to those new Christians of an earlier world. We carry the heritage not only of those whose lives mirrored the example of Christ, but also of those who in the name of Christ went on with their war-minded ways, killing and conquering, justifying slavery and sexism, suppressing scientific study, shouting down opponents, carrying signs saying “God hates.”\r\n\r\nNo one said the Way of Christ would be easy. The call of love is always costly.\r\n\r\nSo we start with that other first step of the Way: confession. Not only confession of our own sin, failure, falling short, but confession of the falling short of those who have gone before, those who even now misrepresent God’s goodness and make the word “Christian” a sign of judgment rather than of hope.\r\n\r\nVinoth Ramachandra, Sri Lankan theologian who has surely seen more than his share of colonial misconduct in the name of Christ, notes “it is with a flawed and faithless people that the Christ has stooped to pitch his tent and link his name. Any sharing of the gospel within a pluralistic world, after two millennia of ‘Christianity,’ has to begin with humble acknowledgement of betrayals of the gospel by the church itself.” (Faiths in Conflict? 1999 p. 168)\r\n\r\nTurning from our tribal loyalties, confessing our misrepresentation of the gospel and complicity in a culture skewed to its own good rather than the good of all, we start on a Way that leads us ever deeper into humility, deeper into the longing for wisdom, the repentant awareness of our own lack of love, our own inadequacy in the face of complex, overwhelming need.\r\n\r\nAnd along that Way, as we read the words of Jesus, as we pray to hear and know his voice, as we ask to see with his eyes, to love what he loves, we find our hearts changing, and find ourselves claiming, with Jesus, a purpose and passion like his own, priority enough in this conflicted season:\r\n<blockquote>“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,\r\nbecause he has anointed me\r\nto proclaim good news to the poor.\r\nHe has sent me to proclaim freedom\r\nfor the prisoners\r\nand recovery of sight\r\nfor the blind,\r\nto set the oppressed free,\r\nto proclaim the year\r\nof the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4)</blockquote>','Which Way Am I Called to Follow?','','publish','open','open','','which-way-am-i-called-to-follow','','','2012-08-01 17:08:49','2012-08-02 00:08:49','',0,'http://provoketive.com/?p=7294',0,'post','',8),(7295,145,'2012-07-29 06:36:50','2012-07-29 13:36:50','In this hot political season, with voices raised about guns, jobs, freedom, the American Way, I find myself pausing to ask: which Way am I called to follow? Whose priorities should I to pursue?\n\nBefore Christians were called Christians, they were called Followers of the Way. The Way was Jesus: simultaneously the path itself, guide and example, companion on the journey. Jesus said “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me.”\n\nBut he also said “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23). The way to relationship with God, to the full life Jesus promised, is through Jesus himself, but also through following the path he shows us, walking with him the road of sacrifice and self-denial.\n\nFollowing the Way of Christ starts with a willingness to set our native loyalties aside. Jesus said again and again: leave your nets, your fields, your money, your life, and come, follow me. The early believers understood that the first step of the Christian journey was a step away from all prior allegiance, including allegiance to self, to comfort, safety, the right to be right, the mistaken idea that somehow we, on our own, are good people, better than those others.\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">The Apostle Paul understood this completely:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">\"If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless. But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things.\" (Philippians 3)</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">Too many contemporary Christians assume that today the first step is somehow different, somehow less demanding, that we can keep our old loyalties and still fit Christ in. But to follow Jesus, even now, requires a willingness to step away from tradition, denominational assumptions, national pride, comfort, safety, confidence in our own intellect or education, the mistaken idea that somehow we, on our own, are good people, better than those others.</p>\nI start here: I am a fallen, broken person, jealously loyal to my own ideas, selfishly committed to my own ways of seeing, in need of a hand of grace to help me stand free of the misguided assumptions that hold me hostage, that whisper I’m somehow of more value than those others not like me.\n\nI need help to start on the Way, and I need help to continue. If Jesus is the Way, then we’re called to live like him, visible agents of healing, compassion, reconciliation, forgiveness. Before creeds, before denominations, before tee-shirt slogans or bumper stickers, the early Christians were known by the visible difference in their daily lives. They embraced lepers, prostitutes, Roman soldiers. They fed widows and orphans. They refused to retaliate when faced with persecution. They offered healing to enemies, welcome to wanderers unlike themselves.\n\nThose early Christians were so convinced of the lasting love of Christ they turned and offered that love to those who maligned them, scorned them, punished them. Unevenly, imperfectly, they walked day by day in the Way they had been shown.\n\nAthanasius of Alexandria (ca. 296-298 – 373) described the visible influence of the Way of Christ on the surrounding culture:\n<blockquote>\"Christ is not only preached through His own disciples, but also wrought so persuasively on men’s understanding that, laying aside their savage habits and forsaking the worship of their ancestral gods, they learnt to know Him and through Him to worship the Father. While they were yet idolaters, the Greeks and Barbarians were always at war with each other, and were even cruel to their own kith and kin. Nobody could travel by land or sea at all unless he was armed with swords, because of their irreconcilable quarrels with each other. Indeed, the whole course of their life was carried on with weapons. But since they came over to the school of Christ, as men moved with real compunction they have laid aside their murderous cruelty and are war-minded no more. On the contrary, all is peace among them and nothing remains save desire for friendship.\" (On the Incarnation)</blockquote>\nI admit, as followers of the Way in the 21st century, we face a challenge not known to those new Christians of an earlier world. We carry the heritage not only of those whose lives mirrored the example of Christ, but also of those who in the name of Christ went on with their war-minded ways, killing and conquering, justifying slavery and sexism, suppressing scientific study, shouting down opponents, carrying signs saying “God hates.”\n\nNo one said the Way of Christ would be easy. The call of love is always costly.\n\nSo we start with that other first step of the Way: confession. Not only confession of our own sin, failure, falling short, but confession of the falling short of those who have gone before, those who even now misrepresent God’s goodness and make the word “Christian” a sign of judgment rather than of hope.\n\nVinoth Ramachandra, Sri Lankan theologian who has surely seen more than his share of colonial misconduct in the name of Christ, notes “it is with a flawed and faithless people that the Christ has stooped to pitch his tent and link his name. Any sharing of the gospel within a pluralistic world, after two millennia of ‘Christianity,’ has to begin with humble acknowledgement of betrayals of the gospel by the church itself.” (Faiths in Conflict? 1999 p. 168)\n\nTurning from our tribal loyalties, confessing our misrepresentation of the gospel and complicity in a culture skewed to its own good rather than the good of all, we start on a Way that leads us ever deeper into humility, deeper into the longing for wisdom, the repentant awareness of our own lack of love, our own inadequacy in the face of complex, overwhelming need.\n\nAnd along that Way, as we read the words of Jesus, as we pray to hear and know his voice, as we ask to see with his eyes, to love what he loves, we find our hearts changing, and find ourselves claiming, with Jesus, a purpose and passion like his own, priority enough in this conflicted season:\n“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,\nbecause he has anointed me\nto proclaim good news to the poor.\nHe has sent me to proclaim freedom\nfor the prisoners\nand recovery of sight\nfor the blind,\nto set the oppressed free,\nto proclaim the year\nof the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4)','Which Way Am I Called to Follow?','','inherit','open','open','','7294-revision','','','2012-07-29 06:36:50','2012-07-29 13:36:50','',7294,'http://provoketive.com/2012/07/29/7294-revision/',0,'revision','',0),(7296,145,'2012-07-29 06:39:42','2012-07-29 13:39:42','','Christ_takes_up_his_cross','','inherit','open','open','','christ_takes_up_his_cross','','','2012-07-29 06:39:42','2012-07-29 13:39:42','',7294,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Christ_takes_up_his_cross.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(7297,145,'2012-07-29 06:40:24','2012-07-29 13:40:24','','Christ_takes_up_his_cross','Christ Takes Up His Cross, Anna Kocher, 2006','inherit','open','open','','christ_takes_up_his_cross-2','','','2012-07-29 06:40:24','2012-07-29 13:40:24','',7294,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Christ_takes_up_his_cross1.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(7298,145,'2012-07-29 06:38:17','2012-07-29 13:38:17','In this hot political season, with voices raised about guns, jobs, freedom, the American Way, I find myself pausing to ask: which Way am I called to follow? Whose priorities should I to pursue?\n\nBefore Christians were called Christians, they were called Followers of the Way. The Way was Jesus: simultaneously the path itself, guide and example, companion on the journey. Jesus said “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me.”\n\nBut he also said “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23). The way to relationship with God, to the full life Jesus promised, is through Jesus himself, but also through following the path he shows us, walking with him the road of sacrifice and self-denial.\n\nFollowing the Way of Christ starts with a willingness to set our native loyalties aside. Jesus said again and again: leave your nets, your fields, your money, your life, and come, follow me. The early believers understood that the first step of the Christian journey was a step away from all prior allegiance, including allegiance to self, to comfort, safety, the right to be right, the mistaken idea that somehow we, on our own, are good people, better than those others.\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">The Apostle Paul understood this completely:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">\"If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless. But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things.\" (Philippians 3)</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">Too many contemporary Christians assume that today the first step is somehow different, somehow less demanding, that we can keep our old loyalties and still fit Christ in. But to follow Jesus, even now, requires a willingness to step away from tradition, denominational assumptions, national pride, comfort, safety, confidence in our own intellect or education, the mistaken idea that somehow we, on our own, are good people, better than those others.</p>\nI start here: I am a fallen, broken person, jealously loyal to my own ideas, selfishly committed to my own ways of seeing, in need of a hand of grace to help me stand free of the misguided assumptions that hold me hostage, that whisper I’m somehow of more value than those others not like me.\n\nI need help to start on the Way, and I need help to continue. If Jesus is the Way, then we’re called to live like him, visible agents of healing, compassion, reconciliation, forgiveness. Before creeds, before denominations, before tee-shirt slogans or bumper stickers, the early Christians were known by the visible difference in their daily lives. They embraced lepers, prostitutes, Roman soldiers. They fed widows and orphans. They refused to retaliate when faced with persecution. They offered healing to enemies, welcome to wanderers unlike themselves.\n\nThose early Christians were so convinced of the lasting love of Christ they turned and offered that love to those who maligned them, scorned them, punished them. Unevenly, imperfectly, they walked day by day in the Way they had been shown.\n\nAthanasius of Alexandria (ca. 296-298 – 373) described the visible influence of the Way of Christ on the surrounding culture:\n<blockquote>\"Christ is not only preached through His own disciples, but also wrought so persuasively on men’s understanding that, laying aside their savage habits and forsaking the worship of their ancestral gods, they learnt to know Him and through Him to worship the Father. While they were yet idolaters, the Greeks and Barbarians were always at war with each other, and were even cruel to their own kith and kin. Nobody could travel by land or sea at all unless he was armed with swords, because of their irreconcilable quarrels with each other. Indeed, the whole course of their life was carried on with weapons. But since they came over to the school of Christ, as men moved with real compunction they have laid aside their murderous cruelty and are war-minded no more. On the contrary, all is peace among them and nothing remains save desire for friendship.\" (On the Incarnation)</blockquote>\nI admit, as followers of the Way in the 21st century, we face a challenge not known to those new Christians of an earlier world. We carry the heritage not only of those whose lives mirrored the example of Christ, but also of those who in the name of Christ went on with their war-minded ways, killing and conquering, justifying slavery and sexism, suppressing scientific study, shouting down opponents, carrying signs saying “God hates.”\n\nNo one said the Way of Christ would be easy. The call of love is always costly.\n\nSo we start with that other first step of the Way: confession. Not only confession of our own sin, failure, falling short, but confession of the falling short of those who have gone before, those who even now misrepresent God’s goodness and make the word “Christian” a sign of judgment rather than of hope.\n\nVinoth Ramachandra, Sri Lankan theologian who has surely seen more than his share of colonial misconduct in the name of Christ, notes “it is with a flawed and faithless people that the Christ has stooped to pitch his tent and link his name. Any sharing of the gospel within a pluralistic world, after two millennia of ‘Christianity,’ has to begin with humble acknowledgement of betrayals of the gospel by the church itself.” (Faiths in Conflict? 1999 p. 168)\n\nTurning from our tribal loyalties, confessing our misrepresentation of the gospel and complicity in a culture skewed to its own good rather than the good of all, we start on a Way that leads us ever deeper into humility, deeper into the longing for wisdom, the repentant awareness of our own lack of love, our own inadequacy in the face of complex, overwhelming need.\n\nAnd along that Way, as we read the words of Jesus, as we pray to hear and know his voice, as we ask to see with his eyes, to love what he loves, we find our hearts changing, and find ourselves claiming, with Jesus, a purpose and passion like his own, priority enough in this conflicted season:\n<blockquote>“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,\nbecause he has anointed me\nto proclaim good news to the poor.\nHe has sent me to proclaim freedom\nfor the prisoners\nand recovery of sight\nfor the blind,\nto set the oppressed free,\nto proclaim the year\nof the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4)</blockquote>','Which Way Am I Called to Follow?','','inherit','open','open','','7294-revision-2','','','2012-07-29 06:38:17','2012-07-29 13:38:17','',7294,'http://provoketive.com/2012/07/29/7294-revision-2/',0,'revision','',0),(7299,145,'2012-07-29 06:47:03','2012-07-29 13:47:03','In this hot political season, with voices raised about guns, jobs, freedom, the American Way, I find myself pausing to ask: which Way am I called to follow? Whose priorities should I to pursue?\n\nBefore Christians were called Christians, they were called Followers of the Way. The Way was Jesus: simultaneously the path itself, guide and example, companion on the journey. Jesus said “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me.”\n\nBut he also said “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23). The way to relationship with God, to the full life Jesus promised, is through Jesus himself, but also through following the path he shows us, walking with him the road of sacrifice and self-denial.