A couple of weeks ago, I went to an open house that was being held at the Events Center on Binghamton University's campus. Unlike most open houses, this one was not set up so that we could see the inside of the Events Center, rather we were showcasing agencies that were active in flood relief and trying to connect these agencies with people whose houses and lives had been turned upside down by the floods. As a partner in Faith Partners in Recovery, The Broome County Council of Churches has committed to journey with many of these families as they try to rebuild their lives.
The stories of the people who came by our booth were both heart warming and wrenching at the same time. People, especially in Owego and Appalachian were visibly shaken by the experience, but who had amazing stories of how the community, especially the faith community, came to help them in their time of need. It was a roller coaster ride of devastation and hope, rising and falling, amazing heroism coupled with frustration over the slowness of long term response. It was exhausting trying to keep up.
One story that stood out to me was a woman who had bought a house in Johnson City. She and her husband were married just six years and together they had a five year old. They saved and scrimped,and between that and the VA Loan they were able to get, this couple was able to put together the closing costs and a low down payment on a small house in the Westover area. Then came the floods.
They had water that went up six feet into their first floor. This means that the walls and ceilings needed to be torn out, the basement was gutted, furnace and hot water heater replaced, electrical system and gas needed to be updated and moved. It was not long before the emergency funds they received from FEMA were used up and they began to dip into savings. Meanwhile, they still need to live. So they had to move into a small apartment and try to pinch money out of the air in order for them to get by. Debts began to pile up. Soon they were getting notices that they were about to be evicted out of the house that they could not afford to fully renovate. All the materials are bought, but they needed bodies to help install it - so they could get back in their house and get out from under the two housing related payments.
She walked up to me, visibly shaken and not sure what to say. Through the tears and sighs and hunched shoulders, this story came pouring out of her. Looking up at me with tears in her eyes, she asked, "Can you help us?"
You should have been there to hear her scream when I said, "Yes." She cried and laughed and looked like a huge burden had been lifted off of her shoulders. She actually smiled. That Yes was all that she needed to hear.
Yes, she matters. Yes, someone hears her story. Yes, someone cares about her. Yes,someone will be there to help install the sheet rock and work with her and her husband to put together their broken house. Yes, we can help. Yes, you are loved.
It's amazing to me to think about how powerful that Yes can be. But it's humbling to think that even though that Yes came at the right moment for her, that there are so many more who need to hear that Yes spoken forcefully and convincingly to them - not just by words, but words combined with faithful service. That is where the rubber hits the road and faith becomes something lived and powerfully present to others.
And so today as I think about the yes that I gave to that young family, I am in awe of you and your commitment to making sure that that yes becomes more than just words. We rely upon folks like you to volunteer and touch another person. We need folks like you to give and be generous so that families like hers will be helped to recover. Thanks for all that you do to make yeses mean something in the lives of our neighbors. Thanks for saying Yes!
Peace and towels,
Rev. Dr. Joseph Sellepack
Friday, April 27, 2012
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Rainbows and Faith
700 people attended Rock the Flood - a concert of many musical genres that Jeff and Patti Moat, Christine Evans and Steve Gal and a host of other volunteers put together to benefit both the flood relief efforts of The Broome County Council of Churches and the Owego Revitalization and Betterment Corporation. In all we were able to raise $25,000 to help people recover. If you're interested you might want to check them out on facebook at Binghamton Rocks for Flood Relief. There you will get a sampling of the music on the compilation albums and find links to the t-shirt order forms. Of course you can get these things from me too, if you ask nicely.
But that's really not the point to this blog entry. On the Sunday before the day of concerts was to begin, I had to meet the crew at Country Pines to get some posters, so I could distribute them to a few places. The weather up until that Sunday had been terrible. So much rain had fallen that the rivers were again near flood stage in some areas and we were all getting rather nervous that more relief shelters would be needed.
As I was driving down the road, I found myself slipping into a funk. On the previous day I had spent most of the day helping a person gut out her house. Dry wall dust and I have never had a good relationship, but when you add black mold the cocktail can be quite a problem for me, so I had a sore throat, coughing, wheezing, and a bad sinus head ache to boot. So funk is probably the best word to describe how I felt.
