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> Bill's Blog
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12/7/2008It's hard to know that so many people are suffering because of the economic downturn in our country and world. Those who suffer the most in this kind of environment are the most vulnerable. How do we address the problems of the current economy? Sometimes I think that the economic system that we bow before has some significant problems. Just think about it. Our economy can prosper if you and I buy a lot of stuff that we don't need and that ends up hurting the environment. I can really benefit the economy if I buy six cars or three big screen televisions or, let's be frank, junk that no one really needs. Sometimes I wonder if our economy is not based on a lot of fluff, a lot of unnecessary stuff. How can we make sure that everybody has a decent life without creating a culture of conspicous consumption? I don't think the answers are easy. But I wonder about the prospect of buying our way out of economic malaise. 11/11/2008Some people think that the church speaks of money simply to keep the institution running. They think that our money talk is simply self serving. Sometimes it is such. But money is an important part of our discipleship. Learning to give it away is a means for keeping it disciplined. Otherwise, it will run our lives. My wife and I try to follow the Biblical notion of the tithe (giving away 10% of our income) as a way of disciplining our money. Yes, it means that we can buy less stuff, but this discipline helps make sure that we do what we value. Otherwise, credit cards and our stuff run the show. Then all of a sudden, money is running us and not the other way around. The extended church has tried to get us to teach people the 80-10-10 plan--save ten percent, give away 10 percent, and live on the rest. Makes a lot of sense to me. I am excited that Ed has been working hard on developing further our men's ministry. We had a good start with the night with Jack Schugars. I am hoping that small accountability groups (5-7 of them) might develop in the church--small groups of men (4-6) that meet regularly for conversation. The point of the conversation is to keep us men focused on our discipleship and our roles as father and husband. One group has started already. It meets for breakfast every two weeks. I have been very intrigued by those African Americans who are saying that they are taking Obama's victory "personally." For them, this is a day that they wondered if they would ever see. His victory is a sign of something significant for our culture. But it should not lead us to the conclusion that racism is dead here. We have a long way to go in this regard. 9/29/2008
Where does one begin to reflect on this situation? In some ways, all of this just seems way beyond my ability to comprehend. There is a New York Times editorial in today's Chronicle about our current economic situation that seems quite compelling. It speaks of the controls that were lifted from our financial institutions over the past 15 years or so. There are those who think that the free market system is some neutrally good force that never needs to be tampered with. While sometimes, it seems to me, that market forces need to be left alone, many other times they need to be kept under control, or they will be dominated by "the few." The market can be a god to some folks. It's not the devil to me, but it certainly isn't worthy of a god-like status. David Bayne in our SS class on Sunday suggested that we probably will discover that our current economic situation may be shaped by greed that permeates every aspect of the economic system--from lenders to borrowers, companies to individuals. He argued that we may not be willing to look at the deeper dimension of this crisis. We probably need to take a long hard look at our whole economic system. We probably won't have the guts to do that. And what's more, I do I wonder why this situation all of a sudden became a crisis that demanded a crisis response? This couldn't have just crept up on us. I don't think that we (Congress?) make(s) the best decisions in times of crisis. 9/25/2008
I was quite disturbed by some information that I heard recently. I hope the information is incorrect, but I read that 9 out of 10 babies that are identified as down's syndrome babies are aborted. I have been a person who thinks that the abortion issue is very complex. I've thought that we need to work hard to reduce the number of abortions that are happening in our culture, but I also have thought that keeping it a legal option is a necessity in the broken world in which we live. I haven't felt good about making that kind of a decision for a woman. But I have to admit that this 9 out of 10 figure gets to my gut. Down's Syndrome children are no less children than supposed normal children. It deeply unsettles me that some day we might do away with people who have Down's. We won't be better off if this occurs. Our world is greatly gifted by what Down's people bring to us. What do you think? 8/27/2008
Recent experiences have caused me to think about our "get tough on crime" campaign that has been going on in our culutre for a while. There is no doubt but that victims of crimes were at one time in our culture left out and left behind. We probably went too far in protecting the rights of criminals. But now we are imprisoning people at alarming rates. And Muskegon County is at the top of the list of counties in Michigan in terms of imprisonment rates. Something is not right. I am especially concerned about what is happening to young men who are convicted of sex-related crimes. I would be the last person to downplay the protection we need to provide women against men who rape them. But we also need not classify young men who have sex with young women who are not of the age of consent as sexual predators. These young men are ending up on the sex offenders' list for a life time. This isn't right. These individuals are not the same as those who are predators who look for young girls or boys to prey upon. Some young men end up serving time for having sex. They may be 18 and their partners were 16. Something's not right here. How do we protect women (young and older) without punishing young men for choices that were stupid, but shouldn't be considered illegal? 6/15/2008
Music is often a subject that creates controversy in the life of the church these days. There are those who think that the only music that should be used in the church is that which is more classically oriented. There are some who only value so-called contemporary music. I find the arguments that these folks enter into to be less than helpful. There is so much good music that comes from all genres of music--classical or contemporary. We need to sing and listen to it all. Sure some is better than others. Frankly, I think there are some contemporary songs that have cheesy words and even cheesy music. But the same can be said for some traditional hymnody. It matters to me what the words say. But I have to say that for me a song's words don't have to capture all of the truth of the faith. And sometimes the words of a song simply come from the heart-felt experience of its composer. And for me, that can be enough. There are no more strange (theologically questionable) words than those that come from the old hymn "I'll Fly Away." Where are we flying away to? This certainly is not a good Biblical view of what happens to us at death. But still, the author tried to articulate a way of dealing with the final future that takes away the pain that is so real for so many in this life. there is no way that I would say that I won't sing this song. I do have my tastes when it comes to music, but the faith is certainly not about my tastes. 5/18/2008
We had a very interesting conversation at Men's Breakfast on Saturday. We were discussing the Joseph story from Genesis. The story has an obvious critique of empire (the empire of Egypt). Our conversation centered in on the role that power has in determining our world view. When we are in power we often think in a certain way. When we are not in power we think differently. I said that understanding this is key to grasping the Jeremiah Wright reality. I personally think that his notion about the government using the HIV virus to harm the minority community is very questionable, reflective of conspiracy theories that generally serve no one. But, as my son reminded me, polls show that a majority of African Americans believe that indeed this might be possible. Being in a positon where you do not have power shapes how you perceive reality. I think people who are in power (until recently in this culture that has been undoubtedly white males, and probably still is) cannot understand how those not in power think. I think it would do us good to open ourselves to understanding what it means not to be in a position in power. I think that would tame our thoughts a bit. 12/12/2007This part of the blog will enable you to blog about anything related to church life or to ask any question that you may have. Maybe you have a Biblical question or a theological wondering. Maybe you simply want to know if you are responsible for coffee hour this week. Ask away! |
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