Thursday, December 22, 2011

Jesus, the Misfit!

Christmas is alive and well!  Consumption is again king and queen, at least for those who have money to spend.  Colorful lights yield beauty.  Carols and secular songs paint musical images of the season.  People fuel up their vehicles, purchase plane tickets, train tickets, bus tickets to go home or connect with significant others.  Places of worship are overflowing, necessitating extra services.  Candle light services are especially appealing. Christmas time is an "orgy of activity".

All because of a celebration of the birth of Jesus.  What is it about Jesus' birth that stirs such outpourings?  I would suggest first of all that we need beginnings.  Jesus' beginning was the beginning of something totally renewing and life giving in a broken world.  We are constantly crying out for new beginnings, for the energy to start over, for the hope of new possibilities!  Second, it is because of the totality of Jesus' life, and how his message, his character, his mission transformed history. I heard a quote recently that conveys Jesus' Truth:

Here's to the crazy ones, the misfits, the troublemakers,
the round pegs in the square holes.... The ones who see
things differently - they are not fond of rules.... You can
quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them,
but the only thing you can't do is ignore them because they
change things.... They push the human race forward, and 
while some may see them as crazy ones, we see genius,
because the ones who are crazy enough to think they can
change the world, are the ones who do.

These words were spoken at Steve Jobs' memorial service.

As metaphor, they also describe Jesus.  And his actions began at birth.  Jesus was born in poverty during a time of Roman occupation.  The historian Tacitus describes Roman rule: "To plunder, butcher, steal, these things they misname empire: they make a desert and they call it peace." 

Into this desert, Jesus' birth was a life of contrast and conflict with Roman rule: nonviolence instead of violence, justice instead of war, healing instead of the sword, words instead of oppression, forgiveness instead of retribution, grace instead of greed, reconciliation instead of walls, love instead of hate, peace instead of domination.  

Borg and Crossan describe the Christmas story as "a subversive parable."  Subversive stories help us see differently.  They subvert the conventional ways of seeing.  Similarly, parables are metaphors.

I recall a line from the movie "Zorba the Greek".  Zorba is trying to loosen up an uptight Britisher.  He tells the Brit, "You must learn to be crazy!  You must learn to dance!"(or words to that effect).

I think God realized that the world needed this craziness!  Craziness clothed as a misfit.  Misfit swaddled as a child.  Child who would bring to life the words from Isaiah: "Comfort, O comfort my people.... Wonderful Counselor..., Prince of Peace.... The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid..., and a little child shall lead them.... They shall not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain.... Speak tenderly to Jerusalem.... proclaim liberty to the captives.... proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.... for I the Lord love justice." 

Here's to the Misfit! 

A joyous Christmas to all!

Peace!
Ron

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Sibylline Wisdom

The SIBYLLINE ORACLES are theological writings of pagan, Jewish, and Christian origin.  They were written between the second century BCE and the fifth century CE.  The following are SO 2.319-24:

THE EARTH WILL BELONG EQUALLY TO ALL,
UNDIVIDED BY WALLS OR FENCES.  IT WILL
THEN BEAR MORE ABUNDANT FRUITS SPONTANEOUSLY.
LIVES WILL BE IN COMMON AND WEALTH WILL
HAVE NO DIVISION.  FOR THERE WILL BE NO POOR
MAN THERE, NO RICH, NO TYRANT, NO SLAVE. 
FURTHER, NO ONE WILL BE EITHER GREAT OR SMALL
ANYMORE.  NO KINGS, NO LEADERS.  ALL WILL
BE ON A PAR TOGETHER.

Apart from the wisdom, justice, peace, and compassion of these oracles, these remarkable oracles are the outcome of the combined wisdom of three traditions: pagan, Jewish, and Christian.  I do not think any of the traditions "sold out" the core of its tradition.  Indeed, the meaning of the SO expresses the character of each tradition.

Two points to consider: 

1) The above SO provide a vision for the preferred direction of national purpose. There is an equality, a common life sense, a power in the hands of everyone, an all for all sense that is community nurturing.  Call it SHALOM.  Eden in Genesis reflects this vision.  When ISAIAH speak of the "wolf shall lie with the lamb", we have a vision of the SO.  Jesus' Sermon on the Mount exudes this spirit.  

This vision is crucially helpful for addressing the inequality in our national and global realities. The social and political inequities between the global north and south are glaringly painful to behold.  Within the north, the similar inequities exist between the growing division among the ultra-rich, the middle, and the lower classes.  Furthermore, the arrogance of the rich and powerful, the corporate priority of profit over people, the influence of greed over generosity, beg for a correction.  The SYBYLLINE ORACLES  provide correction.

Our American political gridlock can also benefit from taking the SO to heart.  Our representatives are elected to move us towards this goal.  Partisan ideology is meant to provide balance not inaction. America at its origins was not intended to be a society of survival of the fittest.  America is a nation where all people are to have an equal chance at creating a future of hope and fulfillment through honest labor, common rights, and adherence to common law, in the quest of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness".  America is to be a state of being where the people can all have enough for family and community, which will lead to national and global good.

2)  If the SO can evolve from three somewhat competing traditions, our political parties can also combine traditions to form a common POLITICAL ORACLE, with the point being not to dominate and smother the other, but to combine the best of their ideology which nourish the common good. There is something to be said for the Republican virtues of individualism, initiative, freedom from too much regulation, a respect for states' rights, smaller government, and reasonable taxation.  Similarly, the Democrats' focus on the proper place of government, concern for the common good, we're in this together, higher taxes for the sake of service for all, the need for strong regulatory control, and a heart for the minority, are vital for our national well-being.  Both are committed to a strong military, family values, and both have shades of the other party.

America is a democracy, a cauldron of diversity, where you can win with 50.1%. But this does not mean that the views and lives of the other 49.9% are invalid.  Even though the balance of influence is tipped, the other side must still be honored.  ALL are Americans, ALL are citizens of the world, ALL are created in the Image of God.

Hence, the wisdom of the SIBYLLINE ORACLES: Together, seeking the common ground, taking the best from each other for the sake of the country and the world, and writing a common political and economic oracle.  Defeating and dominating the other side breeds destruction and despair.  We are all losers.  Just take a look around.

Hear ye, Democrats, Republicans, Independents, Tea Partiers, Occupy Wall Streeters!  The reality is that you each have good ideas at your core.  Take the best for the sake of the the ALL.  Share your power, practice humility, give and take.  The future of the nation and world are at stake.

Peace!

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

A Thanksgiving Gift: An Artist and a Song

This Thanksgiving week, I want to thank a friend who lives in Texas and is passionately committed to peace and justice.  He sent out an email which included the web site for an artist and a song for our times.  The artist's name is Makana, and his song is "We Are the Many".  He is the 1960's Bob Dylan of today, with the song reminiscent of "Blowin' in the Wind", "Times They Are A Changin'", and "Masters of War".

Listen to the songs of an era and we can learn the stresses and spirit of that era.  "We Are the Many" is a cry for justice, much like the Psalmist: "Listen to the sound of my cry....", "Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord...."; or the prophet Isaiah: "...but you shall cry out for pain of heart...."; or Lamentations:
"... they hiss, they gnash their teeth, they cry...."  During this Thanksgiving week, I am thankful for Makana and his song.

A backstory sets the context.  Makana is a singer from Hawaii. His full name is Matthew Swalinkavich, but changed to his stage name to Makana, which is "the gift" in Hawaiian.  He has performed at the White House.  He was asked to perform during a sit-down meal for the APEC G-20 meeting a couple of weeks ago.  Dinner music for the powerful.  The story goes that he started his musical set singing traditional Hawaiian-style music. Eventually, he unbuttoned his shirt to reveal a t-shirt that said, in handwritten letters, "Occupy with Aloha".

Describing the roll-out of the song, he says: "I started out very cautiously because my intention was not to disrupt their dinner.  My intention was to subliminally convey a message that I felt was paramount to the negotiations.  Eventually, I got enough courage to go for it for an extended period of time.  I ended my show with the line 'the bidding of the many not the few'.  I sang it about 50 times in different ways for them to hear." The lyrics and the melody provide a stirring anthem for the Occupy Wall Street movement.  Check it out and be thankful: makanamusic.com. The accompanying video will touch your heart.

We come here, gather round the stage
The time has come for us to voice our rage
Against the ones who've trapped us in a cage
To steal from us the value of our wage

From underneath the vestiture of law
The lobbyists at Washington do gnaw
At liberty, the bureaucrats guffaw
And until they are purged, we won't withdraw.

