- the stained glass windows are nearing completion. One is done and the other will be within a week. Help is needed to mount the lightboxes and windows on the chancel wall.
- we are still looking for 2 Board members
- remember the Scott Woods Fiddle Concert on May 8th. Tickets are still available.
- on Mother's Day, May 10, there will be a pancake brunch after church
- plans are being made to do the June BBQ in a different way. More news will come after the May Board meeting
- to clear up confusion on the financial statements the Envelope and Non-Envelope lines will be changed to one line called "Givings"
- as of the end of March we are in a deficit position but we are approximately $3000 better than we were last year at this time.
- a proposal to request a grant to help pay for needed renovation work in the Manse bathroom is being put together
- there will be a clean-up of the church grounds on May 19th at 1:00
- we are planning a worship service and picnic out at Quetico Park for June 28
April 27, 2009
Board MEeting Highlights
The Church Board met last Thursday. Here are some highlights from that meeting:
April 21, 2009
Looking Ahead to April 26, 2009 -- 3rd Sunday of Easter
The Scripture Readings this week are:
Early Thoughts:What is our Easter hope? Is it a revitalization of what went before or something new? What do we want?
As we read the appearance stories in the gospels it is obvious that people seemed to have trouble recognizing the Risen Christ. In this passage from John Mary thinks he is the Gardener. In Luke's story of travelers on the road it is a simple stranger they meet. Only in the saying of a name or the breaking of the bread is Christ revealed. There has to have been something different.
It has been my experience that when we get too heavily involved in "what really happened" discussions around Easter we miss its meaning. Those discussions get bogged down in trying to prove the bodily resurrection and I have found that this focus leads to a vision of resurrection as resuscitating the dead body of Jesus of Nazareth. A holy defibrillator as it were.
But that isn't what Easter is. Easter is a moment of new life, of transformation, of God's YES causing the beginning of something new (this being the same God who speaks to us through the prophet Isaiah saying Behold, I am doing something new). And so being an Easter people means being people who remain open to real resurrection. It means being open to be transformed, to letting go of our need to maintain the familiar and the comfortable.
And of course that is harder. It is so much easier to simply hope for a return to what was before. IT would be nice to say that our hope is for a renewal of all that we find helpful and comfortable. Transformation and change is harder, scarier.
Nevertheless, that is what Easter invites into. So what transformations, what new life are we looking for right now? What does resurrection mean for our economy
(locally and globally)? What does it mean for our churches (as congregations and as denominations)? What deaths are out there paving the way for new life to happen? What do we need to let go of to embrace God's new thing?
WE are an Easter people. Our hope as an Easter people lies in the promise of resurrection. But that promise may take a form unrecognizable to us at first. May God help us to allow our eyes to be opened to see Easter.
--Gord
- From the Life of the Early Church: Acts 3:12-19
- Psalm 4 (VU p.727)
- From the Gospel: John 20:1-18
- #371 Open My Eyes, That I May See
- In the Garden (insert)
- #186 Now the Green Blade Rises
- #624 Give to Us Laughter
Early Thoughts:What is our Easter hope? Is it a revitalization of what went before or something new? What do we want?
As we read the appearance stories in the gospels it is obvious that people seemed to have trouble recognizing the Risen Christ. In this passage from John Mary thinks he is the Gardener. In Luke's story of travelers on the road it is a simple stranger they meet. Only in the saying of a name or the breaking of the bread is Christ revealed. There has to have been something different.
It has been my experience that when we get too heavily involved in "what really happened" discussions around Easter we miss its meaning. Those discussions get bogged down in trying to prove the bodily resurrection and I have found that this focus leads to a vision of resurrection as resuscitating the dead body of Jesus of Nazareth. A holy defibrillator as it were.
But that isn't what Easter is. Easter is a moment of new life, of transformation, of God's YES causing the beginning of something new (this being the same God who speaks to us through the prophet Isaiah saying Behold, I am doing something new). And so being an Easter people means being people who remain open to real resurrection. It means being open to be transformed, to letting go of our need to maintain the familiar and the comfortable.
