I have just come home from the Festival of Homiletics in Atlanta. I always find them very enjoyable. It is a chance to hear nationally known preachers and to be inspired by the magnificent power of five or six hundred males and a couple of hundred females who are all eager to sign the hymns. What a moving power.
But one of the nagging questions that remains is what do we say to the world about all those who claim the same Bible, but who use it differently? One of the presenters made a marvelous case for the current crisis in our mainline churches and culture is the competition of different narrative stories that explain life and the Biblical ignorance of the church so that it cannot present its story in a powerful and effective way.
I have no problem with that analysis of the situation. What I find disappointing is that he did not recognize and talk about that one of the competing stories is another version of the Christian faith that claims to be the answer. The Christian narrative that he was promoting, and which I find myself in agreement with, is that God's love in Jesus calls us to seek to redeem and to minister to those who are ignored, abused and exploited by the world. This narrative invites in all people, includes all people, and desires to free people from all of the things that keep them in bondage. That includes the wealthy and those who desperately want to be wealthy called to be free from the power of that wealth.
That there is another narrative that claims to be Christian that is much more elitist. In that it desires to separate the good and the just, themselves, from those they believe to be sinners: those on welfare (lazy), those who take certain drugs (but not the drugs they take), those who love different people than they love (gays and lesbians), those who make decisions that are contrary to their decisions (like abortion) those who believe that power and might are evil (gun control, less military spending). There is a narrative of the Christian story that claims that God's will for all people is that they become wealthy and blessed with great material blessings forgetting that there are many more definitions of blessings that the American way of life.
What troubled me was that no one at the conference ever acknowledge that what was being preached here had to contend with the other stories that also claim the name of Christian. Nor did they talk about how to respond to that challenge or to separate the narrative of the Christian faith from the other narratives.
Saturday, May 21, 2016
Thursday, January 7, 2016
Dr. King's Memory
January 18th will be another Martin Luther King Day celebration. The work and dreams of Dr. King are an important part of our American struggle towards justice and equality for all citizens. Dr. King lead an incredible battle for the right to vote. Dr. King under girded that battle with the strategy of non-violence. He opposed the war in Vietnam because he could not justify telling young black men to go fight, shoot, bomb, kill in Asia and then tell them to be non-violent in New York, Chicago or Atlanta. The struggle for justice, equality and dignity took Dr. King into a number of different areas at the time. The major fight was for the voter right bill, but He soon was involved in anti-war movement and in labor negotiations. The Memphis sanitation strikes were about wages and working conditions.
Dr. King was a passionate leader and battled until his death. If we are going to gather and remember and pay tribute to his memory, that memory must energize us as it has not in several years to resume the battles that he fought. There has been a major assault on the voting rights of minorities, students, seniors and the poor. The redistricting of states has resulted in districts that are heavily in favor of one party over the other. Voter ID requirements, shorting the early voting time, eliminating Sunday voting, and a host of other restrictions have been adopted to prevent voting by people who do not vote Republican.
Dr. King lead marching for wages in Memphis and the struggle for better wages has got to be resumed as the minimum wage has not been increased at the Federal level in decades. Equal pay for equal work has got to be an agenda item if we are to be for equality of all people. The tax reforms implemented by the Republicans do not stand the test of being fair or just to all segments of the economy.
It is of little benefit if all we do is go and remember what a courageous, bold, and dynamic man Dr. King was. This year the celebrations of his life need to be the inspiration for us all to renew his battles and to get out into the politic arena and fight for the same things he fought for.
Dr. King was a passionate leader and battled until his death. If we are going to gather and remember and pay tribute to his memory, that memory must energize us as it has not in several years to resume the battles that he fought. There has been a major assault on the voting rights of minorities, students, seniors and the poor. The redistricting of states has resulted in districts that are heavily in favor of one party over the other. Voter ID requirements, shorting the early voting time, eliminating Sunday voting, and a host of other restrictions have been adopted to prevent voting by people who do not vote Republican.
Dr. King lead marching for wages in Memphis and the struggle for better wages has got to be resumed as the minimum wage has not been increased at the Federal level in decades. Equal pay for equal work has got to be an agenda item if we are to be for equality of all people. The tax reforms implemented by the Republicans do not stand the test of being fair or just to all segments of the economy.