But there I was on Rt 17 at the Endwell exit for 17c and what should I see, but a rainbow. A full rainbow appeared with it's end right in front of my 2002 Ford Focus Station Wagon and the other end stretching across the area where flood waters only two weeks before had washed away homes and businesses. All I could think was, "Well the end of the rainbow (where the pot of gold belongs) is either a stretch of Road or the hood of a Focus. Imagine that!
As I've reflected on that event, I've become a little more aware on how Broome County with all of its flaws and floods, is indeed a land of promise. Rainbows after all are a sign of a covenant between God and this world that God will never again destroy the entire earth with flooding. In a spiritual sense the rainbow is used as a symbol for our baptism - it is a sign of the covenant between God and us that God will be with us through all the course of our life: for better or worse. God is predisposed toward us and God says Yes, this one is mine.
Here a rainbow is set stretching across the land of valleys created by the confluence of the Chenango and Susquehanna Rivers. A land that is prone to flooding, and to hunger, and to disease, but this land is the land of promise. It is also home to a place that when the sun comes out in October can take your breath away and where trout raise up out of the river catching the morning sun, showing the onlooker a gift of grace that can best be described as symbol of God's love. Climb the Hill behind Binghamton University sometime and watch the sun rise in the morning and you will know exactly what I am talking about. This is a land of promise - and for those of us who have decided to dwell here, we know of this land as home.
And that Rainbow stands as a promise that in life, in death, in flooding, in famine, in good times and in bad times, God is with us. God marks us and nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. And it compels us to rise up out of the filth and the dust of this flood and to again create life and community in this place and to treat others with tenderness and care. It causes us to step out of the funk, to breath the fresh air and sense the Spirit move us to care for each other.
So what began as a simple Rock Concert, has become for me a symbol of what can be done when we try to do something that is larger than ourselves. Rainbows are raised, people's lives are touched, and God's promises are kept. God is with us. Thanks be to God.
Peace and towels,
Joe Sellepack
But that's really not the point to this blog entry. On the Sunday before the day of concerts was to begin, I had to meet the crew at Country Pines to get some posters, so I could distribute them to a few places. The weather up until that Sunday had been terrible. So much rain had fallen that the rivers were again near flood stage in some areas and we were all getting rather nervous that more relief shelters would be needed.
As I was driving down the road, I found myself slipping into a funk. On the previous day I had spent most of the day helping a person gut out her house. Dry wall dust and I have never had a good relationship, but when you add black mold the cocktail can be quite a problem for me, so I had a sore throat, coughing, wheezing, and a bad sinus head ache to boot. So funk is probably the best word to describe how I felt.
But there I was on Rt 17 at the Endwell exit for 17c and what should I see, but a rainbow. A full rainbow appeared with it's end right in front of my 2002 Ford Focus Station Wagon and the other end stretching across the area where flood waters only two weeks before had washed away homes and businesses. All I could think was, "Well the end of the rainbow (where the pot of gold belongs) is either a stretch of Road or the hood of a Focus. Imagine that!
As I've reflected on that event, I've become a little more aware on how Broome County with all of its flaws and floods, is indeed a land of promise. Rainbows after all are a sign of a covenant between God and this world that God will never again destroy the entire earth with flooding. In a spiritual sense the rainbow is used as a symbol for our baptism - it is a sign of the covenant between God and us that God will be with us through all the course of our life: for better or worse. God is predisposed toward us and God says Yes, this one is mine.
Here a rainbow is set stretching across the land of valleys created by the confluence of the Chenango and Susquehanna Rivers. A land that is prone to flooding, and to hunger, and to disease, but this land is the land of promise. It is also home to a place that when the sun comes out in October can take your breath away and where trout raise up out of the river catching the morning sun, showing the onlooker a gift of grace that can best be described as symbol of God's love. Climb the Hill behind Binghamton University sometime and watch the sun rise in the morning and you will know exactly what I am talking about. This is a land of promise - and for those of us who have decided to dwell here, we know of this land as home.
