Monthly Archives: September 2008

What Do We Need?

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On this 19th Sunday after Pentecost, I am once again at Dover United Methodist Church in Dover Plains, NY (Location of church).  The service starts at 11.  The Scriptures for this Sunday are Exodus 16: 2 – 15, Philippians 1: 21 -30, Matthew 20: 1 – 16.

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This may sound like a political sermon but it is not. For the record, I started thinking about this sermon and preparing the opening paragraphs before I learned that next Sunday pastors from twenty states are going to give politically based sermons as part of a protest to challenge an Internal Revenue code restriction that limits the political activities of charitable organizations (which includes churches). Engaging in political activities can cause such organizations to lose their tax-exempt status. (See Pastors to Protest IRS Rules on Political Advocacy). Interestingly enough, the only time that I am aware that the IRS actually prosecuted, or attempting to prosecute, a pastor for such actions involved a liberal pastor whereas the group organizing this action is a conservative organization. But while I will use politically based words and I will call for action, the action I will call for stems from what I feel are our duties as Christians.

But, to understand who we are and what we are, we have to consider some very political words, words that have been a part of this country’s vocabulary from its very birth.

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

With these words, Thomas Jefferson began the Declaration of Independence and not only did he express the ideas that formed this country, he also expressed the dominant views of society; that we have the right to life, the right to liberty, and the right to pursue happiness.

But what qualifies as life and what is our right to life? What do we actually need to live on this planet? Well, first we need air. Without air, or rather oxygen, life is not sustainable. So, we need to be concerned when the quality of the air that we breathe is compromised. We need water to drink and if our water supplies are compromised or disappear, our life becomes rather complicated. This is one of the major problems in the third world and anywhere there is a disaster which disrupts the water supply of a community. Obtaining fresh, drinkable water has long been one of man’s basic instincts; in Exodus 17, we read of the Israelites’ complaining to Moses about the lack of fresh water to drink.

Directed by God, the whole company of Israel moved on by stages from the Wilderness of Sin. They set camp at Rephidim. And there wasn’t a drop of water for the people to drink. The people took Moses to task: “Give us water to drink.” But Moses said, “Why pester me? Why are you testing God?”

But the people were thirsty for water there. They complained to Moses, “Why did you take us from Egypt and drag us out here with our children and animals to die of thirst?” (Exodus 17: 1 – 3)

Yet, while the quality of the air we breathe and the water we drink will determine the quality of the life we live, we seem to ignore the environment and the consequences of our actions to it.

And life requires food. As we read in the Old Testament lesson for this morning, the people grumbled because of the lack of food. And in response to the grumbling and complaining of the people, God provides them with enough meat and bread to eat for each day. But he also tells them that, on the sixth day, they are to gather enough for two days. Without saying so in this particular passage, God is preparing the people of Israel (and us) for the coming of the Ten Commandments in which He will tell us to “honor the Sabbath and keep it Holy.”

Now, in the parts of Chapter 16 that we did not read, we find that there were those who gathered up more than they could eat and they quickly found that the extra that they had stored away quickly went bad. And those who failed to gather enough on the sixth day found that there was nothing for them on the seventh.

This passage has meaning for us in many ways. But I think that we, who proclaim that we live in a land of plenty, have to realize that many of those who live in this same land go hungry each day. And the report from the food banks that operate in Newburgh, including the one in my own church, is that the number of individuals and families applying for food assistance is growing each week.

In light of what has transpired in the financial markets this past week, perhaps we should contemplate what God said to those Israelites wandering in the desert about being greedy. Take what you need to live but don’t take anymore than you need, for the extra will go bad. Yes, there will be days when you need to have a little extra and you have to plan for those days but what are we to say when some have much and there are many who have nothing?

I will also add what John Wesley said about wages and salary, “Earn what you can but don’t do it on the backs of others; save all you can, and give all you can.” Wesley had no problems with people earning wages (he was one of the highest paid individuals in England) but he had problems with those who would not share in their wealth. Wesley was routinely audited by the 18th century British equivalent of our IRS because they could not comprehend that he was earning all that money yet had nothing to show for it.

We live in a time of conspicuous consumption, where the only goal for many people is the accumulation of large amounts of wealth and material goods. But there are people today who are not accumulating wealth but rather living week to week on a paycheck or even day to day on what they can get from various sources.

There is clearly a divide between the rich and the rest of us in this world. At the beginning of the last century, the ten richest countries were nine times wealthier than the ten poorest ones. In 1960, the ratio increased to thirty to one. As we started this century, average income per person in the twenty richest nations was almost $28,000 per person, in the poorest nations this average income was just over $200. This is a ratio of 140 to 1.

These are the figures for the world; the disparity between poor and rich in this country is much the same. The ratio of incomes between the top and bottom one-fifth of the population is eleven to one in the United States. Every decision made in this country for the past six years has been in favor of the rich at the expense of the middle and lower classes. (“Our Endangered Values”)

Yet the church remains remarkably silent on this issue. If the church speaks out today, it is to encourage people to seek riches through God or it is to condemn people who do not believe as they do. . The pastors that will take part in the protest next Sunday will not be preaching against poverty, war, or the ills that trouble mankind today. Rather, they will be preaching from a Gospel that matches none of the words in the Bible but fits their way of thinking that Heaven is a place for a select few, a select few that they themselves, not God, have chosen. While they may speak of establishing the Kingdom of Heaven on earth, they merely want to put their own personal kingdom in place and rule over it like the dictators of Rome ruled over Israel at the time of Christ. They would establish a church where the rich and powerful are awarded the best seats and the poor and disenfranchised are turned away at the door.

While they may not preach the prosperity gospel of many of today’s television pastors, the gospel of the right only seeks to glorify wealth and power where care for the weak and needy should be paramount. While I am thankful that there are many churches that do not fit the model of these “modern” churches, the churches that people hold up as successful are those with operating budgets that come close to those of many small countries and whose pastors earn salaries in the millions of dollars. How is it that a pastor can have a million dollar salary, several homes, a private jet and the other accouterments of wealth when Jesus told his disciples to travel simply? Is it any wonder that people see Christianity in less than a favorable light?

What would Wesley say today, with the divisions between economic status so great and so visible? I once asked what he would say to a pastor who wears $2,000 suits when he himself let his hair grow long so that the money he saved could be given to the poor. But now I wonder what he might say when the CEO of a company earns several million dollars in bonuses while their company was going into bankruptcy or what would he say to those people who own four or five houses when there are people who cannot even afford the simplest of shelter?

Some years ago I would have said that the divide was between the poor and the rest of us but it is quite clear that the gap is greater between the rich and everyone else. But no matter how the divide is perceived, it is there and it is getting bigger everyday. And to make matters worse, the dominant thought for the past thirty years or so is that if we give the rich their money, they will make sure that it trickles down to the rest of us. While there are those who have helped, the news of the past few weeks have shown that many have not.

