Trans4m

World on Fire!

Amy Chua, Professor of Law at Yale University entitled her penetrating and critically acclaimed 2004 book, “World on Fire.” According to Chua, the world is currently facing a plethora of burning issues on a global scale as never before.

 As this is being written Wall Street has just experienced one of its most devastating blows in decades with the bankruptcy of 150-year old investment bank Lehman Brothers, a venerable Wall Street institution. The failure has resulted in the loss of more than 25,000 jobs worldwide, jeopardized the financial stability of tens of thousands of individuals, sent stock markets around the world reeling, including the Dow Jones which saw its sixth largest drop in history – 504 points in one day, obliterating over $700 billion in wealth. Yet, as the financial chaos compounds, its CEO, Richard Fuld, waltzed away with more than $60 million in compensation.  Global insurance giant, AIG, Merrill Lynch, and other global financial institutions teeter on the brink. The world is on fire!

Today in South Africa, more than a decade after the end of apartheid, a child is orphaned every 30 seconds as a result of the rampant HIV/AIDS epidemic. Though the world celebrated Mandela’s peaceful revolution, which brought an end to more than half a century of brutal apartheid rule, before he or his ANC could take office, the outgoing National Party had negotiated away the economic future of the country, making a Faustian bargain with the shock doctrine proponents of Chicago School style, unbridled, free market economics, leaving the new government responsible for transformation, but economically powerless to bring it about. Today, for the vast majority of black Africans, the economic present is worse than the apartheid past.  The world is on fire!

In spite of more than enough resources to adequately care for every person on the planet, two thirds of the world’s inhabitants are forced to eek out an existence on two dollars a day or less. In this world of plenty, 30,000 children die every day around the globe from a lack of clean drinking water, while we in America care more about keeping our golf courses green and our suburban yards flourishing.  The world is on fire!

We live in a tinderbox of global conflict on an unprecedented scale where the slightest spark could fuel a conflagration the likes of which the world has never seen. The global community is in desperate need of profound reconciliation that strikes at the roots of conflict, not merely pontificating superficial political platitudes and posturing. Israeli versus Palestinian, Sunni versus Shiite, North Korea verses South Korea, the terrorists against the West; China verses Taiwan, and an Iran ambitious for nuclear capabilities versus the rest of an anxious world. The world is on fire!

As America faces its worst financial crisis in decades and recovers from the aftermath of two horrific hurricanes, all in the shadow of the somber 9/11 remembrance ceremonies, the candidates for the highest office in the land call each other names and debate who’s lying about who, as they conduct one the most childish campaigns in recent political history. The campaign would almost be comedic if it weren’t being played out against the backdrop of a world on fire – a world in desperate need of serious solutions to staggering problems. Yet it seems we are still content to fiddle while Rome burns.

In times Like These ...

Just reflecting on all the politicians wagging their tongues these days spouting banality such as, "In times like these we are united." What they are saying is that in the midst of such things as the 9/11 remembrance and the onslaught of hurricanes Ike and Gustav, there is no room for partisan bickering and petty political division which has become the norm in America. The sad reality is that every day,not only in America but around the world, there are burning issues facing us that can only be addressed from a place of unity and mutual respect and collaboration. Poverty, AIDS ( an African child is orphaned every 30 seconds because of AIDS!), Human Trafficking, Nuclear threats, political oppression in places like Zimbabwe, Darfur, Burma, North Korea, to name only a few. Conflict between Georgia and Russia, Palestinian and Israeli, Shia vs. Shiite, Terrorists vs. the West ... and the list could go on and on! And our politicians are so small-minded and idiotic that they think they are really doing something special when they halt their childish personal attacks to "come together" i n the face of tragedy. Someone should tell them that we live in a country and world that faces catastrophic issues every second of every day! Burning issues that will only be solved when we all come together and leave the pettiness of American politics behind for good!

Four World Social Innovation Forum

The 13th century village of Romainmotier Switzerland was the site of the Four World Social Innovation Forum outside of Geneva

Rejoining the Conversation

For a variety of reasons I have been on an extended hiatus from my blog, but have decided to rejoin the conversation - at least periodically. I have been doing a lot of travel for the Doctor of Ministry program I direct as well as for the Ph.D. Research I have been doing. In addition, my teaching load this Fall was barely survivable, so all extraneous involvements needed to be pruned. However, I have missed the daily - or at least weekly - posts I had gotten used to making. The discipline of posting served as a daily deadline of sorts, not unlike what I imagine a newspaper columnist must experience, providing the creative tension that serves as a catalyst for effective analysis and synthesis. And so, I welcome myself back!

Prophet Pat

The Rev. Pat Robertson says God has told him that storms and possibly a tsunami will hit America's coastline this year.The founder of the Christian Broadcasting Network has told viewers of "The 700 Club" that the revelations came to him during his annual personal prayer retreat in January."If I heard the Lord right about 2006, the coasts of America will be lashed by storms," Robertson said May 8.He added specifics in Wednesday's show."There well may be something as bad as a tsunami in the Pacific Northwest," he said. Unfortunately, this is the image most Americans and Europeans have of Evangelical Christians. No wonder people flock to Oprah when they perceive Christianity to be the other option. I am convinced that this is one of the dangers of "Christian" television. To keep your audience, there always has to be something new and sensational, so why not a special message from our loving God about impending doom and destruction ... just in time for May sweeps!

