God of many faiths,

A new virus has emerged.
With it comes grief, suffering, and fear.
Heal the sick, we pray.
Comfort the afflicted, we pray.

God of all nations,

Your people are quarantined in cities and on ships.
Help those impacted find hope.
Help relieve fear.
Spark courage in all your people.

God of all people,

Help us to reach out with compassion.
Remind us to reject bigotry.
Encourage us to lift up reason.
Demand that we respond with love to those in need.

Healing God,

We ask for your blessings on scientists.
We ask for your blessings on doctors and first responders.
We ask for wisdom for government officials the world over.
Bring comfort to all.

We pray all this and more to a God who knows no borders, who loves all people, and who heals the sick and broken-hearted.

Amen.

A prayer written by The Rev. Dr. Chuck Currie, a minister in the United Church of Christ, and director of the Center for Peace and Spirituality and university chaplain at Pacific University.

As we note International Day of Peace and the Global Climate Strike, I personally stand with students at Pacific University and other young people across the globe, including my children who are participating in the Climate Strike, calling for urgent action to address the Climate Crisis.  We need every generation to stand up before it is too late. The proposals in the Green New Deal, endorsed by the General Synod of the United Church of Christ, provide a roadmap forward. Climate change contributes to the international refugee crisis, makes war more likely, and is causing great pain and suffering.  Young people deserve a more peaceful and just world. For people of faith, there is a deeply spiritual connection to this issue. We are called to be stewards of Creation; not exploiters of it.

Rev. Dr. Chuck Currie

Director, Center for Peace and Spirituality

University Chaplain

Pacific University

I’m sometimes asked if I’m available to guest preach. The answer is yes (though generally not during the summer months). If you are interested in having me speak at your church or conference, please email [email protected]. If this would be outside of the Portland-area, which I’m happy to do, all expenses need to be covered. I do not accept payment for guest preaching, but do ask that an honorarium be given to the Pacific University Center for Peace and Spirituality. For more information on my work, please visit www.chuckcurrie.com.

As director of the Center for Peace and Spirituality and university chaplain at Pacific University, I have the privilege of offering prayers such as the invocation at Commencement. Yesterday, we held both the undergraduate and professional and graduate Commencement exercises.  Below is the prayer and meditation I shared:

Good morning.

In 1849, members of what is now called the United Church of Christ founded what would become known as Pacific University. The United Church of Christ, the church of the Pilgrims, has over the centuries evolved into an open and affirming denomination that values diversity, religious pluralism, education, and a just society.

The mission of Pacific University embodies these same principles: to inspire “students to think, care, create, and pursue justice in our world.”

As we gather, let us first begin with a moment of silence for those we have lost in our Pacific family this past year…

Now please join me in a time of prayer and meditation:

Will you please join me in a time of prayer and meditation:

Loving God,

As we gather today, we do so in a moment of celebration.

We celebrate the accomplishments of graduates, who have given their all in the pursuit of higher education.

We celebrate the faculty, staff, alum, and donors, who have done everything possible to mentor a new class of scholars.

We celebrate the families and friends gathered here, whose support have meant the difference between failure and success.

There is much to be thankful for today. Not only do we give thanks for all the academic accomplishments that are being recognized, we give thanks for the friends made, for love we have found, and for the support this community has given to one another in difficult moments.

Commencement represents an ending, but also a new beginning. The Pacific University mission of helping to create a more just world does not end with a diploma; it is a charge given to all who are part of the Pacific community to propel us into the future.

We ask for strength and wisdom in this task, as the challenges before all the world are as complex as any moment in human history.

Help us to listen for voices which call us to support the common good over voices that demand walls between us.

Help us to be voices for justice and reconciliation, even as other voices are lifted up that preach messages rooted in racism, xenophobia, sexism, and homophobia.

We face a political crisis in the United States and an unparalleled ecological crisis across the globe. Racism, bigotry, and inequality plague us. It would be easy and even understandable to surrender to the complexity and difficulty of it all.

If we did, however, we would betray those who came before us at other moments of crisis to demand that the realities of their time bend. The 19th-century Unitarian minister and abolitionist Theodore Parker once offered this wisdom:

”I do not pretend to understand the moral universe. The arc is a long one. My eye reaches but little ways. I cannot calculate the curve and complete the figure by experience of sight. I can divine it by conscience. And from what I see I am sure it bends toward justice.”

That belief - that the universe bends towards justice - propelled the abolitionist movement that ended slavery, the suffrage movement that won women the right to vote, and the Great Civil Rights Movement.

The world needs movement leaders today who are ready to bend the moral arc of the universe. Help us to be those leaders.

We know that this generation represented among graduates today have been dealt a terrible hand, but we recognize these same young people have the moral and intellectual capacity to change the course of history.

Let us close this time of prayer and meditation with these words from the Book of Isaiah.

If you remove the yoke from among you,
the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil,
if you offer your food to the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the afflicted,
then your light shall rise in the darkness
and your gloom be like the noonday...
Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;
you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
you shall be called the repairer of the breach,
the restorer of streets to live in.

May we be repairers of the breach, the restorer of streets.

Amen.