And of course that is harder. It is so much easier to simply hope for a return to what was before. IT would be nice to say that our hope is for a renewal of all that we find helpful and comfortable. Transformation and change is harder, scarier.
Nevertheless, that is what Easter invites into. So what transformations, what new life are we looking for right now? What does resurrection mean for our economy
(locally and globally)? What does it mean for our churches (as congregations and as denominations)? What deaths are out there paving the way for new life to happen? What do we need to let go of to embrace God's new thing?
WE are an Easter people. Our hope as an Easter people lies in the promise of resurrection. But that promise may take a form unrecognizable to us at first. May God help us to allow our eyes to be opened to see Easter.
--Gord
April 14, 2009
Looking Forward to April 19, 2009 -- 2nd Sunday of Easter
The Scripture Readings the week are:
Early Thoughts: Why focus on the wounds? Why isn't a resurrected Christ freed from the wounds of crucifixion?
When many people look ahead to a new life, to the victory of resurrection over whatever is is in their lives that is death-dealing, they tend to have a utopian view. There is a hope tht when the new life comes the struggles and pains and woundedness of this world will be left behind.
But that isn't what our story says. In both Luke and John there is reference to the Risen Christ showing people the wounds in his hands and feet. And for much of Christian history we have had mystics who claim to bear the marks of the cross, the stigmata as a result of a mystical encounter with Christ. What's up tith this focus on the wounds?
Part of the focus in Christian thought has been that the wounds of Christ are tied to the salvation event. But I think that is only part. Part of the importance of the wounds in the appearance stories is to show that the Risen Christ is also the crucified JEsus. For those who read the GOspel story as a fact-based history it is also proof of a bodily resurrection. But again I find there is more to it.
No matter what happens we carry our wounds forward with us. THere are scars that never fully fade. THe choice is what we do with them. Do we huddle over our wounds and scars, nursing them and not getting over their causes? OR do we accept that they have happened and move forward into a new life? Do we learn from our wounds or do we allow our wounds to shape our whole being?
Resurrection is an event tht happens over and over in our lives if we let it. TO let resurrection happen we need to have a healthy approach to our wounds and sccars. Yes we learn from them. YEs they become a part of us. But if we truly embrace resurrection then we become more than we were. We are not our wounds. WE are not what we once were. THat is the challenge of being an Easter-people. We have to move beyond nursing our wounds, beyond wanting to have themm made all better and into the new place where we have a new relationship with those wounds.
SO everybody bring your wonds to the church and let us, as a community of wounded people, figure out how to live as resurrected people.
--Gord
- From the Life of the Early Church: Acts 4:32-35
- Psalm 126 (VU p.850)
- From the Gospel: John 20:19-31
- #402 We Are One
- #352 I Danced in the Morning
- MV #162 Christ Within Us Hidden (insert)
- #312 Praise with Joy the World’s Creator
Early Thoughts: Why focus on the wounds? Why isn't a resurrected Christ freed from the wounds of crucifixion?
When many people look ahead to a new life, to the victory of resurrection over whatever is is in their lives that is death-dealing, they tend to have a utopian view. There is a hope tht when the new life comes the struggles and pains and woundedness of this world will be left behind.
But that isn't what our story says. In both Luke and John there is reference to the Risen Christ showing people the wounds in his hands and feet. And for much of Christian history we have had mystics who claim to bear the marks of the cross, the stigmata as a result of a mystical encounter with Christ. What's up tith this focus on the wounds?
Part of the focus in Christian thought has been that the wounds of Christ are tied to the salvation event. But I think that is only part. Part of the importance of the wounds in the appearance stories is to show that the Risen Christ is also the crucified JEsus. For those who read the GOspel story as a fact-based history it is also proof of a bodily resurrection. But again I find there is more to it.
