An Open Letter
to the “Light the Highway” Campaign
In December of 2007, a group
of Christians, including members of Christ for the Nations Institute
in Dallas, initiated a “Light the Highway” campaign focused on
Interstate I-35, linking the freeway to Isaiah 35:8 (New
International Version):
"And a
highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness. The
unclean will not journey on it; it will be for those who walk in
that Way; wicked fools will not go about on it."
Beginning
October 28 and ending December 1, the group engaged in 35 days of
prayer, and several members conducted actions such as standing
outside of sexually oriented businesses with “purity” written across
the sunglasses they wore. Among the issues upon which the group
focused their prayers were pornography, drug abuse, government
corruption, and, somewhat surprisingly, workplace injustices. Their
web site states, “As
we, the church, walk in purity, we will see a new generation arise
who will reform our nations so they can stay transformed!”
The media that
covered this initiative included CNN, Channel 8 and the Dallas
Morning News. Below is the DACPA response to this initiative.
Dear Sisters
and Brothers of the “Light the Highway” campaign:
The Dallas
Area Christian Progressive Alliance (DACPA) is an organization of
grassroots Christians founded with a mission to live the radical
love, compassion and justice of Jesus and to promote these values in
religious and public discourse and policy. We have become aware of
your campaign through the media and would like to respond with our
own ideas as to how we can best respond to God’s call to be just and
righteous people.
The words of
the prophet Isaiah provide a powerful challenge to us as we set
about to bring the reign of God to “earth as it is in heaven“:
“Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day, and oppress all
your workers. Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight. And to
strike with a wicked fist. Such fasting as you do today will not
make your voice heard on high.” (Isaiah 58:3-4) Our piety means
nothing if we do not act justly.
To tackle the
“sins of I-35,” the members of DACPA would look to Jesus’ words as
the focus of our concerns, just as we have done the last two Good
Fridays when we conducted our Good Friday Walk to honor Jesus’
teachings on the day of his death. In Matthew 25, he calls the
nations to: Feed the hungry. Clothe the naked. Give water to the
thirsty. Heal the sick. Welcome the stranger. Visit the prisoner.
This is how the nations are judged. Our nation, unfortunately, has
fallen short in these areas, as you recognize in some of your own
efforts. How many of those around us living in poverty are often
forced to seek out charity in sometimes humiliating circumstances
that strip them of their dignity?
Jesus told us
that he came to fulfill the law and the prophets. Along with Isaiah,
let us look to the prophet Jeremiah, and to Jesus’ brother James
who, among so many others in the Bible, spoke so forcefully of the
sin of not paying fair wages.
“Woe to him who builds his house by
unrighteousness, and his upper rooms by injustice; who makes his
neighbors work for nothing,
And does not give them their
wages…” (Jeremiah
22:13-15)
“Listen! The
wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by
fraud, cry out, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the
ears of the Lord of hosts.”
(James 5:4)
So as we reflect on
the sins of I-35, let us think of the low-wage workers toiling in
businesses all along this highway, often without insurance to pay
for their illnesses nor those of their families. And let us also
remember the low-wage workers who labor in back-breaking and
dangerous circumstances in the fields not far from the road that
connects us to our neighbors to the south. Every day they put food
on our tables and provide the sustenance that we need to live.
Along that by-way,
do those strangers who live among us feel welcome? Or will they
continue to serve as political footballs when their “offense” was
entering this country to seek a way to provide for their families?
Following I-35, the Pan-American Highway, south of the border, we
might see valleys that had once been a patch-work of farms that
provided work for many all year round. Those valleys are now filled
with crops for export that now only provide a month’s employment. We
pray for God’s will to extend beyond our borders.
And when we visit
the jails in the communities along I-35, what will we find there?
Will we find humane conditions and the opportunity for redemption,
or will the word “corrections” ring hollow?
In the Bible,
God spoke over 2000 times of the poor and almost as frequently of
the oppressed. Let us put our efforts into making this world a just
place, along the I-35 freeway and beyond, a place that takes God’s
word seriously. A place where those of many faith traditions and
where all those who care for humanity can live in a community based
on our shared values of economic and social justice.
* * * * *
“Therefore
because you trample on the poor and take from them levies of grain,
you have built houses of hewn stone, but you shall not live in them;
you have planted pleasant vineyards but you shall not drink their
wine. For I know how many are your transgressions, and how great are
your sins.” (Amos
5:11-12)
What is one
more cent for a pound of tomatoes? For Burger King the cost is
$250,000 per year—more than the company is willing to pay the people
who pick those tomatoes. It’s a lot of money, except when you
consider that the top 12 executives of one of its major
shareholders, Goldman Sachs, paid themselves $200 million in bonuses
in 2006. But the company can’t, or won’t, afford .015% of the cost
of those bonuses for the migrant farmworkers who pick the tomatoes
served in their restaurants.
Taco Bell and
McDonalds, after public pressure, can afford that penny. We can pray
for Burger King to turn from its efforts to force those companies to
reverse their one-penny and to follow their example. And the next
time we or our friends or our family members step up to the counter
for that fast food meal, let’s also reflect on what that Burger King
Whopper truly costs.
* * * * *
GOOD FRIDAY
2008
Tentative
plans have been made for the next Good Friday Walk on March 21. The
theme of the walk will be “The last shall be first and the first
shall be last.” DACPA is considering a route that will start in
north Oak Cliff with a gathering and words of reflection, a silent
walk across the Trinity River, and ending in downtown Dallas. Help
us plan for this event. Attend the next DACPA meeting or e-mail us
at
Matthew-25@earthlink.net if you’d like to work with the planning
committee.