It is, to me, reminiscent of the economic divide that drove John Wesley to speak out and ask if the church of his day cared at all for all of God’s children. At a time when poverty was seen as the product of a sinful life (much as it was in Jesus’ day), Wesley saw poverty as something that should be eliminated, not the consequence of failure on the part of the poor or some avoidable fate by those excluded from God’s election. He constantly investigated the causes of poverty, encouraged and applauded diligent labor, and strove to awaken in the rich and influential a sense of responsibility for the need to eliminate social evils. Wesley vigorously opposed injustice and dedicated himself to seeking an improvement in the welfare of the poor. The early Methodist movement sought to collect funds, food, clothing, fuel, medicine, and health care that would be distributed to the poor. 

There is a challenge that faces the churches of this country, no matter how big or small they may be. It is the challenge of being what they say they represent and doing what Christ did in this world. I used to hear that all we were to do as Christians was go out and make disciples of all the people of the world.

For many, this is simply a call to tell others about Christ. But what are we to tell them? I have come to learn that the word disciples may not be the best word to use in this call. And I have come to know that simply telling others about Christ may not be enough. As Wesley himself often noted, what good does it do to tell people about the saving Grace of God when they are hungry, cold, sick, or in prison? What good does it do to tell them that God loves them but that their poverty is their fault?

The Gospel message today is not about the inequity of wages; it is about God’s grace given equally to all who seek it. It is a difficult passage to follow because we want to see it in terms of material gain. We work longer so we should get more. It bothers people that God’s grace is freely given and their work doesn’t count. It is not what we do or what we have done that gets us into heaven; it is the Grace of God. No matter how hard we try, no matter what we do, unless we understand that Jesus Christ is our personal Savior, then everything is folly.

Wesley learned this the hard way; until that moment that we call “Aldersgate”, he floundered in his efforts to find peace and happiness. Paul’s words to the Philippians that we read today should echo in our minds and souls. It is not what we are doing in this world that counts the most; it is what our life in Christ is that will determine our outcome.

Too often, we see the Gospel message only in terms of our own well-being. We have transformed the message into a self-help guide for the rich and powerful and how to become rich and powerful. We have transformed the entire Bible into a rule book that allows us to do anything we like, be it in our relationship to the world in which we live or with the people with whom we share this limited space. A phrase that resonated throughout my high school and college years was “if not now, when; if not me, who?” We are asked to fulfill the Gospel message; we are asked to do it today. And we have the capabilities to do so.

To be a Christian isn’t about what we need but rather what we can give. In discussing the future of Christianity, President Carter wrote

Those Christians who resist the inclination toward fundamentalism and who truly follow the nature, actions, and words of Jesus Christ should encompass people who are different from us with our care, generosity, forgiveness, compassion, and unselfish love.

It is not easy to do this. It is a natural human inclination to encapsulate ourselves in a superior fashion with people who are just like us — and to assume that we are fulfilling the mandate of our lives if we just confine our love to our own family or to people who are similar and compatible. Breaking through this barrier and reaching out to others is what personifies a Christian and what emulates the perfect example that Christ set for us. (“Our Endangered Values”)

A number of years ago I came across a story out of Atlanta, Georgia. It concerns the people of Clifton Presbyterian Church. It starts with a homeless man who started coming to Sunday morning services. A lot of times such individuals are discouraged from coming back but the people of Clifton Presbyterian made him feel welcome. Then, one day in 1979, the people of the church remembered Jesus saying to them “inasmuch as you have done this to the least of these.” So, they made plans to give this homeless individual a place to lay his head at night.

They took the pews out and brought in chairs to sit on. With the pews taken out, they could install cots. So it was that the Clifton Presbyterian Church’s Night Hospitality ministry began. This one individual now had a place to stay and a place to eat. Other homeless men began to show up. And this church, as long as they were sober and obeyed the rules, became their home.

The people of the church realized that providing a home was not enough. Many of the men who spent the night needed counseling and training. The church bought property across from the church and turned it into transitional housing. The ministry grew, so much so that the people of the church made a decision to disband the congregation and move to other congregations. But they did not abandon the ministry that they had started. It is still there in Atlanta, located in a middle class Atlanta neighborhood. Though Clifton Presbyterian died, the Clifton Sanctuary Ministry remains today.

Not every church could have accomplished this. The time and place in which one is called is never going to be the same as it is for others. At the same time that I came across the story about Clifton Presbyterian, I came across another story.

In his notes for September 6, 2006, the blogger known as Quotidian Grace writes about a workshop led by Reggie McNeal that was based on McNeal’s book, “The Present Future: Six Tough Questions for the Church.”

During the seminar, McNeal told the story of a woman who wanted to help high school students in her neighborhood. She went to the principal of the high school and said that she wanted to volunteer to listen to any student who needed someone to talk to. The principal was thrilled and invited her to the next assembly. She rounded up four or five other women from her church to go with her. At the assembly she told the students that it was much harder to be a teenager today than when she was growing up. “Some of you don’t know one of your parents, you don’t have relatives close by; you may be having problems at home or school or with a girl friend or boyfriend.” She then gave them the phone number of her church and said to call that number if they just wanted someone to talk to. The next day the church had over 300 phone calls from those kids. (http://quotidiangrace.blogspot.com/2006/09/seeing-churchianity-in-church.html)

Again, how any particular church would respond to a similar situation is dependent on the church, the time and the place. But the point still remains that this unnamed woman sought to reach out to the people in her community.

It reminds us that there are those who have heard the words of the Gospel to bring hope to the poor, to clothe the naked, to feed the hungry, and to be a voice for the oppressed and those without a voice. It reminds us that in the city of Newburgh, there is a homeless shelter for men only open during the winter months, when it becomes too cold for the men to sleep outside. And while homeless men have limited access, homeless women and homeless families do not have any type of shelter. There are discussions taking place that would remedy this situation but it speaks to the issue when we would rather save large corporations than we would nameless individuals.

Unlike those pastors who feel it is their God-given duty to tell you how to believe, I can only suggest that you hear the words of the Gospel; that you hear the words of Christ calling out to you to bring the Gospel message to the world; to show others through your life, your words, your deeds and your thoughts. You are the only one who can answer the call.

Each of us, no matter which church we attend, has a stake in the well-being and care of the others with whom we share this planet. It isn’t about giving money to a charity or cause or donating time and energy, though those are always nice things to do. It is about accepting Christ as one’s personal Savior and allowing the Holy Spirit to come into one’s life and then fulfilling the Gospel message. We are reminded, as we come to the Communion Table this morning, that Christ gave His life so that we could live. The question this morning isn’t necessarily about what we need but rather what will we give because we have been given our lives.

I’ve Been Tagged!

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Allan Bevere tagged me from a meme created by L.L. Barkat.

