I’ve Been Listening to Republicans

Tuesday night I sat in front of Public Television watching the Republican National Convention. It was “We Built It” night, a time to highlight the work of small business owners. The speakers, both on the main stage and meeting with the PBS hosts, were pretty united in their message, even refusing to respond to Gwen Ifill’s attempt to put president Obama’s “you didn’t build that” comment in its context. Every creator of a small business knows what they put in to build it. Obama wanted to point out that they also have a debt to a nation that builds the infrastructure that allows them to function. Nevertheless, there were some real pleas for less government regulation and red tape.

The concerns for small business are very much in keeping with the desire to make things more local. We want to encourage small businesses to start and thrive and hire people. At the same time, we want to be sure that people who are working in those businesses have access to health care, are making a living wage: are able to save for their retirement, have adequate and reasonably comfortable housing, can afford healthful food and good schooling and are able to give back to their communities with participation in organizations, attending concerts and/or sporting events etc.

Terry Branstad of Iowa was on with the PBS hosts and was adamant that Obama had weakened the work requirement of welfare. This is an untruth. The President decided to allow states to apply for an exemption to the specific rules as long as the goal of work was ultimately met. In a time when good jobs were hard to find, this was to allow for greater training or other options that would help individuals return to work at a more productive level than previously or to find a new field that would offer better prospects. Just the kinds of states’ options that Republicans usually applaud, but this was a change to a bill that Rick Santorum said was not supposed to have any such options.

More pertinent to my purpose, the group of Governors that were highlighted, plus people like Branstad, are able to claim that they have turned around their states by reducing unemployment, encouraging businesses, balancing budgets without adding taxes. But, the food pantry in this relatively well-off community of the state of Iowa is so busy that it cannot keep up with demand. The regional pantry is offering a supplemental distribution once a month to help folks who have already used the regular pantry and still can’t get through the month. There is something wrong with the glowing picture that is being painted for us. There are dark shadows there.

Some of the barriers to business are identified with the EPA – it may have been Senator Barrasso from Wyoming who called it the Enterprise Prevention Agency or something like that. That senator spoke like an economist when Mark Shields pointed out the tremendous work the EPA had done in cleaning up rivers, Great Lakes, and air, all of which extend past state boundaries. Senator Barrasso said that he agreed with that past work and the continuing goals, but that the incremental improvements now are coming at too high a price. The margins are what determine the value. If we are to continue to make progress, we must be convinced that the price is worth the result. For the Wyoming senator, the need for energy and raw materials outweighs some of the ugliness and risk of drilling for oil or mining for precious metals like platinum. Certainly Wyoming knows the value of wilderness and beauty. But not all of the state is equally worthy of preservation, he might argue. He, at least, did not dismiss renewable sources as part of the complement.

Of all the voices heard last night, the most impressive to me was Governor Christie of New Jersey. He spoke of a genuine bi-partisan effort to turn his state around. He spoke of telling the truth of the state of things and the costs of improvements. He spoke of principles but also of compromise. Although he promised that Mitt Romney would be the truth-teller, I don’t know that he was convincing. The Nightly Business Report was rebroadcast following the convention coverage. They looked at the success of businessmen as presidents. Herbert Hoover was known for his business sense. He’d made millions in his own work, but had no idea how to address the Great Depression. Mitt Romney has one up on Hoover, having been governor of Massachusetts. Against the odds, he succeeded there, at least so we hear. If I thought he would stand for the same things now as he did then, he would not scare me. As it is, it is less his economic policies that are disturbing, although I am sure they would leave gaps similar to those we see in Iowa and Wisconsin, but his willingness to be bought by those far more dogmatically conservative on social issues. He has changed his tune on health care and women’s rights. He has not told the truth about his own convictions, but been pulled to the right by the Tea Party movement.

I have been disappointed in President Obama’s handling of the economy. He has trusted far too much in the cadre of people most involved in the mess and not sought enough alternative opinions, or listened to the voices of wiser heads. His heart is in the right place. But he has too much Jimmy Carter and not enough Bill Clinton in him. He needs a radical voice or two and a small business voice or two helping him to see the pain and also beyond the pain to the dramatic needs of our nation and our people. Christie is right. We need a strong leader, not a friend. We need someone we can respect even when we disagree. Someone who speaks often and well.

At the same time, Obama was blamed last night for not getting a single Republican vote for his health care measure as if he had been unwilling to compromise. Yet many Democrats saw nothing but compromise in his final bill. Capitulation to health insurance and other interests when he really believed in a single payer plan. Considering the lack of Republican support, maybe he should have gone all the way for that. It would have put a lot more people out of work (from the insurance industry, not from health care), or moved them from private to public sector jobs.

Here’s the bottom line for me. I seek freedom within bounds. In my faith, I need the freedom to seek the meaning of God’s word, to practice my beliefs within the bounds of the Gospel and of respect for the beliefs and freedoms of others. In my life in society, I seek the freedom to practice my faith, to make choices about my life and those around me within the bounds of Constitutional respect for the rights and freedoms of others. In faith and in life, I recognize a higher good than my own personal desires and ideas. I am willing to give up those practices that prevent wellbeing in others, even when they give me pleasure. I abide by burning bans when in effect whether to prevent the pollution of the air, or to reduce the danger of wild fire. I follow traffic laws and other civic regulations for the good of all.

I am concerned when the power of any one part of society grows too large, banks, pension funds, government. Our constitution established balance between powers and encouraged the art of compromise. When we use money or power to defeat the independence of any branch, when we over-politicize the processes of government or the appointment of judges and other officials, when there is any effort to suppress the legitimate rights of anyone, we have turned away from the good of all to the benefit of a few. That, it seems to me, is wrong. Our constitution did not establish a two party system. I am not sure how we came to that. We need options rather than forcing all candidates under one of two umbrellas. There is no room for a middle, for great compromisers who can accomplish good things; little room for statesmen and women who can inspire and lead from conviction and a sense of the common good.