CHORUS: We'll occupy the streets
We'll occupy the courts
We'll occupy the offices of you
Till you do
The bidding of the many, not the few

Our nation was built upon the right
Of every person to improve their plight
But laws of this Republic they rewrite
And now a few own everything in sight

They own it free of liability
They own it, but they are not like you and me
Their influence dictates legality
And until they are stopped we are not free. CHORUS

You enforce your monopolies with guns
While sacrificing our daughters and sons
But certain things belong to everyone
Your thievery has left the people none

So take heed of our notice to redress
We have little to lose, we must confess
Your empty words do leave us unimpressed
A growing number join us in protest. CHORUS

You can't divide us into sides
And from our gaze, you cannot hide
Denial serves to amplify
And our allegiance you cannot buy

Our government is not for sale
The banks do not deserve a bail
We will not reward those who fail
We will not move till we prevail. CHORUS

We are the many
You are the few

Echoing the Psalmist and the prophets, Makana and his song are gifts for which we can be thankful.

Blessed Thanksgiving!

Peace!
Ron

Sunday, November 6, 2011

The Injustice of Luck

"How Lucky They Are" is the headline of an article written by Greg Breining of the Startribune.  He writes that a University of Minnesota professor has concluded that "Mostly, extreme wealth comes from luck."  He continues: "In a capitalistic society, extreme concentration of wealth does not arise from extreme differences in work ethic, skills, investment smarts or other virtues.  Nor does it come from connections, cronyism or crookedness."

Carried to its logical end, Joseph Fargione, lead author of the study, states "...the inevitable outcome of unfettered capitalism is oligarchy."  In short, "luck" has significantly created an unequal caste system of division between the rich, middle, and poor, with power resting with a small, wealthy elite.

Fargione quotes Alexis de Tocqueville, who in 1837 warned that the American industrial class is "one of the harshest that ever existed, [which could create] permanent inequality of conditions and aristocracy."  Fargione supports de Tocqueville's analysis by referring to Kevin Phillips' book, Wealth and Democracy: A Political History of the American Rich, which reads: "[By 2000] the United States was not only the world's wealthiest nation and leading economic power, but also the Western industrial nation with the greatest percentage of the world's rich and greatest gap between rich and poor."

Breining quotes U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis who observed, "We can either have democracy in this country or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we cannot have both."

The top 1% of Americans control about 40% of the nation's wealth.  In a recent article in the New York Times, the author reviewed the Social Justice Index study of the 31 participating countries of the OECD. The social justice categories include: poverty prevention, overall poverty rate, child poverty rate, senior citizen poverty rate, income inequality, pre-primary education, health rating, and intergenerational justice rating.  In the "Overall Social Justice Rating", the United States came in 27th, just ahead of Greece, Chile, Mexico, and Turkey.

Unfettered, unregulated capitalism, coupled with a growing separation between the rich and poor, protected by a justice system that protects the powerful, governed by a political system that is irresponsive to the growing economic divide, and controlled by a corporate elite that cares more for profit than people, is crushing the United States and much of the world.  The result is the decline of the West.

If this disparity is primarily because of "luck" as Fargione concludes, the world is truly out of control and the end is dire.  Correction then is to do the opposite of the above analysis: to balance serendipitous LUCK with responsible LAWS, with the goal to provide opportunity and enough for all people, to create a system that allows for wealth and opportunity to be spread around.  Luck is not enough to provide these outcomes.  Actions should include: 1) institute a more just and equitable tax code, expecting all to pay an appropriate amount, yet expecting the more well-to-do to pay more, enacting a transaction tax or "Robin Hood" tax on all Wall Street investments, and eliminating appropriate tax loop-holes; 2) make Medicaid and Medicare available to all people, cutting payments to physicians and making payments dependent on healthy outcomes rather than number of treatments, working with drug companies to control expenses; 3) make appropriate adjustments to Social Security, such as eliminating the contributory ceiling on contributions, and instituting a means test;  4) cut defense spending by eliminating "cost plus" weapons programs, bringing troops home from Europe, Afghanistan, and most of over 700 global bases; 5) create ways to get the odious effects of money out of elections and Washington politics, starting with the repeal of the Citizens United decision; 6) make public education affordable and available to all by eliminating the voucher system and privatization.

Justice ought not be dependent upon luck.  God did not create a world that feeds upon luck for righteousness.  Justice and righteousness have their roots in love, compassion, equality, and opportunity.
Let luck be a by-product of these virtues.  Luck ought to be the cherry on the top rather than the uncertain, occasional, win the lottery, main course.

Peace!
Ron

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

The Voter ID Canard

The question of making Voter IDs mandatory for elections is a very hot issue as we approach the 2012 elections.  Approximately 34 states will have Voter ID bills on their ballots.  While there is always a need to promote ways to guarantee free, open, and honest elections, this push for Voter IDs is an inappropriate response which will disenfranchise countless times more votes than they will prevent fraud.

Indeed, the Voter ID movement is a canard: a suppressive response to a made up problem.

According to the Christian Century of 26 July, 2011, "Federal prosecutors spent five years during the Bush administration trying to crack down on voter fraud, but their cases were negligible because they could find so few cases.  Fewer than 100 people were convicted nationwide, and almost all the cases involved not deliberate fraud but honest confusion."

The Advancement Project, an advocacy group of civil rights lawyers, describes this push for government issued identification before people are allowed to vote as "the largest legislative effort to scale back voting rights in a century".  Why?

A survey by the Brennen Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law found that 11% of citizens, 21 million people, do not have a current photo ID.  That fraction increases to 15% of low income citizens of voting age, 18% of young eligible voters, and 25% of Black eligible voters.  Those demographic groups tend to vote Democrat, and Republicans are imposing what they know many will be unable to meet. (New York Times, 27 April 2011).

In the state of Minnesota, the state which has perhaps the cleanest voting record of all states and the highest voter turn-out in the nation, The League of Women Voters reported that there were "0" voter impersonations and only 115 felons who voted.  In Minnesota felons cannot vote.  Of those, approximately 35 registered to vote but did not vote, and the rest voted.  This is a "fraud error of .0000383% in a total vote count of 3 million.  In a survey of all 87 Minnesota counties, of which 80% responded, which comprised 90% of all Minnesota voters, there were NO REPORTED FRAUDS other than the 115 felons, of which there were only 36 convictions.

The ACLU reports that between 2002 and 2007, the United States Attorney General reported ZERO evidence and convictions of impersonational voter fraud.  In Texas, the governor pushed through a Voter ID law even though there were ZERO instances of fraud, according to the Texas Attorney General.

Requiring Voter IDs presents problems: 1) Accessibility to Department of Motor Vehicle locations; 2) Having to accurately fill-out provisional ballots; 3) In some cases the expense of the card.  The people most affected will be those least able to go through the required hoops.

There is significant evidence that the big push for Voter IDs originates from the Republican Right.  Specifically, a Right-wing group called ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council), funded significantly by the Koch brothers, is playing a major role in this voter suppression drive.  ALEC has provided model bills for legislators to consider, including Voter ID bills.  I encourage you to Google ALEC.  ALEC is corporate power stifling the democratic process.  In 1980, Paul Weyrich, the founder of ALEC, said: "I don't want everybody to vote."

The Brennan Center for Justice estimates that nearly 5 million "would be voters" may be affected by the passage of these Voter ID bills.  Overwhelmingly, this would benefit the Republican Party.

Making voting more difficult for certain groups is a violation of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act because everyone is guaranteeed the right to vote, and putting up unncessary barriers is a violation of the Constitution.  It is like an old fashioned "poll tax" which prevented many Blacks from voting.

The Voter ID is a canard designed to disenfranchise millions of voters at the expense of Democratic candidates, to the benefit of the Republican candidates.  This is unfair.  Unjust.

I would urge all to speak out against Voter ID cards and vote in opposition.  Voting is the kingpin of democracy.  Democracy requires equal opportunity for participation.  I would also encourage those interested to search Brennen Center for Justice and the ACLU for up to date information.

Democracy for ALL!  Equal participation for ALL!

Peace!
Ron

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Austerity = Inequality

One of the best books I have ever read is called The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein.  She attacks the economic theory that austerity is the way to prosperity for all.  On the contrary, austerity, under the banner of supply side economics as proposed by economist Milton Friedman of the University of Chicago, creates inequality and hardship for most people, with more wealth going to the upper class corporate types and less for everyone else.

Naomi calls this economic strategy "disaster capitalism".  The strategy is: 1) Wait for a major crisis; 2) Sell-off pieces of the state to private players (privatize as much as possible); 3) Make these reforms permanent.  In short, create or seize upon economic chaos, create a "shock" to the system because "only a crisis produces real change".

