With the Conventions Over

Posted: September 8, 2012 in Uncategorized
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Well, they’re over. Political conventions these days hold no special surprises; the decisions have already been made. Rather, they are occasions to rally the troops and persuade a watching public why they should place their trust in one party or another, one candidate or another. Ever so often some substance creeps in. But the content of such televised events is most usually light, with oratory and rhetoric heavy.

To make sense of the increasing polarization – and there is – I revisited Jonathan Haidt’s insightful book, The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion.

In 2007 Haidt and others sponsored a conference at Princeton that addressed this issue of polarization. Part of the outcome was a clear description of everything in American politics that led to our present dilemma. It resonated as true to form with me.

“We learned that much of the increase in polarization was unavoidable. It was the natural result of the political realignment that took place after President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act in 1964. The conservative southern states, which had been solidly Democratic since the Civil War (because Lincoln was a Republican) then began to leave the Democratic Party, and by the 1990s the South was solidly Republican. Before this realignment there had been liberals and conservatives in both parties, which made it easy to form bipartisan teams who could work together on legislative projects. But after the realignment, there was no longer any overlap, either in the Senate or in the House of Representatives. Nowadays the most liberal Republican is typically more conservative than the most conservative Democrat. And once the two parties became ideologically pure – a liberal party and a conservative party – there was bound to be a rise in <polarization>.”

This trend has only been reinforced by our present ability to isolate ourselves within cocoons of like-minded individuals – either electronically, according to news channels, or physically, in a Whole Foods culture or a Cracker Barrel one.

Hence, one of Haidt’s key ideas of the book: Moral systems both bind and blind. They stick us together and simultaneously screen out any truth that might be outside our narrow worldview.  In a polarized world, everyone goes blind.

We still need people of conviction, to be sure. Fighting for the good cause is important. But in this time we also need to find ways to heal our democracy. “Blessed are the peacemakers” could be our marching orders. Who is willing to stand in the breach and articulate a the third way, creative solutions and values common to all? It’s not easy. You’ll catch flak for it. But how else can we move away from this stalemate?

Some of my young friends shrug their shoulders and say it’s irreparable, the product of history that can’t be fixed. Maybe they are right. They are some of the same ones who are just creating parallel solutions alongside the old ones. Maybe they have something. Maybe we need to demonstrate a third way rather than be part of the intractable problem. Centrifugal force spins us to the edges. But some will be called to stand in a dynamic center of the revolving turbine. They, along with the Spirit, may be our hope.

Grace and Work

Posted: September 3, 2012 in Uncategorized
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A gem from  St. Theophan in The Art of Prayer:

“Complete serenity of mind is a gift of God; but this serenity is not given without our own intense effort. You will achieve nothing by your own efforts alone; yet God will not give you anything unless you work with all your strength. This is an unbreakable law.”

Many of the great spiritual guides and writers have described the same paradox; without dependence on God we can do nothing, without our own determined effort the grace goes unused. It is a dance of the spirit. And I have witnessed this phenomenon in my own life and in the spiritual lives of others.

At times I have navigated under my own steam, depending on my own power of mind or will to move forward, to solve the problem  or create the future. The result has not generally been a good one. But I have also succumbed to just the opposite, a kind of inactive reception of a grace that is wasted on me. That doesn’t work either. Finding the balance is the trick.

Many of us recently marveled at the Olympic prowess displayed by so many world-class athletes in London. They deserve our regard. Much of their performance seemed superhuman to us mere mortals. Of course, they were gifted with such ability. No amount of time or effort would have allowed me, for instance, to do any of that. You wouldn’t see me up on the uneven parallel bars or running the hurdles. Never did, never will. Abilities of this magnitude are given. Some have it and some don’t.

But none of those naturally gifted athletes would have been at those Olympics in the first place if it were not for years of dogged effort and determination, a tough training of body and fine-tuning of mind. The gift was matched with serious effort.

So goes the spiritual truth: Nothing is achieved by our own efforts alone; if we believe so, then the spiritual flame is extinguished. But the twin is liken unto it; the gift will not come unless we work with all our strength. There is room for neither pride nor sloth.

And we are left with the dual prayer, one for each pocket of the garment:

Without you, O God, I am nothing, I do nothing.
I make of your gift an offering of my life.

