God and the Monument

It was on the Huffington Post that I saw the report. It seems that the Pat Robertson of the Christian evangelical persuasion has suggested that the earthquake that caused some cracks in the Washington Monument was an act of God to tell us that He was displeased with us as a country. The reason for God's displeasure was abortion, same sex marriages, multiculturalism, and a host of other things that Pat considers a sin.

But the fun thing would be to see how many other interpretations that could be given to those cracks in the monument. We will start with the given that Pat starts with: that the Washington Monument is a symbol of the power and "moral uprightness" of this country. But it might also be argued that those cracks are God's displeasure over the way Congress and the leaders have refused to cooperate and to solve the multitude of problems that confront this country. Those cracks might be God's frustration with the partisanship that prevents any significant action to be taken on the host of major problems facing the country.

A little different take on those cracks could be God's displeasure on the Republicans for their attacks and abuses of the poor, the old, the vets, the college students, the middle class, as the cuts in the budget deal are almost all directed at the small portion of the budget that deals with social services and educational assistance.

We could come at these cracks another way if we were so disposed. The excitement and build up of attention on the Martin Luther King, Jr. monument might be the reason members of the KKK would give for God's displeasure with us. With a black president and a monument to a black leader, the KKK's God would surely want to put his foot down. Send a message.

There might be a case made by the Wall Street Hedge Fund managers that the reason for God's displeasure is this talk about higher taxes on the rich and raising the tax rate on Capital gains. Wall Street's God would not be happy to see bonuses dipping and higher taxes.

No one could fail to acknowledge the case made by the construction industry that the cracks in the monument represent a failure of proper maintenance and repair of vital infrastructure in this country. The God of Construction wanted to point out that our bridges, our subway systems, our harbors, our runways, our water and sewer systems are all getting older and are in need of repairs and replacements. Cracks in the Washington Monument might get our attention to repair things now.

Well, so many options. Too many interpretations and possibilities. But I am sure that the readers have their own. I would love to hear them.

It is not a Joke

Several couples were sitting around a table and one of the men said he had a great joke. Seems there was this elderly man in Florida who decided to get him a hot sports car. He drove it off the lot and went out on the Interstate to test it out. He hit 80, 90, and was pushing 100, when he saw a Highway Patrol officer with flashing lights. The old man immediately sped up and tried to get away. 110, 120, and then he said to himself, “What am I doing? This is crazy.” So he slowed down and pulled over. The Highway Patrol officer walked up to the car. Pushed his goggles up on his helmet, and said to the old man. It is Friday afternoon. I go off duty in ten minutes. If you can give me a reason that I have not heard before as to why you were speeding, I will let you go. The old man said, Well you see, five years ago my wife ran off with a State Highway Patrol officer, and for a moment there, I thought you were bringing her back.” The Troop pulled down his goggles, turned and walked away, and said, Have a good day.

Everybody enjoyed the story, but the wife of the man who told it. So the man says, It was a joke. It was just a joke. I was not making any comment about marriage or women. It was a joke. Lighten up.

That is often how we try to take the sting out of rude or insulting remarks. It is a joke. We were just joking around. That is what Dr. William Barclay, the famous Biblical Scholar, and Dr.W.C. Allen, who wrote the scholarly International Critical Commentary on Matthew, said about Jesus harsh words to the Canaanite woman. Jesus said,"I can't take the food that was meant for the children, and throw it to the dogs." He called her a dog. Barclay and Allen both say that Jesus must have had a smile on his face, a twinkle in his eye, and a laughter in his voice.

Well, I think Jesus meant it. I think that Jesus was saying that there is a limit to God's love. He could not take the bread of life that the Jewish had been waiting for for centuries and give it to people who just came around and wanted something. Jesus says there is a limit to the grace of God. We cannot give Democracy to countries that have no preparation for it. We cannot give home ownership to homeless people and have it work out. Jesus says you cannot give the kingdom of God to people who do not know what the Kingdom is.

The woman did not seem to be insulted. She just tells Jesus that there are other people who are not the promise children who have been waiting, looking, hoping, and praying for the coming of God. Others like dogs under the table are also waiting for the blessings of God.