\n\nFollowing the Way of Christ starts with a willingness to set our native loyalties aside. Jesus said again and again: leave your nets, your fields, your money, your life, and come, follow me. The early believers understood that the first step of the Christian journey was a step away from all prior allegiance, including allegiance to self, to comfort, safety, the right to be right, the mistaken idea that somehow we, on our own, are good people, better than those others.\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">The Apostle Paul understood this completely:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">\"If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless. But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things.\" (Philippians 3)</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">Too many contemporary Christians assume that today the first step is somehow different, somehow less demanding, that we can keep our old loyalties and still fit Christ in. But to follow Jesus, even now, requires a willingness to step away from tradition, denominational assumptions, national pride, comfort, safety, confidence in our own intellect or education, the mistaken idea that somehow we, on our own, are good people, better than those others.</p>\nI start here: I am a fallen, broken person, jealously loyal to my own ideas, selfishly committed to my own ways of seeing, in need of a hand of grace to help me stand free of the misguided assumptions that hold me hostage, that whisper I’m somehow of more value than those others not like me.\n\nI need help to start on the Way, and I need help to continue. If Jesus is the Way, then we’re called to live like him, visible agents of healing, compassion, reconciliation, forgiveness. Before creeds, before denominations, before tee-shirt slogans or bumper stickers, the early Christians were known by the visible difference in their daily lives. They embraced lepers, prostitutes, Roman soldiers. They fed widows and orphans. They refused to retaliate when faced with persecution. They offered healing to enemies, welcome to wanderers unlike themselves.\n\nThose early Christians were so convinced of the lasting love of Christ they turned and offered that love to those who maligned them, scorned them, punished them. Unevenly, imperfectly, they walked day by day in the Way they had been shown.\n\nAthanasius of Alexandria (ca. 296-298 – 373) described the visible influence of the Way of Christ on the surrounding culture:\n<blockquote>\"Christ is not only preached through His own disciples, but also wrought so persuasively on men’s understanding that, laying aside their savage habits and forsaking the worship of their ancestral gods, they learnt to know Him and through Him to worship the Father. While they were yet idolaters, the Greeks and Barbarians were always at war with each other, and were even cruel to their own kith and kin. Nobody could travel by land or sea at all unless he was armed with swords, because of their irreconcilable quarrels with each other. Indeed, the whole course of their life was carried on with weapons. But since they came over to the school of Christ, as men moved with real compunction they have laid aside their murderous cruelty and are war-minded no more. On the contrary, all is peace among them and nothing remains save desire for friendship.\" (On the Incarnation)</blockquote>\nI admit, as followers of the Way in the 21st century, we face a challenge not known to those new Christians of an earlier world. We carry the heritage not only of those whose lives mirrored the example of Christ, but also of those who in the name of Christ went on with their war-minded ways, killing and conquering, justifying slavery and sexism, suppressing scientific study, shouting down opponents, carrying signs saying “God hates.”\n\nNo one said the Way of Christ would be easy. The call of love is always costly.\n\nSo we start with that other first step of the Way: confession. Not only confession of our own sin, failure, falling short, but confession of the falling short of those who have gone before, those who even now misrepresent God’s goodness and make the word “Christian” a sign of judgment rather than of hope.\n\nVinoth Ramachandra, Sri Lankan theologian who has surely seen more than his share of colonial misconduct in the name of Christ, notes “it is with a flawed and faithless people that the Christ has stooped to pitch his tent and link his name. Any sharing of the gospel within a pluralistic world, after two millennia of ‘Christianity,’ has to begin with humble acknowledgement of betrayals of the gospel by the church itself.” (Faiths in Conflict? 1999 p. 168)\n\nTurning from our tribal loyalties, confessing our misrepresentation of the gospel and complicity in a culture skewed to its own good rather than the good of all, we start on a Way that leads us ever deeper into humility, deeper into the longing for wisdom, the repentant awareness of our own lack of love, our own inadequacy in the face of complex, overwhelming need.\n\nAnd along that Way, as we read the words of Jesus, as we pray to hear and know his voice, as we ask to see with his eyes, to love what he loves, we find our hearts changing, and find ourselves claiming, with Jesus, a purpose and passion like his own, priority enough in this conflicted season:\n<blockquote>“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,\nbecause he has anointed me\nto proclaim good news to the poor.\nHe has sent me to proclaim freedom\nfor the prisoners\nand recovery of sight\nfor the blind,\nto set the oppressed free,\nto proclaim the year\nof the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4)</blockquote>','Which Way Am I Called to Follow?','','inherit','open','open','','7294-revision-3','','','2012-07-29 06:47:03','2012-07-29 13:47:03','',7294,'http://provoketive.com/2012/07/29/7294-revision-3/',0,'revision','',0),(7300,1,'2012-08-01 17:01:28','2012-08-02 00:01:28','In this hot political season, with voices raised about guns, jobs, freedom, the American Way, I find myself pausing to ask: which Way am I called to follow? Whose priorities should I to pursue?\n\nBefore Christians were called Christians, they were called Followers of the Way. The Way was Jesus: simultaneously the path itself, guide and example, companion on the journey. Jesus said “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me.”\n\nBut he also said “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23). The way to relationship with God, to the full life Jesus promised, is through Jesus himself, but also through following the path he shows us, walking with him the road of sacrifice and self-denial.\n\nFollowing the Way of Christ starts with a willingness to set our native loyalties aside. Jesus said again and again: leave your nets, your fields, your money, your life, and come, follow me. The early believers understood that the first step of the Christian journey was a step away from all prior allegiance, including allegiance to self, to comfort, safety, the right to be right, the mistaken idea that somehow we, on our own, are good people, better than those others.\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The Apostle Paul understood this completely:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">\"If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless. But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things.\" (Philippians 3)</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Too many contemporary Christians assume that today the first step is somehow different, somehow less demanding, that we can keep our old loyalties and still fit Christ in. But to follow Jesus, even now, requires a willingness to step away from tradition, denominational assumptions, national pride, comfort, safety, confidence in our own intellect or education, the mistaken idea that somehow we, on our own, are good people, better than those others.</p>\nI start here: I am a fallen, broken person, jealously loyal to my own ideas, selfishly committed to my own ways of seeing, in need of a hand of grace to help me stand free of the misguided assumptions that hold me hostage, that whisper I’m somehow of more value than those others not like me.\n\nI need help to start on the Way, and I need help to continue. If Jesus is the Way, then we’re called to live like him, visible agents of healing, compassion, reconciliation, forgiveness. Before creeds, before denominations, before tee-shirt slogans or bumper stickers, the early Christians were known by the visible difference in their daily lives. They embraced lepers, prostitutes, Roman soldiers. They fed widows and orphans. They refused to retaliate when faced with persecution. They offered healing to enemies, welcome to wanderers unlike themselves.\n\nThose early Christians were so convinced of the lasting love of Christ they turned and offered that love to those who maligned them, scorned them, punished them. Unevenly, imperfectly, they walked day by day in the Way they had been shown.\n\nAthanasius of Alexandria (ca. 296-298 – 373) described the visible influence of the Way of Christ on the surrounding culture:\n<blockquote>\"Christ is not only preached through His own disciples, but also wrought so persuasively on men’s understanding that, laying aside their savage habits and forsaking the worship of their ancestral gods, they learnt to know Him and through Him to worship the Father. While they were yet idolaters, the Greeks and Barbarians were always at war with each other, and were even cruel to their own kith and kin. Nobody could travel by land or sea at all unless he was armed with swords, because of their irreconcilable quarrels with each other. Indeed, the whole course of their life was carried on with weapons. But since they came over to the school of Christ, as men moved with real compunction they have laid aside their murderous cruelty and are war-minded no more. On the contrary, all is peace among them and nothing remains save desire for friendship.\" (On the Incarnation)</blockquote>\nI admit, as followers of the Way in the 21st century, we face a challenge not known to those new Christians of an earlier world. We carry the heritage not only of those whose lives mirrored the example of Christ, but also of those who in the name of Christ went on with their war-minded ways, killing and conquering, justifying slavery and sexism, suppressing scientific study, shouting down opponents, carrying signs saying “God hates.”\n\nNo one said the Way of Christ would be easy. The call of love is always costly.\n\nSo we start with that other first step of the Way: confession. Not only confession of our own sin, failure, falling short, but confession of the falling short of those who have gone before, those who even now misrepresent God’s goodness and make the word “Christian” a sign of judgment rather than of hope.\n\nVinoth Ramachandra, Sri Lankan theologian who has surely seen more than his share of colonial misconduct in the name of Christ, notes “it is with a flawed and faithless people that the Christ has stooped to pitch his tent and link his name. Any sharing of the gospel within a pluralistic world, after two millennia of ‘Christianity,’ has to begin with humble acknowledgement of betrayals of the gospel by the church itself.” (Faiths in Conflict? 1999 p. 168)\n\nTurning from our tribal loyalties, confessing our misrepresentation of the gospel and complicity in a culture skewed to its own good rather than the good of all, we start on a Way that leads us ever deeper into humility, deeper into the longing for wisdom, the repentant awareness of our own lack of love, our own inadequacy in the face of complex, overwhelming need.\n\nAnd along that Way, as we read the words of Jesus, as we pray to hear and know his voice, as we ask to see with his eyes, to love what he loves, we find our hearts changing, and find ourselves claiming, with Jesus, a purpose and passion like his own, priority enough in this conflicted season:\n<blockquote>“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,\nbecause he has anointed me\nto proclaim good news to the poor.\nHe has sent me to proclaim freedom\nfor the prisoners\nand recovery of sight\nfor the blind,\nto set the oppressed free,\nto proclaim the year\nof the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4)</blockquote>','Which Way Am I Called to Follow?','','inherit','open','open','','7294-autosave','','','2012-08-01 17:01:28','2012-08-02 00:01:28','',7294,'http://provoketive.com/2012/07/29/7294-autosave/',0,'revision','',0),(7566,186,'2012-08-17 08:00:17','2012-08-17 15:00:17','I\'ve been thinking a lot about my reasons for writing Forest Life. This is appropriate as I will soon release it to the world. I was up last night considering the metamorphosis that my life has undergone since I began writing the book. The idea for the book began while I was living alone in a cabin, on Kentucky Lake in Paris, Tennessee. My brain had begun to crack so I embarked on an existential exile into the woods. My heart was broken and I needed to find a way to sustain the will to continue living.\r\n\r\nEven after all this time, I still don\'t know how to live. There are moments here and there when I understand some of the things that I need to live. I need good friendship. I need to write and I need quiet emptiness. Unfortunately, I still spend too much time thinking about things that make my brain bleed. Sometimes I just think so much that my brain will shut itself down in a futile attempt at self-preservation. I haven\'t been able to transcend my frustration and anger for society and its inability to match up with my ideals. My ideals being peaceful coexistence and productive progress. Some people reconcile this sadness by telling themselves that God\'s gonna come back and fix things up real nice. I want to believe nice things like restorative theology, but I just can\'t. I am understanding of those who subscribe to comforting narratives. I\'d rather not see the world as cruel and chaotic, but I digress. Hence, my attempts to understand how I should live in a world that doesn\'t make sense.\r\n\r\nAlthough Forest Life is almost entirely fictional, the frustration and struggle of the lead character often mirrors my own irreconcilable sadness and confusion. Existence is a strange thing. It was on a cabin porch in the Tennessee dusk, nearly three years when I realized that my experience was a universal dilemma for conscious freethinkers. And so as the sky grew salty and the winds picked up, the rain began to fall through a halo sunrise and I found my story - the story of Emmett.\r\n\r\nOnce more I\'ve removed myself from the debilitating mess that we call society. I\'m currently working on a new manuscript in a farmhouse, in the woods of the great Midwest. The grass is dead brown and the earth is rough. Wildlife roams freely, uninhibited by humans. I\'ve spent the last couple mornings fishing alone off a pond in the hills of the Daniel Boone forest. I much prefer the quiet still of the wild. In the wild I\'m free to create and sigh and smirk without interruption. There\'s no one around to keep score and I find myself less inclined to drink, attempting to alleviate the sorrow I feel in my observation. It\'s nice to know that I\'ve made some progress since my Forest Life journey began over three years ago.\r\n\r\nWhen I was alone in that cabin in the forgotten town, I had several spiritual experiences. I began to understand myself. I confronted my mistakes. I lamented several self-inflicted tragedies. I struggled to forgive myself and I struggled to accept the memories that I cannot change. Even now, I\'m still working these things out. I\'m still angry at myself for lying compulsively and inflicting upon myself, the very suffering that compelled me to lie. I\'m still angry at myself for letting the loss of loved ones contribute to my future suffering, a suffering that would have been deterred if not for my own fear. Naturally, the character in Forest Life is often struggling with self-deprecation and regret. Alas! There\'s so much to work through and so much forgive. There\'s a whole lifetime of paradox to rationalize and stories to tell. This is one of the themes in Forest Life. How do we find a purpose that death does not destroy? In a sense, writing Forest Life was an attempt at a solution to this very problem. My purpose is to write about the ruins of my memory and to give meaning to the experience.\r\n\r\nWhen I started writing Forest Life, I was suicidal and drunk because I had lost someone I love to a tragedy. Afterward, my question was this: why love when death and suffering are inevitable? I won\'t reveal my solution to this problem, but I do present it in the pages of the book. These are only a few of the issues I grapple with in the story and I hope that you\'ll read the story and consciously address your own uncertainty and fear.\r\n\r\nThanks everyone. You can pre-order the book <a href=\"http://store.civitaspress.com/books/347\">here.</a> I\'ve worked hard on this story and it would mean the world to me if you picked it up.','Why I Wrote Forest Life','','publish','open','open','','why-i-wrote-forest-life','','\nhttp://store.civitaspress.com/books/347','2012-08-17 08:17:34','2012-08-17 15:17:34','',0,'http://provoketive.com/?p=7566',0,'post','',3),(7305,144,'2012-08-10 08:00:01','2012-08-10 15:00:01','“Follower of Jesus” is the new cooler way to say “Christian”, a word loaded with centuries of baggage that no longer seems very Christian. Yet, “follower of Jesus” sounds a little smug to me. It reminds of those church-goers in ancient Corinth who weren’t in the camp of Paul or Apollos; they followed Jesus. Smug.