Economic Recovery Thoughts

This post is not a lectionary based comment.  It is a reflection on the way we as a nation are approaching the current economic situation.  I have been very concerned with the effort to "recover," as in return to life the way it was, instead of seeing this as a time to reconsider and revise our approaches.  My understanding of Jesus is that he cared for the poor and oppressed, the marginalized of his day as a category but his solutions were personal, one-on-one.  So much of the basis for this time of trouble is the separation of bankers and lenders and money managers and stock brokers from the people whose homes and savings they were manipulating, and I think we need some fundamental change.  What follows has been sent to the Hawk Eye as a letter to the editor - a bit long, I suspect - and to politicians for this area.  Comments very welcome!

Op-Ed columnist Bob Herbert wrote in the New York Times on 2-28 about the high proportion of workers ages 19-29 that is unemployed or underemployed.  In this difficult economy, it is this age group bearing much of the brunt of layoffs.  Many others are either working jobs for which they are overqualified – college grads taking jobs that do not require a college degree – or working less than full time.  Herbert is worried about the damage that may be done to these young workers as they lose opportunities for learning working skills, for being mentored in the workplace and for developing the confidence and creative skills they will need to succeed.

I share Herbert's worry.  As one admittedly influenced by the work of William Strauss and Neil Howe in their book Generations, I believe that these young workers and the children and youth now in our schools need to be given a key role in addressing the economic and social challenges of our times.  They need to be the "soldiers" and "junior officers" in a fight to rebuild our strength as a nation.  Judging by the suicide and PTSD rate among our military forces, actual soldiering is not as successful at producing future leaders as WWII was.  Yet we need an effort as important and honorable as that epic battle. 

I have doubts about the value of using billions of government dollars to support banks and businesses that have not proven themselves worthy of public trust, but not because I do not think the government should take a lead role in this troubled time.  Instead, I would urge all parties in government to look for ways to do genuine good for our people and in the world through direct or nearly direct employment.  As an example, what if we temporarily expanded the AmeriCorps program and sent an army of young people out to rebuild areas affected by hurricanes and flooding, to work as tutors and after-school program leaders or wherever they can work alongside folks who could use another mind or pair of hands.  Rather than just extending unemployment benefits, lets put our younger workers to work in ways that teach teamwork and community spirit.  They will learn valuable skills, and our communities and nation will benefit.  Franklin D. Roosevelt created the Civilian Conservation Corps as a temporary means to provide work that has benefitted our nation for over 70 years. 

Is it government's role to create jobs for people?  Not in the long run, no.  But a public service job that builds skills and generates the pride of worthwhile work has far longer benefits than a tax rebate that buys a day's worth of groceries or a new pair of jeans.  The banks and securities sector is important in our world, but we have experienced the result of having layers and layers of money pushers whose only goal is to trade for profit without regard for the products and people represented by the shares of stock and mortgage instruments they shuffle.  It is time to re-personalize work.  I believe putting people to work in direct ways on worthy projects should be an important part of the process.

_____

This is a heads up to my reader, in case the paper picks this up.  It is also me thinking about teaching ethics to CENTER/LEARN/SEARCH folks - how do we make political decisions that reflect our faith.

Blessings All!

Marlea

Extremes

Scripture:  1 Corinthians 6:12-20

"All things are lawful for me, but not all things are beneficial."

I'm spending more and more of my time reading about our current political and economic situation, and find that it gives me a lot of food for thought.  We are, I believe, at an important transition point, not just the beginning of a new presidency (for which I am very grateful!), but also, with so much of our economy in disarray, at a significant transition in our understanding of capitalism and consumption as well.