And that Rainbow stands as a promise that in life, in death, in flooding, in famine, in good times and in bad times, God is with us. God marks us and nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. And it compels us to rise up out of the filth and the dust of this flood and to again create life and community in this place and to treat others with tenderness and care. It causes us to step out of the funk, to breath the fresh air and sense the Spirit move us to care for each other.
So what began as a simple Rock Concert, has become for me a symbol of what can be done when we try to do something that is larger than ourselves. Rainbows are raised, people's lives are touched, and God's promises are kept. God is with us. Thanks be to God.
Peace and towels,
Joe Sellepack
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Musings From the Flood
The red truck that I drive may not be new, but it has never been as dirty as it is now. Dust covers it’s exterior: dust from Conklin, dust from Westover, dust from our street in South Binghamton, dust from downtown, dust from Westover, dust from Castle Gardens, dust from Twin Orchards. While this dust is the result of water and silt escaping the confines of the banks and flood levies designed to keep the river at bay, there is nothing clean about it. Pathogens, chemicals, and other nasty stuff permeate this dust creating an environment that Betty Pomeroy, our Hospital Chaplain, says is rife for pneumonia and other diseases. However bad most of us have it, there are people who are far worse.
Traveling through areas of Conklin, Westover and Castle Gardens is like a war zone, watching the remnants of lives lived, piled by the side of the road like one great big moving sale. The old life is washed away and an uncertain and scary future emerges to replace it. Many of these people were severely affected by the flood in 2006 are at it again, the last five years erased by two days.
The tragedy is that many of the people who have been affected by this tragedy are living on fixed incomes or have seen savings and jobs erased during the recent recession. Some of these people received FEMA money in 2006 and may have exhausted FEMA’s support, and were forced, due to economic hardship, to forgo payments to their flood insurance. How often, after all, does a five hundred year flood come? And when the dice is rolled, do you pay for flood insurance or buy medication or food or make the mortgage payment? Sadly, much like the financial institutions that banked on the housing bubble to continue, these folks gambled on the wrong outcome, but there is no one who will come along to bail them out. It’s very sad and discouraging for those people as they look at the piles of dust gathering around them.
Then there is the dust that permeates our own parking lot. Yes, it has dispersed a little bit in the two weeks since the flood, but it’s still there. Instead of that dust bringing remembrances of the devastation that it does to other folks in our neighborhood, our dust is evidence of our narrow escape from the tragic undertow of the flood. Five feet is all that spared us from having water come into our warehouse. The flood water went all the way up our parking lot, leaving fine silt all over the surface.
If you were anything like me, when I got the news that we had been spared, I let out tears of joy and relief because my worst fears had not been confirmed. The CHOW trucks were safe; the Ramp it up trailers, dry; and our pickup truck that we park with its back to the flood levy was high and dry. Miraculously we were given a gift of mercy and grace and we remained safe when everyone else in our neighborhood was devastated.
On Saturday when the flood waters had finally receded to the point where we could get into the building, the first thing Ed and I did was get some volunteers and staff together so we could load some things into the CHOW trucks. We took paper products, milk and juice to the emergency shelters and tried to get into Owego. We were successful in getting to the local emergency shelters, but Owego was a far different story. After two unsuccessful hours, my son and I turned back, cut off from Tioga county by a mere fifteen miles. Collecting dust on the outside of the truck, splashing flood water as we drove, breathing diesel fumes all the way.
Then there were the meetings and the confusion and the old relationships being picked up that were developed in the flood only five years ago. When long term relief is taken into account, we did not close down our long term recovery effort until June, 2008 – two years after the initial flood. So here we are three years later at the same table, trying to make sense of what happened. Five hundred year floods are not what we think they are anymore. In my sick mind, I can construe this as what inflation means.
Meanwhile we have other problems. HPNP funding was cut off from us due to a technicality for how the form was filled out. Bureaucrats making decisions in a sterile board room that not only keeps hungry people from receiving much needed food, but will keep us receiving $35,000 in much needed funds this year, and $70,000 next. So not only do we have a flood, but we have less resources to draw on in order to do the work that our friends and neighbors require of us. It doesn’t seem fair. The dust is getting thicker.