No matter what happens we carry our wounds forward with us. THere are scars that never fully fade. THe choice is what we do with them. Do we huddle over our wounds and scars, nursing them and not getting over their causes? OR do we accept that they have happened and move forward into a new life? Do we learn from our wounds or do we allow our wounds to shape our whole being?
Resurrection is an event tht happens over and over in our lives if we let it. TO let resurrection happen we need to have a healthy approach to our wounds and sccars. Yes we learn from them. YEs they become a part of us. But if we truly embrace resurrection then we become more than we were. We are not our wounds. WE are not what we once were. THat is the challenge of being an Easter-people. We have to move beyond nursing our wounds, beyond wanting to have themm made all better and into the new place where we have a new relationship with those wounds.
SO everybody bring your wonds to the church and let us, as a community of wounded people, figure out how to live as resurrected people.
--Gord
April 12, 2009
April 07, 2009
Looking Forward to April 12, 2009 -- Easter Sunday
The Scripture Readings this week are:
The title of the Meditation is Resurrection – Feel the Fear, Believe Anyway
Early Thoughts: There is something terrifying about the resurrection stories, at least if you read them from the point of view of the women going to the tomb. The truth of resurrection in the Gospels has to deal with that fear.
Mark is the earliest Gospel we have. The writer is the first person to attempt a description of Easter morning (while Paul writes earlier and confesses an Easter faith he never talks about what we call Easter morning). And in the earliest from it ends with the women running away in fear, telling nobody anything.
Obviously the story doesn't stop there. Obviously Mark's community knows that there is more to the story (and in fact there were verses added to the ending later that included an appearance by the Risen Christ). But this is where we get left. Not with joy and celebration but with fear and wondering.
And I think that is a good entry into being an Easter people. Too often we pass over that aspect of the story because we know how it ends. But as I look at it one of the miracles of the Easter event is that a group of terrified people found the faith to believe anyway. Easter isn't about debating what "really" happened. Easter is about finding the way to move beyond the fear of death into new life.
There is a lot of fear in the world right now. What will push us to feel the fear and believe anyway? What draws us into resurrection?
--Gord
- From the Jewish Scriptures: Isaiah 25:6-9
- Psalm 118:1-4, 19-24 (VU p.837 Parts 1 & 3)
- From the Gospel: Mark 16:1-8
- 155 Jesus Christ is Risen Today
- MV 122 This is the Day that God has Made (insert)
- 173 Thine is the Glory
- 468 Let us Talents and Tongues Enjoy
The title of the Meditation is Resurrection – Feel the Fear, Believe Anyway
Early Thoughts: There is something terrifying about the resurrection stories, at least if you read them from the point of view of the women going to the tomb. The truth of resurrection in the Gospels has to deal with that fear.
Mark is the earliest Gospel we have. The writer is the first person to attempt a description of Easter morning (while Paul writes earlier and confesses an Easter faith he never talks about what we call Easter morning). And in the earliest from it ends with the women running away in fear, telling nobody anything.
Obviously the story doesn't stop there. Obviously Mark's community knows that there is more to the story (and in fact there were verses added to the ending later that included an appearance by the Risen Christ). But this is where we get left. Not with joy and celebration but with fear and wondering.
And I think that is a good entry into being an Easter people. Too often we pass over that aspect of the story because we know how it ends. But as I look at it one of the miracles of the Easter event is that a group of terrified people found the faith to believe anyway. Easter isn't about debating what "really" happened. Easter is about finding the way to move beyond the fear of death into new life.
There is a lot of fear in the world right now. What will push us to feel the fear and believe anyway? What draws us into resurrection?
