I got accepted to New York City Teaching Fellows today! I interviewed on Saturday, January 20th, 2007. I’ll start per-service training in NYC on Monday, June 18th. I’ll take the MCAT Friday, June 15th. I’ll move to NYC that weekend. Kamil might be moving to NYC too!

Plan for the future (my plans change often):

1. If I am a good teacher and God willing, after completing NYCTF, I will become a pastor.


2. If I am not a good teacher or God willing, after completing NYCTF, I’ll go to medical school and do Christian medical relief.

Either way, educating people and working to provide education for children will be an endless goal for me. I’m so thankful for this opportunity.

Acceptance letter:
Dear Mikhail:

Congratulations! On behalf of the New York City Department of Education, I am pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to the NYC Teaching Fellows June 2007 program to teach Biology/General Science. The subject you have been accepted to teach was determined by the staffing needs of the schools and a review of your teaching eligibility and preferences.

The Fellowship is one of the most competitive programs of its kind in the country. Fewer than 20% of candidates who apply are accepted, and this year was no exception, as we received a record number of applications for a limited number of spots. Your acceptance to the Fellowship recognizes your achievements to date, your demonstrated teaching potential, and your commitment to the children of New York City. We have great confidence in your ability to succeed in the classroom. You will be receiving a Welcome Packet in the mail with more information about becoming a Fellow, and we encourage you to review this information as you make your decision.

If you wish to participate in the June 2007 program, you must complete online enrollment and sign and submit the Fellow Commitment Form within three weeks. Your participation in the Teaching Fellows program is also contingent on a satisfactory reference and background check, possession of U.S. citizenship or a valid green card, and—before the beginning of pre-service training—our receipt of your official transcripts, and proof of conferral of a Bachelor’s degree. Any candidate who has reported inaccurate or incomplete information may have his/her acceptance rescinded. Additionally, you must pass both the LAST and the Biology CST before the start of the 2007-2008 school year in order to remain in the Teaching Fellows program and begin teaching.

Once again, we congratulate you and welcome you to the Fellowship. As a teacher, you will be assuming a critical role in the lives of the children of New York City. We look forward to working with you to help these students succeed.

Sincerely,

Vicki Bernstein, Director
Office of Alternative Certification

P.S. View the NYCTF June 2007 Enrollment Guide. There are a lot of ways to get kicked out of the program.

New York City Teaching Fellows (NYCTF)

This entry was originally published at Interconnectedness by Mikhail (Misha) Lomize

To Jim Wallis, Sojourners and friends:

I am a huge supporter of Sojourners: I read it, distributed the pamphlets about "God is not a Democrat or Republican," and passionately share the message of social justice and nonviolence with my Christian and non-Christian friends. It is refreshing to read the God’s politics blog by Jim Wallis and friends.

Please hear my concern as if a friend with the most heart-felt compassion were talking with you.

I am a Christian who values the Bible greatly and naturally sees the call to social justice, nonviolence and love come through the entire Biblical narrative. All the wisdom for social justice, nonviolence and love are present in the Old Testament. Jesus uniquely interprets all of the Scriptures to bring the message of reconciliation intended from the beginning. Jesus is the new Adam.

The term "Red-letter Christian" does not seem to reflect the value of the whole Biblical narrative, which hinders Christians from proclaiming that social justice, nonviolence and love come from a relationship with the God of the Judea-Christian Bible. This is very troubling for me, because I deeply desire to follow socially conscience Christianity as proclaimed by Sojourners, but I also desire to value the authority of all Scripture. I do not see a contradiction between valuing all Scripture equally and proclaiming the social gospel.

The term "Red-letter Christian" is often explained as taking the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) seriously. The following quote is from the primary essay of René Girard from girardianlectionary.net. (René Girard is a core figure in explaining Christian nonviolence.)

"Is the teaching in the Sermon on the Mount the core of Jesus’ faith and teaching? The ultimate test must be the focus of the Gospels themselves, namely, Jesus’ act of going to the cross. Jesus came not primarily as a didactic teacher of principles to live by, but as a prophet who came to incarnate God’s Word through faith and action. When considering fundamental issues such as a nonviolent response to violence in light of the New Testament, the Cross itself is the center. For the Cross of Jesus Christ is essentially God’s nonviolent response to human violence."

We are immensely blessed to have Sojourners and many Christian leaders uniting around the social gospel message. Doesn’t "Red-letter Christian" seem to alienate itself from Jesus’ Talmudic Jewish heritage? Would Sojourners and friends consider shifting to a term like "Social Justice Christians"?

Shalom,
Misha

P.S. Paul Versluis is the pastor at my church, Shalom Community Church, Ann Arbor, Michigan. Paul Versluis helped start Sojourners.

Red-letter Christians

This entry was originally published at Interconnectedness by Mikhail (Misha) Lomize

About a week ago on Thursday, February 8th Rob Bell came to the University of Michigan for the Sex God tour as I posted before.  I  asked the question I planned, "What do you think about  nonviolence? If you favor nonviolence, how do you reconcile it with violence in the Old Testament?" His response was more amazing than I ever expected. He explained in detail what Jesus meant by turning the other cheek and going the second mile. Read a complete explanation of Matthew 5:38-41by Walter Wink. He explained that Jesus said ‘It is enough!’ with the violence from the Old Testament.

Rob Bell invited Craig Spencer and me on stage to demonstrate what it means to turn the other cheek.