\r\n\r\nHowever, trying to figure out just what it really means to follow Jesus is something that merits careful consideration, especially, because it so misunderstood.\r\n\r\nFollowing Jesus in his day meant just that. That’s how the cream of the crop, the young people with the most potential were educated. They followed their Rabbi for years. They lived and traveled together. The kids who were not the best and brightest, learned a trade.\r\n\r\nThere are no rules for following Jesus, you just stay with him, watch him; see what he does, how he responds; watch what he does when he is stressed.\r\n\r\nHe took his followers to the darndest places. Think about where they wound up as they followed Jesus. You might find yourself in some of the same places. You might wind up…\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>At parties with the most notorious people in town</li>\r\n	<li>At the graveside of a dear friend</li>\r\n	<li>At the public forum butting heads with powerful people (repeatedly) who can put a contract on your life if they disagree with you</li>\r\n	<li>Playing with children when you wanted to be all serious</li>\r\n	<li>Listening to what he says as people are preparing to stone a woman to death who was caught in the act of adultery</li>\r\n	<li>Trying to explain to a powerful religious man how God wants to restore his relationship with humankind</li>\r\n	<li>Hanging out with whores who are attracted to him</li>\r\n	<li>Chatting with corrupt government officials and corporate fat cats</li>\r\n	<li>Panicking in the middle of nowhere with thousands of admirers, but no food</li>\r\n	<li>Listening to great stories</li>\r\n	<li>Watching the crowds thin and some of them turn against him</li>\r\n	<li>Breaking lots of stupid rules that misrepresent God and hurt people</li>\r\n	<li>Seeing amazing things that remind you you’re walking with God</li>\r\n	<li>Talking with all kinds of people from all walks of life about this very topic, “What does it mean to follow?”</li>\r\n	<li>Running for your life as your leader is betrayed and tortured to death</li>\r\n	<li>Running to a cemetery checking out an unbelievable rumor</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nThat’s where we go when we walk with Jesus. We will be a thorn in the side of some powerful people, a friend to some powerless people, someone who is fully alive in the moment that sees God everywhere, a lover of all kinds of people, who finds himself in all types of weird, new situations.\r\n\r\nJesus likes to put his followers in new, challenging situations and then, afterwards, discuss what they learned.\r\n\r\nOh, I forgot to mention that to be a good follower of Jesus you need to read your Bible more, pray more, stop looking at porn, never argue with your wife, have beautiful, completely compliant children, never miss Sunday services, tithe, take classes on how to be a better Christian, keep a beautiful lawn and home, and spend all of your free time in church activities. (Or maybe I didn’t forget to mention it.)\r\n\r\nI used to care more about that kind of religious stuff than simply following Jesus, but that stuff always seemed separate from regular life. So, now I am trying to jettison religion and merge faith and life together to live a more integrated, true, whole life.\r\n\r\nPeople have all different ways of following Jesus, but a lot of us are trying to find a stripped down, raw and real approach that makes sense.\r\n\r\nFollowing Jesus means doing the kinds of stuff he did, turning love into action.\r\n\r\nReminder to self: Watch, learn, reflect, mimic. Never let him out of my sight.','Strange Places','','publish','open','open','','strange-places','','','2012-08-10 09:39:16','2012-08-10 16:39:16','',0,'http://provoketive.com/?p=7305',0,'post','',13),(7306,144,'2012-07-30 10:31:58','2012-07-30 17:31:58','','unexpected','','inherit','open','open','','unexpected','','','2012-07-30 10:31:58','2012-07-30 17:31:58','',7305,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/unexpected.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(7307,144,'2012-07-30 10:32:48','2012-07-30 17:32:48','<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/unexpected.jpg\"><img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-7306\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/unexpected.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"635\" height=\"276\" /></a>\n\n“Follower of Jesus” is the new cooler way to say “Christian”, a word loaded with centuries of baggage that no longer seems very Christian. Yet, “follower of Jesus” sounds a little smug to me. It reminds of those church-goers in ancient Corinth who weren’t in the camp of Paul or Apollos; they followed Jesus. Smug.\n\nHowever, trying to figure out just what it really means to follow Jesus is something that merits careful consideration, especially, because it so misunderstood.\n\nFollowing Jesus in his day meant just that. That’s how the cream of the crop, the young people with the most potential were educated. They followed their Rabbi for years. They lived and traveled together. The kids who were not the best and brightest, learned a trade.\n\nThere are no rules for following Jesus, you just stay with him, watch him; see what he does, how he responds; watch what he does when he is stressed.\n\nHe took his followers to the darnest places. Think about where they wound up as they followed Jesus. You might find yourself in some of the same places. You might wind up…\n\nAt parties with the most notorious people in town\n\nAt the graveside of a dear friend\n\nAt the public forum butting heads with powerful people (repeatedly) who can put a contract on your life if they disagree with you\n\nPlaying with children when you wanted to be all serious\n\nListening to what he says as people are preparing to stone a woman to death who was caught in the act of adultery\n\nTrying to explain to a powerful religious man how God wants to restore his relationship with humankind\n\nHanging out with whores who are attracted to him\n\nChatting with corrupt government officials and corporate fat cats\n\nPanicking in the middle of nowhere with thousands of admirers, but no food\n\nListening to great stories\n\nWatching the crowds thin and some of them turn against him\n\nBreaking lots of stupid rules that misrepresent God and hurt people\n\nSeeing amazing things that remind you you’re walking with God\n\nTalking with all kinds of people from all walks of life about this very topic, “What does it mean to follow?”\n\nRunning for your life as your leader is betrayed and tortured to death\n\nRunning to a cemetery checking out an unbelievable rumor\n\nThat’s where we go when we walk with Jesus. We will be a thorn in the side of some powerful people, a friend to some powerless people, someone who is fully alive in the moment that sees God everywhere, a lover of all kinds of people, who finds himself in all types of weird, new situations.\n\nJesus likes to put his followers in new, challenging situations and then, afterwards, discuss what they have learned.\n\nOh, I forgot to mention that to be a good follower of Jesus you need to read your Bible more, pray more, stop looking at porn, never argue with your wife, have beautiful, completely compliant children, never miss Sunday services, tithe, take classes on how to be a better Christian, keep a beautiful lawn and home, and spend all of your free time in church activities. (Or maybe I didn’t forget to mention it.)\n\nI used to care more about that kind of religious stuff than simply following Jesus, but that stuff always seemed separate from regular life. So, now I am trying to jettison religion and merge faith and life together to live a more integrated, true, whole life.\n\nPeople have all different ways of following Jesus, but a lot of us are trying to find a stripped down, raw and real approach that makes sense.\n\nFollowing Jesus means doing the kinds of stuff he did, turning love into action.\n\nReminder to self: Watch, learn, reflect, mimic. Never let him out of my sight.','Strange Place','','inherit','open','open','','7305-revision','','','2012-07-30 10:32:48','2012-07-30 17:32:48','',7305,'http://provoketive.com/2012/07/30/7305-revision/',0,'revision','',0),(7308,144,'2012-07-30 10:35:48','2012-07-30 17:35:48','<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/unexpected.jpg\"><img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-7306\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/unexpected.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"635\" height=\"276\" /></a>\n\n“Follower of Jesus” is the new cooler way to say “Christian”, a word loaded with centuries of baggage that no longer seems very Christian. Yet, “follower of Jesus” sounds a little smug to me. It reminds of those church-goers in ancient Corinth who weren’t in the camp of Paul or Apollos; they followed Jesus. Smug.\n\nHowever, trying to figure out just what it really means to follow Jesus is something that merits careful consideration, especially, because it so misunderstood.\n\nFollowing Jesus in his day meant just that. That’s how the cream of the crop, the young people with the most potential were educated. They followed their Rabbi for years. They lived and traveled together. The kids who were not the best and brightest, learned a trade.\n\nThere are no rules for following Jesus, you just stay with him, watch him; see what he does, how he responds; watch what he does when he is stressed.\n\nHe took his followers to the darnest places. Think about where they wound up as they followed Jesus. You might find yourself in some of the same places. You might wind up…\n<ul>\n	<li>At parties with the most notorious people in town</li>\n	<li>At the graveside of a dear friend</li>\n	<li>At the public forum butting heads with powerful people (repeatedly) who can put a contract on your life if they disagree with you</li>\n	<li>Playing with children when you wanted to be all serious</li>\n	<li>Listening to what he says as people are preparing to stone a woman to death who was caught in the act of adultery</li>\n	<li>Trying to explain to a powerful religious man how God wants to restore his relationship with humankind</li>\n	<li>Hanging out with whores who are attracted to him</li>\n	<li>Chatting with corrupt government officials and corporate fat cats</li>\n	<li>Panicking in the middle of nowhere with thousands of admirers, but no food</li>\n	<li>Listening to great stories</li>\n	<li>Watching the crowds thin and some of them turn against him</li>\n	<li>Breaking lots of stupid rules that misrepresent God and hurt people</li>\n	<li>Seeing amazing things that remind you you’re walking with God</li>\n	<li>Talking with all kinds of people from all walks of life about this very topic, “What does it mean to follow?”</li>\n	<li>Running for your life as your leader is betrayed and tortured to death</li>\n	<li>Running to a cemetery checking out an unbelievable rumor</li>\n</ul>\nThat’s where we go when we walk with Jesus. We will be a thorn in the side of some powerful people, a friend to some powerless people, someone who is fully alive in the moment that sees God everywhere, a lover of all kinds of people, who finds himself in all types of weird, new situations.\n\nJesus likes to put his followers in new, challenging situations and then, afterwards, discuss what they have learned.\n\nOh, I forgot to mention that to be a good follower of Jesus you need to read your Bible more, pray more, stop looking at porn, never argue with your wife, have beautiful, completely compliant children, never miss Sunday services, tithe, take classes on how to be a better Christian, keep a beautiful lawn and home, and spend all of your free time in church activities. (Or maybe I didn’t forget to mention it.)\n\nI used to care more about that kind of religious stuff than simply following Jesus, but that stuff always seemed separate from regular life. So, now I am trying to jettison religion and merge faith and life together to live a more integrated, true, whole life.\n\nPeople have all different ways of following Jesus, but a lot of us are trying to find a stripped down, raw and real approach that makes sense.\n\nFollowing Jesus means doing the kinds of stuff he did, turning love into action.\n\nReminder to self: Watch, learn, reflect, mimic. Never let him out of my sight.','Strange Place','','inherit','open','open','','7305-revision-2','','','2012-07-30 10:35:48','2012-07-30 17:35:48','',7305,'http://provoketive.com/2012/07/30/7305-revision-2/',0,'revision','',0),(7309,144,'2012-07-30 10:36:21','2012-07-30 17:36:21','&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/unexpected.jpg\"><img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-7306\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/unexpected.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"635\" height=\"276\" /></a>\r\n\r\n“Follower of Jesus” is the new cooler way to say “Christian”, a word loaded with centuries of baggage that no longer seems very Christian. Yet, “follower of Jesus” sounds a little smug to me. It reminds of those church-goers in ancient Corinth who weren’t in the camp of Paul or Apollos; they followed Jesus. Smug.\r\n\r\nHowever, trying to figure out just what it really means to follow Jesus is something that merits careful consideration, especially, because it so misunderstood.\r\n\r\nFollowing Jesus in his day meant just that. That’s how the cream of the crop, the young people with the most potential were educated. They followed their Rabbi for years. They lived and traveled together. The kids who were not the best and brightest, learned a trade.\r\n\r\nThere are no rules for following Jesus, you just stay with him, watch him; see what he does, how he responds; watch what he does when he is stressed.\r\n\r\nHe took his followers to the darnest places. Think about where they wound up as they followed Jesus. You might find yourself in some of the same places. You might wind up…\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>At parties with the most notorious people in town</li>\r\n	<li>At the graveside of a dear friend</li>\r\n	<li>At the public forum butting heads with powerful people (repeatedly) who can put a contract on your life if they disagree with you</li>\r\n	<li>Playing with children when you wanted to be all serious</li>\r\n	<li>Listening to what he says as people are preparing to stone a woman to death who was caught in the act of adultery</li>\r\n	<li>Trying to explain to a powerful religious man how God wants to restore his relationship with humankind</li>\r\n	<li>Hanging out with whores who are attracted to him</li>\r\n	<li>Chatting with corrupt government officials and corporate fat cats</li>\r\n	<li>Panicking in the middle of nowhere with thousands of admirers, but no food</li>\r\n	<li>Listening to great stories</li>\r\n	<li>Watching the crowds thin and some of them turn against him</li>\r\n	<li>Breaking lots of stupid rules that misrepresent God and hurt people</li>\r\n	<li>Seeing amazing things that remind you you’re walking with God</li>\r\n	<li>Talking with all kinds of people from all walks of life about this very topic, “What does it mean to follow?”</li>\r\n	<li>Running for your life as your leader is betrayed and tortured to death</li>\r\n	<li>Running to a cemetery checking out an unbelievable rumor</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nThat’s where we go when we walk with Jesus. We will be a thorn in the side of some powerful people, a friend to some powerless people, someone who is fully alive in the moment that sees God everywhere, a lover of all kinds of people, who finds himself in all types of weird, new situations.\r\n\r\nJesus likes to put his followers in new, challenging situations and then, afterwards, discuss what they have learned.\r\n\r\nOh, I forgot to mention that to be a good follower of Jesus you need to read your Bible more, pray more, stop looking at porn, never argue with your wife, have beautiful, completely compliant children, never miss Sunday services, tithe, take classes on how to be a better Christian, keep a beautiful lawn and home, and spend all of your free time in church activities. (Or maybe I didn’t forget to mention it.)\r\n\r\nI used to care more about that kind of religious stuff than simply following Jesus, but that stuff always seemed separate from regular life. So, now I am trying to jettison religion and merge faith and life together to live a more integrated, true, whole life.\r\n\r\nPeople have all different ways of following Jesus, but a lot of us are trying to find a stripped down, raw and real approach that makes sense.\r\n\r\nFollowing Jesus means doing the kinds of stuff he did, turning love into action.\r\n\r\nReminder to self: Watch, learn, reflect, mimic. Never let him out of my sight.','Strange Place','','inherit','open','open','','7305-revision-3','','','2012-07-30 10:36:21','2012-07-30 17:36:21','',7305,'http://provoketive.com/2012/07/30/7305-revision-3/',0,'revision','',0),(7310,144,'2012-07-30 10:36:28','2012-07-30 17:36:28','&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/unexpected.jpg\"><img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-7306\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/unexpected.