Both. At the same time. Together.

Power, Lies and Election Year

Posted: September 1, 2012 in Uncategorized
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In America, every year is election year now. From the moment the election is finished the next race is on. And with it the money, Lord, the money. Billions and billions to buy elections, to buy power. People will do anything to get what they want. Obtaining power is the end that justifies any means to get it, even sullying the truth.

I am very fond of robust debate, the well-made case, contrasting viewpoints, objections and alternate suggestions. It’s what makes a good democracy go ’round. At their best, multiple political parties can engender that by providing a balance of philosophies, different approaches, different platforms with a variety of planks.

I do have a problem with the money. Our supreme court has not helped the cause. And I do have a problem with the millions poured into soundbite, glittering generality, misleading, unsubstantiated attack ads.

But what bothers me absolutely the most, without question, are the bold-faced lies. Politicos seem to think it’s just fine to slander opponents and twist past actions to suit their fancy. That means deceptive suggestions taken out of context, accusing the opponent of what was really instigated by the attacker, and labeling the opponent, unfairly, as a way to discredit them. It all stinks.

We need several systemic changes:

1. We need campaign finance reform, but we’re heading in the wrong direction. Elected officials are preoccupied with re-election and pandering to their base.

2. We need active, independent truth-telling organizations who, point by point, reveal the objective truth from the record and expose false statements and smears. We need to “out” liars as liars.

3. Citizens need to begin saying they they are turning off attack ads, not voting for those who sponsor them, and instead desire substantial give and take debate (not the media farce that presently serves as public presidential debates).

We’re in trouble, morally speaking, but not due to any of the identified pet ideologies of the parties. We are morally in trouble because lying, bearing false witness against the neighbor, inverting the truth, has become acceptable. And until it is not we will remain in the sewer that has become our political home.

The Sex Sermon

Posted: August 27, 2012 in Uncategorized
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So, you’ve been asking for it! Here it is, the Sex Sermon from Broadway Christian Church, August 26, 2012:

Sex in Church

Posted: August 26, 2012 in Uncategorized
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This morning the congregation I serve had lots of sex in church. Ok, not what you’re thinking. The topic of the day was making sense of sexuality through a faith lens, in particular same-sex relationships. At one point I suggested that in order to get over our anxiety about saying the “S” word in church we just say it in unison, which we did. That was interesting. What a liturgical exclamation!

What led to the suggestion was the observation that we can talk about sex everywhere in the culture except church. What does that say to our children, our youth, when we send sex packing away from our faith communities?

The test of the day was from that ancient blusher, The Song of Solomon. There is no escape from its deep eroticism, however it has been used metaphorically to express rapture with God. We began a journey of exploration in the Bible, recognizing that there is no one “Biblical perspective” on sexuality and marriage, but only perspectives. The only option is to become interpreters of complex texts.

Sex belongs in church. We need to model healthy, faithful and reasonable conversations for our children and youth. Because if we don’t, others will. Do we really want an disembodied religious experience that excludes a life force as powerful as this? If so we will continue the downward spiral into irrelevancy, the church as soul without a body, a phantom.

The Gift that Keeps on … Taking

Posted: August 22, 2012 in Uncategorized
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Just yesterday I was working with a person who was struggling with finances. A whole series of events led to a desperate decision: go down to the corner payday loan shop on the corner. They were cordial and helped her obtain her loan in quick order. The problem was what came next. She was shocked by the interest and payments. It would be impossible to get out of this obligation. In fact, it worsened her original situation.

Payday lenders target the working class and poor folk, the most vulnerable communities, and trap them with impossible debt. In Missouri, these predators charge an average annual percentage rate (APR) of 445%. It’s one of the highest averages in the nation, 26 times the rate cap in Arkansas, where lenders can’t charge more than 17%.

Trapped families pay fees upon fees for what was presented as quick fix money. It sends them toward certain financial oblivion. There are now more payday lenders in Missouri than McDonalds and Starbucks combined.

And where do these profits go? Usually to large out-of-state corporations. Our Missouri families are charged triple digit interest rates and millions of dollars are drained from our communities.

What should we do? Like other states, we should act to cap the rate. The FDIC recommends a reasonable 36%. It’s long overdue.

