Wednesday, January 02, 2013

Big Questions - Fiscal Cliff, Sandy Hook, role of Church and State

January 2, 2012

The role of society, of the individual, of the church, of people of faith working together is all wrapped into the conversation we should be having to solve the big problems in America. We are not having a unified conversation about Sandy Hook, about the Fiscal Cliff, about entitlement reform, about the decline in church attendance, etc. All of that is crying out for change and for big thinking, a true consensus as a people.

How do we reconcile the story of the man with bigger barns and our nation’s lust for wealth, see:
Luke 12:15-21. And then see Acts 2:42-47, where it describes what the first disciples did in terms of sharing their wealth together, as there was need. Heck, that was the greatest form of redistribution of wealth I can think of… But that was a group of people of faith choosing to give, not being forced to be a nation-state.

And then we overlay over all of this Christ’s command to love our neighbors not just as we love ourselves (the old law, see the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) and its roots in Mosaic Law (Deuteronomy 6:5, Leviticus 19:18)); but to love as he loves us, sacrificially, as he loved us on the cross. See John 13:33-35.

How does that work with Rick Warren’s statement to Piers Morgan a few nights ago that being wealthy isn’t a sin but dying wealth is? How do we know when we are going to die so that we give our wealth away in time so we don’t die as a wealthy man with bigger barns and nothing to show in the judgment, as described in Matthew 25:31-46? Won’t we all be the goats if we follow the path we are on as a nation? Don’t we want to be the sheep, gathered into the gates of Glory, not the goats sent into the fires of hell?

This too is why I have written poems recently about “Tearing down” or “Burning Christmas”, because we have lost our sense of what Christmas is all about. It isn’t about more stuff. It is about the coming of our risen Messiah who modeled what love truly is, how we are to live in society, and how we are to forgive even as people sin against us. We are lost, convinced that keeping up with the Joneses is the right goal.

I think it was Rick Warren again who said on Black Friday we are the only people who can give thanks for all we have on Thanksgiving and then trample each other to get stuff we don’t need on the next day…

And how does this all fit into the Fiscal Cliff debacle? The fundamental argument of the Republican right and the Democrat left is at the heart of this as well. The conservative church and the liberal church are in the middle of this fight. Should the government be larger to meet more of the needs in society or should it be smaller and let the market, charity, and individuals meet those needs? What is the appropriate role of the church, what is the appropriate role of the state, and where is there overlap?

I live in New Hampshire, the Live Free or Die state. It is the least churched state in the nation. It has a weak safety net and it has cut the services to the poor in the last two budgets in the middle of the recession. But the revenues aren’t there and the will or agreement to raise revenues aren’t here.

For there to be a grand bargain, a true bi-partisan fix to the budget / deficit / debt problem in America, there needs to be a much larger conversation than seems to be happening, in Congress, in the executive branch for sure, but also in churches, in non-profits, between ordinary people, etc., to really think about what our roles are as neighbors, as people of faith, as citizens and aliens within this great country. The Republicans and Democrats seem to be farther apart than ever.

Grover Norquist on both Anderson Cooper 360 and in talking with Wolf Blitzer yesterday made the good point that there really is no place for compromise on the cliffs that are coming (entitlement reform, debt ceiling, tax reform, and budget cutting). That is right, unfortunately, because we are now so polarized.  The bigger conversations have to happen first before anything can be done substantively. And the clock is ticking again, by the Fiscal Cliff law passed this week.

The gun violence discussion is part of this too, because the solutions there are far more than just more gun laws. Who we want to be as a nation is what is at stake in all of this, because how we got here (TV, movies, mental health, gun rights, etc., etc.) is part of this same question. How we got here and how we get out of this mess is the question. We aren’t even having the real conversation now.


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January 2, 2013
Gratefulness for each new day
Gratitude HD - Moving Art™: http://youtu.be/nj2ofrX7jAk
&
First Sunday after Christmas
Worship Theme: “New Year”
Matthew 25:31-46 (The Message Bible)
Ecclesiastes 3:1-13 (Common English Bible)
Revelation 21:1-6a (Common English Bible)
Call to Worship (Lectionary Worship Aids ©2012)
Unison Prayer (((Lectionary Worship Aids ©2012)
Prayer of Dedication (GBOD 2012 Luke 2:41-52)
and sermon – “New Beginnings
by Pastor Ruth Foss
A Handmaiden of the Lord
Suncook United Methodist Church
Suncook, NH
December 30, 2012
First Sunday after Christmas



All of my poems are copyrighted by Raymond A. Foss, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013. All rights reserved. Contact me at Ray Foss for usage. See all 21,990+ of my poems at http://www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com Poetry Where You Live.

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