SERMON “Shaping Community” Rev. Marlea Gilbert 8/12/2012

Year B Proper 14

Scripture Texts: Psalm 130; Ephesians 4:25 – 5:2 

The early years of the church were not without their challenges. These little groups of followers come from a different context of life than the disciples, whose Jewish background set out a way of life that was natural to Jesus and which had values and rules that Jesus mostly lived within. These new, gentile believers came from a different world. Beyond that, the message of Jesus appealed to a wide range of backgrounds and livelihoods, from gentry to thieves. Beyond that, even, Jesus’ way was radical in all contexts. He called people to equality, to a common humanity before God that erased – or at least minimized – the differences of class, economic status, “purity,” and righteousness that were fundamental to both Jewish and Greek culture. As Paul knew well, the people would need one another in order to hold firm to their values in the midst of the world. Paul did not go around making individual disciples. He could have worked that way, I suppose, but he did not. Rather he sought to build up communities of faith, gatherings that would celebrate the words of Jesus, would strengthen one another and give them a safe place to affirm their faith and explore what that meant for their lives in the world.Here in this letter to Ephesus, is what Paul, or Paul’s surrogate, is trying to help the people do.

It is often remarked in writings about our current context, that our situation is more like the first and second centuries than like any other time since. We Christians, especially middle to progressive Christians, are not persecuted, nor are we illegal. But we dwell in a world that is mostly indifferent and with little understanding of our values and purposes. There were nearly as many varieties of Christians in those days as now. Some were closer to the cultural norms, others were intentionally peripheral – the desert mothers and fathers who retired to lonely and marginal lands to contemplate God and scratch a bare living from the soil and the generosity of others. Some, many perhaps, gained wisdom from their isolation. And ultimately they learned that community was necessary for sanity, faith, and survival. Later monastic communities took their cues from them.

We are in a constant negotiation with our world. We do not abandon it, nor do we condemn it. We recognize it as the object of God’s love. We are in and of this world. Yet, we are gifted (or cursed, depending on your perspective) to analyze, to test and, yes, even to judge our world. Although there is no absolutely objective stance, there is the ability to gain some relative distance, to compare events, values, and actions; to hold ideals and goals that call us out of the everyday and the masses to seek a different way. If we looked to great literature and philosophy and theology, we would find stand-out thinkers who have articulated ideals and values through inspiring language or prominent virtues. These are heros of faith and thought, our saints. But they have all had, in some way or another, a community of faith and support, people who led and who followed, who kept the words and stories and purposes alive and meaningful. No one thinks or lives in a vacuum. We build on the knowledge and reflection, technology and tools, wisdom and failure of those who go before and with whom we are in conversation.

In this way, we do make progress I believe. But, we are not all on the same path, so we as society go in a myriad of directions at once. Becoming an Open and Affirming Church is an example. In the UCC we have a history of rethinking the limitations that society has placed on classes and groups of people. African slaves, women, children. Our congregational ancestors opened their arms and stood up to strongly defend these groups, to raise their perception in society, and assure them a place within the community of faith. Our Evangelical and Reformed brothers and sisters created opportunities for women to serve as deacons in hospitals and schools, for people to get an education through founding colleges and seminaries. We have a history worthy of pride – with some missteps here and there to be sure. We have not invented abolition, but we recognized it as consistent with the God of Jesus and stood strong in support. Neither have we invented equal rights for GLBT persons, but we have recognized gifts for ministry and service and been willing to see real human beings rather than labels and affirmed their place in the community of faith and stood forth to support them in the society in which we live. This is part of our role as faithful people. To recognize the errors of society, to declare ourselves transformed, changed. And then to stand with our new friends and partners in their battles for wider recognition.

I’ve gotten ahead of Paul, of course. He was working on step one – recognizing and welcoming and transforming the people who believed, into a community of faith that could stand in the midst of the world and speak a word of truth. Here we are, in a very different world, but still one that is unsure of its roots, its connections. In Decorah, and elsewhere, we hear a lot about community. There is a lot of public dialogue that we can support: sustainability, energy conservation; working together for the betterment of others and ourselves. What we have to add is a foundation of faith, a way demonstrated by Jesus, a hope based in forgiveness, that yields conviction and purpose. We can seek to grasp the wholeness of God’s realm. To combine ecology with justice, poverty with a deep care for the effects on individual lives of the societal oppression that is offensive to God.

I hear again and again that people come here for the fellowship. That is good. At the same time, we are a unique fellowship; we are shaped and affected by a Word, a Gospel, a dream of a realm not ruled by humans, one over another, but by God alone. As we have opened our doors wider this year so far, let us be sure that they are open to all to enter, and also to all to go forth into the world, changed by the community within, to change the community without.

 

An Introduction

Welcome Readers to this series of reflections on theology, ministry, and the world. I intend to post my sermons here, not because I think they are or should be immortal, or even always worthy of publication, but so that some friends of mine, and of the church I serve can access them. I’ll link to them from the church webpage, and Facebook page, and from my own Facebook page. In addition to sermons, there will be reflections on some of my reading and thinking, and some questions and thoughts that I hope will generate some discussion both online and in church.

I currently serve the Congregational United Church of Christ in Decorah, Iowa as Interim Pastor. I am an Intentional Interim, meaning that I have taken training for this position and that I do not seek a settled or long term pastorate. Instead, I am called to help congregations recoup and revision in the period between settled pastors. 

Rev. Marlea Gilbert, Ph. D.