One of my nephews posted a clip on Facebook last week from The Daily Show’s coverage of the Republican National Convention. In it, the Daily Show decides to streamline America, running government like a business.
Hilarity ensues as Daily Show correspondents confront delegates from states receiving the most federal budget assistance while paying the least in federal taxes. As they tell a delegate from Mississippi who opines the market should decide if an organization succeeds or fails: “Whoa, dead last in per capita income — you are costing the government $20 billion!”
“Suddenly, when actually faced with the numbers, running America like a business didn’t seem like a good idea after all,” deadpans Daily Show correspondent John Oliver. “And it was every state for themselves.”
The final scene pitted Minnesota, Wyoming and Mississippi against each other to “keep their job,” with one of their delegates making the pitch to stay in the union.
This comic theater asks a serious question. Do we really want our government run like a business? Because the goal of business is profit.
As an example, let’s take schools. Our schools were developed to educate our children. Is this goal compatible with making a profit?
I know as a former school board member that schools make business decisions: from which vendor to purchase milk, bread and gasoline or how to cost-effectively air condition a building. But the first and foremost concern is providing the best education for kids. Do we really want to sacrifice that goal for profit?
Do we want to hire the least expensive teachers i.e. the least experienced, less educated teachers and perhaps fewer of them – to ensure a profit? Because that is the choice we’ll make if we run a school like a business.
And that’s one of the problems with some of the new privatized educational models being pushed, such as online schools. In states like Iowa, where school is financed on a per pupil basis, online schools will receive the per pupil amount. But any money they save by cutting expenses will go directly toward their profit. See how that works? From taxpayers’ pockets to private profit – instead of to educating students.
Results for online schooling to date are mixed at best, certainly indicating a need for at least more research. In an article last December titled “Online Schools Score Better on Wall Street than in Classrooms,” Stephanie Saul of the New York Times wrote of the leading online education company, K12 Inc.: “Instead, a portrait emerges of a company that tries to squeeze profits from public school dollars by raising enrollment, increasing teacher workload and lowering standards.”
I’d note the same business model is used plenty of other places. Again, google “Iraq no-bid contracts.” Google Enron. Or, MF Global. Heck, read George W. Bush’s resume, and check out Matt Taibbi’s latest Rolling Stone article titled: “Greed and Debt: The True Story of Mitt Romney and Bain Capital.”
In fact, the last few years have given us one example after another of businesses run into the ground, yet we’re still insisting business operates better than government.
Americans have lost sight of the social compact we make to act in community for the benefit of all – or at least as many as possible. Certain things are too important to be driven by something as mercenary as money.
Saturday, September 22, 2012
Sunday, September 2, 2012
Do we dare to look in the mirror?
Note:One of my various jobs is serving as a worship leader -- either in a 7-point charge in Paige county or as fill-in for vacationing or ailing pastors. Following is my sermon for Sunday, Sept. 2, 2012.
When preparing for this morning’s message, I was struck by the epistle reading from James, which included this illustration using a mirror:
“For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets, but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
Mirrors are fascinating objects. They bend and reflect light. We look into them to see ourselves, seeking truth. But as this passage notes, we may forget what we see. We should also ask if we see clearly what’s reflected.
This mirror illustration brought to mind a number of stories, including the old familiar tale of Snow White. As we know, Snow White’s mother died shortly after her birth. Soon after that, her father, the king, married another woman who was beautiful, proud and cruel. The stepmother had studied dark magic and owned a magic mirror, of which she would daily ask, “Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?”
For many years, each time this question was asked, the mirror would answer, "Thou, O Queen, art the fairest of all." Of course, this answer pleased the queen as she knew her mirror could speak nothing but the truth.
So it came as a shock when one morning after asking, "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?" it answered: You, my queen, are fair; it is true. But Snow White is even fairer than you.
That’s when things became really difficult for Snow White. Most of us know the rest of the story – how the queen sent Snow White into the woods with the huntsman, who was charged with killing the girl. How she escaped, begging for mercy, and fled until she found refuge with the seven dwarves. How the queen discovered her via the mirror and disguised herself as the old woman selling apples. How Snow White was deceived and took a bite of the poisoned fruit. How she lay as dead until her final rescue.
Throughout this tale, the mirror reflected beauty and evil; its truth was complicated and perilous for both the queen and Snow White.
