Faithful Philly Forum

I certainly would be surprised if people in the pews were under the impression that they had to have the same politics or the same spiritual or religious beliefs that their pastor had! I know that my own parishioners never had that mindset! Yet, that seems to be the inference that the media is suggesting about Obama and his pastor’s politics. That it is pretty laughable in fact! Oh to have that kind of influence!

So, now Obama has shifted the focus away from his preacher and put it in the laps of the average American. Are you ready to talk about race? This huge elephant in the room? Coincidently, Tabernacle United Church in Philly has a 6 week series set to start 3/30 focusing the worship theme on “Liberating ourselves from Otherness” as a way of addressing racism. For as Obama said so eloquently in his speech “In the end, then, what is called for is nothing more, and nothing less, than what all the world’s great religions demand - that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us. Let us be our brother’s keeper, Scripture tells us. Let us be our sister’s keeper. Let us find that common stake we all have in one another, and let our politics reflect that spirit as well.”

The challenge is before us now. Will we finally be real about race and white privilege in this country? Will the churches take seriously this “most segregated hour” in US public life?

Before coming to work this morning, I saw that a prominent televangelist was going to be featured on a popular morning show under the rubric: “God wants us to be rich.” Creflo Dollar, pastor of the World Changers Church International in Georgia, has been featured on many news stations. Creflo Dollar, like many other televangelists, is an adherent to prosperity theology. Dollar has two jets, two homes, at least one amazing car, and wads of money. Whatever happened to humility?–to helping others? Dollar is a product of his United States context. In this country we are told that we can pull ourselves up by our bootstraps. We are told that we can do things on our own: if you believe it, you can achieve it. The sad truth about these statements is that they are untrue. Unlike the proclamation of the constitution, we are not all created equal. One’s social location plays a major role in how one may fare in life. When we announce that God’s goal is that everyone prosper, we are simply not being real.

In recent weeks, Penn students could find members of the “World Mission Society Church of God” walking about the campus to let students know about their beliefs. Such events bring up an interesting talking point: “How are we as Christians to evangelize or to engage in mission?”  One thing I’ve learned is that mission can be or should be synonymous with dialog.  We have to be willing to listen to people and not only listen, but to learn as well.  In doing so, we will find ourselves and our faith enriched.  So often we get caught up trying to teach and preach to everyone, but this is a completely narrow way to go about mission work.  Of course we can still proclaim our beliefs, but we should also keep in mind the validity of the religion of others as well.  One question that I want to end with is offered by Paul Knitter (a professor at Union Theological Seminary), “Does Jesus have to be solely or only in order to be truly?”

For those of you who were unable to attend the MLK conversation on Monday, I would like to recap what went on.   Dr. King’s speech given at Riverside Church in New York was played.  For me, it seemed as though the places Dr. King said “Vietnam” could have been replaced with “Iraq” and “Communism” replaced by “Terrorism” to speak to us today.  Rev. Fernandez explained how he got to know Dr. King and arrange the speech given at Riverside.  Both Rev. Fernandez and Dr. Stephen Ray were prompt at answering the array of questions, which were raised after the speech.   Personal questions about Martin Luther King, Jr. were asked, such as, “Toward the end of his life, wasn’t Dr. King reconsidering non-violent action?”   There were also questions concerned about the continuation of US empire today and why  things haven’t changed.   The forum proved to be an enlightening event for all those in attendance.  If you’ve never listened to Dr. King’s “Riverside” speech, I would encourage you to do so if you have the chance.

Don’t forget abut our upcoming event, “A Conversation on Peace and Justice!”  Monday, January 28th from 4 to 6 at the Houston Hall Golkin Room,  the Christian Association is sponsoring  a forum to remind us of the injustices and inequality that Dr. King spoke out against.   Those in attendance will hear King’s “Riverside Speech” and will have the opportunity to ask questions to a two-person panel.  Dr. Stephen Ray, from the Lutheran Theological Seminary and Rev. Richard Fernandez, who helped to organize Dr. King’s “Riverside Speech” are the featured panelists.   So, come on out and hear how Dr. King’s message still speaks to us today!

This just in. Penn School of Nursing has found that nearly half (41%) of those in nursing or social work positions (presumably that is medical social workers) would NOT choose their profession should they have it to do over because they are experiencing feeling overwhelmed, frustrated, fatigued and a sense of powerlessness. This is being called “Moral distress”. They see the unfairness in the medical system in the distribution of resources (among other ethical andmoral issues.) There was a prayer request  at Church on Sunday for a young woman who has a painful cyst on her ovaries but who has no health insurance.  She is living on painkillers until she works enough days to qualify for coverage so she can schedule surgery. When it comes to health care there is much moral distress! How can this country of riches have 9.4 children without health insurance, especially when 90% of those live in working families. Marian Wright Edelman, founder and director of the Children’s Defense Fund, speaking at Penn this week on the occasion of the Martin Luther King celebrations said, “I had no idea how hard it would be to get this country to do what is right and moral for our chidren.” Moral distress indeed! We could use some shifts in its moral priorities.

Under the lies/guise of protecting the culture of Islam against sexual inappropriateness, 133 women were murdered last year in Iraq. Although accusing them of being prostitutes and adulturers, the murderers are intent upon killing women with PhDs, that is professional women who oppose setting up an Islamic state. Petitions are online to try to persuade people in high places to do something. 

But this morning’s paper reported a 13 year old woman being hurt and harassed by a fellow student in her high school while another article was of a gang of girls who beat up and slashed and seriously injured two other girls whom they didn’t like, also in high school. Now one might ask what kinds of parents these young people have or what kind of perverted minds can justify murder and mutilation in the name of building a “religious” state. But it also seems  clear that when the news headlines indicate that violence (usually by men ) is an appropriate way to control those with whom we disagree or those we dislike, then our young simply take up the (war) cry and do the same. Surely it is the “sins of the fathers descending on the sons.” Yet another group of folks from various churches are meeting to talk about how to respond to this out-of-control violence that sweeps across the world and through our newspaper headlines. May we never be so complacent as to accept this as the way it has to be!

It is pretty amazing that some people can justify smearing the church of  a presidential candidate they don’t like, in this case Barak Obama. As a seminary student in Chicago, I remember making a journey to south Chicago to Trinity UCC where we were introduced to this congregation’s work and passion for justice in the city (and beyond). My professors lifted it up as a model of a socially engaged congregation. I was impressed. The General Minister of the UCC denomination, John Thomas, who has already delivered anti-war petitions signed by nearly 70,000 Christians to legislators and the president (and been arrested for it), is now speaking adamantly against such  vicious lies. It appears that in this current climate it is now acceptable to bash God and pronounce the ideocy of any believers in the Divine. Peacemaking Christians must not cower. These times call us to speak up and counter harmful actions and words with truth.

Labels have always been (and still remain) a problem. For many, certain labels denote negative stereotypes, especially with regard to racism. One thing that has been stressed in my seminary class on “Gospel and Culture” is the fact that we must be extremely careful how we read things because of the problem of labels. My professor for this class happens to be from India. One example he shared with us is how a term we use in the USA is distorted for someone from another part of the world: middle-east. From our geographical location, the region we label “middle-east” may be appropriate, but for someone from India, this term is nonsense. For someone from India, a better term may be something like “the near west.” The point of being aware of labels allows us to become decentralized and see the world around us with more understanding, open eyes.

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