I gave Rob Bell a copy of the primary article from the Girardian Lectionary and an abridged version of the Kingdom of God is Within You by Leo Tolstoy. This made him really happy and he gave me a hug.

P.S. If you are wondering why I am patting my leg during the video, it is because my Bible and planner are always in my left pocket, and they are drum-like. There is something attractive about using miscellaneous objects as musical intruments.

Rob Bell Sex God tour - University of Michigan

This entry was originally published at Interconnectedness by Mikhail (Misha) Lomize

As you can see from the "Christian Peace Bloggers" link above, I joined a group of Christian bloggers who write about Christian nonviolence. It’s great to be part of a community. I hope it provides access to me and others to more ideas about Christian nonviolence, especially from a Biblical basis. I already found a great story from a Christian at war from Chris Baker (sandalstraps.blogspot.com) and a person similar to me, Mark Van Steenwyk (jesusmanifesto.com). Visit sitemaker.umich.edu/globalnonviolence to see the 3 documents I have been distributing about Christian nonviolence (René Girard; Leo Tolstoy; conservative Christian). I think about Christian nonviolence all the time.

Christian Peace Bloggers

This entry was originally published at Interconnectedness by Mikhail (Misha) Lomize

Rob Bell seems to support Christian nonviolence! Since my "rebirth" in understanding my faith in light of nonviolence, I feel I’ve been fighting to proclaim Christ’s message all by myself. It helps the cause that Rob Bell is considered the #10 Most Influential Christians in America. (http://www.thecronline.com/mag_article.php?mid=875&mname=January). However, this list should be taken with a grain of salt considering the other people on the list.

I first learned about Rob Bell from Nooma videos at Bible study with Chris Shoemaker et al. Rob Bell is coming to campus this Thursday, Feb. 8th, 8pm, Power Center for a Q&A session about his new book "Sex God" and show a new Nooma video. I read the first chapter of this book called "God Wears Lipstick." As I read the book, I was amazed. Here are some excerpts. You can find this at sexgodtour.com.

"A concentration camp is designed to strip people of their humanity. It’s anti-human. And in the Scriptures, anything that’s anti-human is anti-God. Genesis begins with God creating the world and then creating people “in his own image.”"

"I just received an email asking if I would sign a petition protesting the use of torture to get information from enemy soldiers caught in battle. The email said this issue is being debated among politicians right now and that the public needs to speak up on the matter. There’s a debate about this? The issue isn’t just what torture does to the person being tortured, it’s what torturing does to the person doing it. We’re already in trouble when people debate the use of torture as if it’s only about what it does to the enemy. Our own humanity is at stake."

"When a human being is mistreated, objectified, or neglected, when they are treated as less than human, these actions are actions against God. Because how you treat the creation reflects how you feel about the Creator. To be a Christian is to work for the new humanity. Jesus commands his followers to feed and clothe and visit and take care of those who need it. They’re fellow image-bearers, they’re just like us, and when we love them, we’re loving God."

He is explaining the heart of the Greatest Commandment exactly. This is what I did not understand before understanding nonviolence. Basically, I did not understand the Gospel until my Junior year in college.

Since Rob Bell was saying all this, I started wondering if he supports nonviolence. Behold, on the Mars Hill website (http://www.marshill.org/teaching/index.php), he recently gave a three sermon series called "Calling All Peacemakers." The last sermon is "A Brief History of Non-Violence." He explains Matthew 5:38-42 in breath-taking detail. I recommend it to everyone (it is only available for a while; I downloaded it, so I have a copy if any needs one). I’ll be at the Q&A session on Thursday and will be sure to ask Rob Bell, "Do you support nonviolence? If you do support nonviolence, how do you reconcile nonviolence with violence in the Old Testament?" I want to know how deep his faith in nonviolence goes.

I feel like I finally understand the entire Bible message. The only consistent message I find in the entire Bible is the issue of scapegoating. Scapegoating starts from Adam/Eve, Cain/Abel, Joseph/his brothers, Noah/humanity, Isaac/Ishmael, Jonah/fishermen, etc and ends with Jesus and his disciples. Some may object, "Isn’t faith the overarching theme." Yes, faith is the overarching theme. It is the faith in the vast difference between us and God that saves us, because this difference causes us to repent from our violence. Every act of violence or preference (scapegoating) is a reflection of human, not divine, nature. Humans kill, God brings life. Christ died for our sins, not God’s sins because God does not sin. "Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death." Hebrews 11:19. Abraham believed that God’s desire to create would overpower all human power to destroy. This is the promise that Christ has overcome the world.

The entire Bible story is a gradual enlightenment about the holiness of God versus the depravity of humans. The climax comes when Jesus, the lamb of God (the scapegoat God uses to show us our own depravity in the greatest way), comes to earth and humans kill him. It is God’s way of saying Nietzsche’s phrase, "God is dead." It is obvious to God that humans are depraved, but humans cannot see this and need this revealed before we can change. Fortunately, God does not leave us with Nietzsche’s pessimistic view, and resurrects Christ to show God’s creative force and a hope that humans can overturn our culture of death.

It is a reflection of human, not divine, nature to kill an innocent person. When we all realize the innocence of each individual person and our own tendency to bring death, then we will know the Gospel message: peace through forgiving all.

Rob Bell, nonviolence and scapegoating

This entry was originally published at Interconnectedness by Mikhail (Misha) Lomize