--Gord
Looking ahead to April 10, 2009 -- Good Friday
The Scripture Passages are:
- From the Jewish Scriptures: Isaiah 52:13-53:12
- From the Gospel: Mark 14:1-15:41
- Psalm 22 (VU p.744 Part One)
- 144 Were You There
- 182 Stay With Us Through the Night
March 31, 2009
Looking Forward to April 5, 2009 -- Palm Sunday
The Scripture Readings this week are:
Early Thoughts: No white charger, just a humble donkey. No flashing armour, just homespun robes and cloaks. No brassy trumpets, just the voices of friends and supporters. No real regalia at all. What's wrong with this picture??
In the minds of most people over the centuries, NO, this is NOT how a king comes. A Royal arrival is full of pomp and ceremony. Even our ceremonial opening of Parliament, with the official arrival of the vice-regal party is a dull shadow of the glorious pageantry traditionally associated with the arrival of a monarch.
Instead we have a plain man in plain dress riding a borrowed donkey. All the signs of royal power are missing. Well almost all the signs. There are still the adoring crowds. There is still the proclamation that the king is coming. And maybe that is part of the reason for what follows.
You see the entry into JErusalem is the entry of the anti-king. Jesus proclaims a knigdom that stands the norms of empire on their head. The power in the story is precisely that this is NOT how a king is expected to arrive. The expectations of many (botht the powerful and the powerless) need to be challenged and shattered for God's kingdom to become a reality.
Is this how a king comes? Only if we redefine the term king.
--Gord
PS: Don't forget the rest of our Holy Week Worship events:
- Psalm 118:19-29 (VU p.837 Parts 3 & 4)
- From the Gospel: Mark 11:1-11
- 122 All Glory Laud and Honour
- 123 Hosanna Loud Hosanna
- 127 Ride On, Ride On in Majesty
- 424 May the God of Hope Go with Us
Early Thoughts: No white charger, just a humble donkey. No flashing armour, just homespun robes and cloaks. No brassy trumpets, just the voices of friends and supporters. No real regalia at all. What's wrong with this picture??
In the minds of most people over the centuries, NO, this is NOT how a king comes. A Royal arrival is full of pomp and ceremony. Even our ceremonial opening of Parliament, with the official arrival of the vice-regal party is a dull shadow of the glorious pageantry traditionally associated with the arrival of a monarch.
Instead we have a plain man in plain dress riding a borrowed donkey. All the signs of royal power are missing. Well almost all the signs. There are still the adoring crowds. There is still the proclamation that the king is coming. And maybe that is part of the reason for what follows.
You see the entry into JErusalem is the entry of the anti-king. Jesus proclaims a knigdom that stands the norms of empire on their head. The power in the story is precisely that this is NOT how a king is expected to arrive. The expectations of many (botht the powerful and the powerless) need to be challenged and shattered for God's kingdom to become a reality.
Is this how a king comes? Only if we redefine the term king.
--Gord
PS: Don't forget the rest of our Holy Week Worship events:
- Good Friday Walk on April 10. Starts at the Atikokan Community Fellowship (on Front Street) at 10:30
- Good Friday Worship at 7:00 that evening
- Easter Celebration April 12 at 10:30. We will share the communion meal during the service and then have a finger food potluck lunch following the service. Come break bread with us!
March 24, 2009
Looking Forward to March 29, 2009 -- 5th Sunday of Lent
The Scripture Readings this week are:
From the Jewish Scriptures: Deuteronomy 14:28-29; 15:7-11
Psalm 41 (VU p.765)
From the Life of the Early Church: Acts 4:32-37
From the Gospel: Matthew 19:16-26
The Hymns this week are:
402 We Are One
87 I Am the Light of the World (verses 2-4)
603 In Loving Partnership
512 Lord You Give the Great Commission
The Sermon title is Charity or Community – What’s It All About?
Early Thoughts: What is the point of choosing to share what we have? Is it so we can feel good about ourselves? Is it to help those in need? Is it a result of noblesse oblige? What is the end result for which we hope?
Scripture is very clear. We have an obligation to give. It isn't a nice "add-on", it isn't something you do "if you have some extra". Giving is something mandatory. But at the same time giving is a thing to be done cheerfully (in his correspondence with the church in Corinth Paul reminds us that God loves a cheerful giver). Why is it so important?