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"635\" height=\"276\" /></a>\r\n\r\n“Follower of Jesus” is the new cooler way to say “Christian”, a word loaded with centuries of baggage that no longer seems very Christian. Yet, “follower of Jesus” sounds a little smug to me. It reminds of those church-goers in ancient Corinth who weren’t in the camp of Paul or Apollos; they followed Jesus. Smug.\r\n\r\nHowever, trying to figure out just what it really means to follow Jesus is something that merits careful consideration, especially, because it so misunderstood.\r\n\r\nFollowing Jesus in his day meant just that. That’s how the cream of the crop, the young people with the most potential were educated. They followed their Rabbi for years. They lived and traveled together. The kids who were not the best and brightest, learned a trade.\r\n\r\nThere are no rules for following Jesus, you just stay with him, watch him; see what he does, how he responds; watch what he does when he is stressed.\r\n\r\nHe took his followers to the darnest places. Think about where they wound up as they followed Jesus. You might find yourself in some of the same places. You might wind up…\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>At parties with the most notorious people in town</li>\r\n	<li>At the graveside of a dear friend</li>\r\n	<li>At the public forum butting heads with powerful people (repeatedly) who can put a contract on your life if they disagree with you</li>\r\n	<li>Playing with children when you wanted to be all serious</li>\r\n	<li>Listening to what he says as people are preparing to stone a woman to death who was caught in the act of adultery</li>\r\n	<li>Trying to explain to a powerful religious man how God wants to restore his relationship with humankind</li>\r\n	<li>Hanging out with whores who are attracted to him</li>\r\n	<li>Chatting with corrupt government officials and corporate fat cats</li>\r\n	<li>Panicking in the middle of nowhere with thousands of admirers, but no food</li>\r\n	<li>Listening to great stories</li>\r\n	<li>Watching the crowds thin and some of them turn against him</li>\r\n	<li>Breaking lots of stupid rules that misrepresent God and hurt people</li>\r\n	<li>Seeing amazing things that remind you you’re walking with God</li>\r\n	<li>Talking with all kinds of people from all walks of life about this very topic, “What does it mean to follow?”</li>\r\n	<li>Running for your life as your leader is betrayed and tortured to death</li>\r\n	<li>Running to a cemetery checking out an unbelievable rumor</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nThat’s where we go when we walk with Jesus. We will be a thorn in the side of some powerful people, a friend to some powerless people, someone who is fully alive in the moment that sees God everywhere, a lover of all kinds of people, who finds himself in all types of weird, new situations.\r\n\r\nJesus likes to put his followers in new, challenging situations and then, afterwards, discuss what they have learned.\r\n\r\nOh, I forgot to mention that to be a good follower of Jesus you need to read your Bible more, pray more, stop looking at porn, never argue with your wife, have beautiful, completely compliant children, never miss Sunday services, tithe, take classes on how to be a better Christian, keep a beautiful lawn and home, and spend all of your free time in church activities. (Or maybe I didn’t forget to mention it.)\r\n\r\nI used to care more about that kind of religious stuff than simply following Jesus, but that stuff always seemed separate from regular life. So, now I am trying to jettison religion and merge faith and life together to live a more integrated, true, whole life.\r\n\r\nPeople have all different ways of following Jesus, but a lot of us are trying to find a stripped down, raw and real approach that makes sense.\r\n\r\nFollowing Jesus means doing the kinds of stuff he did, turning love into action.\r\n\r\nReminder to self: Watch, learn, reflect, mimic. Never let him out of my sight.','Strange Place','','inherit','open','open','','7305-revision-4','','','2012-07-30 10:36:28','2012-07-30 17:36:28','',7305,'http://provoketive.com/2012/07/30/7305-revision-4/',0,'revision','',0),(7311,144,'2012-07-30 10:37:46','2012-07-30 17:37:46','','unexpected','','inherit','open','open','','unexpected-2','','','2012-07-30 10:37:46','2012-07-30 17:37:46','',7305,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/unexpected1.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(7312,144,'2012-07-30 10:37:10','2012-07-30 17:37:10','&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/unexpected.jpg\"><img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-7306\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/unexpected.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"635\" height=\"276\" /></a>\r\n\r\n“Follower of Jesus” is the new cooler way to say “Christian”, a word loaded with centuries of baggage that no longer seems very Christian. Yet, “follower of Jesus” sounds a little smug to me. It reminds of those church-goers in ancient Corinth who weren’t in the camp of Paul or Apollos; they followed Jesus. Smug.\r\n\r\nHowever, trying to figure out just what it really means to follow Jesus is something that merits careful consideration, especially, because it so misunderstood.\r\n\r\nFollowing Jesus in his day meant just that. That’s how the cream of the crop, the young people with the most potential were educated. They followed their Rabbi for years. They lived and traveled together. The kids who were not the best and brightest, learned a trade.\r\n\r\nThere are no rules for following Jesus, you just stay with him, watch him; see what he does, how he responds; watch what he does when he is stressed.\r\n\r\nHe took his followers to the darnest places. Think about where they wound up as they followed Jesus. You might find yourself in some of the same places. You might wind up…\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>At parties with the most notorious people in town</li>\r\n	<li>At the graveside of a dear friend</li>\r\n	<li>At the public forum butting heads with powerful people (repeatedly) who can put a contract on your life if they disagree with you</li>\r\n	<li>Playing with children when you wanted to be all serious</li>\r\n	<li>Listening to what he says as people are preparing to stone a woman to death who was caught in the act of adultery</li>\r\n	<li>Trying to explain to a powerful religious man how God wants to restore his relationship with humankind</li>\r\n	<li>Hanging out with whores who are attracted to him</li>\r\n	<li>Chatting with corrupt government officials and corporate fat cats</li>\r\n	<li>Panicking in the middle of nowhere with thousands of admirers, but no food</li>\r\n	<li>Listening to great stories</li>\r\n	<li>Watching the crowds thin and some of them turn against him</li>\r\n	<li>Breaking lots of stupid rules that misrepresent God and hurt people</li>\r\n	<li>Seeing amazing things that remind you you’re walking with God</li>\r\n	<li>Talking with all kinds of people from all walks of life about this very topic, “What does it mean to follow?”</li>\r\n	<li>Running for your life as your leader is betrayed and tortured to death</li>\r\n	<li>Running to a cemetery checking out an unbelievable rumor</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nThat’s where we go when we walk with Jesus. We will be a thorn in the side of some powerful people, a friend to some powerless people, someone who is fully alive in the moment that sees God everywhere, a lover of all kinds of people, who finds himself in all types of weird, new situations.\r\n\r\nJesus likes to put his followers in new, challenging situations and then, afterwards, discuss what they have learned.\r\n\r\nOh, I forgot to mention that to be a good follower of Jesus you need to read your Bible more, pray more, stop looking at porn, never argue with your wife, have beautiful, completely compliant children, never miss Sunday services, tithe, take classes on how to be a better Christian, keep a beautiful lawn and home, and spend all of your free time in church activities. (Or maybe I didn’t forget to mention it.)\r\n\r\nI used to care more about that kind of religious stuff than simply following Jesus, but that stuff always seemed separate from regular life. So, now I am trying to jettison religion and merge faith and life together to live a more integrated, true, whole life.\r\n\r\nPeople have all different ways of following Jesus, but a lot of us are trying to find a stripped down, raw and real approach that makes sense.\r\n\r\nFollowing Jesus means doing the kinds of stuff he did, turning love into action.\r\n\r\nReminder to self: Watch, learn, reflect, mimic. Never let him out of my sight.','Strange Place','','inherit','open','open','','7305-revision-5','','','2012-07-30 10:37:10','2012-07-30 17:37:10','',7305,'http://provoketive.com/2012/07/30/7305-revision-5/',0,'revision','',0),(7456,1,'2012-08-03 08:33:36','2012-08-03 15:33:36','“Follower of Jesus” is the new cooler way to say “Christian”, a word loaded with centuries of baggage that no longer seems very Christian. Yet, “follower of Jesus” sounds a little smug to me. It reminds of those church-goers in ancient Corinth who weren’t in the camp of Paul or Apollos; they followed Jesus. Smug.\r\n\r\nHowever, trying to figure out just what it really means to follow Jesus is something that merits careful consideration, especially, because it so misunderstood.\r\n\r\nFollowing Jesus in his day meant just that. That’s how the cream of the crop, the young people with the most potential were educated. They followed their Rabbi for years. They lived and traveled together. The kids who were not the best and brightest, learned a trade.\r\n\r\nThere are no rules for following Jesus, you just stay with him, watch him; see what he does, how he responds; watch what he does when he is stressed.\r\n\r\nHe took his followers to the darnest places. Think about where they wound up as they followed Jesus. You might find yourself in some of the same places. You might wind up…\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>At parties with the most notorious people in town</li>\r\n	<li>At the graveside of a dear friend</li>\r\n	<li>At the public forum butting heads with powerful people (repeatedly) who can put a contract on your life if they disagree with you</li>\r\n	<li>Playing with children when you wanted to be all serious</li>\r\n	<li>Listening to what he says as people are preparing to stone a woman to death who was caught in the act of adultery</li>\r\n	<li>Trying to explain to a powerful religious man how God wants to restore his relationship with humankind</li>\r\n	<li>Hanging out with whores who are attracted to him</li>\r\n	<li>Chatting with corrupt government officials and corporate fat cats</li>\r\n	<li>Panicking in the middle of nowhere with thousands of admirers, but no food</li>\r\n	<li>Listening to great stories</li>\r\n	<li>Watching the crowds thin and some of them turn against him</li>\r\n	<li>Breaking lots of stupid rules that misrepresent God and hurt people</li>\r\n	<li>Seeing amazing things that remind you you’re walking with God</li>\r\n	<li>Talking with all kinds of people from all walks of life about this very topic, “What does it mean to follow?”</li>\r\n	<li>Running for your life as your leader is betrayed and tortured to death</li>\r\n	<li>Running to a cemetery checking out an unbelievable rumor</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nThat’s where we go when we walk with Jesus. We will be a thorn in the side of some powerful people, a friend to some powerless people, someone who is fully alive in the moment that sees God everywhere, a lover of all kinds of people, who finds himself in all types of weird, new situations.\r\n\r\nJesus likes to put his followers in new, challenging situations and then, afterwards, discuss what they learned.\r\n\r\nOh, I forgot to mention that to be a good follower of Jesus you need to read your Bible more, pray more, stop looking at porn, never argue with your wife, have beautiful, completely compliant children, never miss Sunday services, tithe, take classes on how to be a better Christian, keep a beautiful lawn and home, and spend all of your free time in church activities. (Or maybe I didn’t forget to mention it.)\r\n\r\nI used to care more about that kind of religious stuff than simply following Jesus, but that stuff always seemed separate from regular life. So, now I am trying to jettison religion and merge faith and life together to live a more integrated, true, whole life.\r\n\r\nPeople have all different ways of following Jesus, but a lot of us are trying to find a stripped down, raw and real approach that makes sense.\r\n\r\nFollowing Jesus means doing the kinds of stuff he did, turning love into action.\r\n\r\nReminder to self: Watch, learn, reflect, mimic. Never let him out of my sight.','Strange Places','','inherit','open','open','','7305-revision-11','','','2012-08-03 08:33:36','2012-08-03 15:33:36','',7305,'http://provoketive.com/2012/08/03/7305-revision-11/',0,'revision','',0),(7313,144,'2012-07-30 10:38:08','2012-07-30 17:38:08','&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n“Follower of Jesus” is the new cooler way to say “Christian”, a word loaded with centuries of baggage that no longer seems very Christian. Yet, “follower of Jesus” sounds a little smug to me. It reminds of those church-goers in ancient Corinth who weren’t in the camp of Paul or Apollos; they followed Jesus. Smug.\r\n\r\nHowever, trying to figure out just what it really means to follow Jesus is something that merits careful consideration, especially, because it so misunderstood.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/unexpected1.jpg\"><img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-7311\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/unexpected1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"635\" height=\"276\" /></a>Following Jesus in his day meant just that. That’s how the cream of the crop, the young people with the most potential were educated. They followed their Rabbi for years. They lived and traveled together. The kids who were not the best and brightest, learned a trade.\r\n\r\nThere are no rules for following Jesus, you just stay with him, watch him; see what he does, how he responds; watch what he does when he is stressed.\r\n\r\nHe took his followers to the darnest places. Think about where they wound up as they followed Jesus. You might find yourself in some of the same places. You might wind up…\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>At parties with the most notorious people in town</li>\r\n	<li>At the graveside of a dear friend</li>\r\n	<li>At the public forum butting heads with powerful people (repeatedly) who can put a contract on your life if they disagree with you</li>\r\n	<li>Playing with children when you wanted to be all serious</li>\r\n	<li>Listening to what he says as people are preparing to stone a woman to death who was caught in the act of adultery</li>\r\n	<li>Trying to explain to a powerful religious man how God wants to restore his relationship with humankind</li>\r\n	<li>Hanging out with whores who are attracted to him</li>\r\n	<li>Chatting with corrupt government officials and corporate fat cats</li>\r\n	<li>Panicking in the middle of nowhere with thousands of admirers, but no food</li>\r\n	<li>Listening to great stories</li>\r\n	<li>Watching the crowds thin and some of them turn against him</li>\r\n	<li>Breaking lots of stupid rules that misrepresent God and hurt people</li>\r\n	<li>Seeing amazing things that remind you you’re walking with God</li>\r\n	<li>Talking with all kinds of people from all walks of life about this very topic, “What does it mean to follow?”</li>\r\n	<li>Running for your life as your leader is betrayed and tortured to death</li>\r\n	<li>Running to a cemetery checking out an unbelievable rumor</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nThat’s where we go when we walk with Jesus. We will be a thorn in the side of some powerful people, a friend to some powerless people, someone who is fully alive in the moment that sees God everywhere, a lover of all kinds of people, who finds himself in all types of weird, new situations.\r\n\r\nJesus likes to put his followers in new, challenging situations and then, afterwards, discuss what they have learned.\r\n\r\nOh, I forgot to mention that to be a good follower of Jesus you need to read your Bible more, pray more, stop looking at porn, never argue with your wife, have beautiful, completely compliant children, never miss Sunday services, tithe, take classes on how to be a better Christian, keep a beautiful lawn and home, and spend all of your free time in church activities. (Or maybe I didn’t forget to mention it.)\r\n\r\nI used to care more about that kind of religious stuff than simply following Jesus, but that stuff always seemed separate from regular life. So, now I am trying to jettison religion and merge faith and life together to live a more integrated, true, whole life.\r\n\r\nPeople have all different ways of following Jesus, but a lot of us are trying to find a stripped down, raw and real approach that makes sense.\r\n\r\nFollowing Jesus means doing the kinds of stuff he did, turning love into action.