What kind of changes evolve from this "shock doctrine"?  Ease public education requirements to promote charter schools, schools for profit.  Then: tax cuts, free trade, privatization, cuts to social spending, deregulation, vouchers, downsize government, flat tax, and more.  Sound familiar?  Austerity = inequality!

Klein documents this economic mess by citing what is happening in South Africa, Russia, Chile, Iraq, Asia, Argentina, and parts of Brazil.  Then the United States.  Sound familiar?  Austerity = inequality!

The human cost of austerity is unfathomable, its scattered wreckage clear.

Fast forward to the Occupy Wall Street Movement.  The OWSs are on to something.  They are in agreement with Klein's thesis.  Supply side economics is not the full answer to economic growth.  There also needs to be a stronger dose of Keynesian economics, meaning the government needs to insure the equalization of wealth, human stewardship, equal justice, and equal opportunity.  After all, the people are the government, or, the government is the people.  Remember Lincoln's famous dictum: "...that government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from this earth."  Hmm, was Lincoln on to something?

Corporations, banks, Wall Street, are sitting on between $1.4 and $3 trillion of cash.  Meanwhile, to quote Robert Reich, "In the late 1970s, the richest 1% received 9% of total income and held 18% of the nation's wealth.  By 2007, they had more than 23% of the total income and 35% of the nation's wealth.  CEOs of the 1970s were paid 40 times the wage of the average worker.  Now they are paid 300 times the typical workers' wage."  Austerity = inequality!

This past Sunday, the Memorial to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was dedicated.  He spent his last days in Memphis supporting the efforts of the sanitation workers.  President Obama is out on the stump promoting his Jobs Bill, or now pieces of it since the supply siders nixed it in the House and Senate.

Austerity, according to the supply siders is supposed to equal prosperity.  Austerity, by some magic formula, is supposed to cause a trickle-down effect, creating wealth or at least a sustaining wage for everyone.  On the contrary, austerity = inequality.  Austerity creates a trickle-up effect!  Austerity means prosperity for only the connected, the corporations, the Wall Street barons, the upper tiny minority.  Austerity is economic slavery where the shrinking middle class and growing lower class become serfs of the landed class and the owners.  The rest of us lose our schools, our teachers, our police, our fire fighters, our human services, our Social Security, our jobs, our....

We need an economics of love.  The Gospel lesson for this Sunday is from Matthew 22:34-40 where Jesus talks about the new law, the Greatest Commandment: love of God and love of neighbor.  We are created for each other, to make sure everyone has enough.  This Jesus love is not about austerity, but generosity!  Generosity = equality! Generosity = justice!

Peace!
Ron

Monday, October 10, 2011

Jobs! Jobs! Jobs!

In a time when people are crying for jobs, the passing of Steve Jobs provides an occasion for seeing a way towards creating those jobs.

The place to begin is a portion of his Stanford University Commencement Address in 2005.  Some have called this address the "Gettysburg Address" of all commencement addresses.  The context is his diagnosis with terminal pancreatic cancer.

Remembering I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever
encountered to help me make the big choices in life.  Because almost
everything - all expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or
failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only
what is truly important.  Remembering that you are going to die is the
best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something
to lose.  You are already naked.  There is no reason not to follow your
heart.  Stay hungry.  Stay foolish.

Knowledge of impending death means each moment is important.  Don't waste time.  Focus now.  If you want to accomplish something, get on with it.  Make your life count for something.  Don't worry about all the consequences because you won't be around to take all the flak.  Fear nothing!  Create something helpful!  Try it!  Take risks!

It is significant that Jobs was a college drop-out who teamed up with a friend to start his computer journey in a garage.  Jobs was also fired from Apple.  He said it was the best thing that ever happened to him because it freed him to travel another direction which ended up being the most creative journey of his life.  

Jobs also realized that what he was able to do, he could not have done alone.  He said: "My business model is the Beatles.... they balanced each other and the total was greater than the sum of the parts.... great things in business are never done by one person, they are done by a team of people."  

One of his favorite quotes was from Picasso: "Good artists copy.  Great artists steal."  Steve Jobs studied the works of others and was able to connect their genius with his genius.  He said: "You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards."  He had respect for others' insights.  

I have learned in life that you can always do something.  Even when there are times of scarce resources, you can always dream, always write a letter, always read a book, always meet with a friend, always bat around ideas, always make a phone call, always visit with a leader, always comfort a friend, always reconcile with an enemy, always lay plans for the future, always spend time Google-ing, always love your spouse and family, colleagues and the poor, always march and demonstrate for peace and justice, always join a committee to make life better for folks, always start a group, always scrounge for financial resources, always take time for the family and neighbors, always look for a way through, always seek employment, always support each other, always worship Jesus, ALWAYS....  There are always ALWAYS. 

ALWAYS isn't easy.  We need each other.  This is one of the lessons of the "99%".  The "99%" are those who are Occupying Wall Street, saying "We have had enough of your greed and selfishness.  We demand fairness."  In 1977, the top 1% of wage earners controlled just 9% of the nation's wealth.  Today they control 24%. And the gap is widening.  Yet, these 99%ers are dreaming, working together, innovating with passion, casting risk to the wind, cleansing their wills of fear, acting foolishly (according to some), embodying Bob Dylan's classic phrase: "When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose."

As I read scripture I am always struck by the Exodus deliverence story and Jesus' empathy with people's life situations.  I am also struck by God's call to be faithful and Jesus' call to discipleship.  The faithful are never left to wallow in hopelessness or powerlessness.  There is acknowledgement of people's plights, support and comfort in the difficult times, as well as opening the door to the future with promises.  Christ makes ALWAYS a reality.  

Jobs?  Christ is ALWAYS with us in our struggles; yet, also, Christ is ALWAYS calling us to act, to "stay hungry", and "stay foolish"!  

In I Corinthians 15, Paul writes: "O death, where is your victory?  O death, where is your sting?  Death is swallowed up in victory!.... Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, ALWAYS excelling in the work of God, because you know that in Christ your labor is not in vain." 

Press on!

Peace!
Ron





    

Friday, September 30, 2011

Music-In the Midst

Linda and I find ways to experience music at the places we visit.

On our recent European journey we attended an afternoon concert by "Elf" at St. Martin-in-the-Fields next to Trafalgar Square in London.  We were experiencing jet lag and needed a place to sit, relax, and re-energize.  Elf was the perfect energizer!  Three men in their 50's, one on piano, one flutist, and one on the French horn.  Their music is a combined blend of jazz, classical, and romantic styles.  Though there were moments when we dozed off, their music was a wonderful stimulant!  It revived us.

Evensongs at St. Paul's Cathedral and Westminster Abbey provided quiet moments of prayer, heightened by pipe organ music and choirs of men, women, and children.  Stillness in a churning world.

Sunday morning in Berlin drew us to the Berliner Dom, a huge Lutheran church on Museum Island.  Its granite outside walls are still covered by "fire-black"  from Allied bombing and WWII final days fighting between the Russians and Germans.  The worship?  Imagine a huge pipe organ pouring out some of the finest organ compositions, a chamber orchestra, a four-part choir, an opera quality soloist, and finally a nearly full sanctuary singing hymns!  Christ is alive!  This is most certainly true!

Upon arrival in Annecy, France, we strolled through the tree-filled city park, located on a lovely peninsula.  Dance music pulled us towards an open air dance floor where couples twirled, and joy and love stirred by the rhythm and lyrics of the band.  Magical!

A walk through the paseo of Albufeira, Portugal, where hundreds of street cafes and restaurants had a large screen television set to the latest soccer match between Real Madrid and Barcelona, brought us to a Roman Catholic Church, packed to the gills with standing room only, as they celebrated some Christian event.  Candles everywhere!  The music was provided by singers and a guitar choir.  One of the songs had strains of "When the Saints Go Marching In"!  Color!  Spirit!  Faith alive!

There wasn't much music in Tangier, Morrocco.  What music there was consisted of single people blowing a flute-type instrument.  No joy.  Indeed, I barely remember any music.  We spent most of our time walking the narrow, smelly streets of the "kasbah", or old Tangier.  "Kasbah" means fortress, and it was a walled area enclosing small shops, much poverty, and many people seemingly living aimless lives.

An evening on the "Balcony of Europe" in Nerja, Spain, treated hundreds of folks to music from "Ikaiki Amayu", two musicians from the Andean mountains of South American, playing traditional pan flute instruments.  The music was magnetic, drawing people like flies to light!  Gentle, romantic, uniting, amidst a rising moon and pounding surf.