Here are the rules should you decide to keep them:

  1. Write about 5 specific ways blogging has affected you, either positively or negatively.
  2. Link back to the person who tagged you
  3. Link back to this parent post (L.L. Barkat is not so much interested in generating links, but rather in tracking the meme so she can perhaps do a summary post later on that looks at patterns and interesting discoveries.)
  4. Tag a few friends or five, or none at all
  5. Post these rules— or just have fun breaking them

So, how blogging has changed me:

  1. The one thing that blogging has done is keep in the practice of writing each week.
  2. I have to agree with Allan that I have been surprised by the vitriol that exists out there.  I had heard about it in connection with other blogs but I am surprised by how many who call themselves Christians do not act like Christians.
  3. I also have to agree with Allan in that it has connected me with many thoughtful and faithful people.  I have been reconnected with classmates from college and found others who are also alumni of Truman State University – Andy, “tag, you’re it!.  (Helen, if you were blogging, I would tag you as well 🙂
  4. I have found others who see the value of science and religion in one’s life and how both are important to a complete life – Henry, “tag, you’re it!”
  5. When I started blogging, I knew nothing about the blogosphere or the extent to which it extends out into the world.  I forget who it was that brought me into the Methoblog so I am going to thank Jay Voorhees – Jay, “tag,you’re it!”.  Also, I can’t remember who invited me to join the RevGalBlogPals list so I am going thank Rev. Abi – Abi, “tag, you’re it!”.  I don’t participate as much as I did or should but they have shown me the need to redefine what is meant by a community.
  6. To meet the requirements for five people, you, the reader, are invited to participate.

Continuing Thoughts on Education in America

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As everyone knows, I am not a fan of the “No Child Left Behind” act.  Whatever its intentions were, its outcome has done more to harm and set back education than it has done to achieve what it set out to do.

I am not arguing against accountability in the classroom.  Everyone who does a job, be they a teacher in the classroom, a worker on the assembly line, or a CEO of a major business, has to be accountable for the work that they do. 

But accountability in education is not necessarily measurable in the short-term.  If one wanted to determine how well students have learned a subject, you have to see what they do with that information later.  This means that any testing of students cannot be done the same year that they learned the information; yet, that is effectively what we are doing with NCLB-related testing.  Because of the way that many of these tests are scheduled and with the pressures put on teachers and instructors to do well on these tests, we do not teach information but rather how to do well on the tests.  In effect, we are teaching the tests!  Scores will go up but of what value are those scores.

Now, there is a report that standardized testing fails (see F for Assessment: Standardized Testing Fails) for additional information.

What is the solution?  Teach beyond the test; teach skills that require thinking and analysis, not simply memorization and recall.  Look at Bloom’s Taxonomy and move up the scale to the higher levels.  If you have to test for accountability, test when the results are valid, not immediately after the lesson.

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Are We Ready For The Future?

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Conversations the other day and discussions that have been taking place prompt me to ask if we are truly ready for the future. To be ready for the future requires, I believe, a vision for the future and I do not believe that such a vision exists.

In the midst of rising energy prices, the predominant answer seems to be that we need to drill for more oil or find other sources of crude oil. Regardless of what some might say, the war in Iraq is as much about obtaining other sources of crude oil as it was ever about freeing a nation from the clutches of a tyrannical dictator. And even if the immediate answer is to drill for more oil, say on the North Slope of Alaska, we do not have the refining capacity to handle the additional crude oil and the additional crude oil will not reach the market for several years. And while obtaining supplies of crude oil that are independent of foreign dominance may lessen our reliance on such sources, it still does little to remedy the fact that we are dependent on crude oil for the majority of our energy, no matter the source of the crude oil. Nothing in the present debate about energy offers any suggestions that we are looking at alternative energy sources as more than some minor point in a discussion that will be (literally) covered over by crude oil.

We also have to realize (as I don’t think too many people do right now) that crude oil is not just the starting point for energy but the starting point for various and sundry other things, such as plastics. Our debate on energy fails to provide the answers for new sources and the alternative to a lifestyle that we have developed over the years. Our debate on energy must also take into consideration the environment, be it global warming or pollution issues.

Similarly, the abortion debate will again be a part of the political rhetoric again this year. Now, this is not about abortion but rather the fact that in the debate we offer no options. Those who are opposed to abortion are also opposed to almost every form of sex education and contraception but offer little in the way of how parents are going to support the child that they, the pro-life forces, insists has a right to be born. To discuss one aspect of this debate and leave the others out of the discussion is to say that we as a society do not care whether a child is born or not, all we care about is that our side of debate wins. Who will watch for this child as he or she grows up? The discussion that is taking place now is lacking in the discussion of the future.

What are the causes of terrorism in the world today? Can it be simply that people hate America? Or does it go beyond that? What causes people to rise up in revolution against their country and leaders? Why do dictators work so hard to limit dissent and opposition? How is it that we can celebrate a revolution in our own country yet are not always willing to support others who have the same goals and often use our very words to justify their revolution? We have supported revolutions in the past but only when it suited us; if the revolutionaries were attacking a government that supported us, we were just as likely to give that government aid so that they could crush the counter-revolutionaries.

When will there be a serious discussion of ending hunger and poverty in the future? When will our discussion of the future include suitable and sustainable housing for all, not just a few? When will there be a serious discussion of finding work for all that is meaningful and is more than just “make work”; when we will discuss making wages for the workers “living” wages so that people can truly live, not just survive?

These are the questions that we should be asking right now but we aren’t. We aren’t asking them because 1) we are afraid to ask them, 2) we don’t know how to find the answers, and 3) we may not like the answers that we find.

We too many times offer immediate solutions that do little to remedy the long-term problem. Isn’t time that we start thinking about the long-term and not just the day after tomorrow? There will come a time when there will be a problem for which we have no solutions because we have no vision for the future and there are problems that yet unknown. And while we may say that we will deal with the unknown problems of the future when and if they arise, how can we deal with them if we are not thinking in terms of what might happen in the long run? As long as our thinking is limited to the immediate and next day, we will never be in a position to think about long-term problems or those that have not yet arose.

And the problem is that the only ones offering a vision are offering a vision of a “Pax Americana”, of an imperial America that dominates the world through force and raw power. It is not a vision that offers hope or the promise of a better tomorrow but only violence and continued war.

The sad part about this is that many people today willingly accept this vision for it offers them security; even it does little to remove or solve the problems that cause us to need a stronger sense of security. The problem is that no politician is willing or even possibly capable of offering a vision that differs from this one.

First, their visions are merely packaged formulations of focus and study groups; at best, the visions they offer are merely an expression of what the people want at this moment. And the people want today what only can be found in Lake Wobegon, Minnesota, the mystical city of Garrison Keillor’s imagination. It is a city and a society where all the men are good looking, the women beautiful and the children above average. At worst, the vision of the future is a restatement of the present or some idealized version of days past.

But the politicians only offer what people want to hear. The people do not want to hear that sacrifice will be needed or that they will have to pay for the commitments for the future. The people want to hear that the problems that we face are someone else’s fault and that someone else is going to pay to fix it.

There is a saying from the sixties that says “today is the first day of the rest of our life.” That is most certainly the case. We cannot, no matter how hard we try, go back in time. Unless something dramatic happens, time only moves in one direction and that is forward.

What we have to do is radically change our priorities. There is another saying from the sixties that says “it will be a great day for schools when the Defense Department has to have a bake sale to buy a bomber.” I have no problems with having adequate security for this country but what does it say when the expenditures for weapons and weapon systems far exceeds what we spend on people. And as our weapon systems become more and more complicated, where will get the workers to build the systems? What would happen if we were spending our money on people and making the lives of people better?