We can’t avoid economic crisis for every family in Missouri. But we can prevent the vultures from circling over the wounded body laying by the side of the road. That we can and should do.

From Above the Hills, the Ocean and Time

Posted: August 16, 2012 in Uncategorized
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It was just at the dawn of the 20th century that a young New Englander by the name of Edna St. Vincent Millay submitted her first poem of note. Those in the poetry world recognized greatness immediately and her visible career as one of America’s great poets was launched. The poem was titled Renascence and its over 200 lines were based on her experience of sitting on a mountain above her beloved Camden, Maine, and looking to the hills at her back and Penobscot Bay and its islands before her.

Kathy and I visited that very site in our own recent travels. It is not difficult to imagine her inspiration at the sight. But with all the imagination in the world one is not given Millay’s crisp elegance of verse. That is a gift, something to be savored and tasted like the mountains and sea that accompanied her pen to paper those many years ago:

All I could see from where I stood
Was three long mountains and a wood;
I turned and looked the other way,
And saw three islands in a bay.
So with my eyes I traced the line
Of the horizon, thin and fine,
Straight around till I was come
Back to where I’d started from;
And all I saw from where I stood
Was three long mountains and a wood.

Burn Down the Mosque

Posted: August 7, 2012 in Uncategorized
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That’s what happened in Joplin yesterday. People burned down the Mosque. It was arson. And the job was done right, or wrong, morally speaking.

My Joplin brother notified me – with his understandable outrage and disappointment. Really? After the tornado? After everything they endured? People of all faiths pulled together to become a community of survivors, of more then survivors. And then this – another tornado, one propelled not by wind, but by hate.

It is so easy to hate. And hate endures.

We talked, my brother and I, about the natural response to such an act. Our first response is retribution: firebomb the perpetrators’ houses and see how they like it. Uh huh. It’s easy to hate, hard to love. I know that very well. The evil intentions live in us all – differently and by different degree. But they do.

We also talked about the ways that evil intentions are often transformed by God into a a greater good. How will God and God’s people transform this tragedy into a new world of hope in Joplin, Missouri?

Already several churches have reached out to the Muslim community, offering them space for their temporary Mosque.

And could this become a definitive moment in that community, in many communities, when neighbors gather together and simply say, “Hate no more.” It’s not who we want to be. We will not conquer hate by pouring more gasoline on the fire, so to speak. Rather, hate will be overcome with love.

Hate is a powerful force in all of us. Our automatic response to violation is to achieve vengeance. But the solution is to create a new world so crowded with love that hate has to take up residence elsewhere. It happens. Even in the ashes.

Read, Think, Know Differently

Posted: July 31, 2012 in Uncategorized
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I’m reading two books simultaneously at the present, which is not unusual for me or many. What is a bit different is their remarkably different genres which must be read, encountered differently.

The first is the Pillar of Prayer, the classic Jewish devotional book that goes deep into contemplative prayer, the Kabbalah and teaching of the Baal Shem Tov and his school. I’ve been at this one for some time and it’s not just because it’s a long read, which it is, but because of the kind of literature it is. Deeply spiritual books that contain highly esoteric and abstract spiritual thought require much pondering. Yesterday I spent an hour reading two pages. Every paragraph, and often every sentence or phrase within a sentence brought me pause; I stopped and reflected, meditated, often departing to other places from there. For example, one passage dealt with a favorite theme, the appearance of distractions in prayer. Who among us does not struggle with that? And the Baal Shem wrote that when a distracting thought appears one has to discern whether or not it is a path of grace. Some distractions take us away from our goal of union with the infinite, and so we quietly let them pass through. Others come bearing the seeds of the holy in disguise. Each thought, impulse and image has within it the seed of God’s presence. So how do we take an ordinary distraction, one that seems like it stands over and against the spiritual purpose, and “repair and raise them?” You read that sentence, contemplate that thought, sink into the truth of it, and you have your daily bread. Some books are meant to be read very, very slowly, in a devotional manner, or else not at all. It is not the time for skimming or speed reading.

