A large percentage of our best and brightest take jobs in the financial sector.  We live in a meritocracy where those who work the hardest are successful, but when the goal is to make and produce money isn’t something skewed?  This isn’t the work ethic my parents grew up with.  As Americans we are supposed to believe in hard work and self sufficiency, but when the nucleus of our economic system plies the winds of speculation and guesswork are we not being duped?  Many young people today are cynical, and they have a right to be.  What I wish is that they would turn some of that cynicism into political advocacy. One of the hardest things to do in life is match our avowed values with our actual values.  We avow the work ethic but reward the gambler.

Should I , as a United Methodist clergyperson divest myself of stocks?  Should the Church pull out of Wall Street?  (Maybe we should occupy Wall Street?)  Divestiture is impractical, but at least we can change the way we view our world – particularly politics.  As much as we pat ourselves on the back as a nation of freedom, democracy and hard work the reality is different, and the rest of the world knows this better than we do.  We are a nation of winners and losers, and the ponzi scheme is our Tower of Babel.  I believe it is our job as United Methodist Christians to expose the truth; it is our calling to bring people out of a world of betting into a world of sacrifice and love.  We need to challenge the myth that strangles us – be honest about what our economy is about, and invite people to seeking the Kin-dom of God.  Let us reaffirm our stance against gambling, treating capital gains as gambing winnings and tax them accordingly.   Pastor Jim

The latter is the more common understanding of the meaning of being created equal and it is expressed in the words, “equal opportunity.”  Behind the Declaration of Independence, as well as the Constitution and the Bill of Rights is the belief presented most notably by philosopher John Locke that we are all born as “clean slates.”  When each of us in born there are no characteristics that influence or limit who we are able to become; we all have an equal start to write on that slate whatever we want, therefore we have equal opportunity.  I  am not certain that this is the best way to interpret the words of the Declaration of Independence; it certainly isn’t a Christian one.

The developing understanding of a person/self that we have from science and philosophy today does not concur with Locke’s vision of a clean slate at birth.  Darwinism alone throws that out the window.  It is not only genetically that we are born differently and not equally, but socially as well – being born in a ghetto is not equal to being born in the suburbs.  This does not mean that we are determined; we have the freedom to create ourselves but we all have predispositions that we are born with that will influence who we become.  My first son was born with a predisposition for asthma and allergies.  As an infant we had to seclude him in order to avoid colds which often resulted in a trip to the ER.  I can tell you I did not think that was fair!  Nor equal, especially when in the company of parents holding a calm and peaceful child.  Put simply, from a rational scientific point of view we are not created equal and therefore do not have equal opportunity.

More than that, this perspective is also at odds with what we hold to be self evident as Christians.  “God is love” precludes anything we have to say.  God loveing all equally is the basis for how we view this, and it means not only that God loves us equally when we are born but also wants us to be equal throughout our lives – to seek equality with intention.

A Christian understanding of freedom is irreconcilable with the common understanding of freedom which is, I believe, the power to do as I please.  We mistake freedom as an end rather than a means.  Martin Buber called freedom empty, a stepping stone rather than a dwelling place.  Can you imgine a politician in American saying that freedom is empty?!  Freedom is necessary for there to be transformation; by saying that freedom is empty does not devalue it.  But by saying that freedom is necessary for transformation is to acknowledge that transformation is a more substantive value.  Freedom is necessary as a means but dangerous as an end; as an end freedom leads to either totalitarianism or anarchy.  For the Apostle Paul freedom was definetely a means and not an end.  Specifically, freedom was a means for one to become a ”slave of Christ.”  Excuse me?!  Freedom is a means for a greater good which is to choose to be a disciple of Jesus Christ so that the Kin-dom of God may come. 

I would love to feel the freedom to pursue happiness – create my own life, write my slate, but I got married and that put an end to that.  Then I was careless enough to have children.  But even with these formitable constraints that are shared by many I also have this Jesus thing to deal with; and what is self evident to me is not that we are created equal but that God loves us equally.  