1. The #NRA’s @DLoesch is Tweeting Christian theology & history. But poorly. Perhaps, as the @NRA has said to others, she should stay in her lane? Maybe I can help. I’m a minister and religious studies professor. I've studied this. https://t.co/ndVJamrK5v

— Rev. Dr. Chuck Currie (@RevChuckCurrie) December 21, 2018

2. Despite what @DLoesch Tweets, Jesus was never safe in the Roman Empire. To find him, a genocide was launched. In the end, the Romans crucified him for preaching God’s love over Empire; for preaching non-violence over conflict. https://t.co/VCpIZi8zJ9

— Rev. Dr. Chuck Currie (@RevChuckCurrie) December 21, 2018

3. Ask yourself as we approach #Christmas, would @DLoesch & the @NRA have stood with #Jesus or Caesar? Empire, every time. They put guns before children and bigotry before justice. They follow the platform of Trump over the Greatest Commandment. Russia is their patron saint. pic.twitter.com/C1RdLlUQKX

— Rev. Dr. Chuck Currie (@RevChuckCurrie) December 21, 2018

August 27, 2018

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

In keeping with the best spirit of the church universal, I will join with clergy from Oregon's interfaith community in risking arrest this Thursday (August 30^th) at a protest in front of Portland's ICE office as part of the “Let Our People Go”  campaign. Please consider joining in support of this action that will occur from 10am - 12pm at Caruthers Park (3508 SW Moody Ave, Portland, Oregon 97239). Learn more at: https://goo.gl/9568Rm. Feel free to share this invitation.

Clergy have been calling on the federal government to reunite all immigrant families separated by the Trump Administration this summer. We have also demanded an end to immigrant detention. For many years, I have joined with the National Council of Churches and interfaith partners in supporting bi-partisan comprehensive immigration reform in the United States. We need just policies - similar to those advanced by George W. Bush and Barack Obama - and not punitive measures that hurt children and refugees fleeing economic chaos and political violence.

As you know, I serve as the university chaplain and director of the Center for Peace and Spirituality at Pacific University, but my participation in this action is undertaken out of my own understanding of what it means to be a faithful Christian and minister in the United Church of Christ in this particular moment of history.

I invite your prayers and participation as we prepare for this action on Thursday. Please also consider signing this action alert from the United Church of Christ (you can change the language to reflect your own faith tradition or ethical viewpoint) calling on our government "to protect family unity and stop systematic family separation, help those seeking asylum find safety, and seek to answer the call to love all of our neighbors" at http://p2a.co/swIaktJ.

People of good faith can come to different conclusions on difficult issues. I respect those who might disagree with my actions.  My obligation as a minister, however, demands that I confront injustice and bring light to dark places. This is, frankly, the call of all those who are baptized. Non-violent protest has been part of the Christian tradition since Jesus first modeled such behavior in his ministry.

I will be keeping people updated as possible on Thursday via Twitter and Facebook.

In Peace,

Rev. Dr. Chuck Currie

We live in political times where the president of the United States challenges basics norms of compassion and support for human rights.

Agents of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) see this first hand.

The president, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, and U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen have asked ICE agents to enforce laws, many issued by executive order, that diverse religious leaders in the United States have deemed immoral.  

"The Administration continues to take significant and dangerous steps that are eroding the foundations of the immigration system and the international law that upholds access to asylum for those fleeing danger and violence. These practices of separating families, increasing immigrant detention, and redefining access to asylum are abhorrent and undermine our values," states the national offices of the United Church of Christ.

Trauma caused to children separated from their parents in support of these policies may be irreversible.  The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) notes that "studies of detained immigrants, primarily from abroad, have found negative physical and emotional symptoms among detained children, and posttraumatic symptoms do not always disappear at the time of release."

Even though a U.S. court has ruled that children be reunited with their parents, the Trump Administration has failed to meet their obligations.

On March 8, 2017, on the website HuffPost, I argued ICE agents should resign rather than enforce immoral laws. Since that time the administration's disregard for the fundamental human rights of immigrants has only grown.

Today I repeat that call and ask all ICE agents to prayerfully consider whether or not your work on behalf of the federal government is consistent with your own faith beliefs – along with the underlying commitment all law enforcement officers should have to the rule of law and human rights.

"Too often individuals respond to moral conflict by denying responsibility with excuses such as ‘following orders,' ‘no choice,' or ‘not my job.' The existence of the option to resign prevents them from exculpating themselves with such excuses," wrote J. Patrick Dobel in his paper The Ethics of Resigning. "The option to resign means that the theoretical linkage of personal responsibility and position is real."

More and more clergy from various faith backgrounds have been risking arrest at ICE facilities to demonstrate the fierce urgency of reuniting children with their parents, ending unjust policies, and promoting comprehensive immigration reform that reflects America's best principles.  

As the enforcers of unjust laws, I say as a minister ordained to preach and teach the Gospel that to be on the side of true justice ICE agents must take personal responsibility and resign or take other tangible action consistent with principled resistance to end the suffering ICE's enforcement is causing.  

Photo credit: Wikipedia

Franklin Graham is speaking in the Portland-area on Sunday night as part of his “Decision America Tour,” and that has many interfaith leaders in Oregon concerned. Over the years, Graham has called Islam “a very wicked and evil religion,” praised the oppressive anti-LGBT policies of Vladimir Putin, and tied himself firmly to Donald Trump. 

Graham’s “Decision America Tour,” according to Graham himself, is meant to engage evangelical Christian churches and voters in the conservative political movement. Graham told pastors in California during the first leg of the tour that they should preach about their preference for political candidates.

“Diverse faith leaders in Oregon have been meeting this summer to discuss Graham’s visit and the impact it might have,” said Rev. Dr. Chuck Currie, university chaplain, and director of the Center for Peace and Spirituality at Pacific University.  “No one in Oregon needs a sermon from Franklin Graham about faith. Rev. Graham talks about America as red and blue. We want to build up the Beloved Community for all.”

“Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon believes in the value of love and the inherent dignity of every human being. As people of faith, we are called to love justice and to stand with the most vulnerable in our society, as we seek to build bridges of understanding where there is division,” Jan Elfers, executive director of Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon (EMO). EMO is statewide association of Christian, ecumenical & interfaith partners working together to improve the lives of Oregonians. “We are committed to transcending the political divides that prevent us from working together to address suffering and brokenness. EMO extends a welcome to Franklin Graham in the hope that his mission will also transcend the political divisions of our day to bring healing to a hurting world.”  

Graham was invited to meet with interfaith leaders while in Oregon. The invitation was not accepted.   

“We clergy of Portland, Oregon understand the motivation for Franklin Graham’s visit to our area, for we also have a message we are driven to convey in the name of G*d. We hope that Pastor Graham’s visit will be in the spirit of his father’s work: radical love toward all G*d’s creation. Anything less might be misunderstood as supporting social intolerance, an evil which we feel that certainly, a Christian like Pastor Graham would never seek to do,” remarked Rabbi Ariel Stone, convener of Portland Interfaith Clergy Resistance: Bearing Moral Witness In Times of Turmoil.

The Rev. Cecil Charles Prescod, minister of faith formation at Ainsworth United Church of Christ, said he had hoped to meet with Graham: “to share the interfaith cooperation in witness and work for justice and wholeness in Oregon. In our state people of faith join with people of good will to pray and work for a nation where we welcome our refugee and immigrant sisters and brothers into our communities; work to restore our creation; and advocate with our houseless neighbors, the unemployed, communities of color, LGBT communities for economic and social justice. We pray that Rev. Graham will join us in striving for the beloved community."

This Fourth of July it is worth pausing – perhaps for longer than we usually might – to consider this moment of history in the life of the United States of America. These are not ordinary times for our nation.

The “Make America Great Again” (#MAGA) movement has turned back the clock to darker periods of our history and given voice to hatreds that not long ago were considered too unacceptable to speak.

We have long battled against institutional racism, of course. Now, however, our fellow Americans and new immigrants to this nation must endure more open misogyny, racism, xenophobia, and religious bigotry.

The Enlightenment midwifed our Revolution into being. Hard questions were asked about religion and the divine right of kings. Scientific discoveries gave birth to the industrial revolution. Other nations fighting off the yoke of colonialism looked to the United States for inspiration as first fascism, and later communism darkened vast swaths of the globe.

Hope has long been found in the American Creed: E Pluribus Unum. Right now the bedrock American principle of pluralism is under attack. Donald Trump’s white nationalist movement to make America great again stands in direct opposition to the call by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to build up the Beloved Community.

If we love our country, we will fight for it. We need not replicate the actions of the Nazis who marched in Charlottesville or the white supremacist group Patriot Prayer that rally in Oregon. Violence and hatred cannot be our tactics because violence begets violence and hatred consumes the soul. This fight does require non-violent direct action, however, as the instruments of our government are now in the hands of those who identify with white nationalism.

Our most potent weapon is still the vote. The majority of Americans do not actively participate in democracy (you can understand why when change comes so slowly or not at all). Progressives must advance an agenda that both challenges the politics of our time and hears the fears and insecurities of those who are both suffering and susceptible to fear mongering.

Christian nationalism plays a significant role in the difficulties we face today. For people of faith, it is critical that we confront religious leaders who preach a message of hate and make common cause with the white nationalist movement. Their religion is sick. God stands with the oppressed and calls on us to break the bonds of injustice. Faith should be about love, justice, and humility.

It is difficult to celebrate the Fourth of July as immigrant children are separated from the parents and as so much of what makes America exceptional is under attack. Still, I, like you, love this nation, and I celebrate all those who have shown that love by being part of a resistance movement that challenges all of us to live up to the best ideals of our country.

#FourthOfJuly2018: #MAGA vs The #BelovedCommunity - Thread -

1. This #FourthofJuly it is worth pausing – perhaps for longer than we usually might – to consider this moment of history in the life of the United States of America. https://t.co/x2j7GuotI2 pic.twitter.com/nXH3k2AQjE

— Rev. Dr. Chuck Currie (@RevChuckCurrie) July 4, 2018

Photo by Tanner Boyle, Pacific University

As the United States continues to grapple with the problem of gun violence, young people have reenergized the movement for gun control. The leaders of this reborn movement are young people who have been directly impacted by the issue.

As he surveyed the human rights issues of his time, Robert Kennedy spoke these words to South African students living under the oppressive system of Apartheid:

Our answer is the world's hope; it is to rely on youth. The cruelties and obstacles of this swiftly changing planet will not yield to obsolete dogmas and outworn slogans. It cannot be moved by those who cling to a present which is already dying, who prefer the illusion of security to the excitement and danger which comes with even the most peaceful progress.

This world demands the qualities of youth; not a time of life but a state of mind, a temper of the will, a quality of the imagination, a predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over the love of ease.

American youth today have changed the terms of the debate over guns in our culture by refusing to accept as normal the gun violence present in our society.

Katie Lightcap, president of Pacific University’s undergraduate student senate, helped to organize Pacific’s participation in the #NationalWalkoutDay. The Forest Grove News-Times reported on what she told the crowd of 500 students who participated:

Lightcap is from Roseburg, which was shaken on Oct. 1, 2015, by a school shooting at nearby Umpqua Community College.

"Recognizing over half of the names of the victims was like a sucker punch to the gut," she recalled after the rally. "I couldn't believe it."

That personal familiarity with gun violence motivates Lightcap to be involved with this issue, she said.