The other book I’m just now wading into is Michael Sandel’s What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets (FSG, 2012). It’s quite striking, his identification of the ethical challenges of living in not only a market-driven economy, but what has become a market-driven society. “What,” he asks the reader, “shouldn’t be for sale?” This is the kind of book that can be read quickly, especially if you have a bit of background in social ethics. The ideas are lodged on the conscious level, not highly symbolic. Moral concepts such as liberty and fairness are contrasted in particular social situations. Assumptions are identified and arguments considered. I started this morning and I’m a quarter of the way through it. And that is appropriate for this kind of book. I may want to stop and ponder applications or contrasts with, say, Biblical ethics, or with another book on social politics, but travel may be by high speed rail.

I know that our brains have to digest different kinds of discourse and ideas differently. We hear the voices of different authors differently. And some material is new and some is familiar, so we are able to sort through it more or less easily, depending. But what is most important, I think, is that truth, reality and our consciousness of it operates at different levels. For instance, you engage with the intricacies of building a new house in one way and receiving and responding to a work of art in another. They both ask something of you and that something is unique to the reality doing the asking. If you are contending with cancer then you want to know the scientific identification of exact detail that can be matched with exact therapies. But the spiritual resources that inform your whole being ask something more of you. There is one and then there is the other.

I think people operate in the house of religion differently, too. Some skate on the surface of facts and information, compiling a body of things to believe in. That’s one level. You memorize lists. But beneath that, in the much less conscious realm, the one beyond our control, mysteries and wonder unfold that defy logic and rationality. They appear unannounced, asking something of us. And sometimes the going slows to a crawl. Until we have to stop.

When you need it most

Posted: July 26, 2012 in Uncategorized
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Having recently become a serious consumer of health care I’ve begun to notice realities formerly hidden from view, at least my view. Of course, as a pastor, I’m around health care institutions and people receiving treatment all the time. It is part of my normal. But certain revelations come only when you are sitting in the receiver’s role.

For one, we have been blessed to receive health care of a superior nature. Not all do.  Nor do they have access to such. When it comes to 3rd world, 2nd world realities, I’ve witnessed that up close and personal. I know the difference. I remember being in a small little village in Ecuador when a peasant approached us and pleaded with us to come to his shack to visit his teenaged daughter. When we entered the dirt floor shack we discovered her laying on a pallet in obvious pain surrounded by loved ones. They uncovered the blanket to reveal what was an enormous tumor on her leg. Our doctor looked at me and shook his head; there was nothing to do. The only thing we could do was obtain morphine and provide the most minimal palliative care. Her father invited me to return to that same shack to read the 23rd Psalm and pray following her death a few days later. No, she did not have access to medical care, the kind that early intervention could have helped. It wasn’t there.

But when I say that not all people have access I’m not only referring to the 3rd world. The discrepancy is right here.

As we receive top drawer medical attention I am hyper-aware of the 30 million or so Americans who have no medical insurance. Let me tell you, I’ve been looking at those bills as they’ve come in and our modest co-pays. The amounts are staggering for the diagnostics alone. And those costs are merited. We have the most sophisticated medical system in the world. It’s expensive because that level of care – and all the research and infrastructure that makes it possible – is expensive. It just is. And who would want less?

I look at those bills and consider a person without medical insurance. There is an impossibility of paying for such care, especially if you are a person of modest means. And what that means is that the system rations that very carefully for you, the uninsured, precisely because you can’t pay for it. Certain tests are passed by. Shortcuts are taken. And your care – for the poor or uninsured – becomes minimal care, usually without preventive dimensions present at all. When the emergency room is your provider it’s always crisis care, and expensive to the hospital and public. It’s the worst possible solution.

We have friends who have been downsized from their jobs and then lost their health care simultaneously. Sure, with a Cobra they extend coverage for a while – but at an astronomical rate. Who can pay for that when you’ve lost your job anyway?

And we’ve considered what it would be like for Kathy – now with a preexisting condition – to somehow lose our insurance and then be faced with being excluded from future coverage for that very reason, at her time of greatest need. We could buy coverage at an inflated rate or none at all. Would we take short cuts to afford it? Probably. Or they would be made for us.

It seems to me that I, from a privileged position of having access to outstanding health care, would be on morally shaky ground if I were to suggest that it’s just fine for others not to have it when I do. And the measure of a just and compassionate society, it seems to me, is to make that happen. There are many ways to skin the health care cat, I know. But turning a blind eye to the problems is not acceptable, especially for those of us who know that we stand before a righteous and merciful God.

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