I believe that giving is important for two reason. One is that in choosing to give from what we have we make it easier to remember that we are blessed with abundance rather than cursed with scarcity. Giving also reminds us that the acquisition of wealth and stuff is not the goal of life, we are freed from the slavery of consumption. But really the reason giving and sharing from what we have is important is that it builds community. That is the end goal of faith, to build a community where God's justice and love are the norm. And this can only be done when the community members are willing to give.
And so I am not often a big fan of the charity model of giving. At its heart charity is a good thing. The word itself speaks of caritas, a Latin word sometimes used in place of Love. But in modern times a charity model all too often has overtones of paternalism, of noblesse oblige, of doing for others to feel good for ourselves (or to get a tax receipt). And then we lose the community-building sense of why we give.
{as a digression, in my first year of seminary a classmate of mine insisted we should encourage people not to use envelopes and not to get tax receipts for their givings to the church, he figured that would make the gift more "real" somehow. others in the class disagreed rather strongly}
Does giving make us feel better? Often. But that still isn't why we give. Do we use language about helping those who are worse off than we are? Certainly, so does Scripture, but that still isn't the only reason we give. We give because we have been blessed. We give to build up community both around the corner from us and around the world from us. We give because as faithful people we have no choice. Stewardship is all about the choices we make with what we have. God calls us to be good stewards by choosing to share our time, our talent, our treasures, our love in ways that build up the community. This is part of what it means to really pray "thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven".
--Gord
From the Jewish Scriptures: Deuteronomy 14:28-29; 15:7-11
Psalm 41 (VU p.765)
From the Life of the Early Church: Acts 4:32-37
From the Gospel: Matthew 19:16-26
The Hymns this week are:
402 We Are One
87 I Am the Light of the World (verses 2-4)
603 In Loving Partnership
512 Lord You Give the Great Commission
The Sermon title is Charity or Community – What’s It All About?
Early Thoughts: What is the point of choosing to share what we have? Is it so we can feel good about ourselves? Is it to help those in need? Is it a result of noblesse oblige? What is the end result for which we hope?
Scripture is very clear. We have an obligation to give. It isn't a nice "add-on", it isn't something you do "if you have some extra". Giving is something mandatory. But at the same time giving is a thing to be done cheerfully (in his correspondence with the church in Corinth Paul reminds us that God loves a cheerful giver). Why is it so important?
I believe that giving is important for two reason. One is that in choosing to give from what we have we make it easier to remember that we are blessed with abundance rather than cursed with scarcity. Giving also reminds us that the acquisition of wealth and stuff is not the goal of life, we are freed from the slavery of consumption. But really the reason giving and sharing from what we have is important is that it builds community. That is the end goal of faith, to build a community where God's justice and love are the norm. And this can only be done when the community members are willing to give.
And so I am not often a big fan of the charity model of giving. At its heart charity is a good thing. The word itself speaks of caritas, a Latin word sometimes used in place of Love. But in modern times a charity model all too often has overtones of paternalism, of noblesse oblige, of doing for others to feel good for ourselves (or to get a tax receipt). And then we lose the community-building sense of why we give.
{as a digression, in my first year of seminary a classmate of mine insisted we should encourage people not to use envelopes and not to get tax receipts for their givings to the church, he figured that would make the gift more "real" somehow. others in the class disagreed rather strongly}
Does giving make us feel better? Often. But that still isn't why we give. Do we use language about helping those who are worse off than we are? Certainly, so does Scripture, but that still isn't the only reason we give. We give because we have been blessed. We give to build up community both around the corner from us and around the world from us. We give because as faithful people we have no choice. Stewardship is all about the choices we make with what we have. God calls us to be good stewards by choosing to share our time, our talent, our treasures, our love in ways that build up the community. This is part of what it means to really pray "thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven".