When President Dwight Eisenhower was preparing to leave office, he warned this country about the rising “industrial-military complex.” Sadly, his words came true. Everything we have done since 1960 has been directed towards the care and feeding of that beast and every dollar spent on that beast has been another dollar that could have gone to feed someone or build a home for someone or make the life of someone a little bit easier. Our greatest foreign policies triumphs in the 1960’s came when we sent Peace Corps Volunteers into the third world (the news today says that getting into the Peace Corps will be the toughest job you ever had). When we helped people, good things happened.

To be ready for the future requires that we start now. We start by changing the funding for our schools so that our schools can prepare our children for the future. We get rid of the “No Child Left Behind” act as it only prepares our children for today’s test, not tomorrow’s real one. Demand that money going into school systems flow past the administrator’s offices (have you ever noticed the disparity between the pay for administrator’s and classroom teachers?). Put the money into the classroom and make classroom teacher salaries competitive (make people want to become teachers as a first choice and not a last resort).

Make the educational process what it once was, learning how to think and respond. Too often, we are happy when our students can repeat what they were told, no matter how stupid or arcane that response might be. It is more important that they understand what they are saying and what it means; this will require a great effort because school systems, like any great bureaucracy, obeys Newton’s First Law of Motion (an object at rest will remain at rest and an object in motion will remain in motion unless a greater force acts upon it). If we do not impose a greater force on our schools, our schools will continue in the same direction they are presently headed and I am afraid that direction does lead to a good future (if it leads to the future at all).

Then we need to start working on building the future today. We do not need more bombers or fancier weapons systems. We need better ways of delivering food to the hungry.

We need homes for everyone at prices that everyone can afford. And we need to make sure that people have the jobs at wages that will insure that they can buy their house and keep it.

I am not calling for subsidized housing or “make-work” projects; I am not calling for big government programs. Those are the methods of the past; we are moving towards the future. But we will not even get to the future, let alone be ready for it unless we start today.

The Current Economic Situation

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There are times like these when I wish I had a copy of the term papers, or at least the second one, that I wrote my senior year in high school. The first one was about the Plantagenet family of England (the first Royal family); the second one was about the Great Depression of 1929. What I remember about that second paper was that after I had written it, I discovered a book by John Kenneth Galbraith on the very topic. Perhaps if I had my term paper or that book, I would have a better understanding of the thinking that is taking place at this time.

Any time that a major financial institution takes a hit and gets bought out or goes bankrupt, the people in the street should worry. Because, it seems to me, if the “big” players are getting hurt, the “little” players are taking a beating. But, again it seems to me, one seems to understand that or even care that this is happening.

There is all this talk about what the government should be doing with regards to saving Wall Street or if it should be saving Wall Street. Whether or not the government should have stepped in to help Merrill Lynch and Lehman Brothers Holdings like it did for Bear Stearns is another argument entirely. I know that the government took over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac because of the mortgage problems that would develop if such a takeover had not happened. The only thing that bothers me about the government taking over the two mortgage lenders is that they did not make the CEO of each company give back the bonuses they were reported to have received. It is unclear to me why companies which are losing vast amounts of money give huge bonuses to the people who are effectively losing the money.

But that isn’t what bothers me the most. To be honest, shouldn’t these big companies, which have misused the trust of their investors and the people who have relied on the services they have been provided been punished. Shouldn’t those people whose bonuses are more than most people will earn in a lifetime have to justify these payments, not just to the stockholders but to the American people as well?

And when will the government offer true assistance to the little people of this country? Shouldn’t those who are going to suffer or are suffering if these big businesses die get some help as well?

I know that a couple of months ago Congress passed some legislation and the President signed it into law that was supposed to help people with their mortgages. Unfortunately the money that is available for the individual mortgage holder will not be available until after October 1st and you had to have had an adjustable rate mortgage (one that would have been considered sub-prime) to benefit from it. If you had a fixed-rate mortgage, you are apparently out of luck.

We wrote our Congressman about getting some help with our mortgage problems and were told about what is called FHA Secure loans. But the only lender in our area who would do anything with these loans was our present lender and they never bothered to contact us. I later found that most lenders won’t do these types of loans because there was too much risk involved and they don’t want to take these risks.

We spoke with another lender about what to do to get out of our mortgage problem and their advice was to sell the house and find a smaller place to live. But we are one of many whose mortgage is greater than the value of the house and selling the house would still leave us owing the mortgage holder. I personally don’t see how that can even be considered a feasible option.

We contemplated declaring bankruptcy to protect our house but guess what? The lawyer we talked to told us that we have to be working in order to file the kind of bankruptcy that would protect one’s assets. Of course, if we working then we would not be contemplating such actions.

I have been unemployed for the past sixteen months. I am presently teaching a course at the local community college and that is bringing in some income, though not enough. For the better part of this year, I was not receiving unemployment benefits because they had run out; I did receive some money from the emergency package that went into effect in July but that money has stopped because of my working. And while there are others who may think that the economy is doing well, you can’t call the local unemployment office on Mondays or Tuesdays without getting a message to call back when the call load is lighter.

I also found out that creditors are exempt from the “Do-Not-Call” List. If you are behind in your credit card or loan payments, your creditors can call every hour on the hour if need be to get you to pay. Of course, it doesn’t matter if you can’t pay because you don’t have the money. The only way to turn off those computer generated phone calls (which some firms have out-sourced to countries outside the US) is to set up a payment arrangement or have your phone cut off because you can’t pay that bill either.

I am not quite sure what the solution is. Yes, I know that I have to either find a job or find some other work that doesn’t interfere with what I have right now. Believe me, that is what I am doing. We have asked our family and friends to help us if they could and, fortunately, that has been possible. But we are still short of the funds that we need right now and today I got news that my taxes are due.

I debated and prayed about posting this piece for a long time. I am not sure what will come about from it, other that people will realize that 1) it is the little people, the regular workers who are hurting and that helping the big companies probably won’t do a bit of good in helping them. Our leaders (business and political) need to focus more on the people and not the companies.

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Cross-posted to RedBlueChristian

What Shall We Gain?

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This was the sermon/message that I presented at Walker Valley United Methodist Church (Walker Valley, NY) for the 17th Sunday after Pentecost, September 19, 1999.  The Scriptures were Exodus 16: 2 – 15, Philippians 1: 21 – 30, and Matthew 20: 1 – 16.

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Each day that I either ride the train into New York or simply go down to the station and pick up Ann, I am amazed at how people get off the train. When the Metro North trains leaves the Garrison station, which is about 20 miles south of Beacon, people begin standing up to get off the train in Beacon. Now you have to realize that there is still one stop to make before the train gets to Beacon but they still do this. When the train stops, it is almost like the start of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, a car race in France, where the drivers run to their cars. In this case, the people run off the train, down and up the stairs in order to be the first driver out of the parking lot.