Likewise, I think the Pharisees in our passage from Mark this morning had similar trouble with what they saw in the mirror of the law. Although they question Jesus about the practices of the Jewish law and tradition among his disciples, Jesus holds that same mirror up and asks them to take a longer look, saying, “You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.”
And Jesus clarifies further, saying, “Hear me, all of you, and understand: There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.”
Later in Jesus’ ministry, the rich young ruler said, “I have done everything the law has asked. I am one who can look in the mirror and see a perfect reflection of the law.” Then Jesus said, “look through the looking glass -- through the mirror, and give all you have to the poor and come, follow me.”
But the man replied, “I just can’t see myself doing that. That is not a reflection of what I do.” So he walked away for it was more mirror than he cared to see. And let’s be honest, how many of us in his shoes would have done the same?
And so we should ask: “Do we dare to look in the mirror?”
The writer of James makes that question personal and the encounter with the rich young ruler a matter for you and me: “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”
In the Iowa Methodist Church’s weekly Memo to Preachers, Rev. Bill Cotton asks how one goes about staying “unstained” in the face of service to world. And to wrestle with that question, he writes that he consulted his old friend Tex Sample, who touched a nerve by citing the example of America’s wealthy, who want low taxes while demanding high military spending. Tex shared with Bill that the Society of Friends or Quakers, who are pacifists, track American military spending at 59% of our national budget.
Tex continued noting that it’s not wealthy kids who serve in the military, but poor and working class young people. And they end up fighting not to defend their families, but the assets of transnational corporations that send jobs abroad and hide profits to avoid taxes.
And Tex concluded: “This is not only wealthfare, it is also the sacrifice of poor and working young people on the altar of supply-side economics. For anyone who is formed by the biblical prophets and by Jesus, such wickedness will finally bring judgment.”
All this led Rev. Cotton to write:
“I can’t say it better. To remain silent in the face of such evil is to give the appearance of consent. Evil does have a way of rubbing off onto us. I think we need to heed the Book of James and become doers of the word—speak up!”
And so . . . the echo of this day is, “Do we see clearly in the mirror? Do we dare? Do we recognize that to much of the world, WE are the 1 percent?”
Remember that James uses the mirror as an illustration of the law. Do we see God’s law of love clearly in all aspects of our life? Are we living it?
As our United Methodist Church worship planning resources note: “. . . in James and in early Christianity generally, to keep oneself unstained from the world (James 1:27) did not mean seeking to live entirely apart from the world in some kind of ascetic withdrawal. Rather, it meant not allowing the way the world treats others -- especially the poor, the widow, the orphans, and the marginalized -- to mar the way we treat all people as disciples of Jesus. The world's way keeps them stuck or channels them off to one side. The way of Jesus and his disciples is to come alongside as advocates with the vulnerable and voiceless. . . .”
The Rev. Jim Wallis of Sojourners also wrote this week about advocacy and justice in a weekly blog post entitled, “Caring for the Poor is Government’s Biblical Role.” Drawing from the texts of Paul, as well as the prophets, Wallis lays out the Bible’s mandates for the role and purpose of government:
“So the purpose of government, according to Paul, is to protect and promote. Protect from the evil and promote the good, and we are even instructed to pay taxes for those purposes. So to disparage government per se — to see government as the central problem in society — is simply not a biblical position.”
Wallis describes how throughout Biblical history the prophets spoke up about injustice to the poor and forgotten, and that God held both church and government leaders accountable. For even before Jesus, James and Paul, God’s law required the care of the least in society. And I think for both Rev. Cotton and Rev. Wallis, this election season has them looking in the collective mirror to ask if we are living out God’s law.
I would also note that James states clearly that when we act to help others; to live out love, we are the ones who receive the grace of God.
I receive it on Wednesday afternoons when one of the children in Grant’s after-school program asks, “Can I sit on your lap?” Or, “Will your read me a book?” Or when I simply listen to their stories about their day, letting them share the disappointments, laughs, frustrations and surprises they’ve experienced. And I am learning to speak up and share their stories and their needs -- for education, health care and even food, using my voice with my representatives in government as well as with my vote.
My friend, the Rev. Jim Campbell, writes about the blessings of faith in action in his Wonder unto Beauty blog post, “Lost in Wonder:”
“We are not called to simply love those who are in need,
but dare to believe that those we serve
are the face of Christ coming to us
in how WE are to grow.
It is the Benedictines who greet each stranger at the door
with the words, “We have been expecting you.”