It is of little benefit if all we do is go and remember what a courageous, bold, and dynamic man Dr. King was. This year the celebrations of his life need to be the inspiration for us all to renew his battles and to get out into the politic arena and fight for the same things he fought for.
Monday, January 4, 2016
December note from Brother Biddle
It is always a pleasure to hear from Brother Biddle. Since we are both retired now, it is more like Christmas letters in Christmas cards and Easter greetings, but it is still good to hear from him. He said he had had a knee replacement and cataract surgery was scheduled for February, but other than that and a few extra pounds he is in fine shape.
His first complaint was that East Burlap did not have a Starbuck shop. He said it must be the only town in America without one, but he had wanted to get one of those red cups they were selling. He wanted to show his support for red cups; said he liked red cups; said he did not know what was wrong with the color red. In his view all that noise about red cups being "anti-Christmas" was silly. If you want to see a real war on Christmas you just need to go to any mall and look at all the materialism and commercialization of Christmas. That is the really war. Santa is the real enemy.
Retirement has its good side because it meant that he did not have to get involved in the great theological conflict at the East Burlap Protestant Parish. It seems that the Bruce Jenner sex change had raised some interesting questions at the Parish. Somebody wanted to know if Mary was bi-sexual as she had had relations with the Holy Spirit and with Joseph. Naturally that was refuted immediately and decisively. But that lead to the question of what kind of sex Jesus was? Did he just have one Chromosome since he just had one human parent? If you did a DNA test on Jesus would you find an X and Y chromosome? The next step was to have some one wonder if Jesus was a gay man, but someone else said he was heterosexual as he spent a lot of time with prostitutes. That was an agreement that may have answered one problem, but created another. Of course, the debates created a lot of heat at East Burlap, but little light, and Brother Biddle was glad he was not the one who had to shepherd the people through that.
A pastor's heart always bleeds when there is a great tragedy in a community where he serves. This year in East Burlap the whole community was saddened when a young father shot his three year old daughter on the day after Christmas. The young father had gotten a gun, a pistol, as a Christmas present from his wife. He had always wanted one, but he had never had a gun before. He thought he would be able to protect his family better. The day after Christmas he was "playing" with it, fast drawing from the hip, and he drew and pulled the trigger and it killed his little girl. Turns out he did not even know how to load it, know how to check to see if it was loaded, and where the safety was. Brother Biddle said this gun culture in this country was one of its great sicknesses.
Having just celebrated the birth of Jesus and heard again the story of the Christ Child come to bring the Kingdom of God Brother Biddle is amazed how dogmatic and violent people who believe they are right can be. Why is there such a human compulsion to try to make everybody believe the same way? The Sunni and the Shiites, the Buddhists against the Moslems, the Moslems against the Christians, the Jews against the Moslems. anti-abortionists against the pro-choice, the zeal of the righteous is deadly, and Brother Biddle fell back on theology. We are not saved by being right but by the gift of grace. It is always good to hear from Brother Biddle.
His first complaint was that East Burlap did not have a Starbuck shop. He said it must be the only town in America without one, but he had wanted to get one of those red cups they were selling. He wanted to show his support for red cups; said he liked red cups; said he did not know what was wrong with the color red. In his view all that noise about red cups being "anti-Christmas" was silly. If you want to see a real war on Christmas you just need to go to any mall and look at all the materialism and commercialization of Christmas. That is the really war. Santa is the real enemy.
Retirement has its good side because it meant that he did not have to get involved in the great theological conflict at the East Burlap Protestant Parish. It seems that the Bruce Jenner sex change had raised some interesting questions at the Parish. Somebody wanted to know if Mary was bi-sexual as she had had relations with the Holy Spirit and with Joseph. Naturally that was refuted immediately and decisively. But that lead to the question of what kind of sex Jesus was? Did he just have one Chromosome since he just had one human parent? If you did a DNA test on Jesus would you find an X and Y chromosome? The next step was to have some one wonder if Jesus was a gay man, but someone else said he was heterosexual as he spent a lot of time with prostitutes. That was an agreement that may have answered one problem, but created another. Of course, the debates created a lot of heat at East Burlap, but little light, and Brother Biddle was glad he was not the one who had to shepherd the people through that.
