[Dialogue] Beloved Communities

Mon Sep 3 13:08:26 EDT 2007

David,

This indeed a Witness, and a profound reflection on your Life Journey.  The 
Future still beckons to all of us.

Addi

----Original Message Follows----
From: David & Lin Zahrt <chbnb at netins.net>
Reply-To: Colleague Dialogue <dialogue at wedgeblade.net>
To: Colleague Dialogue <dialogue at wedgeblade.net>
Subject: Re: [Dialogue] Beloved Communities
Date: Mon, 3 Sep 2007 07:19:58 -0500

Re: Beloved Communities
We watched Moyers on Fri
night. The woman he interviewed, Grace, was an inspiration. That along
with Karen's posting caused me to do a journal entry. I don't know if
the things that tumble out are witness or simply journal entry.
Anyway, they tumble out and you are the Community with whom I am able
to share.

Journal
Reflection 09/07

I was born on the eve of W W II. I have no sense of the
enormity of the social upheaval it caused. I was subject to all of
that upheaval. My Dad, having just finished his internship in
obstetrics, was subscripted into the military. He was transferred to
Texas for training. The family, Luella, and kids David & Christy
went along. We ended up in Houston. I learned to sing The Eyes of
Texas Are Upon You in Kindergarten!

When Dad was transferred to Biloxi, MS for training we
returned to Iowa City. Within 2 years Dad was reported missing in
action. Within 5 years Mother remarried. For a number of reasons I
grew up with the nagging feeling that my father had abandoned me.

   I heard about the atomic bomb but
registered nothing on my social conscience. I ignored the throes of
Post War recuperation. I attended University and signed up for ROTC so
that I could be assured of getting through 4 years without being
drafted into the military. I avoided the war in Korea and ignored
it.

     I was commissioned a 2nd
Lieutenant in the Air Force when I graduated. Lin and I got married.
She had one more year of nursing to complete. I applied for an
extension of my ROTC commission and taught general science in the
University High School.

  At that point I made a shift. I decided that I
wanted to follow Carl Michaelson and applied for admission at Drew
University Theological School. I was accepted. I continued the
extension and completed Theological School. At the end of Theological
School I had a conversation with the Air Force about the ambiguity of
using God-talk to go to war and kill people. The Chaplains recommended
that I resign my commission. I did so. When did Viet Nam erupt? I
ignored it too. Jay was born while we were on campus. We began House
Church with Stan & Glenda Long, Bain and Marge Davis, and
others.

    I served two UMC parishes the last
two years of Theological School. Heidi was born while we were in the
first parish. The Civil Rights Movement was beginning to pick up
steam. I saw it and let it be. As I reflect back it seems that my job
was to tell the congregation what it wanted to hear. I was given
Golden Handcuffs. If I wanted to stay I was to do what I was told.

      When I graduated from
Theological School I had already served 2 years as Deacon and my
ordination as Elder was due to happen. The District Superintendent
told me that they were holding on my ordination as Elder and they
didn't have an assignment for me so I would need to come to Annual
Conference to see if there was anything 'left over'.

     By that time we had been
exposed to the Ecumenical Institute and I decided that we should move
all of our earthly belongings and go to EI's Summer '66. We
attended. I felt the urge to do something in the Civil Rights Movement
but wasn't ready to leave the family or take it with me while
engaging in the movement. We decided to become staff at the Ecumenical
Institute. I told myself it was a way of participating in the Civil
Rights movement, and might better prepare me to return to the parish
ministry!

       So, for the first
time, I became personally engaged in an attempt to create Beloved
Community and minister to social ills.

We stayed with the Community for 20 years. During that time we
committed ourselves to being and creating Beloved Community. Upon
reflection, I now know we fell far short of the goal. During that time
I ignored all of the other social, economic, cultural, and political
ills that transpired. That I am not able to name the ones we ignored
is evidence that we ignored them. Of late they are beginning to
surface. Were they always there-Rwanda, Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq,
Brazil, Peru? The deforestation taking place in South America. The
Climate Change spawned, and ignored, by unbridled consumerism. The
rape, by agribusiness for the sake of financial profit, of the US's
natural resources. The growing disparity between the rich and the poor
around the Globe. How many issues have I ignored or
omitted?

What does this mean? Has the world always been this way? Are
we simply getting old and filled with cynicism and despair to the
point of depression? Are we human beings actually creating  and
precipitating our own Worldwide Rapture?

In the meantime, where do we plug in? How do we make the
difference we're capable of making? Where is the key--the whistle
point?

We returned to the family farm to care for Mother & Dad.
When we returned I took a look at the standard agricultural practices
and said (to myself) "We're mining the soil, poisoning the
environment, and mortgaging the future." Needless to say there
were very few neighbors with whom I could share that insight. Neither
have we been able to find a 'church home'. We facilitated LIVING
THE QUESTIONS. It stimulated no continued dialogue. So we are hungry
for Blessed Community and at a loss to find it in the
neighborhood.

Now Mother and Dad are gone. No one else in the family is
returning to the farm. It is time for us to write another Chapter in
our book of life. We sincerely desire a way to become a part of a
Blessed Community. At a minimum its internal life will need to be
inclusive, interdependent, strive for self-sufficiency in food and
energy. It will also have an external mission.

David

--

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

| David and Lin Zahrt

| Country Homestead Bed and Breakfast

| 22133 Larpenteur Rd
| Turin, IA
51040     <mailto:chbnb at netins.net>

| (712) 353-6772 Phone

http://www.country-homestead.com

-- Doorway to the Loess
Hills --

Where a change-of-pace is as good as a vacation,
And a sense-of-place is
soothing to the soul.

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