Since the Parkland shooting last month, after which student survivors of the shooting made appearances in the national media — including a televised CNN town hall in which they directly addressed members of Florida's congressional delegation, the sheriff of Broward County, Fla., and a spokeswoman for the National Rifle Association — some conservative commentators have criticized students for speaking out on the issues of gun violence and gun control, arguing that they are not knowledgeable or experienced enough to speak with authority on the subject.

Lightcap rejected that notion.

"The great thing about being in a democracy is that every person has a voice," she said. "That's why it is a democracy. So in hearing that criticism, like we don't know enough, we aren't old enough to fully understand the breadth of this, I almost want to, like, laugh, because we have been directly impacted. … I have a friend who was shot nine times. She was one of the survivors in the UCC shooting, and she's alive. And so visiting with her and seeing her, they can't tell me that I don't know that."

Many believe that we will never find an answer to gun violence. America’s young people provide evidence that we will.

Students were joined by faculty and staff today at @PacificU for the #NationalWalkoutDay for #GunReformNow. A new generation is rising up to promote a more just world.#GoBoxers #orpol

(photos by Pacific student Tanner Boyle). pic.twitter.com/eH4RIXSEZb

— Pacific U. CPAS (@PacificuCPAS) March 14, 2018

My oped in The @HuffingtonPost: Terrorism Is Not A Religious Act https://t.co/9SaYnONExU #Prayers4Paris #ParisAttacks #MuslimsAreNotTerorist

— Rev.Dr. Chuck Currie (@RevChuckCurrie) November 14, 2015

#UCCShooting

Joint Statement on Umpqua Tragedy from Oregon Faith Leaders Jan Elfers (Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon) and Rev. Dr. Chuck Currie (Pacific University Center for Peace & Spirituality)

Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon and the Pacific University Center for Peace and Spirituality join Oregonians and Americans in grief and shock over the mass shooting today at Umqua Community College (UCC). We are in contact with colleagues in ministry in the Roseburg area to see what assistance is needed.

“All of our faith traditions abhor violence, and Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon has joined the National Council of Churches in calling for action to prevent gun violence,” said Jan Elfers, interim executive director of Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon.“Our prayers go out to all those who lives have been impacted by this terrible tragedy; to the victim’s families and friends, and to the entire Roseburg community. We are grateful to those who responded to the emergency and undoubtedly prevented the loss of even more lives.”

A Resolution and Call to Action by the National Council of Churches of Christ, U.S.A.
http://nationalcouncilofchurches.us/comm…/…/gun-violence.php

“Mass shootings like this happen too often and Oregon has not been immune,” said Rev. Dr. Chuck Currie, director of the Center for Peace and Spirituality and University Chaplain at Pacific University. “Today we offer our prayers for those killed and injured. We also lift up the families of those impacted. Still, we must also work to take steps that reduce gun violence this day so that there are no more days like this.”

Dr. Currie is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ.

Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon is a statewide association of Christian denominations, congregations, ecumenical organizations and interfaith partners working together to improve the lives of Oregonians through community ministry programs, ecumenical and interreligious dialogue, environmental ministry and public policy advocacy.

Pacific University’s Center for Peace and Spirituality provides students with the opportunity to engage in meaningful study, reflection and action based on the recognition that inter- and intra-personal peace are inherently connected and that concerns for personal spirituality are intimately related to concerns for one's social, historical, cultural and natural environment.

Founded in 1849, Pacific University offers more than 84 areas of study within its colleges of Arts & Sciences, Optometry, Education, Health Professions and Business.

Views and opinions expressed by Ms. Elfers and Rev. Dr. Currie do not necessarily reflect the position of Pacific University.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

My new oped in The @HuffingtonPost: #PopeInUS Finding Common Ground With Pope Francis http://t.co/b67DrBYOTA #PopeInDC #PopeInUSA

— Rev.Dr. Chuck Currie (@RevChuckCurrie) September 24, 2015

Our University Chaplain, Rev. Dr. Chuck Currie, reflected on attending the Welcome Ceremony for #PopeFrancis. http://t.co/qd1JTkfagm

— Pacific University (@pacificu) September 25, 2015

The Rev. Dr. Chuck Currie, director of the Center for Peace and Spirituality and University Chaplain at Pacific University, has been invited to attend the arrival ceremony for Pope Francis at the White House on Wednesday, September 23.

Pope Francis, making his first trip to the United States since becoming the world leader of the Catholic Church, will address the the US Congress before visiting Philadelphia and New York City.

Dr. Currie, a long-time advocate for social justice, was invited by the White House earlier this month to join President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama in welcoming Pope Francis to the US.

“It is obviously a great honor to be able to attend this historic event,” said Dr. Currie, an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ. “I have enormous respect for Pope Francis, his welcoming inclusion of all, and his work to bring about peace, economic equality and support for the environment. It is a special gift to be able to represent Pacific University at this gathering."

Prior to the ceremony, Currie will present, "The Unity and Disunity of the Church Universal," on Sunday, September 20 at Ainsworth United Church of Christ in Portland (2941 NE Ainsworth). The service begins at 10 a.m., and his sermon will focus on Pope Francis' visit to the US and where people of faith from different traditions can find common ground.

Pacific University’s Center for Peace and Spirituality provides students with the opportunity to engage in meaningful study, reflection and action based on the recognition that inter- and intra-personal peace are inherently connected and that concerns for personal spirituality are intimately related to concerns for one's social, historical, cultural and natural environment.

Founded in 1849, Pacific University offers more than 84 areas of study within its colleges of Arts & Sciences, Optometry, Education, Health Professions and Business.