A pastor's heart always bleeds when there is a great tragedy in a community where he serves. This year in East Burlap the whole community was saddened when a young father shot his three year old daughter on the day after Christmas. The young father had gotten a gun, a pistol, as a Christmas present from his wife. He had always wanted one, but he had never had a gun before. He thought he would be able to protect his family better. The day after Christmas he was "playing" with it, fast drawing from the hip, and he drew and pulled the trigger and it killed his little girl. Turns out he did not even know how to load it, know how to check to see if it was loaded, and where the safety was. Brother Biddle said this gun culture in this country was one of its great sicknesses.
Having just celebrated the birth of Jesus and heard again the story of the Christ Child come to bring the Kingdom of God Brother Biddle is amazed how dogmatic and violent people who believe they are right can be. Why is there such a human compulsion to try to make everybody believe the same way? The Sunni and the Shiites, the Buddhists against the Moslems, the Moslems against the Christians, the Jews against the Moslems. anti-abortionists against the pro-choice, the zeal of the righteous is deadly, and Brother Biddle fell back on theology. We are not saved by being right but by the gift of grace. It is always good to hear from Brother Biddle.
Friday, January 1, 2016
Two Different Job Descriptions for the Christian People
It seems to me that there are at least two very different ideas as to what Christians ought to be doing and how Churches ought to be conducting themselves. I think there are Christians and Churches that believe the work of the Church is to help Christian people make it through this world. The other way is for Christians and the Church to talk about a whole different society and to change this one.
The first group believes that the world is here and that Jesus and the faith are to help us live better, to be able to handle the stress and the challenges of this life better, to meet the needs of people as they try to live happily and successfully. The program life of these churches focuses on those things that will make it easier for the Christian members to handle their problems. They have child care programs. They have AA programs. They have yoga programs. They have sport programs for the member. They have financial planning program and estate planning programs. The understanding is that Jesus came so that we might love each other and live better in this society. These church do have a lot of social service programs like can food for the needy, collections of clothing, even rent help.
One of the most obvious type of this church is the Prosperity Gospel which claims that God wants all of us to be successful, rich, happy and blessed. That with faith in God and the claiming of the promise that God has a blessing for you, that blessing will come and it will usually be in the form of a blessing that the world will recognize: a promotion, a bigger pay check, a new car, a lottery win, a new wife, health babies, or some other blessing that is a blessing as defined by the culture in which we live.
The other way of looking at the work of Christians and the Church is to speak the word that this world is not the kingdom of God. That Christ came to show us a new alternative, a different society, a whole other way of living. The Church is suppose, in this view, to be the yeast that is at work changing the world. That Jesus offers us a new blue print of the world in the Beatitudes. The work of the Church is to be witnesses to the different way in which life can be lived in faith. Mother Teresa creates a community of care for the untouchables. Nelson Mandela and Bishop Tutu show us what forgiveness can do. Dr. King lead the way of changing the racial restriction in our society. Pope France is calling for a new economic justice, calling for changes in the way we live to protect the environment and to distribute the resources of the world better. These church do not want to help members succeed in the current culture but invites them to live in the new reality of the Kingdom of God and to be at work in struggle to change the culture.
One group of Christians sees the Church as an agent of helping members cope with the present work and even to help the needy to cope with the world as it is. They give food to the homeless. The other group of Christians sees the Church as an agent for the transformation of the world, calls its members to the adventure of the struggle against the powers of this world. It asks the questions why are the homeless still homeless and how can be reality be changed. One group say that the square peg sinners need to be sanded round to fit in the round holes of the society. The other group is convinced that when square peg sinners get sanded there is no limit to the shapes they may take and the round hole world needs to be radically redone.
The first group believes that the world is here and that Jesus and the faith are to help us live better, to be able to handle the stress and the challenges of this life better, to meet the needs of people as they try to live happily and successfully. The program life of these churches focuses on those things that will make it easier for the Christian members to handle their problems. They have child care programs. They have AA programs. They have yoga programs. They have sport programs for the member. They have financial planning program and estate planning programs. The understanding is that Jesus came so that we might love each other and live better in this society. These church do have a lot of social service programs like can food for the needy, collections of clothing, even rent help.
One of the most obvious type of this church is the Prosperity Gospel which claims that God wants all of us to be successful, rich, happy and blessed. That with faith in God and the claiming of the promise that God has a blessing for you, that blessing will come and it will usually be in the form of a blessing that the world will recognize: a promotion, a bigger pay check, a new car, a lottery win, a new wife, health babies, or some other blessing that is a blessing as defined by the culture in which we live.