\r\n\r\nReminder to self: Watch, learn, reflect, mimic. Never let him out of my sight.','Strange Place','','inherit','open','open','','7305-revision-6','','','2012-07-30 10:38:08','2012-07-30 17:38:08','',7305,'http://provoketive.com/2012/07/30/7305-revision-6/',0,'revision','',0),(7314,144,'2012-07-30 10:39:13','2012-07-30 17:39:13','&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/unexpected1.jpg\"><img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-7311\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/unexpected1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"635\" height=\"276\" /></a>\r\n\r\n“Follower of Jesus” is the new cooler way to say “Christian”, a word loaded with centuries of baggage that no longer seems very Christian. Yet, “follower of Jesus” sounds a little smug to me. It reminds of those church-goers in ancient Corinth who weren’t in the camp of Paul or Apollos; they followed Jesus. Smug.\r\n\r\nHowever, trying to figure out just what it really means to follow Jesus is something that merits careful consideration, especially, because it so misunderstood.\r\n\r\nFollowing Jesus in his day meant just that. That’s how the cream of the crop, the young people with the most potential were educated. They followed their Rabbi for years. They lived and traveled together. The kids who were not the best and brightest, learned a trade.\r\n\r\nThere are no rules for following Jesus, you just stay with him, watch him; see what he does, how he responds; watch what he does when he is stressed.\r\n\r\nHe took his followers to the darnest places. Think about where they wound up as they followed Jesus. You might find yourself in some of the same places. You might wind up…\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>At parties with the most notorious people in town</li>\r\n	<li>At the graveside of a dear friend</li>\r\n	<li>At the public forum butting heads with powerful people (repeatedly) who can put a contract on your life if they disagree with you</li>\r\n	<li>Playing with children when you wanted to be all serious</li>\r\n	<li>Listening to what he says as people are preparing to stone a woman to death who was caught in the act of adultery</li>\r\n	<li>Trying to explain to a powerful religious man how God wants to restore his relationship with humankind</li>\r\n	<li>Hanging out with whores who are attracted to him</li>\r\n	<li>Chatting with corrupt government officials and corporate fat cats</li>\r\n	<li>Panicking in the middle of nowhere with thousands of admirers, but no food</li>\r\n	<li>Listening to great stories</li>\r\n	<li>Watching the crowds thin and some of them turn against him</li>\r\n	<li>Breaking lots of stupid rules that misrepresent God and hurt people</li>\r\n	<li>Seeing amazing things that remind you you’re walking with God</li>\r\n	<li>Talking with all kinds of people from all walks of life about this very topic, “What does it mean to follow?”</li>\r\n	<li>Running for your life as your leader is betrayed and tortured to death</li>\r\n	<li>Running to a cemetery checking out an unbelievable rumor</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nThat’s where we go when we walk with Jesus. We will be a thorn in the side of some powerful people, a friend to some powerless people, someone who is fully alive in the moment that sees God everywhere, a lover of all kinds of people, who finds himself in all types of weird, new situations.\r\n\r\nJesus likes to put his followers in new, challenging situations and then, afterwards, discuss what they have learned.\r\n\r\nOh, I forgot to mention that to be a good follower of Jesus you need to read your Bible more, pray more, stop looking at porn, never argue with your wife, have beautiful, completely compliant children, never miss Sunday services, tithe, take classes on how to be a better Christian, keep a beautiful lawn and home, and spend all of your free time in church activities. (Or maybe I didn’t forget to mention it.)\r\n\r\nI used to care more about that kind of religious stuff than simply following Jesus, but that stuff always seemed separate from regular life. So, now I am trying to jettison religion and merge faith and life together to live a more integrated, true, whole life.\r\n\r\nPeople have all different ways of following Jesus, but a lot of us are trying to find a stripped down, raw and real approach that makes sense.\r\n\r\nFollowing Jesus means doing the kinds of stuff he did, turning love into action.\r\n\r\nReminder to self: Watch, learn, reflect, mimic. Never let him out of my sight.','Strange Place','','inherit','open','open','','7305-revision-7','','','2012-07-30 10:39:13','2012-07-30 17:39:13','',7305,'http://provoketive.com/2012/07/30/7305-revision-7/',0,'revision','',0),(6627,149,'2012-05-09 08:08:17','2012-05-09 15:08:17','Recently, a close friend of mine was talking to a coworker about religion. During the course of the conversation, his coworker asserted “You know I’m a Catholic, don’t you? Well, not a practicing one.”\n\nMy friend couldn’t shake that comment. He said it gripped him, in a good way. His only response was this: “Fuck apathy.”\n\nAfter he relayed this story to me, I asked him, “What would happen if we did?”\n\n“Nothing bad.”\n\nExactly. What are we so afraid of?\n\nWhat if we rejected our indifferent, apathetic attitudes and actively pursued a life of purpose? What if we actually lived the Great Commission?\n\nForget the hot mess that is church as we know it, with its hierarchical structure, contrived relationships, systems, programs and the like, and pursue only what Jesus called us to do: “Go into the world and make disciples, and obey everything I (Jesus) have commanded you.”\n\n<a href=\"http://simplechurch.eu/team/profile/13/\">Jonathan Fokker</a> at <a href=\"http://simplechurch.eu/index.php/toolbox/full/7-basic-commands-of-obeying-jesus-out-of-love/\">Simple Church</a> puts it this way:\n\n<em>Jesus told us to make disciples by teaching them to obey His commands (Matt. 28:18-20). He also said, “If you love me, obey my commands” (John 14:15). We need to teach disciples to obey the commands of Jesus out of love. </em><strong><em>You cannot obey without love otherwise you end up in legalism. But love without obedience is no real love at all. </em></strong><em>You show your love to Jesus by obedience to Him. </em><strong><em><a href=\"http://simplechurch.eu/index.php/toolbox/full/7-basic-commands-of-obeying-jesus-out-of-love/\">http://simplechurch.eu/index.php/toolbox/full/7-basic-commands-of-obeying-jesus-out-of-love/</a></em></strong>\n\nHe goes on to break out some of the commands Jesus left us, such as: Repent, believe and receive the Holy Spirit, be baptized, break bread together (communion), pray, give and make disciples, and of course, \"Love God with everything\" and \"Love your neighbour...\"\n\nSeriously, consider what could happen if we lived the great commission and actually went through lives consciously obeying Jesus and making disciples?\n\nJust the other day, I was speaking with another friend about my journey of leaving church to find Jesus, and he asked how I would know when I’d “arrived” at a redemptive destination. There are many variables and questions still to be addressed and answered. One question I wrestle with is this: “What is church?\" And, \"if I don’t know what it is, how will I know when I find it? If I don’t know where I’m going, how will I get there?”\n\nMy friend answered with this, “Church is no longer the point. Jesus is.”\n\nWhen we become buried by our cynicism, unable to move beneath the weight of our own apathy, how\n\nJesus didn’t call us to build, or even go, to church. He called us to obey him and make disciples. Pretty simple. Do that and we\'ll find out what church is.','F*** Apathy','','inherit','open','open','','6626-revision','','','2012-05-09 08:08:17','2012-05-09 15:08:17','',6626,'http://provoketive.com/2012/05/09/6626-revision/',0,'revision','',0),(5900,160,'2012-04-16 08:44:52','2012-04-16 15:44:52','<em>“Am I m</em><em>y brothe</em><em>r’s keeper?”</em> (Genesis 4:9).  That was the question a defensive sounding Cain asked God after he’d killed Abel.  Christians know the answer is, “Yes, I am my brother’s keeper,” and most are willing to lend a helping hand to their fellow man.   Whether it’s building a Habitat for Humanity house, volunteering at Room at the Inn, or serving meals at the mission, they are actively working through their churches to assist those in their own communities, as well as remote villages thousands of miles away.\r\n\r\nAnd yet, at the same time, many of these same Christians are opposed to the government doing the very same kind of work.  It’s as if tax dollars are in a separate category and should never be used for social programs that offer a life preserver to a person struggling to keep his or her head above the poverty line.   At the mention of government assistance, many conservative Christians suddenly become suspicious of free-loaders and disdainful of any sort of bureaucratic waste.\r\n\r\nI’m genuinely curious why it’s acceptable for individuals and churches to help the poor and why it’s not okay for their government to get involved in similar activities?   I don’t think it’s an issue of separation of church and state.   Many of these same people are the first to want our country to have <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PubdnWLfva8\">Christian values</a>.   Well, healing the sick, helping the poor, and fighting injustices were the values that Jesus cared about in his day.   Of course, these principles are not the sole domain of Christian ethics; they are universally accepted by most people as the way healthy societies should treat their citizens.\r\n\r\nPerhaps, conservative Christians are opposed to the amount of money that government spends on these issues.   It’s a fair question, and it is certainly easy to find examples of waste within big, federally funded programs.   We all know about the welfare mother who’s milking the system or the laid off guy who’s cashing unemployment checks while not even trying to find a job.   Of course, it’s also pretty easy to find great stories of redemption and recovery, if we’re willing to look for those too.\r\n\r\nThe reality is only the government has the means to put programs into place that can help large segments of people: Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and Head Start reaches disadvantaged kids; Emergency Food Service and Medicaid supports the indigent elderly; and food stamps and HUD’s public housing provides some basic sustenance and shelter for the poor.  These are all programs that can insure, house, and feed literally millions of people on a scale that all the well-meaning Christians are not capable of doing by themselves.\r\n\r\nI’m not sure if the homeless person really cares if he’s getting assistance from a church or a “good Samaritan” or Uncle Sam.  If God takes note of things like that (and I believe He does), then I think He’s probably pretty pleased when someone is helped, whether that assistance is coming from you or me or churches or a  government program.  If we truly want the United States to be a nation after God’s heart, caring for “the least of these” is a pretty good place to start.\r\n\r\n<em>“Are we our brother’s keeper?”</em>   It’s not an abstract ideological question.   It is literally a question of life and death for many of our own brothers and sisters.   At its root, it’s about compassion rising above apathy; replacing suffering with relief; hope triumphing over defeat.  At the same time, there has to be accountability, and not every government program is a good one.  But I had rather waste a little money giving someone a second chance than save a little money and let them slip through the cracks.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/obro3.jpg\"><img class=\"wp-image-5901 alignleft\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/obro3-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>A few weeks ago, I saw Allison Kraus and Union Station at the Loveless Barn in Nashville.   During the show, I learned one of her band members (Dan Tyminski) overdubbed George Clooney’s voice on “Man of Constant Sorrow” in the movie <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">“O Brother Where Art Thou?”</span>   Learning that George Clooney didn’t actually sing didn’t take anything away from the movie experience.  Sometimes a brother just needs a little help.  It doesn’t matter who fills in; the important thing is that everyone pulls together to make things as good as they can be.   Do you agree?\r\n\r\nJeff Fulmer lives in Nashville Tennessee and is the author of the book <a href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Hometown-Prophet-Jeff-Fulmer/dp/1463632312/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1312940193&amp;sr=8-1\">Hometown Prophet</a>. <em> If God spoke through a prophet today, would we really want to hear what he has to say?</em>   For more information, visit the <a href=\"http://www.hometownprophetbook.com/\">Hometown Prophet website</a>.   Follow on <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hometownprophet\">Twitter</a> or  like on <a href=\"http://www.facebook.com/HometownProphet\">Facebook</a>.','O Brother Where Art Thou?','','publish','open','open','','o-brother-where-art-thou-2','','','2012-04-16 08:44:52','2012-04-16 15:44:52','',0,'http://provoketive.com/?p=5900',0,'post','',5),(5901,160,'2012-04-08 14:55:56','2012-04-08 21:55:56','','obro3','','inherit','open','open','','obro3','','','2012-04-08 14:55:56','2012-04-08 21:55:56','',5900,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/obro3.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(5902,160,'2012-04-08 14:56:31','2012-04-08 21:56:31','<em>“Am I my brother’s keeper?”</em> (Genesis 4:9).  That was the question a defensive sounding Cain asked God after he’d killed Abel.  Christians know the answer is, “Yes, I am my brother’s keeper,” and most are willing to lend a helping hand to their fellow man.   Whether it’s building a Habitat for Humanity house, volunteering at Room at the Inn, or serving meals at the mission, they are actively working through their churches to assist those in their own communities, as well as remote villages thousands of miles away.\n\nAnd yet, at the same time, many of these same Christians are opposed to the government doing the very same kind of work.  It’s as if tax dollars are in a separate category and should never be used for social programs that offer a life preserver to a person struggling to keep his or her head above the poverty line.   At the mention of government assistance, many conservative Christians suddenly become suspicious of free-loaders and disdainful of any sort of bureaucratic waste.\n\nI’m genuinely curious why it’s acceptable for individuals and churches to help the poor and why it’s not okay for their government to get involved in similar activities?   I don’t think it’s an issue of separation of church and state.   Many of these same people are the first to want our country to have <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PubdnWLfva8\">Christian values</a>.   Well, healing the sick, helping the poor, and fighting injustices were the values that Jesus cared about in his day.   Of course, these principles are not the sole domain of Christian ethics; they are universally accepted by most people as the way healthy societies should treat their citizens.\n\nePerhaps, conserv<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/obro3.jpg\"><img class=\"alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-5901\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/obro3-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>ative Christians are opposed to the amount of money that government spends on these issues.   It’s a fair question, and it is certainly easy to find examples of waste within big, federally funded programs.   We all know about the welfare mother who’s milking the system or the laid off guy who’s cashing unemployment checks while not even trying to find a job.   Of course, it’s also pretty easy to find great stories of redemption and recovery, if we’re willing to look for those too.\n\nThe reality is only the government has the means to put programs into place that can help large segments of people: Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and Head Start reaches disadvantaged kids; Emergency Food Service and Medicaid supports the indigent elderly; and food stamps and HUD’s public housing provides some basic sustenance and shelter for the poor.  These are all programs that can insure, house, and feed literally millions of people on a scale that all the well-meaning Christians are not capable of doing by themselves.\n\nI’m not sure if the homeless person really cares if he’s getting assistance from a church or a “good Samaritan” or Uncle Sam.  If God takes note of things like that (and I believe He does), then I think He’s probably pretty pleased when someone is helped, whether that assistance is coming from you or me or churches or a  government program.  If we truly want the United States to be a nation after God’s heart, caring for “the least of these” is a pretty good place to start.\n\n<em>“Are we our brother’s keeper?”</em>   It’s not an abstract ideological question.   