We attended a Flamenco dance and music concert near the Mezquita in Cordoba, Spain.  The  space was small and intimate,  packed with people, including about 50 high school age youth.  Linda and I each sipped on a Sangria as we watched and listened to two talented guitarists, two robust vocalists, and a half dozen dancers who tapped and sweated their way through a most passionate program.  We learned that Flamenco has Gypsy (Roma) and Moorish roots. Go prepared to marvel at the footwork, the color of the women's dresses, and the physicality of movement.  Flamenco is not for the faint of heart!

Then there is Portugese "Fado". Fado was born out of despair, poverty, and struggle.  It is mostly minor key music with a bluesy feel, and deep passion.  The CD jacket explains Fado thusly:  "What people is this who, in the middle of the 19th century, surrounded by hunger, disease, and illiteracy, created a song to nurture the soul, strengthen the heart, and keep thought alive?.... What song is this?  It is called Fado and its birthplace is Portugal."

We were drawn in to the Cloisters Cathedral in Belem, Portugal to listen to a children's cello recital and concert.  What a lovely mix of parents, relatives, performers, tourists, and strangers, all listening to dressed-up, spiffed-up youth, guided by their musical mentors, expressing their musical dexterity, with sound bouncing off the centuries old stone walls!

Throughout our journey, as we listened to music, we also watched and listened to televised reports of economic chaos in the United States, Europe, and the world, starvation in Africa, suicide bombings in the Middle East, political gridlock in the USA, endless war, fires in Texas, and you name it!  And then there was soccer!  Europeans are absolutely catatonic about a sport where goals are as frequent as days above freezing in a Minnesota January!

"In the midst" of the life realities, the music drew people TOGETHER from all over the world, locals and globals.  During these times there was no fighting, no killing, no swearing, no arguing, no gamesmanship, no debating.  There was a sweetness at each event.  I am reminded of an old Coke commercial where people are lined up along a mountain ridge, each holding a can of Coke and singing, "I'd like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony...."  Music reflects society, but it also transforms society.

Is there a lesson for the world here?

Go to a concert!  Better yet, get some people together and make music, even if you just "make a joyful noise" to God!  Become ONE!

Peace!
Ron

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Letter to President Obama

Yesterday, I wrote this letter to President Obama.

President Barack Obama
White House
Washington, DC 20500

Dear President Obama,

The nation is at risk.  We need an Economic Call to Arms.  You have rightfully spoken eloquently about our need for renewal, about shared sacrifice.  Now is the time for courageous action.  The nation needs you to be an engaged president we voted for and not only a detached professor.  You analyze well, now we need you to boldly lead.

In the spirit of Lincoln and FDR, we need you to call us to greatness.  Now.  I would suggest calling Congressional leadership back to Washington and propose the following: across the board action from corporations, banks, Wall Street, individuals, the Fed, and the government to create a People for a New America effort, focusing on jobs.  The jobs would be for infrastructure, investment, and innovation.

Tell the people what you are doing.  If Congress balks at this effort, go to the American people and make them pay a political price for saying "No".  Fight for the proposal.  Keep fighting.  Go public day after day.  Let the people know you are fighting for us.

The people need to see you as a fighter for us, not as a detached political philosopher.  The nation is at risk, Mr. President.  Your presidency is at risk.  We need you to lead us.  We need you to call us to economic arms.  We will respond.  We are Americans!  Call us to greatness.  GO BIG!

 A Patriot,

Rev. Dr. Ron Letnes

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Tragedy of the Extreme Right

Violence is the code of the Extreme Right.  No compromise, take no prisoners, my way or the highway, God is my co-pilot, vitriolic righteousness, guns-guts-God are mantras of this dictatorial mass.  Democracy is dismissed, people are harmed, the world is at risk.

This Extreme Right despotism is international.  Anders Breivik, self-styled Norwegian patriot, proclaimed his righteousness by murdering men and women, boys and girls.  Why?  Islam must be driven out of Norway, immigration must be stopped, and multi-culturalism is a mistake.  "Actions were atrocious but necessary.... Before we can start our crusade, we must do our duty by decimating cultural Marxism.... Once you decide to strike, it is better to kill too many than not enough, or you risk reducing the desired ideological impact of the strike."  Calling for a Christian civil war to defend Europe against the threat of Muslim domination, Breivik writes, "Seize political and military control of Western European countries and implement a cultural conservative political agenda."   Now, think Al Qaeda, Hamas, Zionism.

In the United States, the Southern Poverty Law Center is the watchdog of the dramatic rise of the Extreme Right Wing militia and hate groups.  In their recent Intelligence Reports, they cite some quotes: "They are animals, yes, but a lower form than a dog....", writes columnist Debbie Schlussel, characterizing Muslims.  "A sexual degenerate, an American-hating communist....", says Brett Reese, a member of the Greeley-Evans Colorado Board of Education referring to MLK, Jr.  "Use live amunition.", proclaims Jeff Cox, Indiana Deputy Attorney General.  "If shooting these immigrating feral hogs works, maybe we have found a [solution] to our illegal immigration problem.", trumpets Virgil Peck, Kansas State Representative.  Hate has gone mainstream.

The Tea Party embraces violence.  The vitriol of anti-immigration, anti-abortion, anti-gay, anti-tax, anti-investment, anti-Obama, anti-compromise, anti-Muslim rhetoric is poisoning political civility and paralyzing the legislative progress. They are like adolescent "Lord of the Flies".  And too often it is in the name of Jesus, lifting the Cross of Christ as their clarion banner that they proclaim their mastery.  They are the ultimate embodiment of Grover Norquist's "starve the beast" mantra, bringing the nation to the edge of economic collapse, whistling as the nation hurdles toward the cliff of default, and creating even more unemployment.  The nation is held hostage by this economic violence.

What can we do?  I would suggest we try living out the gift that all people are created in the Image of God as described in Psalm 146:

Praise the Lord!
Happy are those whose hope is in the Lord their God....
Who executes justice for the oppressed;
who gives food to the hungry....
The Lord sets the prisoners free;
the Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;
the Lord loves the righteous.
The Lord watches over the strangers;
the Lord upholds the orphan and the widow,
but the way of the wicked  [God] brings to ruin.

As God and Jesus are, so are we called to reflect.  Now is not the time for personal hatred.  Now is the time to be the hearts and hands of Jesus: to sit at the table and break bread together, to have conversation, to pray for and together, to develop friendship, to learn from each other, to educate, to speak the truth in love, to be honest, to do Bible study together, to worship together, to be open, to draw each other closer.   Now is the time to confront the Extreme Right with the Spirit of Christ.

Near the end of the Civil War, Secretary of War William Stanton told Lincoln to punish and destroy the Southern enemies who started the war.  Lincoln's response reflected the Spirit of Christ: "Do we not destroy our enemies when we make them our friends?" 

Peace!
Ron

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Tea Party: False Prophets

I must admit to a degree of admiration for the Tea Party folks.  They passionately love America, they speak up, they bring a moral fervor to the national scene, they spout a Jesus line, and they demand action on our rising debt challenge.  This is democracy in action. This is also prophetic action.  It appears the Tea Party passes the test.

The prophet speaks with moral passion.  The prophet looks at society and addresses the wrongs.  The prophet calls out those who would do harm.  The prophet speaks truth.  The prophet purports to speak for God. It would seem the Tea Party passes the test.

But there are serious disconnects.

The standard for prophetic legitimacy is the Biblical prophets.  When comparing the Tea Party prophets with the Biblical prophets we notice glaring short-comings.

GOD/JESUS VS. AYN RAND:  The Biblical prophets listened to the Spirit of God, sought the will of God.  The Spirit of God spoke of justice, of mercy, of love for the other and creation.  In contrast, the god of the Tea Party is unabashed Ayn Rand, unfettered capitalism.  Trust the corporations!  Trust the free markets!  Trust the bankers! Profit is god!  The market will take care of us!  Taxes are anti-god!

THE COMMON GOOD VS. EVERYONE FOR THEMSELVES:  The Biblical prophets speak of the common good.  Work for all, food for all, opportunity for all, dignity for all, health for all, safety for all, equality for all.  In other words, ALL FOR ALL.  The Tea Party mantra is get what YOU can.  Not one for all and all for one, but one for one. Cut taxes and let me have what is mine.  Leave me alone to fend for myself and all will be well.  Give me the freedom to be ME!  The Tea Party is "meism run crazy!"