Faith into action is a riddle.
It is knowing that in serving God that we find God,
that in caring for others that they help us touch
our own hidden brokenness and fears.
"It is in the face of the least of these our brothers and sisters
that we discover the face of Christ in the street,
the glory of the Lord,
the necessary wonder unto beauty of the goodness of God.
Here, the jazz of God pulses into a freedom dance
in the alley mud for all concerned,
that the imprisoned, the thirsty, the naked and the hungry
include ourselves
yearning for our own re-conversion
beyond the limits of faith in action in a box,
to the lost-ness of WONDER, love and praise set free.”
So look in the mirror, remember to do, and be blessed.
Amen.
When preparing for this morning’s message, I was struck by the epistle reading from James, which included this illustration using a mirror:
“For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets, but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
Mirrors are fascinating objects. They bend and reflect light. We look into them to see ourselves, seeking truth. But as this passage notes, we may forget what we see. We should also ask if we see clearly what’s reflected.
This mirror illustration brought to mind a number of stories, including the old familiar tale of Snow White. As we know, Snow White’s mother died shortly after her birth. Soon after that, her father, the king, married another woman who was beautiful, proud and cruel. The stepmother had studied dark magic and owned a magic mirror, of which she would daily ask, “Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?”
For many years, each time this question was asked, the mirror would answer, "Thou, O Queen, art the fairest of all." Of course, this answer pleased the queen as she knew her mirror could speak nothing but the truth.
So it came as a shock when one morning after asking, "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?" it answered: You, my queen, are fair; it is true. But Snow White is even fairer than you.
That’s when things became really difficult for Snow White. Most of us know the rest of the story – how the queen sent Snow White into the woods with the huntsman, who was charged with killing the girl. How she escaped, begging for mercy, and fled until she found refuge with the seven dwarves. How the queen discovered her via the mirror and disguised herself as the old woman selling apples. How Snow White was deceived and took a bite of the poisoned fruit. How she lay as dead until her final rescue.
Throughout this tale, the mirror reflected beauty and evil; its truth was complicated and perilous for both the queen and Snow White.
Likewise, I think the Pharisees in our passage from Mark this morning had similar trouble with what they saw in the mirror of the law. Although they question Jesus about the practices of the Jewish law and tradition among his disciples, Jesus holds that same mirror up and asks them to take a longer look, saying, “You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.”
And Jesus clarifies further, saying, “Hear me, all of you, and understand: There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.”
Later in Jesus’ ministry, the rich young ruler said, “I have done everything the law has asked. I am one who can look in the mirror and see a perfect reflection of the law.” Then Jesus said, “look through the looking glass -- through the mirror, and give all you have to the poor and come, follow me.”
But the man replied, “I just can’t see myself doing that. That is not a reflection of what I do.” So he walked away for it was more mirror than he cared to see. And let’s be honest, how many of us in his shoes would have done the same?
And so we should ask: “Do we dare to look in the mirror?”
The writer of James makes that question personal and the encounter with the rich young ruler a matter for you and me: “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”
In the Iowa Methodist Church’s weekly Memo to Preachers, Rev. Bill Cotton asks how one goes about staying “unstained” in the face of service to world. And to wrestle with that question, he writes that he consulted his old friend Tex Sample, who touched a nerve by citing the example of America’s wealthy, who want low taxes while demanding high military spending. Tex shared with Bill that the Society of Friends or Quakers, who are pacifists, track American military spending at 59% of our national budget.
Tex continued noting that it’s not wealthy kids who serve in the military, but poor and working class young people. And they end up fighting not to defend their families, but the assets of transnational corporations that send jobs abroad and hide profits to avoid taxes.
And Tex concluded: “This is not only wealthfare, it is also the sacrifice of poor and working young people on the altar of supply-side economics. For anyone who is formed by the biblical prophets and by Jesus, such wickedness will finally bring judgment.”
All this led Rev. Cotton to write:
“I can’t say it better. To remain silent in the face of such evil is to give the appearance of consent. Evil does have a way of rubbing off onto us. I think we need to heed the Book of James and become doers of the word—speak up!”
And so . . . the echo of this day is, “Do we see clearly in the mirror? Do we dare? Do we recognize that to much of the world, WE are the 1 percent?”
Remember that James uses the mirror as an illustration of the law. Do we see God’s law of love clearly in all aspects of our life? Are we living it?