Attending the North American Academy of Liturgy seminar group "Liturgy and Culture" last week introduced me to a book I am still working through called Consuming Religion: Religious Belief and Practice in a Consumer Culture by Vincent J. Miller.  Already it has affected the way I write liturgy, and I expect it will continue to do so.  The author offers a very convincing analysis of the way we in our society disconnect nearly everything from its foundations and treat it like an object that can be used or adapted as we wish without reference to its history or original purpose. So, some religious seekers visit Lakota sweat lodges, wear hematite jewelry, practice yoga and join prayer circles.  Each practice has its own roots or story, but none is connected to the other except by the person practicing them.  Ultimately, such eclecticism is usually neither respectful of the original tradition, nor does it truly ground the person in a way that leads to true faith.  That is not to critique any particular practice necessarily, but to observe how easy it is to make it mean what you want it to mean and avoid the challenges from faith and history.

I think this is a fair critique of both some religious seekers and of our consumer culture as a whole.  We used to associate places and products:  Colby Cheese from Wisconsin; fine steel for knives from Sheffield, England, and building steel from Pittsburg, fabric from mills in New England and the Atlantic states.  These used to be based on craft, the knowledge and skills of those who made them.  But first the skills were taken over by the managers, then the jobs, now mostly unskilled, were relocated to lower the cost of production.  The connections from person to product were broken in order to make more and sell more.  Then advertising created demand for more by appealing to our insecurities and the markets for the products were created.  No longer limited to mass-marketed products, one model for everyone, now there are niche markets and products to suit every taste.  Well, almost any taste - not always mine, but then...    

It seems to me that such disconnections leave us all subject to distress in ways we might have trouble identifying.  It has been a long process, and we have accommodated ourselves to each change and benefitted in many ways from them.  Innovation and self-expression have blossomed.  But the more we abstract things from their roots, make them commodities, the more we create the kind of shell games and ponzi schemes that have come crashing down around us.  A mortgage should be a contract between a borrower and a lender. But it has become a commodity, a source of income to be sold for quick cash, and bundled into funds that were sold in shares and then speculated upon.  Businesses and individuals borrow to fund future activity, but there should be some connection between the activity and the funding rather than borrowing against the expectation of inflated prices.  I sold a house a few years ago to a couple with no cash at all.  They borrowed 104% of the house price so they could pay for their housing inspector, and buy appliances and a fence.  They did not go through a local bank, but a national lender and they lost that house in a year. (The lender is broke now, too.) 

I like stuff as much as the next person.  My computer is crammed to the gills and slowing down and it is easier to buy new than to weed out the old.  I bought a new camera when my original digital was still functioning pretty well.  I really don't want to look at the labels of every little thing to see where and how it was made.  But, I am coming to be more and more convinced that I need to pay more attention.  That I need to buy more locally made and craft produced items.  I bought some gifts from "SERRV" and "A Better Footprint" and our UCC Coffee Project this year, but I also bought stuff from discount stores made in China or where ever. Every place needs jobs, and factories in China can be paths out of poverty for some.  But for others it is a move from self-sufficient, if somewhat primitive, agriculture, to grueling and meaningless work for very poor wages that must then be spent to acquire what used to be produced at home.  The US used to be the land of opportunity and had jobs for many.  The low-wage, low-skill jobs in service fields are still there, but they rarely lead to a life even close to what we all see on TV and in advertising.  

To re-establish a true Middle Class, I am convinced we need more work that requires skills accessible to a broader range of people (blue, green and white collars). We need an appreciation of objects for the work that goes into them and people for the work they do (teachers for example).  We need an attitude toward business that values stability and sufficiency over ever-higher profits.  And, perhaps most difficult, a willingness to say enough. To spend a little more, but on fewer things.   

But there are millions whose livelihoods have depended on all those financial instruments, on marketing and design and corporate management.  As much as we worry about the jobs in manufacturing being lost, true economic change will cause disruption in other areas, too.  There are no easy answers, only faithful questions and a set of values that places people and communities before GDP and DJIA*.

