The Third Way!
The Third Way!
". Even though the Lord delivered you into my hand. I was not willing to extend my hand against the Lords chosen.I Samuel 26:23"
"Jesus said: "But I say to you who are listening: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you. pray for those who mistreat? you (Luke6:27)."
????????One dark night in January of 1993, in front of "The Saloon"a gay bar in Minneapolis,? I ran into fourteen year old, Damien, a recent runaway, blond, blues, a personality that shined. Damien had told his Lutheran parents he was gay, and he was given a choice, to become straight or to leave. ? \He was a part of my life until his death ten years later, following me to "the gay City, in San Francisco.
??? Damien began begging, and moved into "hustling", at first finding it really fun, and as the years past hated it, and becoming HIV+.
??? With me he was fun, easy going, open, honest, racing me in skating, going to punk concerts. His parents disowned him, and as he became ill with AIDS, depended on me.
??? I worked with him and other agencies to find housing, but drug use, interfered. Ultimately in the Spring of 2003 with me by his side he died, his beautiful body destroyed by disease.
??? This relationship, especially, brought me back to ordination, and in understanding more and more that most people do not give a damn was that my calling was to give my all.
??? Through Damien and others my connection to Jesus persisted, not as some Divine Authority, but as a living presence in his teachings in the struggle of liberation and care for others.
??? My faith is animated by love for all who struggle under oppression. I find the Spirit flowing most freely outside church walls and dogma. among those Christianity has rejected. She moves wherever new possibilities break through seemingly fixed structures, wherever deviant joy challenges normative power, wherever communities practice mutual care without requiring institutional validation. I walk on the border, the thin places.?
??? In our scriptures we see where? David had every opportunity to take revenge. but he chose active nonviolence trusting in God's justice over human retaliation. Jesus takes this further, calling us not just to resist striking back but to confront evil with love that disarms and transforms.
??? Theologian Walter Winks described nonviolence as "Jesus' third way"--a path beyond flight or fight where we resist oppression without dehumanizing the oppressor. The third way calls us to act boldly, confronting injustice while upholding the dignity of the other and respecting their opinions.
??? The "third way"is what I learned in working with Damion, and in practicing the "third way" we are able simply to meet one another in the middle, and to respect each other. The "third way" allow us to meet people where they are, providing? for their needs without expecting anything in return! Let us pray:
"God give us the lamp of love which never fails, that it may burn in us and shed its light on those around us. By its brightness give us a vision of that holy city where the true and never failing Light, Jesus Christ, lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirt, now and forever. Amen!
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Temenos Catholic Worker
P.O. Box 642656
San Francisco, CA 94164
Dr. River Damien Carlos Sims, D.Min, D.S.T.
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“People ask me why do you write about food,
and eating and drinking. Why don’t you write
about the struggle for power and security and
about love, the way others do? The easiest answer
is to say that, like most other humans I am hungry (M.F. Fisher!”
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(Temenos and Dr. River seek to remain accessible to everyone. We do not endorse particular causes, political parties, or candidates, or take part in public controversies, whether religious, political, or social--Our pastoral ministry is to everyone!
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We are beggars. we beg for your gifts of support!
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