All I can wonder is why do they do this? It is not a one-time thing but is repeated every day of the week. It may be a part of life but I will be honest and say that I don’t really see what is gained by this rushing about. Having ridden on the train for over an hour or two, what is to be gained by saving ten seconds? There is a saying of taking time to smell the roses. I think that when you rush like this you miss an awful lot of life. The other day, as I was waiting for Ann to get off the train, I thought I saw someone I know but he was so pre-occupied with getting off the train and to his car before everyone else, he failed to see me standing there.

There is a prevailing sense that that the more we have, the better off we will be. And I think there is still a view that those who are poor are that way because they have somehow sinned and fallen short of the grace of God. Work harder and life will get better. If that were the case, then why are there so many unhappy people in the world today? Why is there such a rush to get away from our jobs?

When I see this rush of men and women trying to get home, I am reminded of parts of Ecclesiastes, especially chapter 1: 3, “What does man gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun?”, and chapter 2: 17 – 23

So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me. And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the work into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless. So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun. For a man may do his work with wisdom, knowledge, and skill, and then he must leave all he owns to someone who has not worked for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune. What does a man get for all the toil and anxious striving with which he labors under the sun? All his days his work is pain and grief; even at night his mind does not rest. This too is meaningless.

The writer of these verses speaks of the folly of working to get everything when the only goal is the accumulation of wealth. Our lives cannot be measured by what we gather materially because that is left behind. Along these same lines is a passage that I found in my reading during this week:

Therefore, be attentive to time and the way you spend it. Nothing is more precious. This is evident when you recall that in one tiny moment heaven may be gained or lost. God, the master of time, never gives the future. He gives only the present, moment by moment, for this is the law of the created order, and God will not contradict himself in his creation. Time is for you, not for time. God, the Lord of nature, will never anticipate your choices which follow one after another in time. You will not be able to excuse yourself at the last judgment, saying to God: “You overwhelmed me with the future when I was only capable of living in the present.”

But now I see that you are discouraged and are saying to yourself: “What am I to do? If all he says is true, how shall I justify my past? I am twenty-four years old and until this moment I have scarcely noticed time at all. What is worse, I could not repair the past even if I wanted to, for according to his teaching such a task is impossible to me by nature even with the help of ordinary grace. Besides I know very well that in the future, either through frailty or laziness, I will probably not be any more attentive to the present moment than I have been in the past. I am completely discouraged. Please help me for the love of Jesus.”

Well have you said “for the love of Jesus.” For it is in his love that you will find help. In love all things are shared and so if you loved Jesus, everything of his is yours. As God he is the creator and dispenser of time; as man he consciously mastered time; as God and man he is the rightful judge of you and your use of time. Bind yourself to Jesus, therefore, in faith and love, so that belonging to him you may share all he has and enter the fellowship of those who love him. (from From The Cloud of Unknowing)

The Gospel reading for today is not about the wages we earn but rather about God’s love for us. It is, admittedly, a difficult passage to follow especially when it is viewed in terms of material gain. From that viewpoint, it is unfair, as the grumblers in verse 11 point out, to pay those who worked all day the same as those who only worked one hour. But that is not the point.

The point is that God’s grace is the same for all and that all can come into His Kingdom. It bothers some people that God’s grace is freely given and that their work doesn’t count. That is what all the grumbling is about.

But quite simply, it is not what we do nor how much we have done that gets us into heaven; it is the grace of God. No matter how hard we try, no matter what we do, it is all folly unless we understand that Jesus Christ is our own personal Savior.

The writer of Ecclesiastes, having complained that all that he did and all that he had accomplished was for nothing, then wrote.

A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment? To the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge, and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

Only in God will our life find meaning and true pleasure. Without Him, nothing satisfies, but with him we find satisfaction and enjoyment. True pleasure can only come when we acknowledge and revere God.

The Israelites are in the wilderness, complaining bitterly about having nothing to eat and remembering that they had food aplenty when they lived in Egypt. But somehow in that conversation, they forgot that they were slaves there and that they were crying out to God to free them from this misery.

While the Israelites were in Egypt, they were in bondage, a life with no hope. All that they did there was for someone else, not for them. The results of that labor mattered to nothing.

But God heard their cries and led them out of bondage. It was not as easy path that they followed, but God saw to it that they would be fed and that they would not get lost. Remember the passage from last week that had the glory of God leading them as a cloud by day and a flame by night.

The reading from Philippians talks about the struggle that Paul is undergoing. Part of this struggle is that Paul is either currently in jail or is about to put in jail for presenting the Gospel message. He notes that if he had the opportunity, he would much rather have gone to live with Christ in heaven because that would have been a better life than anything he might encounter on earth. But Paul also notes that it was necessary for him to continue in the work that he was doing, bringing the Gospel message to the world.

Paul points out that the Philippians will undergo the same struggle that he has undergo but he also points out that the results are far greater than anything imaginable.

What shall we gain from our life? Paul’s joy came not from any outward success (after all, how can you be happy when you are constantly thrown in prison) but rather from his opportunity to share in the sufferings of Christ through witness and service, of his growing in Christ.

Paul closed his letter to the Philippians by encouraging them to “conduct themselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.” If the life that we live is as worthy, then we need not worry about the other things. What shall we have gained? In Christ, we will have gained everything.

The Words We Use

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Here are my thoughts for the 18th Sunday after Pentecost – September 14, 2008.  The Scriptures for this Sunday are Exodus 14: 19 – 31, Romans 14: 1 – 12, and Matthew 18: 21 – 35.  (This has been edited since it was first posted.)

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This particular piece started because one of the major Presidential candidates said something and the other major Presidential candidates took offense at what the other guy said. The problem was that if you had heard what the first candidate had said, then you knew what he was talking about and it was nothing for which the second candidate could say meant anything except what it meant. In addition, the second candidate had used the very same analogy about another candidate and nobody said that he was being offensive when he did the very same words.

The problem, for me anyway, isn’t the words that the politicians used but rather the fact that we willingly let them say those words. We willingly let politicians and their surrogates throw mud even though they themselves have proclaimed that they would never engage in such activities. If a parent ever needed an example of “do I as say, not as I do”, snippets of our political process would be great.

We let the politicians get away with “slinging mud” because we have grown accustomed to such words. They use the words that we want them to say. And they often match the words we say and the actions we take. It seems that we get some sort of perverse thrill out of this type of rhetoric because it allows us to get into the mud with them and exhibit “faux” outrage at the opponent for his or her language.

On the other hand, we say that we act in the name of Christ but our actions can hardly be called Christ-like. We call for war when Christ calls for peace; we call for material accumulation when Christ calls for us to give everything away. We admire those who have while ignoring those who have little or nothing. People go hungry and are thrown into modern-day equivalents of debtors’ prison while executive continue to earn and keep multi-million dollar bonuses.

From its beginning some two thousand years ago, the church was outspoken in its defense of the weak and the poor, the forgotten and those cast away. For three hundred years, the church opposed war and the power of the state; but it paid the price for this opposition and its attitude by the Roman persecution. It is a price that the churches of today and the people of the church are unwilling to pay.

For the past 1700 years, the church has sought to be the status quo, the keeper of the present norms, and the defender of the rich and the powerful. Instead of speaking out against war and violence, it has pushed the idea that wars are necessary for the good of the church. Rather than speaking out against greed and material accumulation, the church has fostered and encouraged the attitude that, in the words of Gordon Gekko, “greed is good.”

