This week Scott, Kristin and I met with a group of Iranian American women who are human rights activists and survivors of political imprisonment. They are organizing an upcoming art show and speaker series to commemorate the thirty years which have passed since the Iranian Revolution of 1979 and to tell the story of human rights abuses in that country, especially the 1988 Iran Massacre. These are heavy subjects. We met at Bolsa and I felt the tension as I sipped my iced tea in air conditioned comfort and listened to Mitra tell of her eight and a half years as a political prisoner while a young woman.
Scott, Kristin and I are prayerfully considering how CityGallery and our church members can best support this group of women. (City Gallery is a fine art gallery with a long history of relationship to Church in the Cliff/City Church, with an emphasis on supporting new artists, fostering spiritual development through the arts, and bringing together the Christian and artistic communities in Dallas.)
Mitra, Fereshteh and the other organizers contacted us because CityGallery hosted an art show for them two years ago showcasing a different artist/political prisoner and they are looking for help securing a venue and advertising this event, to be held in August or September. I am moved by the timeliness of their request given the current political tensions in Iran and wonder if our Twittering Church could in some way stand in solidarity with the young people of Iran and these survivors of human rights abuses. If you are interested in helping to organize this project, please contact Kristin at kristinl.schutz@gmail.com or Scott at sshirley999@yahoo.com.
Each week I post one entry that relates to our ongoing conversation about how to love the world back to life. One of the joys of pastoring a church such as Church in the Cliff is how engaged this community is in social investment of various forms. We give money, we organize, we volunteer, we help each other, we enter into relationship with the poor, locally and globally.