PERSONAL VS. IDEOLOGICAL:  The Biblical prophets were dedicated to compassion and justice for the person.  The Tea Party is committed to ideological purity at the expense of the person.  The TP may speak of "personal freedom", but the personal is exclusionary.  ON BALANCE, the TP is anti-immigrant, anti-abortion, anti-gay, anti-share the wealth, and anti-African-American.

KNOWLEDGE VS. IGNORANCE:  The Biblical prophets knew the reality of society.  The BP understood the sources of injustice.  The BP refused to allow their voices to be bought off and silenced by the wealthy powerful.  The BP refused to protect those who sucked the life out of society.  Conversely, the Tea Party's critique is silenced by the facade of political "minders" bought off by greedy Wall Street and corporate barons.  The political and business leadership the Tea Party trusts are wolves in sheep's clothing.  The Tea Party are lemmings heading for the cliff of moral and economic oblivion.  And they don't even know it.

The powerful are playing the Tea Party for fools.  The Tea Party is a "puppet theatre" of manipulated actors who falsely believe they are the main show when in reality they are only pawns of the powerful. They believe they are prophetic, but they are only puffing prophetic puppets of greed.  And they don't even know it.  False prophets all.

Peace!
Ron

Sunday, July 3, 2011

What Child Am I?

John Denver wrote a song featuring children as the inspiration for new life. Some say it is his finest composition. It is called "Rhymes and Reasons".  The refrain of the song is:

So the children and the flowers are my sisters and my brothers.
Their laughter and their lovliness will clear a cloudy day.
Like the music of the mountains and the colors of the rainbow.
Come and stand beside us, we can find a better way.

Carrying the children motif further, the Gospel of Matthew narrates:

[Jesus says], But to what shall I compare this generation?  It is like children
sitting in the marketplace, and calling to one another,
'We played the flute for you, and you did not dance;
we wailed, and you did not mourn."
For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say,
"He has a demon." The Son of Man came neither eating nor drinking,
and they say, "Look, a glutton and a drunkard,
a friend of tax collectors and sinners!"  
Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.
Matthew 11:16-19

At that time Jesus said, "I thank you, Father, Lord of 
heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things
 from the wise and the intelligent, and have
revealed them to the infants...."
Matthew 11:25

Let the children come to me, and forbid them not,
for of such is the Kingdom [Reign] of God.
Matthew 19:14

And from the prophet Isaiah:

The wolf shall live with the lamb,
the leopard shall lie down with the kid,
the calf and the lion and the fatling together,
and a little child shall lead them.
Isaiah 11:6

What we see are different portraits of children.  Some are responsible, perceptive, and obedient to the common good, and some are immature, ignorant, and dedicated to satisfying their own pleasures.  

What makes the difference?  The immature and ignorant children only want others to dance to their tune, to respond only to their demands.  They want others to feel only what they feel, to cry only over their misfortunes.  They see only their truth.  They name call.  They deceive.  They lie.  They judge who is in and who is out on the basis of social propriety, of who caters to the wealthy and powerful.  They revel in themselves.  They glory in their positions of privilege among the powerful.  They revel in their pleasure.  Their world is about them and being secure in their specialness of superiority.  They have found themselves and celebrate the discovery.

On the otherhand, the responsible and wise children take comfort in Jesus.  They look outside themselves and embrace the character of the Christ.  There is realization that life is outside themselves. They surrender to the unity of love.  They trust because they know they are loved.  They love by openning themselves to receiving Christ's love. They lose themselves in Christ, in connection with others.  They live in trust of the promise of Christ.  They gather to listen.  They are receptive.  They consider the other.  They are attracted to the magnetism of love.  They bring diverse people together and create community. They honor differences.  Life is about relationship and making sure all have enough.

Conversation about children seems appropriate because of the political gridlock in Washington and in my own state of Minnesota.  Our state government has shut down over the governor's demand that the upper .03% of wage earners pay an increased tax so that education and health programs can be funded, and the Republican's demand that there be no more taxes, only cuts in programs.  Furthermore, August 2 looms as a dark cloud for our nation as political gridlock and ideological regidity have paralyzed our leadership, driving our nation to the precipice of default, another recession, more damage to already damaged pensions and 401(k)s, more unemployment and hardship,  as well as great damage to the rest of the world.  If we think tiny Greece could cause international chaos, just imagine what our default would cause!

I would suggest that what we have are adults acting like children.  Yet, as we can see, there are children and there are children.  What is the way through this morass?

I propose the following.  First, ask what child am I?  Let's be honest.  In reality, we are all doses of both, in varying degrees depending on what is at stake at the moment.  Confession is in order.  Second, show courage and humility to adopt the character of the wise and responsible child.  Third, listen not only to your base, but to those outside the beltway, to the whole of the country, to the needs of the common good, to the struggling, to the middle class, the unemployed and under-employed, the vulnerable.  Fourth, ask critical questions of the responsibility of the wealthy, the banking industry, and Wall Street for the benefit of all of society. One's place in society needs to be not only about satisfying your stockholders, but also caring for the stakeholders (all of us).  Fifth, each side needs to realize that their side represents only one half of the country.  Sixth, let your actions involve a balanced cutting of waste and MORE investment in job creating projects.  People create wealth by what they do through their work.  The way to the future is to have everyone work their way out of the hole we are in.  People want to work!  Worthwhile work gives hope and optimism!  Provide the projects and opportunities.  Seventh, realize that wealth does not trickle down, but spreads out through the labor of the people.  The Huffington Post reports that corporations have reaped 88% of all financial growth since the start of the recession.  Therefore, figure out how to spread the wealth around. In other words, INVEST.  Eighth, accept that ALL PEOPLE are created to live together in peace, justice, and harmony.  Accept that the lion will remain a lion and the lamb will remain a lamb. Accept that adjustments need to be made for each unique life.  Accept that each life has unique needs for their existence.  Accept that life is not about dominance, but community, caring for each other, seeing that all are protected and free.  Accept the words of the late Paul Wellstone, "We all do better when we all do better."

What child am I?  Come and stand beside us, we can find a better way.

Peace!
Ron









Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Hope

Today, it is not hard to suffer fits of despair.  Dante's sign at Hell's gate seems too "spot on": "Abandon hope all you that enter."  It is paralyzing to have no hope.

A text for these times is from Romans: "....suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us."  Romans 5:3-5.  And then James 1:22: "Be doers of the Word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves." And James 2:17: "So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead."

So, by the grace of God, we have hope, because of God's action and our action.  Hope comes alive in action.  Paralysis is gone.

What can we do?  Here are some possible actions that may give us hope.

SOCIAL SECURITY: Realize that SS pays for itself.  By law the government cannot borrow from other sources to pay out SS checks.  SS is solvent for decades.  To further insure its stability: 1) Stop borrowing from its trust fund to pay for other needs; 2) Raise the pay-in requirement from $108,000 to $200,000; 3) Consider the possibility of means testing SS so that the very wealthy need not draw it down.

MEDICARE-MEDICAID:  Expand it to include all people, utilizing public and private sources.  Move to a focus on quality of care rather than fee for service.  Negotiate to regulate drug prices.  Negotiate to regulate prices of medical insurance to insure that all people are adequately covered.  Move to establish more local, community health care centers.

CLEAN ENERGY:  Make a national commitment to the development of wind, solar, geo-thermal and other non-carbon, non-fossil burning fuels.  Expand the power grid so this type of energy is available to all.  Develop more electric-powered vehicles.  Move away from nuclear, oil, coal, and carbon-based fuels.  Jobs will result from this commitment.

ENVIRONMANTAL CARE:  Realize that global warming is a reality.  Care for the rainforests.  Better manage cutting of forests.  Enact laws to protect wildlife on verge of extinction.

REBUILD OUR INFRASTRUCTURE:  Repair our roads and bridges.  Build a national train system.  Insulate and retro-fit buildings to make them more energy efficient.  Such actions will result in many jobs.

CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY:  Make corporations pay their fair share of taxes.  If thery want to do business overseas, require them to pay taxes.  Remind the corporate leadership that it will cost if they want to do business in the USA.  No off-shore tax havens.  Incentivize corporations to stay in the USA.  Prevent corporations from raiding workers' pensions.  Require corporations to invest a significant portion of their profits in job creation.

EQUITABLE SALARIES: Share the wealth so all people can be secure.  Pay for all corporate management ought to be more in line with that of regular workers.  Perhaps a ratio of 10:1 rather than 400+:1. More money will be available to hire more people.

RESPECT STAKEHOLDERS AND SHAREHOLDERS:  All people are stakeholders.  Some people are shareholders.  There needs to be a balance for the common good.  Corporate profit cannot sacrifice the common good.  Corporations exist for the stakeholder first and the shareholders second.

