My Dear Friends and Family,

Mid-May another transition will begin. One of my self-defining roles will end and another will begin; I will be a graduate of the Claremont School of Theology. I NEVER thought this would be a stop in the journey of my life but now, three years later, I can honestly say that it feels like it was meant to be.

After three years at this liberal, ecumenical, Methodist seminary, it is hard to describe what a transformative experience this has been for me. It is not as simple as "now I understand Christians." I actually have a much deeper understanding of myself, my calling (although after three years of theology school I am still trying to find out who or what is on the other end of the line), my place in the world and how I have strengthened my belief that there must be a new way in order for this planet to survive.

Many of you have played a substantial role in that transformation. Your kindness, love and support have been a transformational experience in and of itself. This is an emotional time. I will miss school and all the friends that have become so dear to me, but for perhaps the first time, I feel like I now have the training and substance to impact the world in the manner I have desired for so long. I have learned, peace is not a passive act and I hope that I will use these wonderful resources wisely to help us all build a more compassionate and peaceful planet.

With my degree, I will receive an Emphasis is Social Transformation and as one of my professors has brought to my attention, I have spent the last three years exploring issues of violence and peace. I still strongly define myself as a culturally Jewish Unitarian Universalist, but I also have come to learn more about and deeply appreciate theologies I never even knew existed before my CST education. One of the resources of my education that I have come to respect is the theologian Walter Wink. In his book The Powers That Be: Theology for a New Millennium, Wink talks about the Myth of Redemptive Violence when he writes, “The story that the rulers of domination societies told each other and their subordinates is what we today call the Myth of Redemptive Violence. It enshrines the belief that violence saves, that war brings peace, the might makes right. It is one of the oldest continuously repeated stories in the world.”

The other side of this coin is not passivity however. In fact, that is one of the things I most appreciate about Wink and his theological interpretations of the message of the New Testament and the words of Jesus. Wink points out that in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus was not asking us to be passive in our opposition to violence and the powers, he was in fact asking us to resist, but to do it nonviolently. Wink notes that the “Greek word translated “resist” in Matthew 5:39 is antistenai, meaning literally to stand (stenai) against (anti),” as opposed to what translators have most often translated antistenai to be, a technical term for warfare. Wink goes further in his explanation that it is not just about warfare and resistance, but about how that resistance is manifested. “The image is not of a punch drunk boxer somehow managing to stay on his feet, but of soldiers standing their ground, refusing to flee.”

For Wink, Jesus is in fact calling for us to find a different way to resist. To change the story that has been told since the beginning of time:

Jesus is not telling us to submit to evil, but to refuse to oppose it on its own terms. We are not to let the opponent dictate the methods of our opposition. He is urging us to transcend both passivity and violence by finding a third way, one that is at once assertive and yet nonviolent. The correct translation would be the one still preserved in the earliest renditions of this saying found in the New testament epistles: “Do not repay evil for evil” (Rom. 12:17; 1 Thes. 5:15; 1 Pet. 3:9). The Scholars Version of Matt. 5:39a is superb: “Don’t react violently against the one who is evil.”

Once again, calling for strength in our resistance but not violence is Wink’s clear theological interpretation of how we deal with evil.

I believe that we do have a choice, a choice of breaking through the “Myth” to embrace a world that recognizes the need for wholeness, dialogue, compassion, the gift in otherness and that interdependent web of which we are all a part. The time has come; there is an urgency in the air. I intend to continue my training and then incorporate in to my ministry all that I have learned to support and facilitate this new way.

Many have asked what is next. From graduation we will spend a little time moving into a new apartment, (our current home is going condo), then this summer I will begin six months of half-time chaplaincy at Children’s Hospital in San Diego to fulfill my one required unit of Clinical Pastoral Education, and from now until the first week in December, I will be studying and preparing for the Ministerial Fellowship Committee, (our ordination board). Then, when and if passed, I will be eligible to look for a job.

So much has happened in these three years. So many gifts have been shared. I am deeply humbled and so very grateful for everything, the challenges, the joys, the love and support. I would be severely remiss if I did not mention how profoundly grateful I am for the woman who has read my papers and heard my sermons, at least twice, and has walked this journey by my side; thank you.

And to all of you, I wish us all peace and I offer you my warmest thanks.