You Can Rock The World

There are moments in time when it seems that the greater the number of voices that are speaking, the more each individual voice can be heard.  For example, consider Rosa Parks.  One woman refusing to move from her bus seat would have been nothing more than an annoyance if the rumblings of the civil rights movement had not already begun.  No one would have heard her voice if not for the crowd that was murmuring, then speaking, then shouting and the world was changed.

For most of my life I have held on to the idea that one person can make a difference.  I have held onto that hope despite the evidence of my eyes that sent whispering thoughts to my mind saying, "Maybe a pebbles worth of difference, but real difference? Not likely."  Now, thanks to the internet, social media, the state of the economy, the Occupy Movement, and the struggles for freedom taking place throughout the world, that whisper has changed to "You can make a difference! Today!"  With the internet and social media, if a person has an idea or even just a word of support, that word can travel quickly to reach hundreds of people.  The state of the economy has made the economic injustice of the world almost undeniable.  The Occupy Movement says that we are not alone in our frustration and our desire for transformation.  The struggles for freedom around the world give us evidence that change can happen.

The many voices crying out for justice amplify your voice and your actions.  You can speak up and say, "NO ONE has a right to hoard billions of dollars worth of resources so long as ANYONE in this world is hungry." Even if you are one of the many who prefers to be a silent observer there are ways you can speak up.   You can speak up with your dollars and say, "I WILL NOT support mega banks and mega corporations at the expense of my neighbor."   You can speak up by being an agent of peace in your community.  When you hear the gossip begin, turn your back or turn the topic.  When someone is in need, let your impulse be generosity over judgment.

Then there are our places of worship.  I am only intimately acquainted with Christianity so that is the only faith to which I can speak.  My reading of the Gospels reveals to me that Jesus taught and healed.  Yet our communities of faith preach week after week and only sprinkle in the occasional service projects or giving opportunity.  Why?  As followers of Jesus we have heard that we are saved by the love of God, it is only right that we speak that Good News.  Yet Jesus did not walk about on this earth only telling people about someday.  Jesus tells us that the Kingdom of God is amongst us now.  And he healed and healed and healed.   Jesus called us to feed his sheep, to give the thirsty a drink, and the naked clothing as if they were him.  Our actions working to feed all of God's sheep should be just as much a part of who we are as our worship.  Yet, most often, this has not been the case.  Now a movement is afoot to move our society away from "let's see who can get the most" toward "let's see that all have enough."  Should we stand silent?  Jesus says, "Feed my sheep," (John 21)

One person can make a difference.  With Christ at work within you, your voice will rock the world.

Whether you're a Christian or not. 

People of Christian Churches Confess to People of The Occupy Movement

Reflecting on Lynn's blog, "Why Will YOU Occupy?" from earlier this week, I pondered how the church could best respond to the Occupy Movement.  Confession seems appropriate.  I was inspired to write the below.  

People of Christian Churches Confess to People of The Occupy Movement

We confess that we have too often cried “God bless America,” too often claimed our country as “Christian,” and too seldom called our country to repentance when its ways have strayed far from the ways of Christ.

We confess that we have sometimes shied away from preaching and doing justice when we feared it would detract from the offering plate.

We confess that while often generously bandaging wounds and feeding the hungry, we have seldom addressed the systemic injustices that created the wounds and the hunger. 

We confess that we have focused on personal morality while corporate immorality devastated our economy and our lives.

We confess that we have allowed fear to curb our generosity, judgment to quench our compassion, and despondency to render us powerless.

We confess that we have avoided the public sphere and politics, or have chosen sides based upon particular issues or trends, rather than standing up to decry a system of greed that has lost any sense of serving the people.

We confess these things with humility knowing we had not the courage to speak up until you did.  Therefore, we will not claim this confession for any particular denomination or church body lest we take credit where no credit is due.  We will simply share this confession as people of Christian faith.  We will lend our presence to the Occupy movement merely as fellow citizens, not waving denominational banners or using the movement as PR for Christianity.  We will find our lost humility and serve God’s people....all of God's people, without an eye to our own self-interest.  We stand with the 99% speaking out against greed for the sake of the worldwide 100%.

I confess these things as part of the larger Christian Church.  If you would like to join me in the confession or express your support to those who do, please comment below or  "like" this.  Please also consider sharing this so that others may confess as well and so that those who have been hurt may hear our confession.  

"Why Will YOU Occupy?"