It is literally a question of life and death for many of our own brothers and sisters.   At its root, it’s about compassion rising above apathy; replacing suffering with relief; hope triumphing over defeat.  At the same time, there has to be accountability, and not every government program is a good one.  But I had rather waste a little money giving someone a second chance than save a little money and let them slip through the cracks.\n\nA few weeks ago, I saw Allison Kraus and Union Station at the Loveless Barn in Nashville.   During the show, I learned one of her band members (Dan Tyminski) overdubbed George Clooney’s voice on “Man of Constant Sorrow” in the movie <span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">“O Brother Where Art Thou?”</span>   Learning that George Clooney didn’t actually sing didn’t take anything away from the movie experience.  Sometimes a brother just needs a little help.  It doesn’t matter who fills in; the important thing is that everyone pulls together to make things as good as they can be.   Do you agree?\n\nJeff Fulmer lives in Nashville Tennessee and is the author of the book <a href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Hometown-Prophet-Jeff-Fulmer/dp/1463632312/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1312940193&amp;sr=8-1\">Hometown Prophet</a>. <em> If God spoke through a prophet today, would we really want to hear what he has to say?</em>   For more information, visit the <a href=\"http://www.hometownprophetbook.com/\">Hometown Prophet website</a>.   Follow on <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hometownprophet\">Twitter</a> or  like on <a href=\"http://www.facebook.com/HometownProphet\">Facebook</a>.','','','inherit','open','open','','5900-revision','','','2012-04-08 14:56:31','2012-04-08 21:56:31','',5900,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/08/5900-revision/',0,'revision','',0),(5903,160,'2012-04-08 15:00:38','2012-04-08 22:00:38','<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/obro3.jpg\"><img class=\"alignnone  wp-image-5901\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/obro3-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>\n\n<em>“Am I m</em><em>y brothe</em><em>r’s keeper?”</em> (Genesis 4:9).  That was the question a defensive sounding Cain asked God after he’d killed Abel.  Christians know the answer is, “Yes, I am my brother’s keeper,” and most are willing to lend a helping hand to their fellow man.   Whether it’s building a Habitat for Humanity house, volunteering at Room at the Inn, or serving meals at the mission, they are actively working through their churches to assist those in their own communities, as well as remote villages thousands of miles away.\n\nAnd yet, at the same time, many of these same Christians are opposed to the government doing the very same kind of work.  It’s as if tax dollars are in a separate category and should never be used for social programs that offer a life preserver to a person struggling to keep his or her head above the poverty line.   At the mention of government assistance, many conservative Christians suddenly become suspicious of free-loaders and disdainful of any sort of bureaucratic waste.\n\nI’m genuinely curious why it’s acceptable for individuals and churches to help the poor and why it’s not okay for their government to get involved in similar activities?   I don’t think it’s an issue of separation of church and state.   Many of these same people are the first to want our country to have <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PubdnWLfva8\">Christian values</a>.   Well, healing the sick, helping the poor, and fighting injustices were the values that Jesus cared about in his day.   Of course, these principles are not the sole domain of Christian ethics; they are universally accepted by most people as the way healthy societies should treat their citizens.\n\nPerhaps, conservative Christians are opposed to the amount of money that government spends on these issues.   It’s a fair question, and it is certainly easy to find examples of waste within big, federally funded programs.   We all know about the welfare mother who’s milking the system or the laid off guy who’s cashing unemployment checks while not even trying to find a job.   Of course, it’s also pretty easy to find great stories of redemption and recovery, if we’re willing to look for those too.\n\nThe reality is only the government has the means to put programs into place that can help large segments of people: Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and Head Start reaches disadvantaged kids; Emergency Food Service and Medicaid supports the indigent elderly; and food stamps and HUD’s public housing provides some basic sustenance and shelter for the poor.  These are all programs that can insure, house, and feed literally millions of people on a scale that all the well-meaning Christians are not capable of doing by themselves.\n\nI’m not sure if the homeless person really cares if he’s getting assistance from a church or a “good Samaritan” or Uncle Sam.  If God takes note of things like that (and I believe He does), then I think He’s probably pretty pleased when someone is helped, whether that assistance is coming from you or me or churches or a  government program.  If we truly want the United States to be a nation after God’s heart, caring for “the least of these” is a pretty good place to start.\n\n<em>“Are we our brother’s keeper?”</em>   It’s not an abstract ideological question.   It is literally a question of life and death for many of our own brothers and sisters.   At its root, it’s about compassion rising above apathy; replacing suffering with relief; hope triumphing over defeat.  At the same time, there has to be accountability, and not every government program is a good one.  But I had rather waste a little money giving someone a second chance than save a little money and let them slip through the cracks.\n\nA few weeks ago, I saw Allison Kraus and Union Station at the Loveless Barn in Nashville.   During the show, I learned one of her band members (Dan Tyminski) overdubbed George Clooney’s voice on “Man of Constant Sorrow” in the movie <span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">“O Brother Where Art Thou?”</span>   Learning that George Clooney didn’t actually sing didn’t take anything away from the movie experience.  Sometimes a brother just needs a little help.  It doesn’t matter who fills in; the important thing is that everyone pulls together to make things as good as they can be.   Do you agree?\n\nJeff Fulmer lives in Nashville Tennessee and is the author of the book <a href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Hometown-Prophet-Jeff-Fulmer/dp/1463632312/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1312940193&amp;sr=8-1\">Hometown Prophet</a>. <em> If God spoke through a prophet today, would we really want to hear what he has to say?</em>   For more information, visit the <a href=\"http://www.hometownprophetbook.com/\">Hometown Prophet website</a>.   Follow on <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hometownprophet\">Twitter</a> or  like on <a href=\"http://www.facebook.com/HometownProphet\">Facebook</a>.','O Brother Where Art Thou?','','inherit','open','open','','5900-revision-2','','','2012-04-08 15:00:38','2012-04-08 22:00:38','',5900,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/08/5900-revision-2/',0,'revision','',0),(5904,160,'2012-04-08 15:06:31','2012-04-08 22:06:31','<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/obro3.jpg\"><img class=\"alignnone  wp-image-5901\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/obro3-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>\r\n\r\n<em>“Am I m</em><em>y brothe</em><em>r’s keeper?”</em> (Genesis 4:9).  That was the question a defensive sounding Cain asked God after he’d killed Abel.  Christians know the answer is, “Yes, I am my brother’s keeper,” and most are willing to lend a helping hand to their fellow man.   Whether it’s building a Habitat for Humanity house, volunteering at Room at the Inn, or serving meals at the mission, they are actively working through their churches to assist those in their own communities, as well as remote villages thousands of miles away.\r\n\r\nAnd yet, at the same time, many of these same Christians are opposed to the government doing the very same kind of work.  It’s as if tax dollars are in a separate category and should never be used for social programs that offer a life preserver to a person struggling to keep his or her head above the poverty line.   At the mention of government assistance, many conservative Christians suddenly become suspicious of free-loaders and disdainful of any sort of bureaucratic waste.\r\n\r\nI’m genuinely curious why it’s acceptable for individuals and churches to help the poor and why it’s not okay for their government to get involved in similar activities?   I don’t think it’s an issue of separation of church and state.   Many of these same people are the first to want our country to have <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PubdnWLfva8\">Christian values</a>.   Well, healing the sick, helping the poor, and fighting injustices were the values that Jesus cared about in his day.   Of course, these principles are not the sole domain of Christian ethics; they are universally accepted by most people as the way healthy societies should treat their citizens.\r\n\r\nPerhaps, conservative Christians are opposed to the amount of money that government spends on these issues.   It’s a fair question, and it is certainly easy to find examples of waste within big, federally funded programs.   We all know about the welfare mother who’s milking the system or the laid off guy who’s cashing unemployment checks while not even trying to find a job.   Of course, it’s also pretty easy to find great stories of redemption and recovery, if we’re willing to look for those too.\r\n\r\nThe reality is only the government has the means to put programs into place that can help large segments of people: Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and Head Start reaches disadvantaged kids; Emergency Food Service and Medicaid supports the indigent elderly; and food stamps and HUD’s public housing provides some basic sustenance and shelter for the poor.  These are all programs that can insure, house, and feed literally millions of people on a scale that all the well-meaning Christians are not capable of doing by themselves.\r\n\r\nI’m not sure if the homeless person really cares if he’s getting assistance from a church or a “good Samaritan” or Uncle Sam.  If God takes note of things like that (and I believe He does), then I think He’s probably pretty pleased when someone is helped, whether that assistance is coming from you or me or churches or a  government program.  If we truly want the United States to be a nation after God’s heart, caring for “the least of these” is a pretty good place to start.\r\n\r\n<em>“Are we our brother’s keeper?”</em>   It’s not an abstract ideological question.   It is literally a question of life and death for many of our own brothers and sisters.   At its root, it’s about compassion rising above apathy; replacing suffering with relief; hope triumphing over defeat.  At the same time, there has to be accountability, and not every government program is a good one.  But I had rather waste a little money giving someone a second chance than save a little money and let them slip through the cracks.\r\n\r\nA few weeks ago, I saw Allison Kraus and Union Station at the Loveless Barn in Nashville.   During the show, I learned one of her band members (Dan Tyminski) overdubbed George Clooney’s voice on “Man of Constant Sorrow” in the movie <span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">“O Brother Where Art Thou?”</span>   Learning that George Clooney didn’t actually sing didn’t take anything away from the movie experience.  Sometimes a brother just needs a little help.  It doesn’t matter who fills in; the important thing is that everyone pulls together to make things as good as they can be.   Do you agree?\r\n\r\nJeff Fulmer lives in Nashville Tennessee and is the author of the book <a href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Hometown-Prophet-Jeff-Fulmer/dp/1463632312/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1312940193&amp;sr=8-1\">Hometown Prophet</a>. <em> If God spoke through a prophet today, would we really want to hear what he has to say?</em>   For more information, visit the <a href=\"http://www.hometownprophetbook.com/\">Hometown Prophet website</a>.   Follow on <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hometownprophet\">Twitter</a> or  like on <a href=\"http://www.facebook.com/HometownProphet\">Facebook</a>.','O Brother Where Art Thou?','','inherit','open','open','','5900-revision-3','','','2012-04-08 15:06:31','2012-04-08 22:06:31','',5900,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/08/5900-revision-3/',0,'revision','',0),(6628,149,'2012-05-09 08:09:17','2012-05-09 15:09:17','Recently, a close friend of mine was talking to a coworker about religion. During the course of the conversation, his coworker asserted “You know I’m a Catholic, don’t you? Well, not a practicing one.”\n\nMy friend couldn’t shake that comment. He said it gripped him, in a good way. His only response was this: “Fuck apathy.”\n\nAfter he relayed this story to me, I asked him, “What would happen if we did?”\n\n“Nothing bad.”\n\nExactly. What are we so afraid of?\n\nWhat if we rejected our indifferent, apathetic attitudes and actively pursued a life of purpose? What if we actually lived the Great Commission?\n\nForget the hot mess that is church as we know it, with its hierarchical structure, contrived relationships, systems, programs and the like, and pursue only what Jesus called us to do: “Go into the world and make disciples, and obey everything I (Jesus) have commanded you.”\n\n<a href=\"http://simplechurch.eu/team/profile/13/\">Jonathan Fokker</a> at <a href=\"http://simplechurch.eu/index.php/toolbox/full/7-basic-commands-of-obeying-jesus-out-of-love/\">Simple Church</a> puts it this way:\n\n<em>Jesus told us to make disciples by teaching them to obey His commands (Matt. 28:18-20). He also said, “If you love me, obey my commands” (John 14:15). We need to teach disciples to obey the commands of Jesus out of love. </em><strong><em>You cannot obey without love otherwise you end up in legalism. But love without obedience is no real love at all. </em></strong><em>You show your love to Jesus by obedience to Him. </em><strong><em><a href=\"http://simplechurch.eu/index.php/toolbox/full/7-basic-commands-of-obeying-jesus-out-of-love/\">http://simplechurch.eu/index.php/toolbox/full/7-basic-commands-of-obeying-jesus-out-of-love/</a></em></strong>\n\nHe goes on to break out some of the commands Jesus left us, such as: Repent, believe and receive the Holy Spirit, be baptized, break bread together (communion), pray, give and make disciples, and of course, \"Love God with everything\" and \"Love your neighbour...\"\n\nSeriously, consider what could happen if we lived the great commission and actually went through life consciously obeying Jesus and making disciples?\n\nJust the other day, I was speaking with another friend about my journey of leaving church to find Jesus, and he asked how I would know when I’d “arrived” at a redemptive destination. There are many variables and questions still to be addressed and answered. One question I wrestle with is this: “What is church?\" And, \"if I don’t know what it is, how will I know when I find it? If I don’t know where I’m going, how will I get there?”\n\nMy friend answered with this, “Church is no longer the point. Jesus is.”\n\nWhen we become buried by our cynicism, unable to move beneath the weight of our own apathy, how easy it is to miss the point. Jesus didn’t call us to build, or even go, to church. He called us to obey him and make disciples. Pretty simple. Do that and we\'ll find out what church is.','F*** Apathy','','inherit','open','open','','6626-revision-2','','','2012-05-09 08:09:17','2012-05-09 15:09:17','',6626,'http://provoketive.com/2012/05/09/6626-revision-2/',0,'revision','',0),(6801,182,'2012-05-31 08:00:16','2012-05-31 15:00:16','I was not born contemplative.\r\n\r\nI was taught from an early age to believe that it is more valuable to know things than it is to learn things. Learning, after all, is a step on the path toward knowing; knowing is the result of learning. Whether at home, in school, or at church, it is far better to know the right answer than to be in the process of learning. Learning means that you have not yet arrived at knowing.\r\n\r\nKnowing is also much more fun than learning. Learning requires patience, practice, and being open to new insights. Learning means that you try new things and make mistakes, which just reinforces that you do not know the right answer.\r\n\r\nYou do not do well in school by learning, you do well by knowing the right answers.\r\n\r\nThe great thing about knowing the answer is that you have successfully completed learning. You do not need to be open to new insights if you already know the answers.\r\n\r\nFor a long time, my understanding of my faith was based in the same approach. I had the right answers, and my mental energies went into sharing and defending those answers rather than being open to gaining new understanding. I was committed to the accuracy of my perspective and, at the same time, beginning to feel stuck because the need to be right is so demanding.