I'm deeply honored and excited to attend this event at The @WhiteHouse next week. #PopeinUS #PopeFrancis #orpol https://t.co/KPr2aV4YJR

— Rev.Dr. Chuck Currie (@RevChuckCurrie) September 16, 2015

.@PacificU Chaplain to Attend #PopeFrancis Arrival Ceremony at the White House | Pacific University http://t.co/GO05FwNHKH #PopeinUS

— Pacific U. CPAS (@PacificuCPAS) September 16, 2015

A real treat for me this month was preaching on Sunday at Ainsworth United Church of Christ, my home congregation here in Portland.  A four-way covenantal agreement between myself, the church, the Central Pacific Conference of the United Church of Christ and Pacific University allows my work at the university to be possible.  

"Ainsworth is a multi-cultural, multi-racial, open & affirming, Just Peace and accessible church. We celebrate that God is still speaking in our world today and that God’s extravagant welcome and love is for everyone. We hope that your journey of faith will lead you to us and that you experience God’s love through us."  Those words have meaning.

It seemed appropriate the Sunday following the 4th of July - on a blistering hot Sunday - to consider the role of church and state. Conservative voices often say it is the role of the church to address social ills but churches like Ainsworth UCC, that help address the AIDS crisis, cannot do it alone.  What does Jesus teach us?

Mark 12:13-17 was our focus text for the service.  You can download a podcast of the sermon here:

“Do The Nations Belong To Caesar or God?”

(some browsers - like Firefox or Google Chrome - will allow you to simply click on the link and listen...otherwise click with the RIGHT mouse button on the hyperlink and choose “Save Target As” and save to your desktop or other folder – once downloaded click on the file to listen). 

Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions: A Movement The @UnitedChurch Of Christ Should Reject #GS2015 http://t.co/gmMzJ2SphQ #BDS #bdsmovement

— Rev.Dr. Chuck Currie (@RevChuckCurrie) June 5, 2015

Good morning.

My name is Rev. Dr. Chuck Currie. I am a resident of NE Portland and serve as a minister in the United Church of Christ, currently in the capacity of the Director of the Center for Peace and Spirituality and University Chaplain at Pacific University.

I can share with you this morning theological concerns to projects such as this one under consideration. Like the Audubon Society of Portland, I believe this project is inconsistent with Portland’s Climate Change Action Plan.

In 2005, I joined over 1,000 religious leaders across the United States in signing a document called “God’s Earth is Sacred: An Open Letter to Church and Society in the United States.” We declared:

Rev. Dr. Chuck Currie & Rev. Kate Lore at Council hearing

The imperative first step is to repent of our sins, in the presence of God and one another. This repentance of our social and ecological sins will acknowledge the special responsibility that falls to those of us who are citizens of the United States. Though only five percent of the planet’s human population, we produce one-quarter of the world’s carbon emissions, consume a quarter of its natural riches, and perpetuate scandalous inequities at home and abroad. We are a precious part of Earth’s web of life, but we do not own the planet and we cannot transcend its requirements for regeneration on its own terms. We have not listened well to the Maker of Heaven and Earth.

The second step is to pursue a new journey together, with courage and joy. By God’s grace, all things are made new. We can share in that renewal by clinging to God’s trustworthy promise to restore and fulfill all that God creates and by walking, with God’s help, a path different from our present course. To that end, we affirm our faith, propose a set of guiding norms, and call on our churches to rededicate themselves to this mission. We firmly believe that addressing the degradation of God’s sacred Earth is the moral assignment of our time comparable to the Civil Rights struggles of the 1960s, the worldwide movement to achieve equality for women, or ongoing efforts to control weapons of mass destruction in a post-Hiroshima world.

In that spirit, I urge you to reject the proposal before you.

* as prepared for delivery

The Pacific University Center for Peace and Spirituality (CPAS) has released an Annual Report for the 2014-2015 academic year.

As one of Pacific’s newer centers, CPAS has had a year of tremendous growth: sponsoring forums on racial inequality, hosting Pacific’s first-ever interfaith worship service, co-sponsoring a social justice retreat for students, launching new social media accounts, and bringing nationally known speakers, such as Sister Simone Campbell, to Woodburn and Forest Grove.

“We hope this report provides a glimpse into what has been an exciting year for us,” say Rev. Chuck Currie, CPAS director and university chaplain. “CPAS has been fortunate to have found strong support from President Lesley Hallick, diverse faculty and staff, students, and community members.”

2014-2015 Annual Report | Center for Peace and Spirituality

April 9, 2015

The Honorable Senator Ron Wyden
Sent via email

Like most Americans (hopefully), I was bewildered to learn that GOP Senate members sent a letter to Iran trying to undermine U.S. foreign policy.  Even other Republicans are stunned.  Trying to sabotage a sitting U.S. president, as Barack Obama is (see election results, 2008, 2012), is hard to imagine.  Who would do such a thing?  Thus, my op-ed today in The Huffington Post:

People of Faith to GOP Leaders: Support Negotiations With Iran

#VaccinesWork: Open Letter to Parents & Families From Faith Leaders | By @RevChuckCurrie & @Sbthistle http://t.co/DK5sx89qhK

— Rev. Chuck Currie (@RevChuckCurrie) February 6, 2015

Oregon Minister Responds to President’s State of the Union Address

Rev. Chuck Currie, chaplain at Pacific University (Ore.) and director of the institution's Center for Peace & Spirituality, is available to discuss President Obama's State of the Union speech (503-208-6521, [email protected]).

His initial thoughts: "Having read President Obama’s State of the Union Address and spoken today with White House officials about the proposals the president is making, I can report without hesitation that the president has put forward an agenda people of faith concerned about families, poverty and education can support.