I've been increasingly drawn to the Occupy Wall Street movement. In fact, Sheri and I even talked about heading to Wichita for a day to join the movement happening there, but so far we haven't got beyond talking.

There's a neat website that daily posts new pictures (I think Sheri posted the link in her blog post, The global 99%)) of people briefly describing their circumstances in a handwritten note on plain notebook paper. The intro blurb reads thus, "We are the 99 percent. We are getting kicked out of our homes. We are forced to chooose between groceries and rent. We are denied quality medical care. We are suffering from environmental pollution. We are working long hours for little pay and no rights, if we're working at all. We are getting nothing while the other 1 percent is getting everything. We are the 99 percent. Brought to you by the people who occupy wall street. Why will YOU occupy?"

Here are three representative notes from this site:

"I graduated from a top university and struggled to get a part-time job where I'm working less than 25 hours a week. I don't have enough money for rent, but somehow, I am one of the lucky ones. I am the 99%."

"I have a good job, a paid house, savings and a master's degree. However, I earn my wealth, I don't merely speculate on other people's activities. I don't gamble other people's money, lose and get tax payers to contract a debt to bail me out and assume my losses. I don't claim millions of dollars for myself by shorting the commodity market while others can't pay rent. I work and I actually produce value, creating a 'bigger pie' for us to share, instead of greedily focusing on getting a larger share of the current pie. I don't take millions of dollars in bonuses for sitting behind a desk with a title. I actually deserve the share of the collective wealth I am getting. That share is proportional to my personal contribution. That contribution is real and useful. I am the 99%."

"I am 39 and have a goob job. My husband goes to school and takes care of our 14 month old after losing his job in 2008. We have no savings and drive old cars and owe his parents over $25,000. We will not be able to buy a home until our parents die - what kind of American dream is that?! We are getting by = we are lucky. We are the 99%."

I read a bunch of these vignettes, and interestingly the scripture that started to echo in my mind, was Marys' song from Luke. "He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever (Luke 1:51-55)."

The Bible resonates with this occupy movement. The movement is working to keep its distance from both political parties, recognizing both are a large part of the current problem. It is working to be inclusive, welcoming people from all walks of life who see the injustice in our financial systems and want to voice their displeasure. It's message is simple, it is not right for 1% of the people in this country to claim this disproportionate amount of the wealth while so many of the remaining 99% struggle to pay for food and other basic needs. Who is going to disagree with this?!

There's a companion website for the wealthy 1% that everyday posts their own notes claiming sympathy and respect for the occupy movement. This site says simply, "We have more than we need, while the 99 percent struggles to survive. This has to change. We believe in an equitable distribution of wealth." Here are two representative notes from this site:

"Because the Bush Era tax cuts were extended, my family will pay no taxes on a $4 million inheritance. We have more than enough already - safe, high-value housing, excellent health care and plenty in the bank for retirement and school. We should be taxed. I am the 1%. I stand with the 99%."

"I made millions studying the math of mortgages and bonds and helping bankers pass the Chartered Financial Analyst Exam. It isn't fair that I have retired in comfort after a career working with financial instruments while people who worked as nurses, teachers, soldiers, etc. are worried about paying for their future, their healthcare, and their children's educations. They are the backbone of this country that allowed me to succeed. I am willing to pay more taxes so that everyone can look forward to a secure future like I do. I am the 1%. I stand with the 99% (Which equals 100% of America)."

These cries of both the 99% and the 1% echo throughout the pages of scripture. Last week's lectionary passages profile just two of the many, many examples we could pull on from both testaments. Micah 3:5-12 and Matthew 23:1-12 are anti-establishment. Micah covers the whole shebang of society - political, judiciary, religious, economic. Matthew zeroes in on the religious establishment. In both cases, the dominant religion has chosen to align itself with the powers that be rather than with the power of God.

In Matthew 23, Jesus indulges in a chapter-long tirade against the Pharisees. It goes on and on. Here are a few of the accusations: the Pharisees exalt themselves and usurp the rightful place of God; they make sacred their affection for gold; they obsess over the trivial details of law while neglecting the weightier issues of justice, mercy and faith; they are hypocrites (Jesus calls them hypocrites in this chapter no fewer than six times); and worse than all else - they put to death those prophets who dare speak truth to power.

Micah is even more graphically to the point. Verses 1-3 in chapter 3 basically say it all. Quoting now from Eugene Peterson's The Message Bible, "Listen, leaders of Jacob, leaders of Israel: Don't you know anything of justice? Haters of good, lovers of evil: Isn't justice in your job description? But you skin my people alive. You rip the meat off their bones. You break up the bones, chop the meat, and throw it in a pot for cannibal stew."

