Budget Priorities

It seems to me that both candidates this year feel, rightly so, that our government is a little overextended - financially speaking. That pesky little deficit again.

The real question is not whether or not we need to adjust our national spending habits (has anyone thought about freezing the pentagon's credit card in a block of ice?), but what priorities and values will we use for that adjustment?

Will we, as a nation, invest in the education of our young people? Will we seek to eliminate hunger in one of the world's wealthiest countries? Will we provide healthcare to those who need it most?

Or will we continue to fund (expensive!) crazy-ass ideas in the name of "national defense"?

Myths & Morals go to Washington

As children, we were taught that Robin Hood was a hero, as he stole from the rich and gave to the poor. Indeed, in 1938 this was a dominant enough truth to receive the star treatment in a feature film directed at adults.

The underlying assumption on the Robin Hood myth - the assumption that makes this thief a hero of morality and truth - is that the rich have gotten their wealth at the expense of the poor. In a culture with a very small upper crust, this is a popular and powerful truth. However, as the wealth of a nation/culture grows, this diminishes in popularity - the rich become rich by virtue (hard work, industriousness, etc) rather than at the expense of others.

Of course the question remains - at whose expense have we become wealthy? I don't think that it is a question that any of us is comfortable with.

And, larger questions about our current policies arise. When did the myth become reversed, so that we steal from others (as a nation) in order to give to the rich? When did the Robin Hood principle become called social welfare (with negative connotations), rather than virtue?

Overheard

At a public gathering, from a congregant:

"It all depends on the election. If Obama is elected, he's gonna give all our money away to those black folks."

Exactly

Posted by FranIAm, from the Sacramento Bee. Caption:
Officer Laura Gerritsen, life partner of Los Angeles Police Officer Spree DeSha, who was killed in the Metrolink train collision, touches DeSha's casket during funeral services at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles . Thursday, Sept. 18, 2008

(original context)

Overheard

On The Biggest Loser last night:
"I've never had a child, but the pain is probably worse than giving birth."

Have you ever noticed that whenver the second part of the phrase ("the pain is worse than giving birth") is uttered, it is almost always preceeded by the first part ("I've never had a child, but"). Do people ever wonder that it is always people who have not given birth that go around comparing things to what birth feels like?

F'ing Flags

A friend from another blog life posted about "the church militant", in particular about a gun-bearing color guard standing behind a member of the clergy while he preached. To which I really only have one response, one that has been bubbling in me for quite some time:
Take the flags out of our churches.
All of them.
Now.

The church is not American. The church should not ever be American. The Gospel has no nationality, and neither should the people of the Gospel. Churches out to be like embassies: each embassy, no matter what country it happens to be located in, is sovereign soil of the country it represents. Churches, especially sanctuaries, are sovereign soil of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Isn't it really about the first Commandment? American Christians have made the nation into a god, into an idol, that we look to as the thing that we trust in and rely upon. I have actually had a member say to me (about Obama): "I could never vote for him. By not putting his hand to his chest during the pledge he disrespected the flag, and that's like disrespecting God." It doesn't get any closer to good old pagan idolatry than that.

Take out the flags. Become Christians who happen to live in American, rather than American Christians.
Of course, it leaves the whole issue of what to do about the pledge and the first commandment, but that is another topic for another time.

Membership Sucks

"Membership" has become about the most useless category for understanding the church. The congregation that I serve has "members" who live hours away - you can imagine how active they are in our community. If the congregation is the local expression of the universal body of Christ - then the "members" of it ought to be local; that is, they should be a part of the local community.

In my tradition (and in many mainline traditions), a person remains a member as long as they attend or contribute once every two years! What sort of discipleship are we teaching? I regularly tell people when they move off that they should find a congregation in their community to worship at and participate in - rather than making sure they come back here once a year to keep up their membership.

I don't care about members. I care about disciples - men and women who have chosen to follow Jesus, and to attempt to live the lives he has called us to. There is a country club down the road, and two rotary clubs in town, if people want to pay their dues and be members somewhere.