BANKS AND WALL STREET:  Reinvigorant the Glass-Seagall Act which regulated financial trading.  Regulate derivatives, hedge funds, and credit default swaps.  Require banks and mortgage companies to work with home owners to stop and prevent foreclosures. Be generous in re-financing home loans.  Require banks to be more forthcoming in making small business loans.

INTERNATIONAL TRADE:  Require other nations to open their doors to our products and limit the influx of foreign products that adversely affect the price and availability of our products, and the employment of our people.

FOREIGN AID:  More money for the building of other nations' infrastructures and economies, rather than most aid going for military purposes.  The focus should be on helping other nations feeding themselves and becoming economically self-sufficient, able to fully employ their people for the betterment of their society, with reasonable, sustainable trade with other nations.  Assist in the training of teachers and medical staff, the building of schools and health facilities in Iraq and Afghanistan.

NATIONAL DEFENSE:  We cannot be the "cops of the world."  Other nations need to step-up in militarty preparedness.  WWII is over and our forces are not needed in Europe.  Furthermore, we have over 700 bases of all sizes throughout the world and most are unnecessary.  Bring'em home.  We can cut our defense budget by at least 50% .  Put this money towards education, health care, infrastructure, and helping other nations develop their resources, including Iraq and Afghanistan.  Continue to address Al Qaeda threat, not the Taliban.  Assist other nations in their quests for freedom, working with other nations.  No more nation building wars!

IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN +:  Initiate major drawdowns and leave only a necessary force to train their armies.  All except small training forces should be back home by the fall of 2012.  Continue some type of action to address Al Qaeda issues.

EDUCATION FOR ALL:  Enable everyone to be able to earn a college education and beyond, affordable for all.  Invest more in public education and accountability.

EQUAL RIGHTS:  Remove barriers to inequality.  Allow LGBT folks to marry and receive equal treatment under the law.

VOTER ID:  Eliminate barriers to voting.  The cry of voter fraud is a canard for voter suppression.

INTERNET NEUTRALITY:  Insure that all people have equal access to the free flow of information through the internet.  Prevent corporate control of news.

PUBLIC FINANCING OF ELECTIONS: Level the playing field so the battle of ideas takes precedence over the ability to buy elections through the purchase of media saturation.

INCREASE TAXES:  Taxes are the price of caring for the common good.  Eliminate the Bush tax cuts.  Increase the tax rates especially on the wealthiest and eliminate loop-holes so everyone pays their fair share.  Managing our national indebtedness also means increasing our sources of revenue.  All are responsible for the common good.  Shared sacrifice AND shared responsibility.

MANAGE OUR INDEBTEDNESS:  Be better stewards of our financial resources.  See the above!

In the end, we have much room for hope because there is much we can do.  Our challenges are human made, and therefore can be solved by human action.  Why?  Because God's grace has given us hope-filled action to transform our world and to make real the Kingdom-Reign of God.

Peace!
Ron

Monday, May 30, 2011

Standing with our Youth

The youth in our St. Paul Area Synod have been denied assembly synodical authorization to engage the critical questions surrounding military service.  The synods did not stand with our youth with the authority of the office.

Recently, the Joint Peace with Justice Committee of the St. Paul Synod and the Minneapolis Area Synod proposed a resolution with the resolves: "...to provide congregations with resources for addressing the issues of faith and conscience inherent in military service....[urging] congregations to share such resources with parents, pastors, church youth leaders, Sunday school teachers and confirmation instructors in order to encourage the teaching of what Jesus taught and lived, and to inform young people of the often destructive consequences of combat and training to kill."

It was the decision of the St. Paul Area Synod resolution committee to NOT allow for a vote, but instead to allow two speakers, one pro-resolution and the other a military chaplain, table conversation, but no public comment.  To be fair, the speakers were excellent and the table conversation vigorous.  I had planned to speak in favor of the resolution.  What follows was to be my speech.

I speak in support of the resolves.  Our nation has fought more wars and proxy wars than any other nation in the world in the 20th Century.  Now, in the 21st Century, we are again leading the world in being the major player in wars.  Our national defense budget is larger than all the defense budgets of all other nations in the world combined.  We are a fighting nation, and if the past is our teacher, we will fight again in defense of our nation and to protect the vulnerable.

The truth is that our youth are going to be asked to fight these wars.  Our youth are going to be faced with the most traumatic decision of their lives: taking another life on the field of battle. For most, this action is life changing.  Some are physically impaired for life.  Suicides, unemployment, and homelessness rates for vets are significantly higher for the discharged soldier.  War has life beyond the battlefield.

Our Church owes it to our youth to provide them with the opportunity to engage the central questions of war, peace, and military service from Biblical, confessional, and historical positions.  We support our youth when we provide opportunities for faithful, moral conversation on these crucial issues of life.  We
support our youth when we provide time for conversation on the just war theory, pacifism, conscientious objection, selective conscientious objection, and the nonviolent ethic of Jesus Christ.

The Church is the most gifted place for our youth to engage these questions.  Indeed, it may be the only place where our youth can engage these profound questions in a faithful, thoughtful, suppportive, compassionate environment.  Let us journey with our youth.  I urge the asssembly to support the resolves within this resolution.  Thank you.

Some would argue that synodical resolutions are words in the wind, signifying little, assuaging only bothered consciences, creating only illusions of moral action.  For some voters this would be true.  But where would we be if those who signed the Augsburg Confession would not have signed?  Where would our nation be if our Constitution was unsigned and not voted into law?  Where would the ELCA social statements be if there were no votes?  Where would the Civil Rights Act of 1965 be if there was no vote?  Democracy would be a sham without the right to vote.  What is the Arab Spring all about?

Votes matter.  Votes give authority for action.  Votes put conscience on the line.  Votes mean we are standing up for what we deem of faithful value.  Our synod failed our youth.  Personally, I will spend the next year moving another resolution forward for vote.

We must stand with our youth.

Peace!
Ron

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Songs Keep Me Going

Songs keep me going.  Songs are stories, theology, and values put to rhythm and melody.  Perhaps a main reason why songs are so central in my life is that as a former stutterer, I never stuttered when singing.  One doesn't.  Hence, I am grateful for songs. Songs meant freedom!  Songs keep me going today.

I sing and play the guitar.  I have three 12-string guitars: a 45 year old sunburst Gibson, a 32 year old Guild, and a 24 year old Guild.  I play them all.  Each has spent ample time accompanying worship liturgies, sermons in song, music at campfires, school programs, in-home gatherings, and daily hanging loose at home. Our four year old granddaughter Anja picks up a 12 string and strums along.  Joy!   I have a stack of music perhaps six feet high which fills drawers and takes up shelf space.  Songs keep me going.

Given all that is going on in this world, we need songs to help define the reality of the times and to give us hope for the times.  Songs help us verbalize our fears and rage, our hopes and dreams.  It is always better to express and decompress.  Songs are our personal confessions of faith and ethics.  Songs unite our spirits because when we all sing the same song, we are one.  It could be that if the world would sing together, we could live in peace.  Yes, songs can ignite discord, but that is part of the truth-telling, and when there is truth, there is hope.  So here are some songs and lines for these times, songs that keep me going and perhaps can help you keep going.

Lord of all hopefulness, Lord of all eagerness,
Lord of all kindliness, Lord of all gentleness.... (Struther)

So you speak to me of sadness and the coming of the winter.
Fear that is within you now that seems to never end. (Denver)

Have no fear, little flock....Have good cheer little flock.
Praise the Lord high above....Thankful hearts raise to God.... (Jillson)

Sometimes I just don't know, how could life be anything but beautiful;
It seems that I was made for you and you were made for me. (Lightfoot)

Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.

Whose garden was this?  It must have been lovely.
Did it have flowers?  I've seen pictures of flowers.
And I'd love to have smelled one. (Paxton)

How many times must those cannon balls fly,
before they are forever banned?
The answer my friend, is blowin' in the wind. (Dylan)

You've given me tenderness so I can know warmth.
You've given me laughter so I can be free!
You've given me honesty so I can know trust.
You've given me You, so I can be me. (Letnes)

Ain' nobody gonna turn me aroun'.
I'm gonna keep on a walkin', keep on a talkin',
marchin' till the day I die. (Civil rights song)

When we look and we can see things are not what they should be,
God's counting on me, God's counting on you.
Hoping we'll all pull through, me and you. (Wyatt and Seeger)

Light one candle for the wisdom to know
that the peacemakers' time is at hand.
Don't let the light go out! (Yarrow)

You are salt for the earth, O people....
Bring forth the kingdom of mercy, the kingdom of peace,
The kingdom of mercy, the city of God. (Haugen)

Preparing to cross the Jordan into Canaan, Moses said to the people: "Now therefore write this song, and teach it to the Israelites; put it in their mouths, in order that this song may be a witness...." (Dt. 31:19) What followed was "The Song of Moses", written to sustain the People of God in their New Land.