I found a round table discussion hosted by Religion Dispatches magazine. The contributors were theologians, religious authors and journalists. It was difficult to keep straight who said what, but here are a few of their observations about the occupy movement.

"The occupiers want to smash the golden calf of our nation: greed and the worship of Wall Street. But perhaps we're also guilty of making an idol out of religion. In the oft-quoted words of Jewish theologian, Abraham Joshuah Heschel, 'Prayer is meaningless unless it is subversive, unless it seeks to overthrow and to ruin the pyramids of callousness, hatred, opportunism, falsehoods.' Too often religion is limited to spiritual narcissism, the worship of a dead god for our self-pleasure. The living God transcends the coziness of our churches, mosques and synagogues, and transcends the prayers and ceremonies performed as ends in themselves rather than vehicles for transforming our world. It's time to quit worshipping our golden calves."

"The occupiers are creating an unusual social space where everyone is welcome on an equal footing and where everyone can become sanctified - can be made holy - during a time of great extremity and privation."

"These people long for an end to what is literally unbearable and what cannot go on indefinitely: the secession of the successful and the arrogance that goes with that, the betrayal of the poor and the contempt for workers, the violence of American empire, the ravaging of the planet, the rewarding of what amounts to criminal activity by many bankers and other one-percenters, and the subservience of the political class to the 1%."

One of these contributors offered a tantalizing thought. What would happen if the occupy movement crept its way into the western Christian Church?

I'll close with Micah 3:5-12, taken from The Message Bible. If you read closely, you'll see I've taken a few liberties with the text in order to make it....well.....a little more contemporary shall we say.

Here is God's Message to the prophets, the preachers who lie to my people:
'For as long as they're well paid and well fed, the prophets preach,
'Isn't life wonderful! Peace to all!';
But if you don't pay up and jump on their bandwagon,
their 'God bless you' turns into 'God damn you.'
Therefore, you're going blind. You'll see nothing. You'll live in deep shadows and know nothing.
The sun has set on the prophets. They've had their day; from now on it's night.
Visionaries will be confused, experts will be all mixed up.
They'll hide behind their reputations and make lame excuses to cover up their God-ignorance.'

But me--I'm filled with God's power, filled with God's Spirit of justice and strength,
ready to confront Washington's crime and D.C.'s sin.

The leaders of America and the leaders of corporate America are
leaders contemptuous of justice, who twist and distort right living,
Leaders who build America by killing people, who expand the U.S. by committing crimes.
Judges sell verdicts to the highest bidder,
priests mass-market their teaching, experts preach for high fees,
All the while posturing and pretending dependence on God."
'We've got God on our side. He'll protect us from disaster.'
Because of people like you, America will be turned back into farmland,
D.C. end up as a pile of rubble,
and instead of the capitol encircled by bright city lights,
a few scraggly scrub pines will mark the spot."

The Global 99%

by Sheri

I am a bit frustrated at the moment because I can't find any of the links I was going to use in this post. So, I will go ahead and write and maybe some of you can fill in the blanks.

Anyway, a few days ago Lynn posted a blog about church history.  Reading that blog, I found it striking how quickly the Christian church traveled from persecuted to persecutor.  It reminded me of something I read on facebook a while back (which, of course, I can't find now) stating that the USA is the 1 percent from a global perspective.  That is to say, globally we are the wealthy and powerful.  This in response to the call of "We are the 99%" that is coming from the Occupy Wall Street Movement.
I don't think this negates the message of the Occupy movement but I do think it is a healthy reminder.  If we manage to wrest our power out of the hands of wealth, if we can bring some economic justice to this country, it is important to remember the lessons learned here for the sake of the whole world.  Don't stop standing for economic justice when it stops serving your self-interest.

A helpful image for me, (which of course I can't find but it is somewhere on this page http://wearethe99percent.tumblr.com/archive ) was a person holding a sign that said he was actually in the 1% in wealth but was standing with the 99% anyway.  He said it much better than that but that is the gist.  I pray that this will be our foreign policy as we take back our voice in politics.  We are blessed in this country.  Let us stand with the 99% around the world and stand for economic justice for all people.  Let our foreign policy be: "We the 1% stand with the 99% for the sake of 100%."  That's math with a purpose.