Not only did I get married and have children, I became a pastor, and to make matters even worse I became a United Methodist pastor who is required to hand over my personal freedom to a bishop who has the power to tell me where to go…. I am a slave to the Church!  Let it be so with me and likewise for many.  Pastor Jim

Part of the time will be spent sharing about ourselves and our journeys in faith, and then we will discuss some of the important characteristics of the United Methodist Church.

It is a great opportunity to learn about our denomination and Church.

If you are interested, please contact Pastor Jim.  Childcare will be provided upon request.

I have read Christian Fiction all of my life:  Dostoevsky, Graham Greene, Endo Shusaku just to name a few.  Oddly, I’m not sure these authors would be placed in the “Christian Fiction” section.  This category has a kind of formula, and touches our minds and hearts in the same way as  praise music -it has its place but it lacks gravitas.  I confess I am somewhat distrustful of “Inspiration.”  After looking at some of the books in this category it seems a lot like Christian Self-He lp.

Is this a part of the general dumbing down of America?  We all know the stories:  when we invaded Iraq most Americans didn’t know where Iraq is, much less about the differences between Sunni and Shiite, only 10% of Americans can name the number of justices on the Supreme Court, and a good many surveyed thought that Joan of Arc was Noah’s wife!  The Bible is the most popular book never read, and if it is read it is read literally rather than seriously, that is using our minds.

I worry about education today.  It seems as though one can graduate from college and not learn critical thinking.  What IS education if it doens’t involve cxritical thinking?  Training?

When we United Methodists claim Open Minds in our denominationl slogan we mean more than being open to tolerating differecnes – we are for that too.  But it also means that we believe thinking is a part of faith.  In confirmation I hope to teach the youth not what to believe but how to think about thier faith – how to formulate the best questions.

So if you are looking for a place where you can have faith and think, come and join us.  but be careful, the other part of the the Church’s slogan is Open Hearts.

Recently I saw an ad for an Acura during a sporting event.  it started with a football player undressing and then redressing into a suit.  A voice then said, “we can do it with people, why not with cars?”  which even now makes little sense to me.  Then came the line that has troubled me.  “The new Acura, aggression at its most elegant.”

What is that?  What is elegant about aggression?  Is that punching someone but with good form?  Tearing into someone but with style?  Waterboarding with Perrier?  Advertisers don’t casually come up with this stuff.  People are paid much more than I am to weedle out such amazing combinations of words.  The audience is men and you know that some big bucks reasearch went into discerning that men are filled with latent aggression, so why not capitalize on it.  Do you see why this troubles me?

I remember in the novel Catch-22 by Joseph Heller when the crews went up over Italy to bomb the Nazis; the Major didn’t care about what was destroyed – the actual success of the mission – he just wanted to see a good and even bomb pattern becasue that’s what his superiors wanted.  Now I have a name for that – elegant aggression.  I am also reminded of smart bombs and drones. 

There is nothing elegant about aggression and violence.  It hurts people.  The last thing we need our young men hearing subliminally is that aggression is cool if you can do it with style. 

One of the tasks of the church with young people is to offer a different vision of the world and what it can be.  In order to do that we have to be very discerning about what the wrong message is – to point it out and rage against it.  If we aren’t doing this, who will?  Pastor Jim

There is plenty of biblical precedence for the message of the equal distribution of wealth, not the least of which is the Old Testament concept of Jubilee – every 50 years all resources are thrown back into the pot and handed out again equally.  Jesus had plenty to say about the economy, usually addressing the injustice of some having much and the majority having very little; it’s not as if this message isn’t clear.  We can disagree as Christians on how this is to be done but not about the fact that it needs to be done.

There is a deep and abiding spiritual foundation for much of what the issues the occupiers are raising.  So, why not “occupy the church?”  I believe that this kind of dialogue and witness is not only appropriate to being the church in our world, but also vital to it.   What do you all think?  Pastor Jim