Pastor Oprah

Last Thursday's USA Today carried an intriguing story about the power of being Oprah Winfrey and how many Americans (particularly women) see Oprah as a spiritual leader who is changing the world. Here is what actor/entertainer Jammie Foxx said as a guest on her show ...

Last fall, at the start of this 20th season of The Oprah Winfrey Show, guest Jamie Foxx said much the same thing, but he wasn't joking. "What you have is something nobody can describe," Foxx said to Winfrey on the air. Then he explained about how he told Vibe magazine: "You're going to get to heaven and everyone's waiting on God and it's going to be Oprah Winfrey."

He told her she has "different gears" than most people. "You're on the top of the world, and we really do watch and listen for everything you do and say to kind of get our lives together. It's the truth."

In a November poll conducted at Beliefnet.com, a site that looks at how religions and spirituality intersect with popular culture, 33% of 6,600 respondents said Winfrey has had "a more profound impact" on their spiritual lives than their clergypersons.

Cathleen Falsani, religion writer for the Chicago Sun-Times, recently suggested, "I wonder, has Oprah become America's pastor?"

What do you think? Is Oprah America's new spiritual leader? Does the fact that 33% of 6,600 respondents say the Oprah has had a more profound impact on their lives than their clergy person say more about Oprah or about today's clergy person? Something to think about ...

Join a Million Voices for Darfur

In Matthew 25:44-46 Jesus says, "Then they will reply, 'Lord, when did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and not help you?' And he will answer, 'I assure you, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters you were refusing to help me.' And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life.

Send a postcard to President Bush to help give him the leverage he needs to lead in the face of this human tragedy and genocide. Send a Postcard Now!

Damned by Darfur

Though it is good to see the tragedy of Darfur finally in the national and international spotlight to some degree, I am wondering why it is celebrities like George Clooney (God bless him) who are at the forefront of this issue? Why is the Evangelical Church and its leaders virtually invisible when it comes to this issue? How many sermons were preached this last week in our pulpits in support of this past weekend's events planned to call attention to the genocide and put pressure on national and international leaders to DO something? Why are we as evangelical Christian leaders so passive and silent when it comes to such global tragedies? Imagine the impact if all of our evangelical churches in the Twin Cities (and the nation) had taken to the streets after our church services to stand in the gap for the Invisible Children and the gross injustices that are taking place in Sudan. I am afraid that by our silence we are being damned by Darfur. What are your thoughts? Why do you think our evangelical churches remain silent in the face of this tragedy and what can we do to shame the church into action?

Check out the Invisible Children

Rethinking Wealth

Check it Out! Christianity in a Consumer Culture

For those living in a capitalist context, wealth, profit, advantage and power are understood, in a general sense, almost exclusively as material and, in a more specific sense, as economic. But clearly there is a form of wealth that is not rooted in money, property, or any other physical asset. Similarly, there are advantages in life that extend beyond the economic realm and there are forms of power that are not rooted in the world of financial wealth. 
    In the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes, King Solomon, one of the wealthiest men in history, wrote, “Those who love money will never have enough. How absurd to think that wealth brings true happiness! …So what is the advantage of wealth – except perhaps to see it run through your fingers!”  Moreover, Solomon writes, “There is another serious problem I have seen in the world. Riches are sometimes hoarded to the harm of the saver … People who live only for wealth come to the end of their lives as naked and empty-handed as the day they were born.”  Solomon seems to be saying here that material wealth, in itself, is not capable of providing human beings with the happiness and inner peace that they ultimately value and seek. Something (spiritual capital) must exist beyond or beneath material wealth that imbues it with the power to grant happiness to its possessor. Solomon contends that people who seek material capital alone, apart from such spiritual capital live their lives under a cloud – frustrated, discouraged, and angry. Any thoughts? Let me encourage you to attend what should be an intellectually stimulating and life-changing event: Conference on Christian Consumerism

A Revolutionary Standard!

This morning in my reading I was headed for Matthew 26, but got stuck on Matthew 25:31-46. It is Jesus telling his disciples about the final judgment right before they go to celebrate his last passover. Jesus very plainly says that when he comes in all of his glory, and all of the angels with him, and he sits upon his glorious throne, he will gather the nations before him and then separate them as a shepherd separates the goats from the sheep - sheep on the right, goats on the left. Then he will summon the sheep and say, "Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." And the basis of this selection is how the sheep treated the hungry, thirsty, alienated, naked, sick, and imprisoned people of the world. It is not a passage we hear preached much in our churches today; and no wonder, it is quite convicting. Jesus seems to be saying that how we deal with the marginalized of the earth is a true reflection of our relationship with him. It is a sobering standard of true spirituality. And yet, for how many of our churches is this a PRIMARY concern? Do we see as our primary mission on earth Loving Jesus by genuinely loving and engaging with the hungry, thirsty, alienated, naked, sick, and imprisoned people of the world? What will it take to reorient the evangelical Church to this revolutionary standard? What can each of us do to help reorient our own community of faith and give leadership to a vibrant, church-wide ministry to "the least of these" among us?  Any ideas or thoughts?