There is a limit to God's ability to give his love and grace. God cannot give forgiveness to anybody who does not believe he has done anything that needs forgiveness. God cannot give hope to people who think they have all that they need. God cannot give reconciliation to families that refuse to talk about the pain and suffering and conflict in their family. They would rather live with the pain than mention it and do something about it. Jesus cannot be a savior to people who do not want to be saved. Jesus was not joking when he told the woman that he could not give her the children's bread. But she amazed him with her responds and he says, "Whoa, woman is faith is great. You got what you have been hoping for, and the child was healed. God can only give us the gifts He has when we come to the place where we know we cannot give ourselves what we need.

WAGE GAP IS A SIN

About ten or fifteen years ago The Presbytery of New Hope in eastern North Carolina had an overture they sent to the General Assembly. The overture they sent was to ask that the PCUSA committee on investments initiate stock holder resolutions to establish that the salaries of the CEO would not be more than 200 times the average salaries of the non managerial staff. The Presbytery included in that resolution the idea that all compensation for the CEO be included in that figure. The idea was that the top person, with all the perks and privileges, should not make more than 200 times the average of all the secretaries, janitors, maintenance workers and other non-management people. For every dollar of increase in that figure, the CEO could get 200 dollars. The Presbytery believed that the wealth ought to be shared with those who did the work.

That was a rather radical idea as the gap between the CEO and the non-management people at the time was larger. The CEO's of the largest companies in the country were being paid 411 times the average. At the time the gap between the CEO's in this country was larger than the gap in any European country.

The Resolution went to a committee at the General Assembly and the investment committee representatives said they were already talking to companies about that issue and we did not need to pass that overture. The Presbytery's overture was answered in the negative.

So it was with sorrow that I read the Washington Post article that reported that "When it comes to wage inequality, the U.S. ranks alongside developing countries. " Our gap is a little smaller than the gab between CEO's and the non-management people in Uganda and Jamaica, but our gap is bigger than even the Cameroon and the Ivory Coast. (Their article did not use numbers)

It is not just the hedge fund managers who are afflicted with greed. It is in all of us, and the work of all of us is to control the greed of each other. That is the beauty of joint and shared power. The group is supposed to restrain my greed, and I work with others to restrain the greed of others. When the compensation committees of these large corporations are made up of other CEO's nobody is restraining any body's greed.

Workers have to share in the profits of the corporation just as much as the stock holders. It is not Socialism or Communism which tells us that the workers must be paid fairly. There are very strong and prosperous companies who have some limits on CEO salaries and who keep the ratio in check. I think it is Christian Justice for all of us to push for a reasonable ratio. What we have now is just sinful.

Sounds so Good

The other day I was listening to some old Jimmy Buffet cassettes. I have lots of them and I still have machines that can play them. Jimmy Buffet's music and lyrics have always fascinated me because his songs make a lot of references to faith, theology, the church, and humanity. He has a song about a young man who went to Paris looking for answers to the big questions of life and how life itself gets in the way of the search. There is a song about "What if the Hooky-Pooky's really what it is all about?" "God don't own a car. " There is his classic song about confession of sin, Margaritaville. He begins where we usually begin. Denial, "It's nobody's fault." Then he ponders some more and say "It may be my fault" and then he finally gets to an honest confession, "It's my own damn fault." That is a pretty good description of how most of us come to our confessions.

The song that caught my attention this time was an old song about "Who's going to steal the peanut butter?" It sounds like a group of college kids who have no money go into a Penny Mart and get what they need for supper, and they have this routine worked out. This is how they get food on a regular basis. Jimmy gives what can only be considered as classic justification for their stealing. It is the human desire not to acknowledge that we are doing anything wrong. The convict who wrote about In the Sanctuary of Outcasts, Neil White, who was convicted of check kiting, says he did nothing wrong. He did not steal any money. Check kiting was just a way to buy a little time. Jimmy and his friends have wonderful reasons why taking the peanut butter was not doing anything bad. "We only took what we could eat. There was plenty more on the shelf, and we all swore if we ever got rich, we would pay the Penny Mart back."

They were hungry. They only took what they needed. It was not like they were extravagant or wasteful. They did not take it like vandals who tear up stuff and just make a mess. They did not take a carton and throw it in the creek. They had a hunger, survival was at stake here. They needed food so they took peanut butter. That is a good line of defense. Of course, no one knows what they did with the money their parents gave them for food, or why they did not have food in their apartment. But it was hunger's fault. They had to have something to eat.