Too often we act like the manager in the parable that Jesus used to illustrate the act of forgiveness. We are quick to demand repayment and compensation from others while at the same time we are expecting our debts and errors to be quickly forgiven. We expect that outcome because we hold on to a view that somehow, as God’s children, we can expect grace to be given while not giving anything in return. We have transformed the church from what it was and what it could be into a device for our own welfare and well-being.

We have taken the words of the Bible, both of the Old and New Testament, and transformed them from a story about our journey with God into a rulebook by which we can decide who is to enter the Kingdom of Heaven and who shall be denied entrance.

Paul, in the selection from his letter to the Romans for today, speaks of the differences between individuals when it comes to believing in God. What strikes me about the appropriateness of this selection for today is how we have forgotten those words and how we have sought to impose our beliefs and our thoughts on others as the only true means of belief.

Now, some will take offense with this concept because it forces them to think through and about what they are doing. It forces them to see that other points of view are possible. And just as there was resistance to this concept when Paul wrote those words to the Romans, there is still resistance today. There are too many people still unwilling to see the viewpoints of others. They are quick to condemn any view that does not correspond with their own. This reluctance is causing many people to leave the church or to seek other belief systems.

When we refuse to allow others to have their own set of beliefs unless they believe as we do, we are saying that one form of ministry is higher or more sacred than other forms, be it is inside or outside a church. As Paul alludes in his letter, if you are going to do something, then do it with your heart and your mind and your soul. Don’t do it part way but wholly and completely.

The church, be it the denomination or its members, is faced with a challenge today. If we are unwilling to see that others may believe in God or interpret the Word of God in an entirely different way, then we must face the fact that the church that has been so much a part of our lives is going to die. The words that members have used, individually and collectively have done as much and perhaps more harm than good. We see too many people leaving the church for other forms of spirituality; we see too many people who view the words of the church with suspicion and doubt. The church must change what it is doing; it must repent of its past and begin anew. The paradox is that to begin anew we must return to the church’s very beginning (and we will talk about this later).

In the Gospel reading for today, Peter asks Jesus how many times one person should be forgiven and Jesus replies “seventy times seven.” The act of forgiveness as portrayed by Jesus goes beyond the simple act of forgiveness that society often demands and it is a concept that we, like Peter, have difficulty comprehending.

We are told in the Gospel reading for today that we have been given a great opportunity. We have been given the opportunity to cancel our debts and begin anew; to change the direction of our lives. Like the waters rushing over the Egyptian army as the Israelites began their journey to the Promised Land, so too does God’s grace wash over us and give us a new lease on life, a lease that is free from sin and death. But if we speak with the same words that we have in the past, the flood of God’s grace will change and like the Egyptians, we will drown in a sea of sin and death.

But if we speak the words of forgiveness and repentance; if we speak of the Glory of God in our lives; if we speak of our experience with God and Christ, our lives will change. Our future will be decided by the words we use; what shall you say?

Standing on High Ground or Stuck In the Mud?

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This was the sermon for the 17th Sunday after Pentecost, 15 September 2002.  I presented this message at Tompkins Corners United Methodist Church and the Scriptures were Exodus 14: 19 – 31, Romans 14: 1 – 12, and Matthew 18: 21 – 35.

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The story is told about a man who decided to travel across the country, east and west, north and south seeking all the churches he could find. And so he did, ranging from the great Gothic-style cathedrals of the east and the modernistic churches of the West Coast to the small country style churches that dot the heartland of America.

And in each of these churches he found prominently installed in the nave of the church a golden telephone with the sign “Calls to heaven — $1000.” It did not matter the size of the church or its location; the phone, the sign, and the price. That is, until the traveler came to a small little church in rural Tennessee. There the sign read “Calls to heaven — $1.00.” Taken aback by this great difference, the traveler rushed to find the pastor and find out why. When asked, the pastor smiled and told the traveler “Son, in all those other churches it was a long-distance call. But this here is God’s country and it is only a local call.”

As one who was born in Virginia, raised in the south for the early part of life by a mother born in North Carolina, there is some truth to the saying that “I am Southern born and Southern bred, and when I die I will be Southern dead.” I come to my church life and my way of thinking about the Gospel and its impact on life in a manner often associated with a Southern way of life.

But don’t think that my way of thinking is stereotypical Southern thinking. Though by birth I am Southern I was raised in many different parts of the country. I have as much right to speak with a Missouri twang or the slow drawl of someone from Texas as I do to speak with a Southern tongue.

And my politics are definitely not what one might think of when one thinks of the South. Though they were singular episodes of life long perhaps best forgotten through time, I can still remember my experiences with the quaint Southern tradition of segregation. Meant to separate the races, segregation’s impact transcended race. The laws of this country demanded that all children be treated alike and so they were. The school district where I attended 7th grade simply gave no schools, be they for black or white children, funding for schoolbooks. This forced parents to buy the books for their kids and if you did not have the money, so be it; you did without.

When I came to Tennessee in 1966, the situation was a little better in that we got school issued textbooks. But the music programs only got $100.00 ($50.00 for the band, $50.00 for the chorus) to cover any expenses, music, instrument repair, etc. for the entire school year. Any additional fund had to come from the parents and if the parents were poor, then not much was provided.

Segregation did as much to separate the rich and poor as it did whites and blacks. And it was only when people began to realize that segregation hurt everyone that meaningful changes began to take place in the South.

For me, the most frightening thing about all of this was the number of clergy who held on to the antiquated view and supported the repression and brutality associated with that era. If you preach a Gospel of peace and brotherhood, it is not possible to preach hatred and bigotry; but there were those who did so.

And it is sad to say that the issue of slavery and segregation has impacted on the history of our own United Methodist Church. Though the Conference of 1784, which laid the foundations for the Methodist Church in America, outlawed slavery many members of the church in the south still owned slaves. The conflict between those opposed to slavery and those who, for whatever reason, supported it lead to the formation of the Wesleyan Methodist Church in 1843.

In 1844, the church voted to suspend a bishop from Georgia who could not legally free his slaves (they belonged to his wife). In May of1845, Southern congregations organized the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. The division of the churches existed until 1939. Then, the Methodist Protestant Church (an offspring of the early church which came because of disagreement over how the laity would be involved with the clergy in the management of the church), the Methodist Episcopal Church, South and the Methodist Episcopal Church, North united to form the Methodist Church.

And still, even with our history of division and reconciliation, I still detect cries of discourse amongst the various churches that call themselves United Methodist. There seem to be cries among the churches to ignore our historic stand for justice and peace and throw out those who don’t fit into a predetermined mold. Instead of a historic call for each individual to follow the call of Christ, there are churches that feel that they can dictate how each member of the church is to think and act.

And for a church that has long stood for education as one way of knowing Christ, such a discourse, such inflexibility can only lead to the destruction of the church. Paul found it necessary to address the issue of dietary requirements. At the time of Paul’s writing the passage from Romans that we read today, the great issue was a matter of what was acceptable to eat. Paul asked who should pass judgement on someone because of something they ate. Paul reminded the Romans that judgement was not up to them nor was it up to him, especially when it came to something so trivial as diet. If what is done in the honor of the Jesus, how could it be wrong?