What are your songs?  What songs keep you going?

Peace!
Ron Letnes

Friday, May 6, 2011

I Celebrate No One's Death!

The day after Osama was killed, I received an email from my sister-in-law in which she asked a pointed question: "Is bin Laden's death 'justice' in your peace-and-justice world?"  I emailed her and asked her if I could use her question as the lead for this commentary and she graciously said yes.  Here was my response with some additional comments.

"Justice has been done", so we hear.  In ways, yes.  Justice demands accountability to the common good.  God creates us to be part of the same family of God. Being part of the same family of God makes us accountable to each other, that we are not simply a bunch of Ayn Rand types individually doing our own things at another's expense regardless of the common good.  No one is exempt, from Hitler to Osama to Christians to Muslims to them to us to me.  In the proclamation of Komarovsky in "Dr. Zhivago": "We're all made of the same clay you know!"  We are all broken, some the same bones, some others.  We are all called before the justice bar of God's and the world's courts to be given life's verdict.  One newspaper headlined Osama's death: "Rot in Hell!"  Then there are Jesus' words to the thief on the cross: "Today you shall be with me in Paradise".   I celebrate no one's death.

Osama's death insured his accountability to the common good.  No one is accountable only to themselves.  Osama had broken the trust and sanctity of the common good.  Justice demands accountability to the common good.  However, justice and killing are not necessarily wedded. I celebrate that Osama was held accountable.  Yet, I celebrate no one's death.

How then is justice administered?  In Romans 13:4, Paul writes that the government is God's instrument of justice: "It is the servant of God to execute wrath on the wrongdoer." The purpose of justice is to maintain order.  When order is disturbed, the wrath of justice is brought down.  However, this does not mean that governments have a blank check to do whatever and however and whenever it pleases.  Justice must flow out of love for the sake of love.  In short, the main ingredient of justice is love.  It is important to recognize that Paul's Chapter 13 is bookended by the call to love.  Indeed, the Old Testament meaning of love is justice.  Likewise, when the New Testament speaks of love it means justice.  Justice is love and love is justice.  Justice administered by governments is to be tempered with love.  Love does not instigate death.  Hence, I celebrate no one's death.

How then do we administer justice with love?  The message of the Gospel is nonviolence.  Jesus' justice is a gentle justice, a justice tempered by mercy.  Jesus took death upon himself as the expression of God's mercy for the world.  In the case of Osama, it was right to call him to account, but to exact justice with mercy.  This means the first goal should have been to  try and capture him alive and bring him to the United States for trial. Second, he should have been given the full protection of the law guaranteed within our Constitution.  Third, if and when found guilty, lock him up for good.  No capital punishment.  Jesus put an end to the ethic of "an eye for an eye".  Whether we want to admit it or not, Osama was also created in the Image of God, which tragically he bastardized.  Yet, all of God's people deserve mercy.  God's ways are not necessarily the world's ways.  Hearts can change, repentance happens. I celebrate no one's death.

I have been bothered by the celebrations of Osama's death.  I ask, is this what we have become?  Is this who we are? We dance at death?  Shouts of "USA!  USA! USA!" provide the dancers' cadence.  The bloodlust of revenge drips from our polluted souls.  Osama's death is our catharsis.  Furthermore, we celebrate the skill of the "Kill Team", "our nation's finest."  We elevate them to near deity status.  They have executed American justice by their "terrible swift sword".  We trained them well and they performed their duty well.  They were obedient, courageous patriots.  Yet, I recall Churchill's warning: "Those who have sown the wind shall reap the whirlwind."  Yes, Osama sowed the wind on 9/11 and he has reaped the whirlwind.  Now, do we reap the same whirlwind?  Are we dancing to our own funeral?  Violence begets violence.  I celebrate no one's death.

We can ask: Does death move us forward?  Is there a positive in death?  Certainly.  The defeat of a vicious enemy, the passing of one whose life has been wracked by pain and disease, the exiting of an unjust political force, all may release us from past barriers to love and justice.  But celebrate these passings, no.  The pain has been too great, the sufferings too deep, the memories too vivid to make us dance on their graves.  I celebrate no one's death.

The Christian faithful recently celebrated Easter!  Easter reminds us that death is not to be celebrated, but life is a gift to be lived in faith, love, and justice.  The grace within Jesus' death and resurrection is Christ taking death upon himself to give us all a new heaven and a new earth, when there will be no more dying, no more crying, and pain will be no more, when God is making all things new. (Revelation 21:1-5)  If we dance, let us dance at the resurrection!

Jesus' justice is life!   Jesus does not celebrate death.

Peace!
Ron

Monday, April 18, 2011

Our Fork in the Road

Our nation and all who call themselves followers of Jesus are at a fork in the road.  One fork travels the ethic of Ayn Rand, alive in the Tea Party.  The other fork travels the ethic of Jesus.  The irony is that the Ayn Rand crowd is loaded with professed followers of Jesus.  Yet, each fork is a unique journey of values, quite different, each offering distinctly different outcomes.

Ayn Rand was born in Russia and emigrated to the United States.  Two of her biggest books are: The Fountainhead, and Atlas Shrugged.  Avid followers include Alan Greenspan, the economist Milton Friedman, and Congressman Paul Ryan.  Some call her an objectivist.  Some quotes:

If any civilization is to survive, it is the morality of
altruism that we have to reject.

I swear, by my life and the love of it, that I will never live
for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to 
live for mine.

...the only way a government can be of service to national
prosperity is by keeping its hands off [business].

Civilization is the process of setting man  free from men.

The purpose of morality is to teach you not to suffer and die,
but to enjoy yourself and live.

God [is] a being whose only definition is that he is beyond
man's power to conceive.

Many say that Ayn Rand opened the door to unbridled greed and unrestrained capitalism.  Considering her disciples, this is a reasonable conclusion.  I would add a third outcome: triumphant selfishness.  Evan Knappenberger, a disabled Iraq war veteran and activist writes of his conversion from Rand to Jesus: 

Like Rand, I denounced compassion as weakness, abhorring
the idea of living for others.  Not only does Rand state 
unequivocally that greed is good and selfishness a virtue,
but she [claims that] love of personal gain is the only 
"objective" good in the universe.  Rand leaves the masses of 
humanity to die of starvation while a chosen elite live in
harmony in a capitalist utopia.
  Sojourners, March 2011, p. 22

Paul Ryan's budget plan travels the Rand Road: cut spending on education, food stamps, low income housing, Medicare, reduce taxes on corporations and cut taxes on the wealthiest Americans from 35% to 25%, and permanently extend the Bush tax cuts.  Do all this while:

One percent of the U.S. population holds between 34 and 39 percent
of the nation's wealth; the top 5% hold between 66 and 72% of 
the wealth; and the bottom 50% hold 2% of the wealth.  The share
of America's income held by the top 1% of the population
has more than doubled since 1980, while the bottom 90% 
has, since 1975, coped with flat wages and mounting debt.
Christian Century, April 19, 2011, p.22

Then there is the Jesus Road.  Consider Acts 2:44-45: "All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need."  In the Parable of the Rich Fool, Jesus says, "Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions."  Colossians 3:2-5 states: "Set your minds on things that are above....Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly: ...impurity...evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry)."  And Amos 5:21, 24: "I take no delight in your solemn assemblies....But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream."

It is time for a bold Christian witness!  It is time to step up and make the Reign of God real!  It is time to trod the Jesus Road!  I am convinced that this is the only way back from our nation and the world being forever lost.  The Light of Christ enlightens our darkness and guides us through this perilous time.

We are at our fork in the road.

Peace!
Ron

CORRECTION: Two blogs ago, I incorrectly wrote: "The richest 400 people in the USA control 50% of the nation's wealth."  The correct statistic should have read: "The top 400 people control as much wealth as the bottom 50%."  My apology to Michael Moore for mis-hearing his comment.  Thank you, Duane, for bringing this matter to my attention. 