The other way of looking at the work of Christians and the Church is to speak the word that this world is not the kingdom of God. That Christ came to show us a new alternative, a different society, a whole other way of living. The Church is suppose, in this view, to be the yeast that is at work changing the world. That Jesus offers us a new blue print of the world in the Beatitudes. The work of the Church is to be witnesses to the different way in which life can be lived in faith. Mother Teresa creates a community of care for the untouchables. Nelson Mandela and Bishop Tutu show us what forgiveness can do. Dr. King lead the way of changing the racial restriction in our society. Pope France is calling for a new economic justice, calling for changes in the way we live to protect the environment and to distribute the resources of the world better. These church do not want to help members succeed in the current culture but invites them to live in the new reality of the Kingdom of God and to be at work in struggle to change the culture.
One group of Christians sees the Church as an agent of helping members cope with the present work and even to help the needy to cope with the world as it is. They give food to the homeless. The other group of Christians sees the Church as an agent for the transformation of the world, calls its members to the adventure of the struggle against the powers of this world. It asks the questions why are the homeless still homeless and how can be reality be changed. One group say that the square peg sinners need to be sanded round to fit in the round holes of the society. The other group is convinced that when square peg sinners get sanded there is no limit to the shapes they may take and the round hole world needs to be radically redone.
Sunday, December 20, 2015
Market Focus?
MARKET FOCUS?
by
Rick Brand
Rick Brand
We were outside the racquetball courts and a newly arrived retiree from up north commented to me that Henderson would never advance economically until it fixed its schools. Such a verdict is not new. In fact it is one of the most consistent mantras of our community. Talk to just about any citizen about Henderson and they will quickly rattle off a string of negatives about our community, always including the matter of poor schools.
Not long ago the Dispatch reported on a meeting of the Economic Development Commission and the County Commissioners that focused on how to “brand” our community. In that meeting it was commented that Vance County needed to have a focus and a target for economic develop and to market that brand aggressively.
! I do not know how wide spread the comments have been, but two of the wiser people in this community, two who have both led very successful businesses, have observed that Vance County and the EDC ought to focus on marketing to retirees. All of the groups concerned about economic development: The Chamber of Commerce, The EDC, the City and the County ought to be running ads in the AARP bulletin, magazines that target the people approaching retirement, in the newspapers in Boston, New York, Newark and other major northeast areas. This ought to be our number one marketing target.
In my mind there are many pluses that can be highlighted: we have a great lake area; we have two major golf courses; we have a great YMCA and we have an above average Adcock Recreational Center; we have great travel options as I-85 and U.S. 1 go right through our county. (Remember most people in the northeast are used to long commutes. From Brookline to downtown Boston by rail is close to 45 minutes if the T is running on schedule.) We are only three hours from professional football in Charlotte or DC. There are national powers in basketball. We are close to NASCAR racing. We are about four hours from the coast and about four to five hours from the mountains. We have a wonderful climate with all four seasons. There are first class medical facilities within an hour’s drive. There is first class entertainment at the DPAC (and soon at our own Performing Arts Center). There are educational opportunities at the host of universities and schools plus continuing ed at VGCC. There is an incredible Library. And the amount of house that one can buy in our community for the money is way more than the house one could buy in other retirement places.
For Vance County the great benefits would include new names on the tax rolls. Retirees would not be looking at the quality of schools, though the new property taxes might give the county additional income to improve the schools. The marketing would have to be all along the northeast and would have to be constantly repeated. This marketing focus would have to be aggressive. But Vance County does have these advantages over other communities who are also needing revival. We might have to make some infrastructure additions. But we have already begun to have county water. Contractors would be happy to build “dream” homes. If we are looking for “branding” and a marketing program, I think the suggestion of those two wise successful business people makes great sense.
Tuesday, December 15, 2015
Is A Horse a Person? More education Needed....
The man was explaining why he did not mind paying taxes. He knew that taxes were the way we invest in our future. We build new roads for future growth. We build better airports. We expand mental health programs to make our future better. He closed his comments by saying that he believed in paying his taxes and investing in education because he just did not want to live in a community of ignorant and uneducated people.