It was Abraham Lincoln who proclaimed that a nation divided could never be free. And if we are to be divided because someone doesn’t believe the same as we, as far as it concerns the ways of the world, it will be very difficult for us to ever find peace on this earth. And we can never expect to find peace in heaven if we do not seek peace on this earth. “How is it possible”, Jesus asked, “to gain forgiveness from the Father in heaven if one is not willing to give forgiveness on earth.”

Those for whom their single-minded purpose is to throw out those who disagree with them remind me of the pursuit of the Egyptians after the Israelites at the beginning of the Exodus. As described in our Old Testament reading, the Egyptian army was so focused on destroying the Israelites that they failed to notice that the wheels of their chariots were getting stuck in the mud. And when the waters of the Red Sea engulfed them, the army was destroyed.

So to is it for us. Shall we seek the truth and stand on high ground? Or shall we be so single minded in our efforts to destroy our fellow humans on earth that we failed to see that our wheels are stuck in the mud and the incoming tide is about to drown us?

Jesus sought a world of peace, a world of devotion to caring for our fellow travelers in this life’s journey. If we forget the Gospel message, it will be very difficult for us to live, as Jesus would have had us do. But if we accept the Gospel message, take the Holy Spirit into our hearts, then it does become possible to help each other while holding disparate views.

Forgiving and Forgetting

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This was the sermon for the 16th Sunday after Pentecost, 12 September 1999.  I presented this message at Walker Valley United Methodist Church and the Scriptures were Exodus 14: 19 – 31, Romans 14: 1 – 12, and Matthew 18: 21 – 35.

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When I first moved to Minnesota back in 1991, the department I was going to work for asked me if I wanted to use an IBM-type computer or a Macintosh computer. Now, having just completed a three hundred-page book and a number of other manuscripts on an IBM-type computer, I didn’t really feel like learning a new system. So I told them I wanted an IBM-type computer.

As it turned out, everyone else in the department was using a Macintosh and I was viewed with a cautious eye. And the caution turned to anger and shouting every time I tried to print something on the department printer. Every time I would send a print job to the printer, the system would “crash” and anyone “downstream” from my office would not be able to do anything.. Since I was the only PC user in the environment, the other users in the department naturally that this problem was totally and completely my fault.

Now, for the most part, these same individuals were new to the world of computers, by they PC or Mac, so this was a natural reaction. But as it turned out, it was not a problem related to the machine, per se, or the user of the machine. The fault was in a faulty network card, the piece of equipment installed in the computer to enable to work with devices on the network. Once the card was replaced everything was okay.

But this situation is emblematic of what we see happening in our society today. No matter what the problem is or how simple the solution, the first thing done is to fix the blame on someone.

Paul is addressing a similar situation in the Epistle reading for today. At the time Paul wrote the letter to the Romans, there was a serious division in the church. For some of the early Christians felt that to be a true Christian, one had to first convert to Judaism. But for others, this was not considered an important step. And much discussion had gone into whether or not one had to follow Jewish dietary laws and observe the Jewish calendar.

Paul basically told the Romans that they should forget the difference and recognize all that that was needed was to simply follow Jesus.

How we react to a problem and the solution that we offer is what the Gospel reading today is about. As a society today, we are just as likely to demand more from those whom wrong us than to offer to those whom we have wronged, traits not that much different from Jesus’ time.

I might add that the solution for the payment of debts that is offered in the parable that Jesus told was not simple an institution of Israel of that time. Up until the 18th century, people could still be thrown in jail for not paying their debts and would not be released until such time as the debts were paid. Of course, there is a certain lack of logic in a solution that puts you in a place where it is impossible to do what it is you must do to get out. In many of Wesley’s early writings, you can read how he felt about the injustices of debtor’s prisons.

For many people, the only alternative to debtor’s prison was indentured servitude and that is how many people came to America in the early 18th century.

But in the parable that Jesus is telling us, a master demands payment from one of his slaves, which the slave cannot make. Just as the slave and all of possessions, his wife, and children are to be sold to pay off this debt, the slave begs his master for mercy. The master quickly does so.

But when this now debt-free slave encounters another slave who owes him less than 1% of what he had owned, he demands payment, and failing to receive an immediate payment, he had the second slave thrown into debtor’s prison.

Jesus told his disciples that they should love one another, as they would have others love them. This parable is one that reinforces that commandment. If we are to expect mercy from our Father, should we not grant the same mercy to our brothers and sisters here on earth. Jesus pointed out that should we fail to do so, our master would cancel all that he has done as well.

The Old Testament reading is a clear example of the power that God possesses and what he can do to protect his people. The Pharaoh, after all of the plagues, the destruction and death, relented and let the Israelite people go only to quickly change his mind after they had left. The destruction of the Egyptian army was a clear demonstration that the Israelites were God’s chosen people and that He would protect them as well as a clear demonstration of what God’s wrath could be like.

A second point that the readings for today bring out is how we are to act in a society comprised of many different individuals and beliefs. Jesus spoke of a compassion that went beyond simple forgiveness.

One of His most characteristic activities was an open and inclusive table. “Table fellowship” – sharing a meal with somebody – had a significance in Jesus’ social world that is difficult for us to imagine. It was not a casual act, as it can be in the modern world. In a general way, sharing a meal represented mutual acceptance. More specifically, rules surrounding meals were deeply embedded in the purity system of the day. These rules governed not only what might be eaten and how it should be prepared, but also with whom one might eat. Refusing to share a meal was one form of social ostracism. In Jesus’ time, the meal was a microcosm of the social system, table fellowship an embodiment of social vision.

The inclusiveness seen in Jesus’ table fellowship was reflected in the shape of the movement itself. It was an inclusive movement, negating all the boundaries that society had erected at that time. At Jesus table back then, much to the chagrin of the Pharisees and Scribes, were women, untouchables, the poor, the maimed, the marginalized and people of stature who found what Jesus had to say attractive. We celebrate this same table fellowship as the Lord’s Supper today.

Communion, the Lord’s Supper, can be seen in two ways. There are those who see it as a memorial, a way of remembering what Christ had done fall humanity. But other see the Lord’s Supper as quality spiritual time, a means of becoming closer to God. As we come together for this occasion, we can see both of these visions.

On a number of occasions in the New Testament besides what we call the Last Supper, Jesus commanded the disciples to share in a fellowship meal. The Last Supper is the commemoration of the Passover, of the freeing of the Israelites from bondage in Egypt. And telling his disciples that this was a meal that he really wanted to eat with them (Luke 22: 15), Jesus was showing the importance of Passover.

In 1 Corinthians 11: 23 – 26 we read:

For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread and, when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

One critical word in this passage is remembrance. In the Old Testament, remembrance is something God does. God remembers his chosen people in mercy and grace. Because God remembers, Israel is to remember. In the New Testament, remembrance is more that just a mental thought, it is an act. As God remembered Israel and acted, so to must Christians remember God’s action in Christ.