\r\n\r\nThe spiritual practices I followed were essentially my homework for church. They were the things I needed to do so I could give the right answers and get a good grade.\r\n\r\nThe first time someone suggested that I read Benedict’s Rule, I was not very interested. I was both intrigued by and anxious about contemplative spirituality, and quite confident that I already had more than enough rules in my life.\r\n\r\nSlowly and surely, the monastic tradition drew me.\r\n\r\nI realized that my answers were not always right.\r\n\r\nI found a church that values solitude and silence. I gained an appreciation for the ways that liturgy provides a supportive framework for inner work and reflection. I began learning practices and disciplines that helped me recognize that God was always with me, loving me and drawing me closer. I began talking with a spiritual director.\r\n\r\nI came to appreciate asking good questions more than having the right answers.\r\n\r\nA friend suggested that I might be interested in Benedictine spirituality. After much reading and several retreats at different monasteries, I was received as a lay oblate at a Benedictine monastery and hermitage in Big Sur, California.\r\n\r\nAn oblate is a person who commits to following a rule of life and is in relationship to a particular monastery and monastic order. The rule I follow includes a variety of spiritual practices such as regular prayer, Bible study, and silence and solitude. At least once each year I spend some time at the monastery.\r\n\r\nMy faith continues to deepen and mature. I continue to be drawn more deeply into contemplative life, and reflect on ways to be a contemplative in today’s world. Contemplation gives me opportunities to find peace and to recognize the presence of the divine each day. Life is not about sitting and reflecting, but about connecting to the peace and gratefulness that can spread through the people around me.\r\n\r\nThere are many possible distractions. I wondered, for example, whether social media would keep me from being contemplative. I continue to learn about the history of monasticism, and to overcome my own preconceived notions of what monastic people are like. I am exploring the balance that encompasses both contemplation and activism.\r\n\r\nContemplation has turned my understanding of my own faith upside down. My connection to the holy is no longer about getting a good grade, no longer about being right. My spirituality has nothing to do with getting the teacher to like me or earning divine good favor.\r\n\r\nEach day is different, yet each is framed in practices which, step by step, redeem my perspective.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','Contemplative in the City','','publish','open','open','','contemplative-in-the-city','','','2012-05-30 18:20:37','2012-05-31 01:20:37','',0,'http://provoketive.com/?p=6801',0,'post','',2),(6802,182,'2012-05-28 16:20:35','2012-05-28 23:20:35','','7221740978_a9e190a72f','','inherit','open','open','','7221740978_a9e190a72f-2','','','2012-05-28 16:20:35','2012-05-28 23:20:35','',6801,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/7221740978_a9e190a72f1.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(5907,12,'2012-04-08 18:45:17','2012-04-09 01:45:17','','hgate','','inherit','open','open','','hgate','','','2012-04-08 18:45:17','2012-04-09 01:45:17','',0,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/hgate.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(5908,12,'2012-04-08 18:46:06','2012-04-09 01:46:06','','worldview','','inherit','open','open','','worldview','','','2012-04-08 18:46:06','2012-04-09 01:46:06','',0,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/worldview.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(6797,1,'2012-05-28 10:53:53','2012-05-28 17:53:53','','Spirit-Led220','','inherit','open','open','','spirit-led220','','','2012-05-28 10:53:53','2012-05-28 17:53:53','',0,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Spirit-Led220.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(6798,1,'2012-05-28 11:00:48','2012-05-28 18:00:48','','Unladylike220','','inherit','open','open','','unladylike220','','','2012-05-28 11:00:48','2012-05-28 18:00:48','',0,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Unladylike220.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(6851,183,'2012-05-31 08:56:27','2012-05-31 15:56:27','','Grieving man','','inherit','open','open','','grieving-man','','','2012-05-31 08:56:27','2012-05-31 15:56:27','',6789,'http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Grieving-man.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(6852,183,'2012-05-31 08:54:32','2012-05-31 15:54:32','&nbsp;\n\nI once was a tough guy.  I was the loud guy who never got his feelings hurt.  I would never cry. At one time, I questioned whether I even could cry.\n\nIn the 10 months from April 2000 to March 2001, I lost my grandmother, my elder brother and my grandfather.  During that time I \"stayed strong\" because I thought that\'s what I needed to do.  I didn\'t cry.  I didn\'t show emotion.  I was in 7th grade.  For the rest of my middle school and high school years I was so calloused.  I called myself a Christian but my life was not an example of the Gospel.  I hurt many people and I still grieve those relationships I lost in those years.  I never let myself grieve the losses that happened in my life because that\'s not what \"guys\" did.  This internal hardening and refusal to mourn these losses of dear parts of my family was a sin, I realize now.  My heart was hardened and it made me a very abrasive person.  I exploded at home at the people closest to me (my sister and parents). I spent a good bit of my time angry.  I was not a nice person to be around.\n\nFast forward to 2012.  I am a man who is close in touch with his emotions and has no problem crying in front of people.  As a matter of fact, a few weeks ago, I was sitting and enjoying a meal with some friends who are.  We were at a popular restaurant in Atlanta and I had ordered a beef turnover (fancy nomenclature for a meat pie).  I took one bite of this meat pie and I lose my cool.  I start crying.  I am around 11 other people.\n\n\"Are you okay?  Is everything okay?\"\n\nMy grandfather was known for his meat pies in the small town where I grew up.  This meal of a meat pie and potatoes affected me so greatly because it reminded me of some of the best memories I had with my grandfather.  I have not reached the mountain-top of \"self-actualization\" at this point, but I think one of the greatest (and hardest) steps toward self actualization is learning that it\'s okay to grieve losses.  It is up to the person to decide how long they should grieve.  Everyone processes their grief differently, but let me tell you friends, do not hold that grief in.  It will turn you into a bitter person.\n\nThis post is directed at my Christian brothers.  We were told to \"dry that shit up\" by our fathers.  We were told stories of Samson, Gideon and David, the giant slayer.  We were told that Christian men are leaders and not affected by emotion.  We are told not to hold on to earthly possessions.  We are told to rejoice at funerals because our loved ones are \"in a better place\".\n\nI have no problem telling you not to dry that shit up.  I am telling you to read the Lamentations of Jeremiah and the story of Jesus crying at Lazarus\' tomb (even though he knew Lazarus would be resurrected).  I am telling you to cry.  I am telling you to be emotional, because it\'s healthy.  I am telling you that to hold in the pain you feel will hurt your relationship with your friends, your co-workers and your partner.  I am telling you this because I know it, unfortunately.\n\nChristian man, I am telling you to quit being tough.  I am telling you that when someone dies that you\'re close to, grief is normal.  I am telling you that when a story touches your heart, it\'s okay to shed a tear.  I am telling you to grieve with those who grieve.  Grief is a part of the natural human condition and to ignore it is to ignore an integral part of your being.\n\nWhen you lose your job, when your marriage falls apart, when your house burns down and when the church you pastor tears at the seams, the natural reaction is grief and I promise you that if you refuse  to grieve in your own way, you will break down.  Either, break down your own walls or the world you live in will break them down for you.  Grieve and grieve loudly.  Let people know you\'re sad.  Talk to others about your grief.  Find people who love you and share your passions and your failed attempts at pursuing those passions.\n\nMake yourself a broken man or the world will break you.\n\n&nbsp;\n\nWhat do you think?  Is grief a vital part of the human condition?  Is it necessary?  How do you handle grief? Do you have a method for managing your grief or does your grief manage you?\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;','Cry Loudly','','inherit','open','open','','6789-revision-2','','','2012-05-31 08:54:32','2012-05-31 15:54:32','',6789,'http://provoketive.com/2012/05/31/6789-revision-2/',0,'revision','',0),(6791,183,'2012-05-26 11:33:28','2012-05-26 18:33:28','I used to be a tough guy.  I used to be the loud guy who never got his feelings hurt.  I used to never cry over anything.  At one time, I questioned whether I even had the capacity to cry.\n\nIn the 10 months from April 2000 to March 2001, I lost my grandmother, my elder brother and my grandfather.  During that time I \"stayed strong\" because I thought that\'s what I needed to do.  I didn\'t cry.  I didn\'t show emotion.  I was in 7th grade.  For the remainder of my middle school and high school years I was so calloused.  I called myself a Christian but my life was not an example of the Gospel.  I hurt many people and I still grieve those relationships I lost in those years.  I never let myself grieve the losses that happened in my life because that\'s not what \"guys\" did.  This internal hardening and refusal to mourn these losses of ear parts of my family was a sin, I realize now.  My heart was hardened and it made me a very abrasive individual.  I lashed out at home at the people closest to me (my sister and parents). I spent a good bit of my time angry.  I was not a nice person to be around.\n\nFast forward to 2012.  I am a man who is close in touch with his emotions and has no problem crying in front of people.  As a matter of fact, a few weeks ago, I was sitting and enjoying a meal with some friends who are.  We were at a popular restaurant in Atlanta and I had ordered a beef turnover (fancy nomenclature for a meat pie).  I took one bite of this meat pie and I lose my cool.  I start crying.  I am around 11 other people.\n\n\"Are you okay?  Is everything okay?\"\n\nMy grandfather was known for his meat pies in the small town where I was raised.  This meal of a meat pie and potatoes affected me so greatly because it reminded me of some of the best memories I had with my grandfather.  I have not reached the mountain-top of \"self-actualization\" at this point, but I think one of the greatest (and hardest) steps toward self actualization is learning that it\'s okay to grieve losses.  It is up to the individual to decide how long they should grieve.  Everyone processes their grief differently, but let me tell you friends, do not hold that grief in.  It will turn you into a bitter person.\n\nThis post is directed at my Christian brothers.  We are told to \"dry that shit up\" by our fathers.  We are told stories of Samson, Gideon and David, the giant slayer.  We are told that Christian men are leaders and not affected by emotion.  We are told not to hold on to earthly possessions.  We are told to rejoice at funerals because our loved ones are \"in a better place\".\n\nI have no problem telling you not to dry that shit up.  I am telling you to read the Lamentations of Jeremiah and the story of Jesus crying at Lazarus\' tomb (even though he knew Lazarus would be resurrected).  I am telling you to cry.  I am telling you to be emotional, because it\'s healthy.  I am telling you that to hold in the pain you feel will hurt your relationship with your friends, your co-workers and your partner.  I am telling you this because I know it, unfortunately.\n\nChristian man, I am telling you to quit being tough.  I am telling you that when someone dies that you\'re close to, grief is normal.  I am telling you that when a story touches your heart, it\'s okay to shed a tear.  I am telling you to grieve with those who grieve.  Grief is a part of the natural human condition and to ignore it is to ignore a integral part of your being.\n\nGod gave us dominion over the Earth according to the creation account in Genesis.  He told Adam to name the animals and the plants.  So, with that history it would be ridiculous for us not to be emotionally invested in the things of this world.\n\nWhen you lose your job, when your marriage falls apart, when your house burns down and when the church you pastor tears at the seams, the natural reaction is grief and I promise you that if you refuse  to grieve in your own way, you will break down.  Either, break down your own walls or the world you live in will break them down for you.  Grieve and grieve loudly.  Let people know you\'re sad.  Talk to others about your grief.  Find people that love you and share your passions and your failed attempts at pursuing those passions.\n\nMake yourself a broken man or the world will break you.\n\n&nbsp;\n\nWhat do you think?  Is grief a vital part of the human condition?  Is it neccesary?  How do you handle grief? Do you have a method for managing your grief or dos your grief manage you?\n\n&nbsp;\n\nJesus loves you.','','','inherit','open','open','','6789-revision','','','2012-05-26 11:33:28','2012-05-26 18:33:28','',6789,'http://provoketive.com/2012/05/26/6789-revision/',0,'revision','',0),(5912,12,'2012-04-07 16:31:34','2012-04-07 23:31:34','In my town, there are a lot of living nativity scenes every year. <a href=\"http://provoketive.com/2011/12/17/three-reasons-to-tear-down-the-nativity-scene/\">I don\'t like them</a>. I have reason that I\'ve blogged about before. There\'s only one thing I can\'t stand more than a living nativity.\r\n\r\nA living crucifixion reenactment.\r\n\r\nThere are three in this county every year. I get my boxers in a wad about it every year. I want to drive by them every year and yell, \"Get him down from there!\"\r\n\r\nI hate to say that they \"offend\" me. Everyone is offended these days. It takes so little to offend the modern mind. So, I\'m not offended. I just run afoul of the fact that churches think that the gospel is being spread by putting middle-aged men on a cross so people can see them on there. In a world filled with suffering, what good does it do to see a picture of more suffering without explanation? People drive by without any idea why the Christ suffered. (more thoughts below)\r\n\r\nI drove by this year and had one of my \"oh, snap\" moments, though. I did get offended. Severely offended. Good Friday should be seriously offensive to every Christian.\r\n\r\nThe day Christ went to Calvary, he went so willingly. In the Garden of Gethsemane, he asked that the cup of suffering would pass from him, but then said, \"but not my will, but yours,\" speaking of his father. Then, we willingly went to the cross, bore our sins and endured the wrath of God.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/living-crucifixion.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-5883\" style=\"margin-left: 6px;margin-right: 6px\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/living-crucifixion-300x184.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"184\" /></a>He bore my sins. My daily, sickening, evil, nasty sins. For me. So I would not have to endure the wrath of God. He stood in my place. I am offended by my own sin. My sin is offensive to me. It is offensive to God. And it was so offensive, He turned His back on His Son.\r\n\r\nThe name of \"Good Friday\" is filled with irony. It was a horrific day. An awful day. But it bought me redemption.\r\n\r\nI\'m not brought to remembrance of those things by seeing untanned modern men on a cross by the side of the road. I am reminded of it when I read Scripture. And the passerby who does not know needs to be told by a messenger. A messenger who understands the proclamation - \"Go forth and preach to the nations.\"\r\n\r\nGood Friday and Resurrection Sunday are not days of reenactment. They are days of proclamation. Days of reflection. Resurrection Sunday in particular, is a day of celebration when we recall Jesus\' victory over sin and death once and for all.\r\n\r\nSo, I\'ll ignore those who want to put on a play, I suppose. The words of the Bible are the way we remember. Christ revealed himself as the Word and it is in the word that we will find solace.\r\n\r\n____________________________\r\n\r\nAdditional thoughts on the living crucifixion scenes:\r\n\r\nI just had a discussion with my friend about these scenes. His point was that these scenes might give passerbys a notion to stop into the church and ask about Christ. The response? No, they don\'t. They are about as helpful as cliche church signs. I was a member of a church that did living crucifixions and the pastor told me that they never had anyone visit who had seen the living crucifixion.