Deborah, Barak and Jael

In the story of Deborah and Barak in the book of Judges in the Hebrew Bible,  Deborah, a married woman, was a judge and prophetess; Barak was a military leader then judge. Barak hesitated to lead his army against the Canaanites. Deborah challenged him to follow God's will. With her by his side, Barak led his army against the Canaanites and conquered. The result was 40 years of peace.

Has history repeated itself?  Did President Obama achieve a great victory when Hillary Clinton was by his side as Secretary of State?  I do not know, but I see no peace.

Perhaps there is another woman to be focused on: Jael.  She drives a tent peg through the brain of the enemy general while he sleeps.  With his death, the conflict is ended.  Deborah had predicted that the general would die at the hand of a woman.

Is Elizabeth Warren the next Jael?  Will she drive a tent peg through the capitalist system that controls our nations wealth at the expense of the middle class and poor?  I hope so.

Salomon de Bray, the artist, shows Jael, with hammer and pin, next to Deborah and Barak.

Sequester and the Moral Failure of Congress

Last week Congress voted to end flight delays by voting more money for the FAA. This was a self-serving and a genuflect to the wealthy. I am appalled that while so many suffer Congress chose to act on that measure.

"Repealing the small part of sequestration that affected Congress itself and the donor class, while letting cancer patients go without chemotherapy, seniors go without meals on wheels, pregnant mothers go without nutritional assistance, and children get kicked out of Head Start programs, is a new low in our debased public morality." Fear of Flying: Cancer v. flight delays from the Washington Post.

I am a Christian.  I have never believed we were meant to be a Christian Nation nor have we ever been one. The sequester confirms we are not one.  I believe we are being judged by how we treat the least among us and we are abject failures.

Matthew 25: 31-46

The Judgement of the Nations

 ‘When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, “Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.” Then the righteous will answer him, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?” And the king will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” Then he will say to those at his left hand, “You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.” Then they also will answer, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?” Then he will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.” And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. 

Will we raise our voices for those sick with cancer, seniors without food, mothers without food for their babies, little children denied education because they are poor?

Will we raise our voices for the immigrant(the stranger), for the unjustly imprisoned, for the poor, and all who suffer needlessly in this nation of wealth? 

Will Congress stand up for the least or grovel before their rich donors' Golden Calf?

Will we worship Mammon instead of God?

Lectionary Musings for January 27, 2013

¹⁴Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. ¹⁵He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone. ¹⁶When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, ¹⁷and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: ¹⁸“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, ¹⁹to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” ²⁰And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. ²¹Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

Ruins of Sepphoris

This week's lectionary reading in Luke's gospel finds us in Chapter 4.  Jesus returns to the synagogue of his youth and reads from the writings of the prophet Isaiah.  The passage he chooses may well have been written about Isaiah himself.  Now, Jesus applies them to himself and they take on new meaning.

His focus will not be on the religious whom he sits among.  His focus will be on the poor, those that are not full participants in their faith.  Jesus will make them valued members of his faith and recipients of his all encompassing love.

He will seek those who cannot seek him: the captives, the blind, the oppressed.  To them, he will proclaim the love of God.

He claims ownership of this passage and proclaims himself God's anointed.  He does not claim to be the Messiah yet.  This is the opening of his ministry.  He is setting the stage for the revelation of divinity that is to come.

Why would he choose to make this proclamation in Nazareth?  Nazareth, where he grew up,  was a small village of Jews.  However, Nazareth was adjacent to a new city, Sepphoris.  Sepphoris had been rebuilt by Herod Antipas after it was destroyed by the Romans in 4 BCE.  By the time of Jesus it was a bustling city whose population was much influenced by Rome.  Perhaps Jesus intended for his words to go beyond the boundaries of Nazareth to Sepphoris.

Those that frequented the synagogue in Nazareth may well have frequented the ten synagogues in Sepphoris.  Having grown up in the area and worked in Sepphoris, Jesus would know that what was said in Nazareth would spread to Sepphoris.  In a subtle way, Jesus is announcing himself not just to Jews but also to Romans.

Jesus tells those that hear him that the world is changing, that a new force has entered into both the world of Jews and the world of the Romans.  There is no fanfare, but God's good news is seeping into the world.  Drop by drop hearts will be changed.

Could Jesus Vote in 2012?

Many states have enacted a law to require a photo ID before you can vote. Republicans say a photo ID prevents voter fraud, but statistics show that voter fraud is almost nonexistent. The true purpose of a voter ID law is to disenfranchise the old, the poor and the disabled; all of whom would not vote as Republicans want.

Why do I believe this?

Because I was raised in Texas and remember the poll tax. My Yankee grandmother moved to Texas with my native Texan mother after WWII. My grandmother was shocked to discover she had to pay to vote. I can remember my mother explaining the pernicious nature of the poll tax. The poll tax was designed to keep the poor and especially African Americans from voting. The poll tax was successful.

The 24th amendment to the constitution of the United States was passed to end the poll tax. President Lyndon Johnson said, "There can be no one too poor to vote." Republicans want to put lie to that.

Now, to vote you will need a driver's license or state photo ID to vote. Proponents of the Voter ID law say that these ID's are now free.  These ID's are not available at the corner grocer.  You  must be able to go to your local driver's license office and wait a considerable length of time to have your photo taken for the ID.  If you are old, infirm or poor, especially if you don't have a car, this becomes a daunting task. Just as in the past, when the poll tax could only be purchased in the courthouse downtown, now the modern poll tax will be just as hard to access for the portion of the population that Republicans want to disenfranchise.