By remembering God’s action in Christ, Christians bear witness and testify to our gracious and loving God. In telling the Corinthians that Jesus said “do this in remembrance of me”, Paul was telling them to be an active witness to God’s love for humanity!” By doing this, we can refer others and ourselves back to God.

We live in a world that often times demands actions that simply make bad things worse. Peter asked how many times we should forgive our brothers. Jesus said not just seven times, but seventy times seven. The compassion that He expressed, both in how we are to forgive and how we are to live, is expressed in the communion we are about to partake.

What we do, we do because we remember Christ, remembering that no one was shut out from His table. We in the United Methodist Church serve an open table, inviting all that so desire to come. We do not set down any requirements that must met before hand but only ask that you come with an open heart and mind.

Have We Forgotten

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Here are  my thoughts for the 17th Sunday after Pentecost; the Scriptures for this Sunday are Exodus 12: 1 – 14, Romans 13: 8 – 14, and Matthew 18: 15 – 20 (following Cycle A of the Revised Common Lectionary).

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There is the story of the young wife who was preparing a ham for dinner. As she was doing so, she cut off the last two inches of the ham. When her husband asked why she was doing that, she replied that was the way that she was taught and she didn’t know why it was done that way. But perhaps her mother, who had taught how to cook, could tell them.

After dinner, they called her mother and asked her why the last two inches of the ham were cut off before putting it in the roasting plan to bake in the oven. Her mother replied that was the way that she was taught and she didn’t know why it was done that way. But perhaps her mother, who fortunately for this story was still alive, could tell them.

So they called the young wife’s grandmother and asked why she had taught her mother to cut off the two inches of the ham before cooking it. And her grandmother replied that the first pan she used to cook a ham was too small and they had to cut off two inches of the ham in order to get it to fit.

We do so many things in our lives that they become so routine that we don’t know why it is that we do them. We have said the Apostle’s Creed so many times that we need not look it up in the hymnal, though we would be hard pressed to say it if asked to do so outside the normalcy of church. We may sing the “Gloria Patri” but only if we hear the tune (I have been advised to put the hymnal reference in the order of worship that I prepare when I am lay speaking since many people, including visitors, don’t know the tune that we often sing). Our worships services follow a routine and heaven forbid that we should ever change the order of worship.

But as one of the members of my church once pointed out, we may say the words of the Apostle’s Creed but we don’t necessarily know what the words mean. This parishioner felt that I should address this particular issue. I chose not to do so, not because I disagreed with him but because I was scheduled to take that particular Sunday as vacation, so I had him prepare the message and focus on that topic. (If you are going to come from a lay speaking background, then you had better foster lay speaker development in your congregation!) Since that Sunday, I have rotated through the creeds that are in the hymnal, so that we focus on the words and what the words mean rather than simply going through the motions of saying the creed every Sunday.

When I first started doing the level of lay speaking that I do (after this summer, I have averaged 20 sermons/messages a year since I began lay speaking), the three churches that I covered had the offering at the end of the service. The lay leaders told me that I could leave when the offering was taken so that I could get to the next service on time. Now, I will be honest; I was taught to do the job that I was asked to do, so I did the whole service. Besides, no matter how long it took the previous pastor to drive the 15 miles between each church, the thirty minutes between the end of one service and the beginning of the next service should be enough to get me to the church without hassle. (I made each service on time and with enough time to meet all the members.)

I see this in the music that we sing as well. There is, in some churches, a perceptible opposition to a change in the music of the church (and that includes opposition to the change in the hymnal from a number of years ago). This isn’t about the “new” music, which by now everyone knows that I am not crazy about. It is about singing old songs because we are comfortable singing them, even when we can’t sing them correctly. It is about not remembering what the songs mean and what they stand for. For me, the music in a worship service is as much a part of the worship as it is anything else. But a lot of people only want to sing songs they remember because they don’t remember what the music means to a worship service. I think that is part of the reason why there is so much opposition to praise music as well; in many cases and unless it is done properly, it doesn’t seem to fit within the scheme of worship; but we will save that discussion for another day.

My views on music may be because I was born in the south and music is as much of the service as anything else. And because I tried to learn music when I was younger, I perhaps have a better appreciation for music (the other day I heard “Deck the Halls” sung to Dave Brubeck’s “Take Five”; now that was interesting!)

Coming from the south, the sermon was always the closer so that the pastor could make the altar call if he felt moved to do so. That’s the way that I learned the service and it is the way that I prefer to do it (along with three Scripture readings and three hymns, plus the benediction response). But, in one of my lay speaking classes I learned that we in the United Methodist Church put the offering after the sermon as an expression of our response to the hearing of the Word.

It stands to reason that your response to the Word has to be in the form of your prayers, your presence, your gifts, and your service. I just wonder how many people understand the meaning of the offering as the response to hearing God’s Word.

And our lack of understanding of the presence of God in our life extends to our daily lives as well. We, as a society and as a nation, routinely express the view that this is a Christian nation; yet, there are homeless in our cities, hunger and poverty throughout the country (with the gap between the rich and poor growing every day). The passage of Hurricane Gustav through Louisiana and Texas this past week reminded us of the work that we have been doing and the work that still has to be done. We hear ministers proclaim the need for this to be a Christian nation guided by Biblical laws, yet we forget that people came to this country in order to worship God as they desired, free from the dictates of government. And the only politicians who can truthfully call for the enforcement of immigration policies are representatives of the Iroquois, Sioux, Pueblo, Nez Pierce, and other tribes whose land we so graciously took when we got here (often times, in God’s name). (For my thoughts on our lack of knowledge about history, see “Don’t Know Much History”.)

The Old Testament reading today is in the Bible for a reason, to remind the people of the night of the First Passover. The directions for the cooking of the lamb were to evoke the memories of that night when the Israelites gained their freedom. For many of us, this first Sunday of the month is communion Sunday are we are reminded of the night that Jesus gathered with His disciples and friends and partook of that very meal outlined in the Old Testament reading. But like so many things that we do in work, in play, in thought and deed, we trivialize the communion into a small piece of bread and a small gulp of juice.

When there are disagreements in our churches today, we are more apt to jump right to the third part of the Gospel reading (cast the person out of the church) than to work through the first two parts. We forget the words of Paul to view life through the eyes of love, not hatred or greed, not with eyes looking inward but outward.

Paul is correct when he wrote that the time is near. And as Jesus proclaimed in the Gospel, what we have done on earth is what we will find in heaven. We have transformed the church for what it was meant to be into what we want it to be. We have forgotten our roots, our heritage, and our purpose as Christians and as a church. And in doing so, we have ordained the future to be the end of the church.

But it need not be so. We need not continue walking the path that will lead to the church’s death (be it an individual church or a denomination). The one thing that Christ’s death does for us is give us an option, if we are willing to take it. There are those who proclaim the need for an emerging church when in reality what they want is the old church revived. We, as Methodists, are the inheritors of a vision of men and women who heard the call of God to change the world and bring the church back to what it is meant to be.

So let us remember why it is we are called Christians and let us not forget what it means to lead a life in Christ.