So we cancelled the press conference for the HPNP issue in deference for the lives of folks that were devastated by this flood. All the while we have been trying to figure out what is next for us and our community. So next week, Tuesday at 5:00 at Sarah Jane Johnson UM Church, we have rescheduled the press conference. At that meeting we will be talking about the importance of Broome Bounty for our area and letting our stakeholders know how to contact elected officials and bureaucrats who make these decisions. Hopefully we will flood Albany with letters, letting them know that we will not allow some technicality keep hungry people from getting fed.
So here we are, the ash of the flood still clinging to foliage and the outside of buildings, covering relief workers and CHOW trucks and our volunteers. In many ways we have begun to respond to the emerging needs, keeping relief centers supplied with the materials that make recovery possible. We have begun to collect money in a flood relief fund, and have several fundraisers scheduled to help raise funds and food for the relief effort.
Last Saturday as I stood by the banks of the Susquehanna River which at that time was Thompkins Street, I thought long and hard about what we would do if we had four feet of water in our building. It became clear to me that we would draw from the strength of the faith and the love of people of faith in Broome County and we would move forward to help people, because that is what we do. It might have been a different building and there would have been difficult decisions to make, but we would have done it and moved forward.
But thankfully that did not happen, and today we are poised to play our part in helping our area recover. Yes our area is covered with the fine silt of the flood, and many today are dusty and tired, but we will play our part. We have been gifted by the grace, the faith, and the mercy of thousands of people in our area, and we will do our best to clean people off, help them dust off their dreams and memories, and help them put their lives back together: dust and all.
Traveling through areas of Conklin, Westover and Castle Gardens is like a war zone, watching the remnants of lives lived, piled by the side of the road like one great big moving sale. The old life is washed away and an uncertain and scary future emerges to replace it. Many of these people were severely affected by the flood in 2006 are at it again, the last five years erased by two days.
The tragedy is that many of the people who have been affected by this tragedy are living on fixed incomes or have seen savings and jobs erased during the recent recession. Some of these people received FEMA money in 2006 and may have exhausted FEMA’s support, and were forced, due to economic hardship, to forgo payments to their flood insurance. How often, after all, does a five hundred year flood come? And when the dice is rolled, do you pay for flood insurance or buy medication or food or make the mortgage payment? Sadly, much like the financial institutions that banked on the housing bubble to continue, these folks gambled on the wrong outcome, but there is no one who will come along to bail them out. It’s very sad and discouraging for those people as they look at the piles of dust gathering around them.
Then there is the dust that permeates our own parking lot. Yes, it has dispersed a little bit in the two weeks since the flood, but it’s still there. Instead of that dust bringing remembrances of the devastation that it does to other folks in our neighborhood, our dust is evidence of our narrow escape from the tragic undertow of the flood. Five feet is all that spared us from having water come into our warehouse. The flood water went all the way up our parking lot, leaving fine silt all over the surface.
If you were anything like me, when I got the news that we had been spared, I let out tears of joy and relief because my worst fears had not been confirmed. The CHOW trucks were safe; the Ramp it up trailers, dry; and our pickup truck that we park with its back to the flood levy was high and dry. Miraculously we were given a gift of mercy and grace and we remained safe when everyone else in our neighborhood was devastated.
On Saturday when the flood waters had finally receded to the point where we could get into the building, the first thing Ed and I did was get some volunteers and staff together so we could load some things into the CHOW trucks. We took paper products, milk and juice to the emergency shelters and tried to get into Owego. We were successful in getting to the local emergency shelters, but Owego was a far different story. After two unsuccessful hours, my son and I turned back, cut off from Tioga county by a mere fifteen miles. Collecting dust on the outside of the truck, splashing flood water as we drove, breathing diesel fumes all the way.
Then there were the meetings and the confusion and the old relationships being picked up that were developed in the flood only five years ago. When long term relief is taken into account, we did not close down our long term recovery effort until June, 2008 – two years after the initial flood. So here we are three years later at the same table, trying to make sense of what happened. Five hundred year floods are not what we think they are anymore. In my sick mind, I can construe this as what inflation means.