God, you know us, you have made us, you dream wholeness and peace and connectedness for each of us.  We pray for wisdom and courage to reshape our world into a reflection of your realm as you have made us as a reflection of your image.  Guide us, please.  

Blessings and Peace,

Marlea

*Gross Domestic Product and Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Cycles and Pendulums

Thanksgiving blessings to all!

As I have prepared for both yesterday's message and for Advent, the texts reflect the time of exile, when the people of Israel (the northern kingdom) and Judah (the southern kingdom) were scattered, many sent to Babylon or to other places in the Assyrian Empire so that there would not be a class of leaders in the land to rebel against foreign rule.  So, I paged back in the Bible to 2nd Chronicles to read the account of what led up to that devastating event.  I found the accounts to be fascinating in light of my interest in historical cycles in our more recent history.  The story concerns the kings, primarily.  One "does what is good in the sight of the Lord." But he dies and his 20-something son takes over.  He "does what is evil in the sight of the Lord," mostly permitting or encouraging the worship of gods belonging to other peoples - perhaps even to the aliens living among them.  Then he dies, and the next 20-something takes the throne, and he throws out the sacred poles and idols and restores worship of Yahweh.  But he dies and the cycle repeats.  The writers here are clearly biased, not only toward the worship of Yahweh, but to a particularly ordered and limited worship of Yahweh.  The priestly perspective.

My guide to cycles, Generations by Strauss and Howe, identifies a swing between outward concerns - infrastructure, corporate development, institutional growth - and inward concerns - the world of ideas, of personal expression, of spiritual searching.  It is pretty clear that the priestly class valued the outward concerns, they praise building projects and creating order in the temple and in the celebration of prescribed holy days.  The neighboring religions were much more about personal license and inter-relationships.  They were earthy, addressing the daily personal needs of their adherents more than the corporate needs of a rigidly defined people.  Not much new under the sun, it seems.

I'm of a generation with a strong attachment to the personal growth and expression side of this pendulum swing, but I also recognized that we swing too far in that direction before we call a halt and begin to turn again to ordered community and outward, physical development which has been so neglected in our time. The still current administration's passion for deregulation is less Republican than it is generational.  It takes a practical and forward thinking Gen-Xer to turn the swing toward order.   Oops, that sounded more political than I try to be.  But it is less about party, I think, than about timing. Why were so many people willing to listen to the very junior senator from Illinois?  Was it just because he could put words together well?  No, I don't think so.  I think he expressed a general sense of time for change, change toward new community and unity.  His opponent, for all his efforts, just did not embody that change the way this younger, and very different face did.  John McCain was the very last chance for a member of his generation to sit in the oval office.  But he is a generation older than George W. Bush and Bill Clinton.  Obama is the next younger. 

We have come to the end of the pendulum swing.  The direction is shifting.  What wisdom can we, who have lived through this part of the cycle, share with the young people who will be the builders of the next one?  As I asked on Sunday, how can we raise authentic and respectful kids, who will be strong team members and creative builders of the next new world?  How can we encourage the strengths that will be theirs as well as impart the best of our own ideas - respect for diversity, a place for personal expression, and whatever else we might name an important?  Now is the time for us self-centered Boomers and cynical older X-ers to turn our focus away from our own troubles and even some of our dated ideals, and look to those who are growing amongst us.

As Advent begins, the time of anticipation of a new life among us, it is quite appropriate to look to a new star, a new model of hope for our world.  Let us pray that we can all, from most prominent to most humble, dwell in that hope and work hand in hand with our God to bring Christ's reign to earth. 

Peace, Marlea

2 cents on the future

Hello!  It has been awhile since my last post, I see.  Not for lack of thought, but maybe for the focus to write.

I've spent too much time listening to political punditry this election season, but I have learned that even with good intentions, much of importance gets lost.  If you try hard, you can probably find messages of substance from the candidates, but there has also been a lot of exaggeration and focus on issues of image and appeals to fear - on both sides.