As our United Methodist Church worship planning resources note: “. . . in James and in early Christianity generally, to keep oneself unstained from the world (James 1:27) did not mean seeking to live entirely apart from the world in some kind of ascetic withdrawal. Rather, it meant not allowing the way the world treats others -- especially the poor, the widow, the orphans, and the marginalized -- to mar the way we treat all people as disciples of Jesus. The world's way keeps them stuck or channels them off to one side. The way of Jesus and his disciples is to come alongside as advocates with the vulnerable and voiceless. . . .”
The Rev. Jim Wallis of Sojourners also wrote this week about advocacy and justice in a weekly blog post entitled, “Caring for the Poor is Government’s Biblical Role.” Drawing from the texts of Paul, as well as the prophets, Wallis lays out the Bible’s mandates for the role and purpose of government:
“So the purpose of government, according to Paul, is to protect and promote. Protect from the evil and promote the good, and we are even instructed to pay taxes for those purposes. So to disparage government per se — to see government as the central problem in society — is simply not a biblical position.”
Wallis describes how throughout Biblical history the prophets spoke up about injustice to the poor and forgotten, and that God held both church and government leaders accountable. For even before Jesus, James and Paul, God’s law required the care of the least in society. And I think for both Rev. Cotton and Rev. Wallis, this election season has them looking in the collective mirror to ask if we are living out God’s law.
I would also note that James states clearly that when we act to help others; to live out love, we are the ones who receive the grace of God.
I receive it on Wednesday afternoons when one of the children in Grant’s after-school program asks, “Can I sit on your lap?” Or, “Will your read me a book?” Or when I simply listen to their stories about their day, letting them share the disappointments, laughs, frustrations and surprises they’ve experienced. And I am learning to speak up and share their stories and their needs -- for education, health care and even food, using my voice with my representatives in government as well as with my vote.
My friend, the Rev. Jim Campbell, writes about the blessings of faith in action in his Wonder unto Beauty blog post, “Lost in Wonder:”
“We are not called to simply love those who are in need,
but dare to believe that those we serve
are the face of Christ coming to us
in how WE are to grow.
It is the Benedictines who greet each stranger at the door
with the words, “We have been expecting you.”
Faith into action is a riddle.
It is knowing that in serving God that we find God,
that in caring for others that they help us touch
our own hidden brokenness and fears.
"It is in the face of the least of these our brothers and sisters
that we discover the face of Christ in the street,
the glory of the Lord,
the necessary wonder unto beauty of the goodness of God.
Here, the jazz of God pulses into a freedom dance
in the alley mud for all concerned,
that the imprisoned, the thirsty, the naked and the hungry
include ourselves
yearning for our own re-conversion
beyond the limits of faith in action in a box,
to the lost-ness of WONDER, love and praise set free.”
So look in the mirror, remember to do, and be blessed.
Amen.
Saturday, September 1, 2012
Will we choose wisely this election?
Recently, we've been re-watching the Indiana Jones movies. In the third film, “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,” Indy sets out to rescue his Biblical scholar father who has been captured by the Nazis and the adventure turns into a quest for the Holy Grail or cup of Christ.
This quest has been the lifelong dream of Jones, Sr., while the Nazis seek to possess the Grail for its supernatural powers.
This race for the Grail converges in a cave in the North African desert, where an ancient Knight Templar guards it. In an inner sanctum, this knight waits with a collection of goblets and a spring of fresh water to be relieved of his guardianship.
But as the Nazis’ and Jones' parties vie for control, Indiana is faced with a difficult choice -- choosing from among the collected cups to save his wounded father. Just seconds before, Indy had watched a Nazi, who desired the Grail for his own wealth and power, choose incorrectly, drink and evaporate to dust.
“He chose . . . poorly,” concludes the old knight, who watches these events calmly.
So Indiana Jones passes his gaze across the cups and asks, “Which is the cup of a poor carpenter?” And when he sees a rough, unadorned water goblet, he grabs it, fills it and drinks.
“You have chosen . . . wisely,” declares the knight slowly. But will we?
This story came to mind as I was preparing a sermon (I serve as a worship leader in a 7-church charge in Page County) based on Solomon's request for wisdom. In my preparation, I spent time reading about Proverbs and found my study Bible described that book as representing “the democratization of wisdom.”
In this election season, that phrase stuck in my brain. In other words, wisdom is offered to all people. It's not just a gift; it's a pursuit you can choose.