Meanwhile we have other problems. HPNP funding was cut off from us due to a technicality for how the form was filled out. Bureaucrats making decisions in a sterile board room that not only keeps hungry people from receiving much needed food, but will keep us receiving $35,000 in much needed funds this year, and $70,000 next. So not only do we have a flood, but we have less resources to draw on in order to do the work that our friends and neighbors require of us. It doesn’t seem fair. The dust is getting thicker.
So we cancelled the press conference for the HPNP issue in deference for the lives of folks that were devastated by this flood. All the while we have been trying to figure out what is next for us and our community. So next week, Tuesday at 5:00 at Sarah Jane Johnson UM Church, we have rescheduled the press conference. At that meeting we will be talking about the importance of Broome Bounty for our area and letting our stakeholders know how to contact elected officials and bureaucrats who make these decisions. Hopefully we will flood Albany with letters, letting them know that we will not allow some technicality keep hungry people from getting fed.
So here we are, the ash of the flood still clinging to foliage and the outside of buildings, covering relief workers and CHOW trucks and our volunteers. In many ways we have begun to respond to the emerging needs, keeping relief centers supplied with the materials that make recovery possible. We have begun to collect money in a flood relief fund, and have several fundraisers scheduled to help raise funds and food for the relief effort.
Last Saturday as I stood by the banks of the Susquehanna River which at that time was Thompkins Street, I thought long and hard about what we would do if we had four feet of water in our building. It became clear to me that we would draw from the strength of the faith and the love of people of faith in Broome County and we would move forward to help people, because that is what we do. It might have been a different building and there would have been difficult decisions to make, but we would have done it and moved forward.
But thankfully that did not happen, and today we are poised to play our part in helping our area recover. Yes our area is covered with the fine silt of the flood, and many today are dusty and tired, but we will play our part. We have been gifted by the grace, the faith, and the mercy of thousands of people in our area, and we will do our best to clean people off, help them dust off their dreams and memories, and help them put their lives back together: dust and all.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
The Religious Landscape of Broome County
One of the reasons I love my job is that I get to work with such a diverse group of people. While not all faiths are a part of the Broome County Council of Churches, because not all are obviously not Christian. We do try to cooperate in an interfaith manner with all faiths in our programs and try to include these folks in our program and advisory committees.
Below is something I have worked on for a publication that is expressly interested in promoting Broome County as a great place to live:
"Churches, Synagogues, and Mosques are all a part of the tapestry that is religion in the Broome County area. Currently we have most major denominations of Christianity represented including a large concentration of Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Rite Catholic, Roman Catholic, Baptist, Congregational, Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Evangelical, Charismatic, and Episcopalian congregations. We also have Orthodox, Conservative, and Reformed Jewish Temples and two Islamic Centers that have practitioners of both Sufi and Shia forms of the Moslem faith.
"As far as the beliefs and practices of these congregations are concerned, they range from very traditional in both language and customs to somewhat eclectic and open to more modern forms of worship like praise bands or jazz vespers. The range of religious beliefs mirrors somewhat the range of practice from highly orthodox to very liberal, with just about every derivative in between.
"Historically, many of these congregations are the result of immigration that has occurred in our area in the last one hundred years as evidenced in many ethnic and cultural celebrations that occur annually. The beautiful copulas of many Orthodox and Eastern European Churches tower over some of our neighborhoods, creating a sense of history and depth. While some of the more modern churches meet in converted storefronts, schools, or look like office buildings that make religion more accessible and comfortable.
"Many of these congregations participate in dialogue with each other and are open to discussing differences in belief and practice. Most cooperate with each other in helping meet basic human needs in our community like food, shelter, clothing, and other issues. In short, the congregations of Broome County are both richly diverse and many are open to working with each other to create a great place for the people of Broome County to call home."
I really do like working with people of various faiths to create ways to help even the poorest among us to love calling Broome County a great place to live.
Peace and Towels
Joe
Below is something I have worked on for a publication that is expressly interested in promoting Broome County as a great place to live:
"Churches, Synagogues, and Mosques are all a part of the tapestry that is religion in the Broome County area. Currently we have most major denominations of Christianity represented including a large concentration of Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Rite Catholic, Roman Catholic, Baptist, Congregational, Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Evangelical, Charismatic, and Episcopalian congregations. We also have Orthodox, Conservative, and Reformed Jewish Temples and two Islamic Centers that have practitioners of both Sufi and Shia forms of the Moslem faith.