\r\n\r\nMy friend also had a thought: \"What if one person saw it and got saved?\" Response - that\'s an argument from pragmatism. It\'s akin to the youth rally preacher who asks all the youth at the event to pray the sinners prayer and then says, \"Anyone who prayed that prayer, come up front, you\'re saved.\" At times, I\'ve heard of 400-800 kids responding. The reality? Less than 1% of the kids are saved. The rest have a false sense of security about their salvation. But the response of most is, \"Well, but what if one kid got saved?\" Our methods are poor.\r\n\r\nOn Good Friday at one of these living nativities, I saw forty church members there. What if those church members instead decided to share the gospel with their friends and loved ones directly? What if they decided to show the love of Christ to those around them? I guarantee a better result. A community filled with the love of Christ and changed lives.','Post-Good Friday Traumatic Stress','','inherit','open','open','','5881-revision-3','','','2012-04-07 16:31:34','2012-04-07 23:31:34','',5881,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/07/5881-revision-3/',0,'revision','',0),(5913,12,'2012-04-08 19:43:08','2012-04-09 02:43:08','In my town, there are a lot of living nativity scenes every year. <a href=\"http://provoketive.com/2011/12/17/three-reasons-to-tear-down-the-nativity-scene/\">I don\'t like them</a>. I\'ve blogged about before. There\'s only one thing I can\'t stand more than a living nativity.\r\n\r\nA living crucifixion reenactment.\r\n\r\nThere are three in this county every year. I get my boxers in a wad about it every year. I want to drive by them every year and yell, \"Get him down from there!\"\r\n\r\nI hate to say that they \"offend\" me. Everyone is offended these days. It takes so little to offend the modern mind. So, I\'m not offended. I just run afoul of the fact that churches think that the gospel is being spread by putting middle-aged men on a cross so people can see them on there. In a world filled with suffering, what good does it do to see a picture of more suffering without explanation? People drive by without any idea why the Christ suffered. (more thoughts below)\r\n\r\nI drove by this year and had one of my \"oh, snap\" moments, though. I did get offended. Severely offended. Good Friday should be seriously offensive to every Christian.\r\n\r\nThe day Christ went to Calvary, he went so willingly. In the Garden of Gethsemane, he asked that the cup of suffering would pass from him, but then said, \"but not my will, but yours,\" speaking of his father. Then, we willingly went to the cross, bore our sins and endured the wrath of God.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/living-crucifixion.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-5883\" style=\"margin-left: 6px;margin-right: 6px\" src=\"http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/living-crucifixion-300x184.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"184\" /></a>He bore my sins. My daily, sickening, evil, nasty sins. For me. So I would not have to endure the wrath of God. He stood in my place. I am offended by my own sin. My sin is offensive to me. It is offensive to God. And it was so offensive, He turned His back on His Son.\r\n\r\nThe name of \"Good Friday\" is filled with irony. It was a horrific day. An awful day. But it bought me redemption.\r\n\r\nI\'m not brought to remembrance of those things by seeing untanned modern men on a cross by the side of the road. I am reminded of it when I read Scripture. And the passerby who does not know needs to be told by a messenger. A messenger who understands the proclamation - \"Go forth and preach to the nations.\"\r\n\r\nGood Friday and Resurrection Sunday are not days of reenactment. They are days of proclamation. Days of reflection. Resurrection Sunday in particular, is a day of celebration when we recall Jesus\' victory over sin and death once and for all.\r\n\r\nSo, I\'ll ignore those who want to put on a play, I suppose. The words of the Bible are the way we remember. Christ revealed himself as the Word and it is in the word that we will find solace.\r\n\r\n____________________________\r\n\r\nAdditional thoughts on the living crucifixion scenes:\r\n\r\nI just had a discussion with my friend about these scenes. His point was that these scenes might give passerbys a notion to stop into the church and ask about Christ. The response? No, they don\'t. They are about as helpful as cliche church signs. I was a member of a church that did living crucifixions and the pastor told me that they never had anyone visit who had seen the living crucifixion.\r\n\r\nMy friend also had a thought: \"What if one person saw it and got saved?\" Response - that\'s an argument from pragmatism. It\'s akin to the youth rally preacher who asks all the youth at the event to pray the sinners prayer and then says, \"Anyone who prayed that prayer, come up front, you\'re saved.\" At times, I\'ve heard of 400-800 kids responding. The reality? Less than 1% of the kids are saved. The rest have a false sense of security about their salvation. But the response of most is, \"Well, but what if one kid got saved?\" Our methods are poor.\r\n\r\nOn Good Friday at one of these living nativities, I saw forty church members there. What if those church members instead decided to share the gospel with their friends and loved ones directly? What if they decided to show the love of Christ to those around them? I guarantee a better result. A community filled with the love of Christ and changed lives.','Post-Good Friday Traumatic Stress','','inherit','open','open','','5881-revision-4','','','2012-04-08 19:43:08','2012-04-09 02:43:08','',5881,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/08/5881-revision-4/',0,'revision','',0),(7369,136,'2012-07-31 21:50:36','2012-08-01 04:50:36','In practical and academic theological circles it\'s popular to ponder, write, consider, and act upon the meaning of following Jesus, especially following Jesus to the cross. You read scripture and start to realize going to the cross of Calvary means resisting death-dealing secular and religious bureaucratic and \"other\" assorted authorities, rejecting anything but love and justice as the measuring line, disallowing all that\'s other than righteousness as the plumbline; after a few years of living out our baptism, we start discovering Resurrection Sunday morning is every bit as demanding as Good Friday afternoon. It\'s easy to take pride in demonstrating visibly for ecclesiastically popular causes, maybe getting onto the evening news, feeling good about ourselves for sometimes getting too involved with concerns not popular with our local judicatories. Soundbite on the late night news, anyone? Spending a season with Mother Teresa\'s peeps or serving Thanksgiving dinner at Father Joe Carroll\'s place. Those bigger, more obvious, more stars in our crowns activities. And for the most part, they\'re all good. Often very good and life-transformative.\r\n\r\nBut in the ambient heat and humidity of mid-summer 2012, I like to remember Jesus partying with friends and with strangers. A spontaneous feast because they\'d hauled in a big catch, had freshly baked bread, and the grapes were ripe and juicy. Or a quick roundup of \"whatever\" resources because so many hungry people had surrounded them. I love stories of Jesus making sure everyone got enough to eat, commanding and demanding his disciples feed others, too. I love how we keep celebrating holy communion, the sacrament of the welcome table, the holy eucharist, with each other. More than simply \"liking\" the way potluck dinners, annual picnics, and strawberry ice cream socials have becoming close to definitive for the church. Ever attended a new to you church that didn\'t have an after worship (or between services) social hour? It\'s all about gathering, talking, relating, feeding, eating, and being fed. And we\'re not likely to keep on performing an action unless it has meaning, unless it says something to us and about us, unless it meets a basic need.\r\n\r\nA religious ritual? There are plenty of those. If we are to remember Jesus, do we need bread and wine? Do we need potlucks and picnics? Throughout the records of Jesus\' life we find accounts of Jesus feeding other people and feasting with his friends; Jesus repeatedly talks about those who will banquet in the Kingdom...and about giving his body for the life of the world. But is that gift of a body broken unto death for the life of the world the whole, entire thing?\r\n\r\nIn feeding friends and strangers, in celebrating bounty of the sea, gifts from the ground, and fruit of the vine, Jesus reveals a worldview that\'s at a 180-degree angle to most common ideas of religion and religiousness. We find loving justice, mercy, and embrace graciously at work wherever Jesus goes, wherever we follow him into the world so hunger, greed, need, judgment, and exclusion are wiped out.\r\n\r\nLike Jesus will we actively search for the lonely, the different, the outcast, and the stranger, welcoming them not only to our more formally scheduled eucharistic liturgies (well, turning them out of the narthex, back into the street would be awkward), but also afterwards at social hour (no snarkiness allowed), week night potlucks or annual picnics (I brought enough for everyone and would love to try your special dish), ice cream socials (we\'ve never done it that way, but we\'d love to try your way)? Will we be making our worlds, our neighborhoods and our churches into sanctuaries, holy places, into a foretaste of the reign of God on earth? Will we follow Jesus by including everyone, excluding no one? Will the world recognize us as the body of Christ when we pour out our everyday lives with compassion just as we pour out the eucharistic wine? I hope so!','following Jesus wherever he goes','','inherit','open','open','','7367-revision-2','','','2012-07-31 21:50:36','2012-08-01 04:50:36','',7367,'http://provoketive.com/2012/07/31/7367-revision-2/',0,'revision','',0),(5917,30,'2012-04-09 16:15:52','2012-04-09 23:15:52','Birth control has been in the news a lot lately.\n\nWell, let me rephrase.\n\nBirth control FOR WOMEN has been in the news a lot lately.\n\nWhether it\'s on the political spectrum or in the entertainment industry, women\'s reproductive rights have been hotly contested in the past months.\n\nAs this is discussed, women themselves are discussed. Are they using birth control for the \"right\" reasons? This has become one of the','It\'s Not Just About Healthcare','','inherit','open','open','','5800-revision-3','','','2012-04-09 16:15:52','2012-04-09 23:15:52','',5800,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/09/5800-revision-3/',0,'revision','',0),(5918,30,'2012-04-09 17:12:06','2012-04-10 00:12:06','Birth control has been in the news a lot lately.\n\nWell, let me rephrase.\n\nBirth control FOR WOMEN has been in the news a lot lately.\n\nWhether it\'s on the political spectrum or in the entertainment industry, women\'s reproductive rights have been hotly contested in the past months.\n\nAs this is discussed, women themselves are discussed. Are they using birth control for the \"right\" reasons? This has become one of the key issues.\n\nIn a rush not to paint women as \"sluts,\" people are quick to point out the many uses for oral contraceptives. It\'s beneficial for cramps. It helps with acne problems. It\'s used to control premenstrual syndrome.\n\nThese are all good and true. Most women who use oral contraceptives use it for more than simply contraception.\n\nBut most women use it for contraception as well. They use it because they want to have sex and not get pregnant.\n\nThis is okay.\n\nThe discussion about birth control revolves around women because we still have a problem with women having sex just for fun. We have a \"boys will be boys\" mindset, but when it comes to women, we\'d rather think that','It\'s Not Just About Healthcare','','inherit','open','open','','5800-revision-4','','','2012-04-09 17:12:06','2012-04-10 00:12:06','',5800,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/09/5800-revision-4/',0,'revision','',0),(5919,30,'2012-04-09 17:51:25','2012-04-10 00:51:25','Birth control has been in the news a lot lately.\n\nWell, let me rephrase.\n\nBirth control FOR WOMEN has been in the news a lot lately.\n\nWhether it\'s on the political spectrum or in the entertainment industry, women\'s reproductive rights have been hotly contested in the past months.\n\nAs this is discussed, women themselves are discussed. Are they using birth control for the \"right\" reasons? This has become one of the key issues.\n\nIn a rush not to paint women as \"sluts,\" people are quick to point out the many uses for oral contraceptives. It\'s beneficial for cramps. It helps with acne problems. It\'s used to control premenstrual syndrome.\n\nThese are all good and true. Most women who use oral contraceptives use it for more than simply contraception.\n\nBut most women use it for contraception as well. They use it because they want to have sex and not get pregnant.\n\nThis is okay.\n\nThe discussion about birth control revolves around women because we still have a problem with women having sex just for fun. We have a \"boys will be boys\" mindset, but when it comes to women, we\'d rather think that women simply react to men, rather than have sex drives of their own.','It\'s Not Just About Healthcare','','inherit','open','open','','5800-revision-5','','','2012-04-09 17:51:25','2012-04-10 00:51:25','',5800,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/09/5800-revision-5/',0,'revision','',0),(5920,30,'2012-04-09 18:44:18','2012-04-10 01:44:18','Birth control has been in the news a lot lately.\n\nWell, let me rephrase.\n\nBirth control FOR WOMEN has been in the news a lot lately.\n\nWhether it\'s on the political spectrum or in the entertainment industry, women\'s reproductive rights have been hotly contested in the past months.\n\nAs this is discussed, women themselves are discussed. Are they using birth control for the \"right\" reasons? This has become one of the key issues.\n\nIn a rush not to paint women as \"sluts,\" people are quick to point out the many uses for oral contraceptives. It\'s beneficial for cramps. It helps with acne problems. It\'s used to control premenstrual syndrome.\n\nThese are all good and true. Most women who use oral contraceptives use it for more than simply contraception.\n\nBut most women use it for contraception as well. They use it because they want to have sex and not get pregnant.\n\nThis is okay.\n\nThe discussion about birth control revolves around women because we still have a problem with women having sex just for fun. We have a \"boys will be boys\" mindset, but when it comes to women, we\'d rather think that women simply react to men, rather than have sex drives of their own.\n\nWhile trying to keep women from enduring name-calling, many have stepped unwittingly into the realm of shaming those who use the pill for no other reason than to avoid pregnancy.\n\n&nbsp;','It\'s Not Just About Healthcare','','inherit','open','open','','5800-revision-6','','','2012-04-09 18:44:18','2012-04-10 01:44:18','',5800,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/09/5800-revision-6/',0,'revision','',0),(5921,30,'2012-04-09 18:53:17','2012-04-10 01:53:17','Birth control has been in the news a lot lately.\n\nWell, let me rephrase.\n\nBirth control FOR WOMEN has been in the news a lot lately.\n\nWhether it\'s on the political spectrum or in the entertainment industry, women\'s reproductive rights have been hotly contested in the past months.\n\nAs this is discussed, women themselves are discussed. Are they using birth control for the \"right\" reasons? This has become one of the key issues.\n\nIn a rush not to paint women as \"sluts,\" people are quick to point out the many uses for oral contraceptives. It\'s beneficial for cramps. It helps with acne problems. It\'s used to control premenstrual syndrome.\n\nThese are all good and true. Most women who use oral contraceptives use it for more than simply contraception.\n\nBut most women use it for contraception as well. They use it because they want to have sex and not get pregnant.\n\nThis is okay.\n\nThe discussion about birth control revolves around women because we still have a problem with women having sex just for fun. We have a \"boys will be boys\" mindset, so insurance covering things like vasectomies or medicine for erectile dysfunction don\'t raise eyebrows, but when it comes to women, we\'d rather think that they simply react to men, rather than have sex drives of their own.\n\nAnd while trying to keep women from enduring name-calling, many have stepped unwittingly into the realm of shaming those who use the pill for no other reason than to avoid pregnancy. Every time we make excuses for why birth control should be covered outside of pregnancy avoidance, we tell women that want to\n\nBut having sex for enjoyment is okay, even for women.','It\'s Not Just About Healthcare','','inherit','open','open','','5800-revision-7','','','2012-04-09 18:53:17','2012-04-10 01:53:17','',5800,'http://provoketive.com/2012/04/09/5800-revision-7/',0,'revision','',0),