We need a tax system that benefits all Americans and not just the wealthiest. Tax cuts now for middle class families will help those struggling during the recovery. Paid family leave will help create new opportunities for healthily communities. Free community college will help a generation move into higher education and we all know education is the best way to escape poverty.

Diverse faith leaders across the United States have been calling on President Obama and Congress to pass many of the initiatives announced by the president. There has already been strong support from the faith community for the president’s executive action on immigration and climate change. As a minister in the United Church of Christ deeply concerned about the future of America, I support President Obama’s vision and call on members of Congress to work with President Obama."

Rev. Chuck Currie
Director, Center for Peace and Spirituality
University Chaplain
Pacific University

This morning people gathered in the chapel of Old College Hall on the campus of Pacific University for an Interfaith Service to remember to life and legacy of The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  We also gathered to consider the "UnFulfilled Dreams" of King's movement for social justice and how we from our various faith traditions and different backgrounds might continue to further the work of building up the Beloved Community.  View some of the photos from the service on Facebook.

You can download a podcast of the sermon here:

Download Rev. Chuck Currie - Unfulfilled Dreams

(some browsers - like Firefox or Google Chrome - will allow you to simply click on the link and listen...otherwise click with the RIGHT mouse button on the hyperlink and choose “Save Target As” and save to your desktop or other folder – once downloaded click on the file to listen).

The Pacific University Center of Peace and Spirituality plans to hold future interfaith gatherings - both to promote interfaith worship and to promote interfaith dialogue and understanding.

Rev. Chuck Currie, Pacific University Chaplain

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. (John 1:5 NRSV)

Dear friends,

We note during this difficult time for our nation and the world that there is hope. Let this Christmas be remembered as the time that good people of faith gathered with together with others - regardless of their faith tradition - to set the captives free, as Jesus taught. Too many people are held captive today by poverty and hunger, racism and oppression, war and human caused changes to our environment. In this season of darkness we must summon new hope, and shine a light that brings justice to places where sin thrives on darkness and indifference.

In Peace,

Rev. Chuck Currie

This morning I had the pleasure of preaching at Portland's First Congregational United Church of Christ. Our Scriptures readings were Isaiah 2: 1-5 and Luke 6:20-26. My sermon - Is Peace Possible? - dealt with the complex realities of peace, justice and conflict.

Thinking about the pursuit of peace is enough to cause one to get a headache. This is true, in part, because defining peace is so complicated. Is it the absence of war? That is one understanding but the absence of war does not mean the conditions for war don't exist and that a new conflict is not just around the corner. We talk a lot in the United Church of Christ about creating “just peace.” This is the idea that for real peace to exist we must create conditions that make war impossible.

Still, peace is not just about war. Is there peace in Ferguson? Clearly, the answer is no. What about Portland? In this very church my colleague Patricia Ross and I conducted the memorial for James Chasse, a Portlander suffering from mental illness, who was beaten by the police so severely that officers left him with fractures in 16 of his ribs, a total of 26 broken bones, as well as a punctured lung. Still today, Mayor Charlie Hales is fighting federal oversight of police reform mandated by the U.S. Department of Justice after a series of people, mostly African-American, died at the hands of our police force. Is there peace in Portland?

Peace is absent as long as there is domestic violence and sexual assaults on college campuses. Peace is absent as long as there are federal and local policies that promote economic violence that leave our people homeless and hunger in a nation of abundance. Peace is absent so long as we pollute the air and seas and threaten God’s very creation. Peace is absent as long as there is gun violence and a lack of police accountability.

Is there a baseline understanding of Jesus’ teachings that, at the very least, mainline Christians might share, particularly in a world so broken by war and suffering from the lack of a just peace that threatens to destabilize all of creation? Walter Rauschenbusch offered a foundational argument regarding whether or not Jesus took sides in an analysis of Luke 6:20-26, one of our reading for this morning, in 1916’s The Social Principles of Jesus.

Listen to the audio of the full sermon here:

Download Is Peace Possible?

Reposted via Faith in Public Life

Washington, DC – Nearly 200 Protestant, Catholic and Evangelical faith leaders and professors issued a statement calling on the Obama administration to take stronger steps to protect civilians when carrying out airstrikes in Syria. Prominent signers include Dr. Susan Thistlethwaite, professor and former President of the Chicago Theological Seminary, Sr. Simone Campbell of NETWORK: A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby, and Baptist ethicist Dr. John Shelley.

The administration recently announced that it had scaled back criteria for ensuring that civilians are not harmed in strikes aimed at ISIL.

“News that your administration has abandoned the stated policy of making every effort to protect civilian lives in the course of drone strikes undermines America’s moral authority,” they wrote. “As people of faith, we see this as a grave moral issue.  We urge you to put back in place your policy that no strikes will take place unless there is a ‘near certainty’ that civilians will not be harmed.”

“When you mirror your enemy, you risk becoming your enemy,” said Dr. Susan Thistlethwaite, a United Church of Christ pastor and former President of the Chicago Theological Seminary. “The U.S. is now on that path and it is a profound moral mistake.”

“Our faith traditions argue that civilians must be protected in war,” said Rev. Chuck Currie, a United Church of Christ pastor and Director of the Center for Peace and Spirituality and University Chaplain at Pacific University. “We are at our best as a nation when we live up to our highest ideals. It is our sacred responsibility to protect the most vulnerable. The president must order U.S. forces to resubmit to his original policy regarding the use of drones.”

The statement and full list of signers is available here. Titles are for identification purposes only.