Even in the midst of the tremendous economic - and social - disruptions of the last month, there has been little of solid reflection on what the future might hold or good analysis of our current situation.  I have read a lot in the last few years that tries to describe the social structures of our nation and the world as a way to imagine what the church of the future should be.  Nearly all of them seem to assume that, although our world has changed in many ways over the last several decades, it will go in a straight line from this point on, so whatever is disintegrating will either continue to disintegrate or will recover to status quo and move straight forward.  

A few years ago, I read Generations by Strauss and Howe.  It is a big book, reviewing the history of the generations of people in America since the early 1600s.  The authors provide a map through time of four generational types that follow one another in sequence, and the characteristics of the times that  correspond to those lives.  The thesis is that history does not progress in a straight line, but in an extended wave form or, better, in a spiral of recurring phases, but with details that differ due to circumstances, technology, etc.  It takes quite a bit of space to describe all of this and I'm sure some of you have heard some of it - I am surprised it hasn't appeared in this blog before now.  The point is that their theory indicates that what is now is NOT what will be.  The disintegration and chaos of our times is not forever, but is very likely to resolve into a new era of rebuilding and order.  However, it is not inevitable, and it could take very different forms.  

I don’t like to sound like a prophet of doom, because I believe in hope and the wondrous presence of God in all life, but I also believe that we are in for a time of troubles that will take a few years to resolve. I think we as a society have come near to the a crisis phase of the cycle, and are about to turn in a different direction. To do that, we need to spend some time rethinking our priorities and values as individuals, as families, as a church, and as a society. Our young people need to develop good civic (and Christian) values and personal strength and the ability to work together with all kinds of people to solve problems, and to build a respectful society where honesty and integrity are prized more than power and money. We, their elders, need to examine our lives and reclaim ideals of hope and peace and rights for all so that the young have models and mentors and leaders for their journeys. 

The disintegration of the 20s led to the troubles of the Depression and was brought back by the discipline of a war that had a clear purpose and justification as good as any war could ever have.  The authors suggest that when crisis is addressed with clarity, and the young adult generation has the opportunity to serve and mature with a sense of purpose and direction, that society rebounds and rebuilds with energy and strength.  The generation shaped by crisis goes on to become leaders for the next two or more generations.  The generation that served in WWII in its young adulthood provided presidents from Kennedy through George H.W. Bush, and has continued to provide civic and national leaders until just the last few years, when the last have moved into their mid-80s.  This practical and problem-solving generation has given all of us the infrastructure and corporate structure that shaped us.  But other generations are also important to our social health, each contributes in vital ways to our life.  What is built in one era will not necessarily suit the needs of another, so we must do some judicious destruction to make room for another era.  We must also balance concern with the physical and structural with the spiritual and philosophical, with arts and music, with personal growth as well as corporate growth.  History will judge how beneficial that correction has been, but it has brought us to this point.  

I believe that the churches who believe that God cares about the "kingdom" coming near to this life on earth as it is in heaven have a particular responsibility to lead through this time of challenge and trouble.  We need to be the ones to speak about "doing for the least," to stand up for the rights of every person to pursue wholeness and with their essential needs met.  But we also need to lead our country and our society in a re-evaluation of priorities, to set the stage for a restructuring based on valuing people above ever-growing profits, respecting workers as much as stockholders, and being good stewards of all resources.

We start with ourselves and our own values; we share them, and our passions for them, with our youth and children, we listen to the ideas and world-views of our young adults and encourage them on their journeys.  We move out into the world as leaders in our communities, workplaces, leisure environments with commitment and hope.  God is present here.  It is God's blessings we share, and God's realm we experience in our lives, when we listen to God's leading for us.

(I guess I made up for infrequency with length!  I hope it is worthwhile!)

Peace!