--Gord
March 17, 2009
Looking Forward to March 22, 2009 -- 4th Sunday of Lent
The Scripture Readings this week are:
From the Letters of the Early Church: 1 Timothy 6:1-12
Psalm 146 (VU p.868)
From the Gospel: Luke 12:13-21, 34
The Hymns this week are: (much of our music --3 hymns and the special music-- this week is "Irishy" in honour of St. Patrick's Day)
374 Come and Find the Quiet Centre
410 This Day God Gives Me
625 I Feel the Winds of God
642 Be Thou My Vision
The Sermon title this week is Cash or Credit??? – Tool, Scorecard or Goal??
Early Thoughts: What meaning do those bits of paper and metal and plastic have? Are they helpful or do they get in the way?
Well to be honest they are both helpful and they get in the way. OR at least both answers are possible. It all depends on the choices we make. It depends what meaning we give them.
In this scene from the 1987 movie Wall Street Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) gave a group a stockholders a rousing speech about how greed works. If that is the path we follow than money is not just a tool, it is our goal, our way of keeping score. Then it can be a distraction to the path of being faithful.
But we can just as easily decide that money is merely a tool, a convenient way to facilitate the exchange of goods and services (far easier and more straightforward than a barter system after all). What happens if we make that choice?
Money is really in the end only bits of metal, or pieces of paper, or slips of plastic to which we have given some meaning or value. And it is only good when exchanged with someone who agrees on what that value is (try spending Canadian Tire money anywhere other than Canadian Tire to prove that point). So it makes a rather bad way of keeping score in life.
Yes I know many people keep score with money, or with things related to money and wealth. But as people of faith we are called to a different scoring system. Money, in and of itself, is not evil, but the Scriptures tell us that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. That is because it distracts us from God's scoring system. That scoring system is based on what we do with our money. It is based on how we interact with our neighbours. It is the path of self-giving, and in the end I believe it works a whole lot better than greed.
What do you think?
--Gord
From the Letters of the Early Church: 1 Timothy 6:1-12
Psalm 146 (VU p.868)
From the Gospel: Luke 12:13-21, 34
The Hymns this week are: (much of our music --3 hymns and the special music-- this week is "Irishy" in honour of St. Patrick's Day)
374 Come and Find the Quiet Centre
410 This Day God Gives Me
625 I Feel the Winds of God
642 Be Thou My Vision
The Sermon title this week is Cash or Credit??? – Tool, Scorecard or Goal??
Early Thoughts: What meaning do those bits of paper and metal and plastic have? Are they helpful or do they get in the way?
Well to be honest they are both helpful and they get in the way. OR at least both answers are possible. It all depends on the choices we make. It depends what meaning we give them.
In this scene from the 1987 movie Wall Street Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) gave a group a stockholders a rousing speech about how greed works. If that is the path we follow than money is not just a tool, it is our goal, our way of keeping score. Then it can be a distraction to the path of being faithful.
But we can just as easily decide that money is merely a tool, a convenient way to facilitate the exchange of goods and services (far easier and more straightforward than a barter system after all). What happens if we make that choice?
Money is really in the end only bits of metal, or pieces of paper, or slips of plastic to which we have given some meaning or value. And it is only good when exchanged with someone who agrees on what that value is (try spending Canadian Tire money anywhere other than Canadian Tire to prove that point). So it makes a rather bad way of keeping score in life.
Yes I know many people keep score with money, or with things related to money and wealth. But as people of faith we are called to a different scoring system. Money, in and of itself, is not evil, but the Scriptures tell us that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. That is because it distracts us from God's scoring system. That scoring system is based on what we do with our money. It is based on how we interact with our neighbours. It is the path of self-giving, and in the end I believe it works a whole lot better than greed.
What do you think?
--Gord
March 10, 2009
Looking Forward to March 15, 2009 -- 3rd Sunday of Lent
The Scripture Readings this week are:
Early Thoughts: How much is enough? When do we say stop? Will more "stuff" solve our dis-ease? Is the problem one of trust or simple greed?