The evidence seems to me to suggest that we need more taxes and more investment in education. The evidence just seems to point out that we have, regardless of public, private, home school, or whatever, a growing problem with education.
a. The refusal on the part of so many people to accept the work of science and the conclusions of the vast majority of science that there is a problem with global warming and human activities have a part to play in that warming. Almost 200 countries gathered and agreed that there is a problem and they want to fix it, and we have political leaders and followers who want to refuse to fund our country's part in the solution.
b. The second evidence for me is the incredible number of people who think the Donal Trump, Ted Cruz, or Ben Carson are equipped and qualified to be President of our country. When other countries are already passing resolutions to refuse to admit Mr.Trump to their country how will he be able to conduct foreign affairs? How do you make another country pay for a wall?
c. But the greatest evidence for the failure of our educational efforts appeared recently when a huge number of people became upset when American Pharaoh did not win Sports Illustrated "Sportsperson of the Year." Somewhere, somehow, the failure to educate our people to understand the basics of "person" is disturbing. The award is given to a person, not a horse. It is not fun to live in a country or community with uneducated people. We need to invest more into public education
The evidence seems to me to suggest that we need more taxes and more investment in education. The evidence just seems to point out that we have, regardless of public, private, home school, or whatever, a growing problem with education.
a. The refusal on the part of so many people to accept the work of science and the conclusions of the vast majority of science that there is a problem with global warming and human activities have a part to play in that warming. Almost 200 countries gathered and agreed that there is a problem and they want to fix it, and we have political leaders and followers who want to refuse to fund our country's part in the solution.
b. The second evidence for me is the incredible number of people who think the Donal Trump, Ted Cruz, or Ben Carson are equipped and qualified to be President of our country. When other countries are already passing resolutions to refuse to admit Mr.Trump to their country how will he be able to conduct foreign affairs? How do you make another country pay for a wall?
c. But the greatest evidence for the failure of our educational efforts appeared recently when a huge number of people became upset when American Pharaoh did not win Sports Illustrated "Sportsperson of the Year." Somewhere, somehow, the failure to educate our people to understand the basics of "person" is disturbing. The award is given to a person, not a horse. It is not fun to live in a country or community with uneducated people. We need to invest more into public education
Sunday, December 13, 2015
Same old issues in American Politics
We may find ourselves amazed at what is happening in our political arena in our country at the moment, but while reading an essay by G.K. Chesterton in the Illustrated London News of November 17, 1928 I found the following description of the American situation:
"The election is not a conflict between Democrats and Republicans, or between Drink and Prohibition or even in the first place between Agriculture and Finance. It is , in the simplest sense of the very strongest phrase, a conflict between light and darkness, between things understood and things not understood; between people who take a certain view of the facts, and people who have never yet even heard of the facts, between principle and prejudice; between cosmos and chaos."
Chesterton was convinced that America was too large for a campaign to be able to adequately express its ideas and objectives. The size of the country and the number of people meant that there were just large blocks of people who had no idea what the issues were, no idea of what the candidates stood for and so voted on instincts, fears and prejudices. His subject was the anti-catholic fears against Al Smith in that election. The great fear that a Catholic president would become a slave to the Pope. The very "Know Nothing" Party that, Chesterton suggested, was a very apt name for the party because they really did know very little about the Catholic faith and the world around them.
There seems to be much evidence that we have not moved there far from where we as a country were in 1928. We have so many new toys and yet we still play the old games.
"The election is not a conflict between Democrats and Republicans, or between Drink and Prohibition or even in the first place between Agriculture and Finance. It is , in the simplest sense of the very strongest phrase, a conflict between light and darkness, between things understood and things not understood; between people who take a certain view of the facts, and people who have never yet even heard of the facts, between principle and prejudice; between cosmos and chaos."
Chesterton was convinced that America was too large for a campaign to be able to adequately express its ideas and objectives. The size of the country and the number of people meant that there were just large blocks of people who had no idea what the issues were, no idea of what the candidates stood for and so voted on instincts, fears and prejudices. His subject was the anti-catholic fears against Al Smith in that election. The great fear that a Catholic president would become a slave to the Pope. The very "Know Nothing" Party that, Chesterton suggested, was a very apt name for the party because they really did know very little about the Catholic faith and the world around them.
There seems to be much evidence that we have not moved there far from where we as a country were in 1928. We have so many new toys and yet we still play the old games.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)