There were plenty more on the shelf. They did not deprive anybody else of peanut butter. It was not like somebody else would have to go hungry if they took this jar. The store had lots of jars. What difference did that one little jar make. There were so many jars. I think I feel something of that temptation every time I am in WalMart. There are so many plastic lawn chairs. there are so many footballs, there are so many color TV's; there are so many dresses, shoes, so many of everything. why don't they just give everybody one. There seems to be enough for everybody to have one. I can understand the thought. I never take any, but I do see how you could justify your thief by saying, "Well, they will never miss. Nobody will be deprived of one. they got so many." There are plenty more on the shelf.

And we are not really stealing. We are just borrowing. This jar is on loan. When we get rich we will pay the Penny Mart back. This is not stealing. We are getting it on credit. Charge it and we will pay when we get rich. Makes it all sound so nice and friendly. This is not a serious major problem for all retailers. This is just a little transaction that we will check up on in ten or twenty years. One has to wonder now that Jimmy Buffer is so rich how much he has paid the Penny Mart.

Jimmy and his friends could easily and quickly find a rationale to justify and make sound okay the stealing of peanut butter. The human heart can do that for most of our crimes and evils. Just listen to the way we explain why we go to wars. "Weapons of mass destruction"

Just listen to the way Wall Street defends its greed. Just listen to the way we rationalize our attitudes towards sex and marriage. We are as quick and as easy finding our rationales for our sins as Jimmy was for his. It is a human characteristic.

400 Years of the KJV

This year is the 400th anniversary of the printing of the King James Version of the Bible. Like so many other things in like there are the good things and there are the sad things to say about that version of the Bible.

There are the good things to be said about the KJV. It was a universally accepted version of the Bible for a very long time. The language and the writing were of such high quality that it encouraged literacy among all classes of people. The KJV was such a well done piece that many of the phrases and cliches of today are phrases right out of the translation. It shaped the way we talk and think. So many of the passages of scripture have become absolute traditions. In one place I worked, I read the Christmas narrative from a new translation and I was told in no uncertain terms that on Christmas eve the story had to be read from the King James Virgin. They wanted to hear that Mary and Joseph and the Baby were lying in the manager. Even if it was a crowded manager that is the way they wanted to hear the story.

Of course, that is also part of the bad results of 400 years of reading the scriptures from the same version. It has been familiar. The stories have no impact because we have heard them so often in the same way. And we have been told that familiarity breeds contempt. We have heard the stories so often in the same words that we dismiss them as old hat and outdated. That too is part of the down side. The language is dated and there are claims that younger people do not understand and do not know what many of the words mean.

One of the down sides of 400 years is that many people have heard the exact same words that they begin to believe that those are the very words of Jesus. My mother taught Latin in High School in Johnson City, Tenn. The state was engaged in a big debate as to whether or not to have devotions in school. So my mother decided to have her classes read the devotions every day from the Vulgate Bible. The Latin translation of the Bible. She said if they made a fuss she could always say it was her subject matter. Well, somebody made a fuss, but it was because she was using the Latin, and this parent wanted her child to read the Bible the way that Jesus said it. The way it was in the King James Version.

There are lots of other translations and paraphrases of the Bible available now. It is a great discipline and blessing to a person to read the Bible in a different version every year. Read it in a foreign language if you know one. The constant variety of translations help us to remember that the message is the important thing. The fundamentalist claim to a Bible that contains the very words of Jesus or God is a myth.

The King James Version has been a great blessing. It is one of the versions I would encourage everyone to read, but there are a lot of other versions now that help one get closer to the message and hope in the Scriptures.

It Does It For Me

We are all wonderfully and fitfully made creatures. Biology has never been an enemy of faith for me. The more I learn about how amazingly complex human bodies are, how incredibly complex every creature is, how fascinatingly mountains and river systems are, the more I accept the notion of an all wise creator. As some one suggested, "To believe that this amazing universe happened by chance from a big explosion is as believable as to believe that the Encyclopedia Britannica would be printed by an explosion in a print shop."

We humans are so amazing and so diverse. I think that is what makes People Watching one of the great activities for so many people. You can sit in the Mall and just be amazed at the differences in people. Tall, fat, lopsided, big ears, big hair, lots of tattoos, bushy eyebrows, and on and on, with no two looking the same.