My latest on The Huffington Post:

The question we face today is how to employ "Just Peace" as a working model for peace building in a world so torn apart and complex. Without question, the complexities we face now are even more difficult to navigate from what those seeking peace during the Cold War encountered. Can "Just Peace" be a model for addressing the messy conflict in Syria and Iraq, which involves the terrorist group ISIS?

Stumbling Toward A Just Peace

Stumbling Toward a Just Peace - Rev. Chuck Currie from The Rev. Chuck Currie on Vimeo.

We had a powerful discussion Thursday night at the Pacific University Center for Peace and Spirituality forum Ferguson to Forest. Our panelists spoke from a variety of perspectives on how racism impacts us here in Oregon. Students and community members spoke up. Not everyone was in agreement on every subject but it was the kind of discussion we need to continue to have to make the changes needed in our society to further address racism.

My latest op-ed: From #Ferguson to Forest Grove: Keeping hope alive for racial progress http://t.co/m3UIPybLIx via @oregonian

— Rev. Chuck Currie (@RevChuckCurrie) September 1, 2014

At @PacificuCPAS forum on #Ferguson shooting, panelists at @PacificU call for change in criminal justice system http://t.co/6Q6u10xfXP

— Pacific U. CPAS (@PacificuCPAS) August 30, 2014

Special forum with panel, "#Ferguson to Forest Grove" held on 8/28 at 7 p.m. in Marsh 216 http://t.co/yltvnmiPMs pic.twitter.com/Lu8lFf4ZDt

— Pacific University (@pacificu) August 27, 2014

Chuck Currie seeks to bring religious conversation, not conversion, to @PacificU : http://t.co/py9UgHBsCl

— Forest Grove Leader (@FGLeader) August 19, 2014

My latest op-ed: Welcoming faith to @PacificU campus http://t.co/GiisEH2Gmf via @oregonian via @FGLeader @UnitedChurch

— Rev. Chuck Currie (@RevChuckCurrie) August 8, 2014

My latest on @HuffingtonPost: An Absurd #Peace Plan That Might Work http://t.co/i3Jd9GZ2oG #PrayForGaza #prayforisrael #p2 #Gaza

— Rev. Chuck Currie (@RevChuckCurrie) July 25, 2014

Sunday will be my last day as the minister of Sunnyside Church and University Park Church. It has been an honor to serve these two Reconciling Congregations in the United Methodist Church as part of a covenantal relationship with the United Church of Christ.

Please join us Sunday at University Park (9:30am worship with early 8:30am coffee reception) and Sunnyside Church (11am worship with reception to follow). All are weclome!  

Two years has not been enough time but they have been filled. I’ve been blessed to work with parishioners at both congregations that take the social Gospel teachings of Jesus seriously.

In that spirit, we have reached out to support those experiencing homelessness, joined anti-hunger efforts such as Bread for the World, raised funds for relief agencies like Church World Service, and worked for the equality of all God’s children.

We’ve expanded ministries through the use of social media – reaching people that never would have heard a progressive Christian message. Pastoral care has been provided. We’ve mourned the loss of some beloved members of our churches and watched children be born and grow.

Like many older congregations, we have been blessed with older buildings that can be both a community asset and a drain. Sometimes it has been difficult to focus on mission instead of building needs.

U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley kicks off Oregon's marriage equality campaign at Sunnyside Church

My ministry began with a lot of “issues” on the plates of both churches. We’ve thoughtfully and prayerfully worked through many of those issues only to uncover new ones. Faith is a journey, of course, and not a fixed destination. Still, working with new clergy - The Rev. Christopher Gudger-Raines at Sunnyside Church and The Rev. Julia Nielsen at University Park Church – answers to those new questions will help determine the future of both churches.

Oregon House Speaker Tina Kotek visits University Park Church on MLK Sunday

As for me, I’m off to Pacific University. There I will serve as the Director of the Center for Peace and Spirituality and University Chaplain. Pacific is historically related to the United Church of Christ. The community is religiously pluralistic – with many diverse faith traditions represented among the students, staff and faculty (and I respect that many at Pacific don't have a faith tradition but share a commitment to civic engagement) – and I look forward to both teaching and learning at one of the Northwest’s most important centers of higher learning.

During the summer, before assumng my duties at Pacific, I'll have time for vacation and to work on the last leg of my Doctor of Ministry degree at Chicago Theological Seminary.  The summer will be busy.  Pacific has kindly allowed me to open my office before the fall starts so that I have a place to work on my D.Min. 

Members of Our Occupy The Bible Class

The people of University Park and Sunnyside will always remain in my prayers.  I invite your prayers as my new ministry begins.  

Rev. Chuck Currie

P.S. Visit Facebook to check out photos from the last two years but click on these photos for a sampling. 

Coming Out As A Person Of Faith

Portland Pride Parade

Christmas Eve in Portland

Sunnyside Church - University Park Church BBQ

My new op-ed: #Climatechange crisis reminds us we are called to care for creation (guest opinion) http://t.co/MPmC5lW3cS #ActOnClimate

— Rev. Chuck Currie (@RevChuckCurrie) May 31, 2014

Pacific University's Rev. Chuck Currie talks about emotional experience of performing same-sex wedding ceremonies. http://t.co/J4uaH1IFuY

— The Oregonian (@Oregonian) May 21, 2014

Invocation for Pacific University Commencement Service(s)

Saturday, May 17, 2014

as prepared for delivery by The Rev. Chuck Currie, incoming Director of the Center for Peace and Spirituality and University Chaplain at Pacific University 

Good morning. One hundred sixty five years ago members from what is now called the United Church of Christ founded what would become known as Pacific University. The United Church of Christ, the church of the Pilgrims, has over the centuries evolved into an open and affirming denomination that values diversity, religious pluralism, education, and a just society.