Photo by Dan Young Wausau Daily Herald

Many of the disenfranchised may lack the documentation necessary to get a photo ID.  In one Wisconsin case, an elderly woman who has voted for years and served in public office lacks the proper documentation and will have to go to court to get it at considerable cost.  My own paternal grandmother did not have a birth certificate because she was born on a farm in rural Wisconsin.

Jesus told us that "whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me".  When we deprive the poor, the disabled, the ex-convict ,the elderly of the right to vote, we deprive Jesus.  In 2012, could Jesus vote in your state?.

Health Insurance an Illusion

When health reform passed, I thought I might have a chance to visit a doctor when I needed to.  Not so.  I am still stuck in the Texas Health Insurance Risk Pool.  My premium keeps going up.  I could not pay my premium this month.  Unless I come up with two months coverage by the end of the month, I cannot continue to have health insurance.  I have a steady income of $1100/mo.  My health insurance premium takes more than half.  I have very little left to live on.

I cannot transfer to the federal program because I am in the Texas program.  If I go without insurance for 6 months then I can apply for the federal insurance.  I do not know what to do.

If the Repubs do not repeal health insurance reform, then in a few years I will be able to obtain health insurance.  Of course, the odds are not on my side that I will live that long..  I have avoided going to my cardiologist even though my primary physician says I should see her.  I don't have the money and the health insurance I have for the moment has a $2500 deductible I have not met and won't meet unless I am hospitalized.  Hospitalization becomes more likely if I don't see the cardiologist.  Isn't life fun?

Delaying implementation of health insurance reform may have been necessary, but how many will die because of the delay?  No one cares.

The United States has hardened its heart.  The Repubs blame the poor and the unemployed for their plights.  Remember all the Repubs that said unemployment insurance only encourages the unemployed not to work. What does it matter that there are often hundreds of applicants for every job.  Keep them destitute and some will volunteer for the military.  That's how to increase recruitment.  The pulpits of the fundamentalist churches characterize poverty unless caused by illness or injury, as a sin.  After all, if you give to the church it will be multiplied and returned to you, they preach.  Wealth is a sign of God's approval.

We are not a Christian nation.  We are a selfish nation.  We concentrate on the accumulation of personal wealth.  We ignore the neighbor next door eating ramen. God does not bestow riches because we give to a church, synagogue or mosque.  God bestows his riches when we follow his example and care for those around us.

Struggling to Survive

I agree with Shirley Sherrod that the problems of American are not black or white, but that of have-nots and the prosperous.  As a country, we like to think of our nation of wealth.  We choose to ignore those that struggle on the fringes of our society.  Just as Republicans claimed that unemployment insurance payments are incentives to not to seek work and that most of the unemployed are just deadbeats, we believe those that cannot make it in our society are failures through their own doing.  We believe we owe such deadbeats very little.  We are so afraid that someone will game the system that we punish those who are poor all the more.  The great sin in America is to be poor.

In evangelical pulpits, the message is wealth.  If you obey God, tithe to the church, to the tel-evangelist, God will reward you.  No good Christian will be poor for long.  "You cannot out give God."   If that message is true, then it follows that the poor are sinners.  Sinners must be shown the error of their ways, not abetted.  Hence government programs that help the poor are simply something that enables sin.  Kill those programs and the poor will start to work, will cease to sin.  This is the underlying philosophy of  the religious wing of the Republican Party, the Huckabee wing.

Some in America claim we are a "Christian" nation.  I do not agree.  A Christian nation would remember Christ's teaching on caring for "the least of these brothers of mine."  This is the time for Christians to speak out.  Make this a "Caring" nation.  People of all faiths must come together to help those struggling to survive in our society.

Income and wealth are unevenly distributed in this nation, therefore we need action on the federal level to aid in the distribution of aid. I no longer believe that states are capable of caring for their disadvantaged.  This should be done on a federal level.  The tragedy of America is that it will not be done.  The Republicans have succeeded in striking fear in American hearts, fear of government, fear of losing what they have.  Americans will not help the least because that help might reduce their wealth, might mean that they have to share a small portion of their American dream.  We are not a "Christian" nation, we will not become a "Caring" nation, we are a "Selfish" nation and will remain so to our ultimate detriment.

Photo by Tobyotter

Edward M. Kennedy

I was in high school Spanish class waiting for school to be dismissed early so students could go downtown and see President John F. Kennedy when the world changed. President Kennedy never came to Austin. The school principal announced that he had been shot in Dallas and sent us home. I reached my house in time to see Walter Cronkite announce that President Kennedy was dead.

I don't think I even knew he had a brother Ted then. As I went on to college, I became more aware of the Kennedy clan. I mourned Robert Kennedy even though I thought him wrong to oppose Lyndon Johnson. And I remember Chappaquiddick. At the time, I thought Ted Kennedy got off lightly, but now I know he payed a great price - the Presidency of the United States. I believe that was a just punishment.

The atonement demanded by his great failure made him a great Senator. Over the years, I slowly became an admirer of the Senator. (The New York Times has provided a time line of his life.) He became the champion of what he was not: the working class, the disabled, and the poor. He wanted the nation he loved to provide a good education, a decent working wage and adequate health care for all. He fought tirelessly for those goals.

Senator Kennedy was a man of deep flaws but of great achievement. I think that his greatness was achieved because of those flaws. A more perfect man would have had nothing to prove, nothing to atone for. Sin can be defined as falling short of the target. Senator Kennedy fell short, but in seeking forgiveness, he reached a higher goal, service to others ('I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'), and gave us all hope that in our failures we can find future success.