Because we are so different it is not a surprise that we all have different ways of finding and responding to the Holy Deep, to the Mysterium Tremendous, to God, to the Wholly Other, to the Ultimate. Some people are touched by magnificent music. Some people want to sit in silence and be alone with the Alone. Some people become awaken by one of the special gifts of humans. Someone sent me a piece about the incredible gift of colors. We would see and some do live in black and white. Life would be possible without colors, but they are a great gift of joy and beauty. I remember a man who prayed and gave thanks for the taste of food because we would eat to survive even if food had no taste. But boy are we glad that foods taste different

One of the places that is constantly reminds me of the wonder of creation and forces me out of the temptation to narrow and make God small is the annual trip to the Beach. The Ocean has a way of reminding me about the vastness of creation and life. One of my first amazements was how in the world can we human people create enough garage to pollute that vast ocean. It looks so huge. The Ocean and the power of the waves drives home a lesson about how small and insignificant I am. The steady beat of the waves reminds me of what G.K. Chesterton said about God and our powers. Chesterton said when we play with our children and toss them up and they laugh and cry "Do it again!" We do it again until we become exhausted and have to stop. God does not get tired. Each day, Chesterton suggested, God says to the Sun, Do it again. And I think he says to the waves, Do it again. Do it again. Do it again.

Each of us is different and have our own places and our own times for meditation and worship. These private moments have to be brought to the community and shared at some point or we can drift into heresies and private religions. But the Ocean is always a good place for me to get a perspective on life. To jump start my theology. It does it for me.

Question to measure your faith journey

Evaluation is always good. Every program and activity needs to have a means by which it determines its progress. Usually in the church the two major criteria are money and members. Did the giving increase and did you have more members seem to be the easiest and most common criteria for measuring the faithful journey of a church.

But I would like to suggest five other questions which I think are more appropriate to ask about our life together in faith.

a. Has your attendance at church, has the worship where you go, have the materials you have been using for your devotional life, pushed you deeper into the mystery, the wonder and the majesty of God? Has that journey into the deeper wonder, amazement and holiness of God created as many questions for you as it has given you answers. God is the one in the Scripture that so often asks tough questions instead of giving simple answers. In Genesis God asks,"Where is your brother?" He asks Job, " Where were you when I created Leviathan?" The deeper we move into the love, forgiveness and mercy of God, the more our categories of justice and fairness disappear, leaving only questions.

b. Has you faithfulness in religious devotion given you a new freedom from all the petty little rules that life keeps trying to make us follow. "A man's indifference to minor matter is the measure of his real faith in Jesus Christ as the Savior." The more you find your life sustained and rooted in the wonder of Jesus Christ the less concerned and bound you are to all the little gods of life, like race, family, country, economics, and power. Jesus had a remarkable freedom from all of the laws the Sadducees and Pharisees kept want to bind him with. He met with a Samaritan woman at mid-day, he enjoyed children, he ate lunch with Zaccheus; he ate with sinners, he let a prostitute bath his feet with perfume. Our growth in Christ ought to be moving us more and more into a freedom from all other little petty gods and their rules

c. Has your participation in worship and your own devotional life expanded the circle of your compassion? If you are more and more coming closer and closer to God, are you sharing more and more of his love for all creation? Are you praying now for more people than you prayed for five years ago? If the love of God is moving through you more and more, are you sharing his love for more and more of his creation?

d. As that love of God for all creation begins to dominate your life and your vision of life, do you find yourself a little more able to consider the possibility that some of those "other people" just may be able to be forgiven by God? As you get carried along by the power of the Holy Spirit are you finding more tolerance for other people? more able to think of excuses and explanations for their sins in the same way you think of them for you own sins?

e. The last is a money question, but it is not whether your church has more, but whether or not you have discovered that you are more generous with what you have now that you were four years ago? Do you trust more that God's blessings will continue and that you can be more responsive and more generous with what you have? As we become rooted in the greatness of God, we become confident that God will bring fresh blessings new every morning and we don't have to hoard or grab more blessings than we need. There is no dying with the most toys in the Kingdom of God. A living and vibrant faith should be helping to make us more generous towards those who need our help.

These are some questions I would use to tell if the places I have been going and then things I have been doing as a disciple are really helping me move in the direction of God's love.