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.
====
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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