These same principles are embodied by the mission of Pacific University: “A diverse and sustainable community dedicated to discovery and excellence in teaching, scholarship and practice, Pacific University inspires students to think, care, create, and pursue justice in our world.”

As we gather in celebration, let us first begin with a moment of silence for those we have lost in our Pacific family this past year…

Now please join me in a time of prayer and meditation:

Creator of us all, we join together on this Commencement Day in joyful anticipation of the future. We come from different places, different backgrounds, different faith traditions (or no faith tradition), but whatever differences we have we are bound together by the love, friendship and sense of family we feel for those gathered among us, and a hope that with our help the world can become a better place for all.

For our faculty and staff, we offer every thanksgiving for the service given to our graduates.

To the friends and family who have come from near and far, we recognize the sacrifices made for this day to have come.

For our graduates, we offer congratulations for your hard work and ask every blessing as one chapter of life ends and another begins. You inherit a world of challenges. Put the needs of the “least of these” around the world ahead of personal gain. Work to free the oppressed and continue the work of building the Beloved Community – a place where the Earth itself is protected so that generations yet to come can enjoy this gift we are simply stewards of. Love your community but always respectfully challenge it – and yourself – to better serve the common good. Do so with a spirit of reconciliation and compassion. Be bold, not timid, as you seek justice, love kindness and yet still walk humbly with the Spirit of all (Micah 6:8) through your life.

Peace be with you this day and every day.

Amen.

Congratulations to our graduating seniors, we will miss you, but are also excited to see all the places you will go! pic.twitter.com/IeAyMW5WL4

— Pacific University (@pacificu) May 16, 2014

Remarks delivered by Rev. Chuck Currie, incoming Director of the Center for Peace and Spirituality and University Chaplain at Pacific University, before the 2014 annual symposium of the Peace and Conflict Studies Consortium, on April 26, 2014

This coming fall I’ll assume the duties of Director of the Center for Peace and Spirituality and University Chaplain here at Pacific University. As an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ and a community activist, I have long standing interests in peacemaking and how we build just communities that sustain peace.

In the mid-1980s, the General Synod of the United Church of Christ voted for our denomination to become a “Just Peace” church. This was seen as an alternative to the Christian model of “Just War” which sanctioned war under some conditions. Just Peace, on the other hand, tried to envision a world without war – a world where just systems of commerce and diplomacy would negate the need for war.

Theologically, Just Peace is predicated on the belief that…

A Just Peace is grounded in God's activity in creation. Creation shows the desire of God to sustain the world and not destroy. The creation anticipates what is to come: the history-long relationship between God and humanity and the coming vision of shalom.

and that…

Just Peace is grounded in covenant relationship. God creates and calls us into covenant, God's gift of friendship: "I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; and I will bless them and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore" (Ezekiel 37:26). When God's abiding presence is embraced, human well-being results, or Shalom, which can be translated Just Peace.

The concept of a Just Peace was originally developed within the context of the Cold War and largely within the confines of Christian bodies, both Protestant and Roman Catholic. With the end of the Cold War the Just Peace movement largely went dormant. In the last decade, however, new life within the movement has emerged and this time the movement has been reborn as an interfaith enterprise.

Ten organizing principles were developed to advance Just Peace, and have now been expanded to include Christian, Islamic and Jewish perspectives in Interfaith Just Peacemaking, with The Rev. Dr. Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite as editor:

1. Support nonviolent direct action.

2. Take independent initiatives to reduce threat.

3. Use cooperative conflict resolution.

4. Acknowledge responsibility for conflict and injustice and seek repentance and forgiveness.

5. Advance democracy, human rights, and religious liberty.

6. Foster just and sustainable economic development.

7. Work with emerging cooperative forces in the international system.

8. Strengthen the United Nations and international efforts for cooperation and human rights.

9. Reduce offensive weapons and weapons trade.

10. Encourage grassroots peacemaking groups and voluntary associations.

These principles, which Glen Stassen also first helped to develop, have the potential to help create a more just and peaceful world.

While many Christians are pacifists, with great justification, other Christians have found room within these principles to advocate a responsibility to protect in the event of genocide or other crimes against humanity. I myself advocated limited military intervention in Libya to stop Col. Muammar Gaddafi and his forces from carrying out their clear intent to inflict massive civilian casualties in a vain and hopeless attempt to maintain their grip on power.

My default position is always non-violence. My own belief is that even with the best of intentions that use of violence always falls somewhere in the category of sin.

As much as I am concerned about the larger world, I am also concerned about what happens here at home. From gun violence to domestic violence we live in a society that cries out for peacemakers.

The biggest obstacles to peace in our time include not just power hungry leaders intent on conquest but world citizens paralyzed into inaction when faced with the magnitude that is climate change and a sizeable part of the population that has abandoned reason and logic for absolutes that end dialogue and crumble the common good.

Is there hope in the midst of such difficulties?

As usual, I turn to William Sloane Coffin, the one-time chaplain of Yale University and later the long-time minister of New York City’s Riverside Church. Rev. Coffin told NPR:

"Hope is a state of mind independent of the state of the world. If your heart's full of hope, you can be persistent when you can't be optimistic. You can keep the faith despite the evidence, knowing that only in so doing has the evidence any chance of changing. So while I'm not optimistic, I'm always very hopeful."

Thank you for your time today.  

Footnote:  Moments following this presentation I learned of the death today of Glen Stassen. I give thanks to God for his life and offer my prayers for his family.