   

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Invasion of the Vipers

I'll join the chorus!  If the writer of Genesis can use a viper as the symbol for evil and the fall (Genesis 3:1-5), if Zophar in Job can speak of wicked people as "the tongue of a viper" (Job 20:16), if the prophet Isaiah can refer to the sinfulness of God's people as those who "hatch out vipers" (Isaiah 59:5), if John the Baptist can call the Pharisees and Sadducees a "brood of vipers" (Matthew 3:7), if Jesus can condemn the Pharisees as a "brood of vipers" (Matthew 12:34), if Paul can refer to all who have sinned as "The venom of vipers is under their lips" (Romans 3:13b), I'm in!

The character of our nation is being invaded by vipers.  I think Gandhi's SEVEN DEADLY SOCIAL SINS defines these vipers:

Politics without principle
Wealth without work
Commerce without morality
Pleasure without conscience
Education without character
Science without humanity
Worship without sacrifice

These poisons are draining the life out of America's soul.  In his last editorial for the New York Times, March 26, 2011Bob Herbert wrote:  "Arthur Miller...liked to say that the essence of America was its promises.  That was a long time ago.  Limitless greed, unrestrained corporate power and a ferocious addiction to foreign oil have led us to an era of perpetual war and economic decline."  The vipers strike!

Herbert goes on: "But like greedy children, the folks at the top are seizing virtually all the marbles.  Income and wealth inequality in the U.S  have reached stages that would make the Third World blush.  As the Economic Policy Institute has reported, the richest 10% of Americans received an unconscionable 100% of the average income growth in the years 2000 to 2007, the most extended period of economic expansion....In 2009, the richest 5% claimed 63.5% of the nation's wealth.  The overwhelming majority, the bottom 80%, collectively held just 12.8%."  The vipers strike!

And General Electric, one of our largest corporations, didn't have to pay any taxes last year.  The vipers strike!

Meanwhile, we are told we only have a debt problem, not a tax problem.  Cut taxes and the wealth will flow to all, so we are told.  I like what Leo Gerard of the United Steelworkers said: "If tax cuts for the wealthy created jobs, we would have full employment."  The vipers strike!

Governors in the states of Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, and Florida pull a bait and switch to eliminate collective bargaining and destroy unions.  The vipers strike!

Republican lawmakers, influenced by the Tea Party gang, attempt to cut and squeeze as much as possible out of 12% of our discretionary budget, included funding for child nutrition, Planned Parenthood, Pell Grants for education, and other programs supporting the most vulnerable.  All this in the name of fiscal responsibility.  Forget about the common good, life is all about survival of the fittest. The vipers strike!

Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel Prize winning economist, writes: "...one...of the reasons we have so much inequality is that the top 1% want it that way."  The vipers strike!

And now we are in War #3!  The vipers strike!

Years ago, I recall a lecture by the great theologian, Helmut Thielecke, as he talked about the Fall in Genesis.  He observed that when the serpent tempted humankind, the words used were not filled with fire and brimstone or vituperous hatred.  No, instead, the serpent engaged in a theological conversation, asking essentially, "Wouldn't you like to be like God?" (Genesis 3:1-5). In short, brokenness happens because humanity chooses to break God's design.  Stiglitz is correct.  Tyler Cowen, Professor of Economics at George Mason would concur: "The root cause of income inequality...is extreme human ingenuity, albeit of a perverse kind." The vipers strike!

What is the way back?  Remember John the Baptist: "Repent!"  Remember Micah: "What does the Lord require but to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God."  Remember Amos: "Let justice roll down like water, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream!"  Remember Jesus: "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they will be filled."

I'm in!

Peace!
Ron





    



  

Sunday, March 20, 2011

War: A Time of Restless Sleep

War brings restless sleep.  Jesus despises war, war is contrary to the will of God. The Reign of God is a time of peace.  The Kingdom of God is a place of harmony.

Hence, I shout "No!" when the Tomahawks seek their targets, when the fighters straif the columns, and when the Hellfires incinerate another tank.

Jesus cries out,  "Would that you knew the things that make for peace."   "Blessed are the peacemakers, for of such is the Kingdom of God."

Yet, we are committed to another war in Libya.  We didn't ask for it.  We encouraged peaceful regime change. We hoped for another Egypt.  Sadly, Muamar is not Mubarek.  Libyan mercenaries are not the Egyptian army.

What is a Christian to do?  Christians have options.  Christians are not privileged to blindly go along with government decisions.  We are always facing ethical dilemmas.  War is a messy fog. There is no easy passing of the moral buck.  Indeed, we must engage the ultimate moral choice: As a Christian, in what direction will God's grace free my faith and conscience in response to war?

How is a Christian soldier to respond?   Soldiers are not off the hook.  Soldiers can disobey orders if the order is contrary to their conscience.  Obedience to orders is not a free license to kill.  In Germany it is mandatory for soldiers to go through the Resistance Museum in Berlin and be reminded that there are moral limits to soldiering.

Soldiers and civilians can rest upon the guidelines of the "Just War" tradition.  Tried and true.  Augustine spelled them out in Christian terms even though the essentials were born within an earlier moral philosophy.

We can live out our pacifism: no war, no killing, no exceptions.

We can be committed to nonviolence with the "Gandhi caveat": "Where there is only a choice between cowardice and violence, I would advise violence."  Yet as Walter Wink observes: "But Gandhi believed that a third way can always be found, if one is committed to nonviolence."

We can be selective conscientious objectors saying not this war, but maybe another.

As we choose how to respond to the realities of war, I find these helpful paths: 1) The Jesus Way is that of nonviolence.  We are not created to kill, but to love and seek life for all;  2) Jesus forgives and restores. Because we sin ("I do what I do not want to do, but what I do not want to do, that I do", Paul), we are reconciled to God and each other in Christ by grace through faith;  3) Bonhoeffer unveils the complexity of action, "Before other men the man of free responsibility is justified by necessity; before himself he is acquited by his conscience; but before God he hopes only for mercy." (Ethics, p. 248) To Bonhoeffer, there are times when we must risk standing guilty before God, trusting in God's mercy for our restoration.

May our sleep be restless.

Peace!
Ron

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Let justice Roll....

Amos raised sheep and tended fig trees in the eighth century B.C.E.  He heard the call to prophesize, to unite tribes, to call the People of God back to God, and to speak for justice.  There was great division between the rich and poor.  It was the time to correct economic and social inequality.  Let justice roll....

He begins: "The Lord roars from Zion.... For the three crimes of Damascus....of Gaza....of Edom...." Amos lists the crimes, the injustices.  And then: "Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever flowing stream." Significantly, Amos was a common worker.  It was he, a worker, who witnessed the inequality within the northern kingdom of Israel.  It was he who trumpeted the cry for justice.  Let justice roll....

Likewise, it is the workers in America who are sounding the call to justice.  Justice in America is in decline.  Economic justice is declining.  Anger and hatred are ascending.  According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, the number of hate groups in the USA is at an all time high with over 1,000 groups spewing racial hatred.  Nine states are considering legislation to allow guns on college campuses.  The Republican budget proposal seeks to defund the Institute for Peace.  The newly formed Consumer Protection Agency is in danger of being defunded as are Planned Parenthood, NPR, and the enforcement arm of the EPA.  The 400 richest people in the United States control 50% of the nation's wealth.  The Wisconsin Legislature voted to eliminate collective bargaining and union power.  Pell Grants have been cut back making college more difficult for the less wealthy.  Congressional hearings on Muslim extremism are being held, dragging us back to the McCarthy Hearings of the 1950s, singling out Muslims and not addressing the broader extremist elements in America.  Corporations are getting away with paying few if any taxes, and the wealthy do not pay their fair share.  A bill was introduced (but did not pass)  that would have banned college students from voting.  Then there is the Arizona anti-immigration bill.  Remember the Citizen's United Supreme Court decision opening the flood gates of unlimited corporate money into political campaigns? The Koch brothers buy elections.  The debt crisis is fracturing our ability to work together and imperils our future. Between 25 and 30% of all homeowners owe more on their houses than what they are worth, and the foreclosure rate continues to rise.  Yet, Wall Street and banks and oil companies rake in profits and give obscene bonuses to CEOs and upper management.  Let justice roll....

The United States is becoming a fascist oligarchy at our peril.  Economic and political slavery are upon us.  There is darkness upon the land unless the people rise and insist upon justice.  Let justice roll....

The Book of Leviticus speaks of a Jubilee Year, where every 50 years all property returns to the original owner.  It was a leveling out time, a starting over on the same plane, a time for equal justice.  We in America, and indeed the world, are in need of such a leveling moment.  Let justice roll....

America is in a perilous time.  A crossroads.  The messages of Amos and Leviticus point the way home, for ALL people.  It is time to speak out, to march, to write, to pray, to worship, to vote.  These are Christian ways.  Let justice roll....

Peace!
Ron