Sticking It To "The Man": What You Can Do to Fight Corporate Greed

by Sheri

I know "the man" is an outdated term on several levels. But, it gives me such an amusing image of somebody sitting in midst of incense and... all the other stereotypical activities of the 70s.  Which brings me to another topic: this particular post keeps tempting me to talk about things that I don't want my daughters to read. I keep imagining them reading over my shoulder and asking awkward questions, (What's pot, Mommy? What does that word mean and why shouldn't we say it?)  So, I am doing a little self editing here. Some of you no doubt will immediately realize, for example, that when I say "baloney" below I am really thinking something else. But, you never know who is going to read this, so baloney it is.
Back to "the man". When I use this phrase I am talking of those who have the power in our society, which also equals those who have the money. There is clearly economic injustice in our world and I think many of us are getting a bit fed up with it. So, here are a few of my thoughts on what we can do about it.


1. Give to Charity:  Probably not where you were expecting me to go, but this is important. There is a message out there that says,"In order to stimulate the economy, consumers need to go out and spend, spend, spend!"  Instead, buy what you need, save for emergencies, and then give to charity.  Giving is guaranteed to stimulate the economy.  Since the recipients can't afford to tuck the currency away, they are certain to spend the money on goods and services.  Giving to charity increases consumer confidence  when fewer folks are living in destitution.  And it is a most excellent way to shrink the government: less need for social services if charities have all the resources they need.  Giving to charity increases compassion and decreases consumerism.  It is an all around win.

2.  Write Off Your Politicians: We are continuously encouraged to write our politicians.  I am not saying this is a bad idea although I do question the efficacy.  The responses I have received to my letters make it clear they were never read.  But go ahead and write your politicians.  However, we need to remember that our politicians have little control over a system that supports their very existence.  If they fight the system, they will be removed or rendered ineffective.  Furthermore, when we focus on politicians and politics we get side tracked by bipartisan bickering.  Whether the republicans are right or the democrats is not the point. We need to focus our attention on the roots of the problem.

3. Explore Alternative News Sources:  Whether you are a fan of Fox News or MSNBC, the very fact that you can be a fan of one over and against the other makes it clear that unbiased news does not reign in our world.  For the news to be reported in such different ways makes it clear that someone is being influenced.  To assume that your preferred news is the only unbiased news around is extremely naive.  Peruse the news from entirely different sources, such as from other countries, to give yourself a different perspective.

4. Polish Your Baloney Detector:  Divisive language, fear mongering, and name calling are pervasive in our world.  Reports on politics nearly always boil down to "Democrats say..." vs.  "Republicans say..."  It seems like many of the folks on the news have forgotten lessons they should have learned in Kindergarten: it is not nice to call people names. Seriously, it is insulting to me that all we have to do is call some protestors "hippies" and we can dismiss an entire movement ( I am referring to the Occupy Wall Street movement.  If you haven't heard about it, these are some people trying to stand up to "the man" for better or worse.) Or we can attach the name Obama to something and depending on your political leanings it is either automatically wonderful or automatically evil. I find it so condescending that it is assumed such tactics will work. I find it equally disheartening that they so often do. Let's really listen to each other and use our minds.  When we hear name calling, labeling, or focusing on partisan politics our baloney detectors should go off big time.

5.  Boycott Corporate Greed:  I was going to propose that we boycott any company whose CEO makes more than $3,000,000 a year.  I am all for rewarding intelligence, hard work, creativity and the like.  Still, I refuse to believe that anyone is 100 times more intelligent, hard working and creative than the average teacher. However, after a little research I discovered that some of us would have difficulty eating if we boycotted all those companies (In smaller towns this would often involve all the grocery stores and discount stores and since Farmer's Markets in such places aren't year round...no food.)  Even doubling that amount to $6,000,000 a year wouldn't help much.  It is completely obnoxious how much these people get paid.  We may not be able to boycott them all but we can buy locally when possible, buy fair trade when possible, avoid chain stores and chain restaurants, and be aware of the glaring economic injustice all around us.  At the very least, claims that executives deserve this type of wage should set off baloney detectors.

I have my own political bias for sure but over the years we have had any combination of Republican or Democrat President and Republican or Democrat dominated Senate and House.  While there have been some differences none of them have addressed the underlying problems.  And, all their combined efforts have gotten us where we are today.  We need to stop the focus on bipartisan politics and focus on where the money and the power are.  These are my few humble suggestions.  What are yours?  Let's stick it to "the man", man.