Or not.
With regard to the election, I think too many of us have given up pursuing knowledge to make wise choices. Instead, we simply react to whatever's presented - either getting mad or blindly accepting messages repeated so often we don't question their truth.
I think the best example of the latter is Reagan”s quote: “Government is not the solution to our problems. Government IS the problem.”
Great sound bite, but was it true?
Not if you like your armed forces or Social Security or Medicare or public school or student financial aid or Veteran’s Administration benefits or farm program or public roads or post office or police and fire departments or flu shots or hosts of other government services.
Meanwhile, this meme was repeated until it became accepted truth. Through both Republican and Democratic administrations we’ve been told private entities (like Wall Street banks) operate more efficiently than government. Yet does history bear this out?
Google “Iraq no-bid contracts” and read how private contractors bilked our government out of millions of dollars by overcharging for services military personnel used to perform. Why?
Because under the government-is-the problem argument, we've repealed regulations that protect the public and downsized or dismantled agencies responsible for oversight. Another is the “America's failing schools” meme. Many accept education reform is needed, yet polling shows most are satisfied with their own school. We never question the meme or those promoting it. Yet American school children are taught reading and other concepts at earlier ages than ever. And all American children are educated and tested; even developmentally disabled students have plans to help them reach full potential. Other nations do not do this, so test score comparisons touted in media compare apples to oranges.
These are but two examples. It’s not difficult to find others if you are willing to look - to pursue the knowledge. That’s our job as voters; it's how we arm ourselves to make choices like the one in November. So I can’t help wondering, will we choose wisely?
This quest has been the lifelong dream of Jones, Sr., while the Nazis seek to possess the Grail for its supernatural powers.
This race for the Grail converges in a cave in the North African desert, where an ancient Knight Templar guards it. In an inner sanctum, this knight waits with a collection of goblets and a spring of fresh water to be relieved of his guardianship.
But as the Nazis’ and Jones' parties vie for control, Indiana is faced with a difficult choice -- choosing from among the collected cups to save his wounded father. Just seconds before, Indy had watched a Nazi, who desired the Grail for his own wealth and power, choose incorrectly, drink and evaporate to dust.
“He chose . . . poorly,” concludes the old knight, who watches these events calmly.
So Indiana Jones passes his gaze across the cups and asks, “Which is the cup of a poor carpenter?” And when he sees a rough, unadorned water goblet, he grabs it, fills it and drinks.
“You have chosen . . . wisely,” declares the knight slowly. But will we?
This story came to mind as I was preparing a sermon (I serve as a worship leader in a 7-church charge in Page County) based on Solomon's request for wisdom. In my preparation, I spent time reading about Proverbs and found my study Bible described that book as representing “the democratization of wisdom.”
In this election season, that phrase stuck in my brain. In other words, wisdom is offered to all people. It's not just a gift; it's a pursuit you can choose.
Or not.
With regard to the election, I think too many of us have given up pursuing knowledge to make wise choices. Instead, we simply react to whatever's presented - either getting mad or blindly accepting messages repeated so often we don't question their truth.
I think the best example of the latter is Reagan”s quote: “Government is not the solution to our problems. Government IS the problem.”
Great sound bite, but was it true?
Not if you like your armed forces or Social Security or Medicare or public school or student financial aid or Veteran’s Administration benefits or farm program or public roads or post office or police and fire departments or flu shots or hosts of other government services.
Meanwhile, this meme was repeated until it became accepted truth. Through both Republican and Democratic administrations we’ve been told private entities (like Wall Street banks) operate more efficiently than government. Yet does history bear this out?
Google “Iraq no-bid contracts” and read how private contractors bilked our government out of millions of dollars by overcharging for services military personnel used to perform. Why?
Because under the government-is-the problem argument, we've repealed regulations that protect the public and downsized or dismantled agencies responsible for oversight. Another is the “America's failing schools” meme. Many accept education reform is needed, yet polling shows most are satisfied with their own school. We never question the meme or those promoting it. Yet American school children are taught reading and other concepts at earlier ages than ever. And all American children are educated and tested; even developmentally disabled students have plans to help them reach full potential. Other nations do not do this, so test score comparisons touted in media compare apples to oranges.
These are but two examples. It’s not difficult to find others if you are willing to look - to pursue the knowledge. That’s our job as voters; it's how we arm ourselves to make choices like the one in November. So I can’t help wondering, will we choose wisely?
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