Marlea

Trouble in the family

Lectionary Scripture Readings for Sunday, September 7:

(Exodus 12:1-14) OR Ezekiel 33:7-11; (Romans 14:8-14; Matthew 18:15-20)

Ezekiel is tired of prophesying doom and ready to quit.  God says, "If you don't tell the wicked to change their ways, and they keep doing what they are doing, they'll die, and you will be to blame.  If you tell them to change and they don't listen, they'll still die, but no blame on you.  Of course, I really don't want anyone to die, I want them all to repent and be saved."

In Matthew, Jesus says, "If another Christian does something that is hurtful, you owe it to them to let them know (and repair the damage between you, by implication).  If they won't listen, try again with a couple of witnesses.  If they persist in being hurtful, take your concern to the community.  If the person refuses the guidance of the church, they may need to be removed from the center of the community."  [My interpretive adaptation!]

The first of these passages has nothing to do with one on one interaction.  The prophet is standing up before the whole of the society to chastise the powers to turn to the values of kindness, generosity, honesty and faithfulness.  Many of the people who founded our nation were people of faith who wanted to create a new society based on their interpretation of scripture.  By the time of the constitution, there were many different beliefs represented, and a secular philosophy based in broadly Christian principles was the way to unite the colonies and allow for the diversity.  We have moved away from and returned to variations of those high principles over our history.  

In recent decades, we have moved away from some aspects of them that would call us to think first of others and work for the common good.  We have moved away from personal restraint or moderation to extreme sports and speech and dress and sound on a large scale. (I think we always need an experimental fringe who test out the edges of art and behavior, but am not sure it is good for so much of society to embrace it.) We have moved from a sense of history to believe now is everything.  

I think there is a need for the church to take on the role of Ezekiel or Isaiah, calling our society to account.  Since we are not a theocracy ruled by priests of one unified faith, we need to use the terms of faith with caution.  But we have the language of the constitution and philosophy to help us talk about the common good, about justice and fairness and the rights and responsibilities of the whole instead of just the individual.

If we do not speak out against the evils we see in society, can we escape responsibility for the lives destroyed?  God hopes and calls for repentance, for society to turn away from harmful ways and toward peace and justice for all.  What would I hold up as harmful?  The widespread practice of gambling, and the promotion of it by governments as a fund raising tool.  The greed of corporations who care more about shareholder wealth than products or customers or users or workers, and the outrageous disparities between executive salaries and "golden parachutes" and worker wages and stolen pensions.  The devaluing of labor and the skills of workers that is evident when companies dump long term employees and locations for cheap labor abroad or that pays wages so low only illegal immigrants are willing to take the jobs, because government support for "free" trade has allowed the destruction of local economies in favor of global service to American consumerism.  The creation of demand for more and more stuff at cheaper and cheaper prices that means only the very wealthy can buy goods that actually can be repaired and maintained and kept for many years.  The poorer the person, the more life is filled with the disposable and worthless.  Good furniture from ordinary households of the past is now valuable antiques. New furniture is hardly worth giving to the Salvation Army.

Enough of my rant.   But I would love to have you rant back.  Where do you find evil in our world?  What should we stand up against?  And what for?  

From the relatively far distance of my planning day, I had decided to preach on this and on Matthew, with the tempering wisdom of Romans to guide all.  This week the events of worship and an inspired reading of Exodus dictates something different.  

Moving on toward Sunday,

Marlea

Saturday Ruminations

Like many others, I watched a fair amount of the Democratic Convention this week.  One of the important tasks of the convention was to tell the personal stories of the candidates.  In Obama's case, the story has been distorted and falsified in emails and internet and a variety of other media, so it was important to correct it.  But it was also important because we connect with people through their stories, we come to know something about people and develop a sense of trust when we learn something of their story.  I did not know Joe Biden's story until this week, for example, but now have a sense of his dedication to his family and his state, and how that may have shaped his work in the Senate.  As soon as McCain's running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin, was announced, her story began to be told with the hope that people would identify with her.