As I look at it we have an illness. I call it consumption. And it is killing us, killing our planet, killing our communities. We need to find a cure.
WHat are some of the symptoms of this illness? Watch an hour of TV and you will note that 15 minutes of that hour are dedicated to commercials telling us to "buy buy buy". Listen to the talk about how to get out of the recession and you will hear economists and politicians talking about getting money out there so people can buy more stuf (and thereby kick start the economy). Take a look around your communities and see how many people have a house and yard and garage full of toys -- plasma TVs, quads, motor boats, top of the line canoes, multiple computers, ice augers, snowmachines, fancy kitchen gadgets... Visit a local landfill and see what we have determined to be "surplus". Walk through a toy aisle with my children and listen to the constant chorus of "I need to have, I really want...". The illness is real.
What causes the illness? SOmetimes it is simple greed, the desire to have more. SOmetimes it is a lack of trust, the need to get now because later it may not be available or I may not be able to get it. SOmetimes it is because we have lost sight of what is really important, of what is needed over what is wanted. Sometimes it is because we have bought into what the Moderator has called a "crumbling pyramid scheme" -- we have accepted the idea that the only possible way for the economy to operate is by getting more and causing unending growth. There are a variety of causes.
ANd the cure? At an individual level the cure lies in making different choices. But that is only part of it. THe illness is systemic, so the cure also has to be systemic. The illness is strong so the cure needs to be radical. We need to change the operating assumptions of our social-economic-political culture. WE need to redefine success. We need to stop telling people to buy stuff they don't need.
Can we find the cure to consumption? Can the dis-ease that forms our culture be removed/replaced with a healthier alternative? Do we really want to cure it? Do we even believe that we are sick?
--Gord
- From the Jewish Scriptures: Exodus 16:14-20
- From the Jewish Scriptures: 2 Samuel 12:2-6
- From the Gospel: Luke 12:22-34
- 260 God Who Gives to Life Its Goodness
- 227 For the Fruit of All Creation
- 356 Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God
- 507 Today We All Are Called to Be Disciples
Early Thoughts: How much is enough? When do we say stop? Will more "stuff" solve our dis-ease? Is the problem one of trust or simple greed?
As I look at it we have an illness. I call it consumption. And it is killing us, killing our planet, killing our communities. We need to find a cure.
WHat are some of the symptoms of this illness? Watch an hour of TV and you will note that 15 minutes of that hour are dedicated to commercials telling us to "buy buy buy". Listen to the talk about how to get out of the recession and you will hear economists and politicians talking about getting money out there so people can buy more stuf (and thereby kick start the economy). Take a look around your communities and see how many people have a house and yard and garage full of toys -- plasma TVs, quads, motor boats, top of the line canoes, multiple computers, ice augers, snowmachines, fancy kitchen gadgets... Visit a local landfill and see what we have determined to be "surplus". Walk through a toy aisle with my children and listen to the constant chorus of "I need to have, I really want...". The illness is real.
What causes the illness? SOmetimes it is simple greed, the desire to have more. SOmetimes it is a lack of trust, the need to get now because later it may not be available or I may not be able to get it. SOmetimes it is because we have lost sight of what is really important, of what is needed over what is wanted. Sometimes it is because we have bought into what the Moderator has called a "crumbling pyramid scheme" -- we have accepted the idea that the only possible way for the economy to operate is by getting more and causing unending growth. There are a variety of causes.
ANd the cure? At an individual level the cure lies in making different choices. But that is only part of it. THe illness is systemic, so the cure also has to be systemic. The illness is strong so the cure needs to be radical. We need to change the operating assumptions of our social-economic-political culture. WE need to redefine success. We need to stop telling people to buy stuff they don't need.
Can we find the cure to consumption? Can the dis-ease that forms our culture be removed/replaced with a healthier alternative? Do we really want to cure it? Do we even believe that we are sick?
--Gord
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