The purpose of the Gospels was similar, to tell not only what Jesus said - there was probably already at least one collection of Jesus' sayings being circulated - but to tell who Jesus was.  Each writer had their own idea of what was crucial in the story, so the stories differ.  They are not intended to be historical records in the way we understand them.  They are more like well researched historical novels, but that is not exactly what they are either.  A spiritual narrative designed to inspire as much as to teach.  

Political stories are not exactly historical records either.  All such stories need to be interpreted.  What is the message that is being conveyed?  Why is this important to the author?  To the reader?  What action are we being asked to take?  As we listen to political rhetoric it is good to remember that in the Bible we have a set of stories and commentaries that need to shape the way we interpret the contemporary stories and commentaries that we are hearing.  

Revolution!

Scripture focus:  Matthew 13:31-33. 44-52

Matthew provides an interesting setting for this chapter.  Jesus went out along the beach , and so many people gathered that he could not be seen or heard.  So Jesus climbed into a boat pulled up on the beach and sat there and told the people parables. The stories are intermixed with explanations, but Jesus seems to have given the explanations to the disciples later rather than to everyone, so it is appropriate that the lectionary skips the explanations and puts together this group of five parables, all about the kingdom of heaven.

Walter Wink, in an article in the journal Weavings, talks of his compelling interest in the question "What is the kingdom or reign of God?"  He found answers to where (near and sometimes here), and when (now and not yet), but not what, until he read a book by Riane Eisler, The Chalice and the Blade (a very good book!).  Eisler is a Jew who is glad to claim Jesus as a Jewish prophet who condemned all systems of domination.  That was Wink's key: the kingdom of God or heaven is God's domination-free system.  Wink re-read the Gospels and found evidence everywhere.  Such a system is sounds a bit radical and strange, but is consistent with many of our constitutional ideas.  Three branches of government to have equal powers so no one can dominate the others.  Local decisions made by elected citizens who are accountable to the people.  We humans just seem to have a hard time living up to our ideals. 

Instead, we clamor for power like bullies on a playground.  Whether climbing the corporate hierarchy or competing for first chair in the orchestra, we aim for positions of influence.  When those are not open to us professionally, we may try to control our spouse or child or parent.  Last week I was talking to an acquaintance who complained he doesn't have any friends.  He is right.  He has no friends because he always dominates the conversation and never really listens to anyone or has a good word to say about anyone.  Powerless in nearly every aspect of his life, he relinquishes the true power of relationship and connection by being the blowhard everyone would rather avoid. 

Jesus lived in a state dominated by the almost absolute and often despotic power of Caesar and his appointed governors.  The Jews had a long history of kings, but no king of their own, now, or for many years before.  Kingdom to a Jew in Jesus' day had to invoke one of two primary ideas in his listeners: either a purely spiritual kingdom or a new political framework with a new king in Israel.  This kingdom was certainly spiritual, but he spoke all the time about the distractions of money, the blessings of the poor, the inclusion of the outcast.  These are political issues, not just spiritual ones.

I've been reading some good info on the idea of the kingdom and have lots of thoughts to share, but that would be a very long post!

One more thought before I close this and try to assemble it all into a coherent sermon and liturgy for Sunday.  The parable of the yeast is an important image because it says that it only takes a little bit of the "kingdom" to make a real difference in the world.  A small action that brings God's dream for the world a bit closer. One life lived in harmony with God's will can change many lives that come into contact.  And in an individual, one act of love, of reconciliation can make a difference in the whole of life.  The realm of God's love is power without domination or oppression.  Love that encourages more love but also leads to justice, to the removal of oppression through real political and social change.  Whether or not you agree with all their political ideas, MoveOn.org is a good example of individual people taking small actions - emails, small donations - and making a real difference.  Churches have the same power, but we don't endorse candidates; we work for mercy, justice and peace.  

What act of the kingdom have you done, today?

Peace, 

Marlea