"As far as the beliefs and practices of these congregations are concerned, they range from very traditional in both language and customs to somewhat eclectic and open to more modern forms of worship like praise bands or jazz vespers. The range of religious beliefs mirrors somewhat the range of practice from highly orthodox to very liberal, with just about every derivative in between.
"Historically, many of these congregations are the result of immigration that has occurred in our area in the last one hundred years as evidenced in many ethnic and cultural celebrations that occur annually. The beautiful copulas of many Orthodox and Eastern European Churches tower over some of our neighborhoods, creating a sense of history and depth. While some of the more modern churches meet in converted storefronts, schools, or look like office buildings that make religion more accessible and comfortable.
"Many of these congregations participate in dialogue with each other and are open to discussing differences in belief and practice. Most cooperate with each other in helping meet basic human needs in our community like food, shelter, clothing, and other issues. In short, the congregations of Broome County are both richly diverse and many are open to working with each other to create a great place for the people of Broome County to call home."
I really do like working with people of various faiths to create ways to help even the poorest among us to love calling Broome County a great place to live.
Peace and Towels
Joe
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Beyond Locked Rooms
In John's Gospel the resurrection wasn't welcomed as Good News. Incredulity and rational explanations seemed to be the angle that most took to explain what happened. One common feeling shared by this fledgling community was fear. Fear seems to reign supreme and it binds them together as a community behind a locked door.
Fear is an interesting emotion. For some it may protect them from doing careless things and hurting themselves or others. It's good to know for instance that if a person is on a mountain top that if she falls, death could be the likely result. So fear makes her slow down and pay respect to her surroundings and it can inspire care.
Once when my then seven year old son Daniel and I were in Yosemite National Park, we climbed to the top of a granite domed mountain. The expansive view in front of us was breathtaking. Clouds appeared at eye level and the valley below us created the illusion that we were looking down on ants instead of cars.
When we were standing on the edge of a cliff looking down at nearly a mile rapid descent, my son grips my hand and says to me, "Don't worry Dad. I won't do anything stupid!" That was his way of paying fear its due, letting me know that he would take care when approaching something dangerous.
But given too much place in a person's life, fear can control you and lock you up inside. Instead of inspiring care, it can cause you to frantically search for yourself in other people. People and their needs become so important to you that you lose yourself in their demands and obligations.
And so we find ourselves locked into the upper room, bound by fear. Fear of death, fear of the unknown, fear of fear... All this fear seems to amount to a black hole, a rut that is best described as a grave without ends. Locked inside this rut, a person will never see the light of day.
Into this improvised and dark room enters Jesus. Having just passed through death, it's apparent from this first appearance that the disciples' fear isn't his. Instead of cowering in fear, peace is the gift he gives them. Then he breathes the breath of life into this dead, soulless bunch. The tomb of a locked room instead becomes a birthing room from whence a resurrected community emerges. Spreading a new message of hope and compassion becomes their charter. Locked rooms of fear are transformed into an open message of love.
To be resurrection people requires us to risk being open to the possibility that death is not the final answer. We can't be so locked in by fear that we miss the breathtaking views of the mountain top or that facing our fears can create more life than we can possibly contain in any room. Instead, life overflows the challice of our lives and can become a table of plenty and abundance, even in the valley of death. If Christ is risen, all bets are off, and all graves, even the ones we create for ourselves, are not permanent.
Christ is Risen!
Joe
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Having Confidence
Isaiah 32: 16 & 17 says, "Then justice shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness remain in the fruitful field. And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever."
The staff of the Council know that this is kind of the verse of the year. We have been working quite intently on making sure the inner workings of the council match what we say. If we say that we feed hungry people through CHOW for instance, you know that we are trying to do that work as efficiently and quickly as possible. We don't want to inhibit the feeding of people by unneccessary rules or procedures, however, to ensure that we are meeting the expectations of donors and partners we need to do it in the most transparent and effective way possible.
According to Isaiah then, the effect of knowing this - that our words and actions meet - creates peace and assurance. The NRSV translates the Hebrew word for assurance instead as confidence - and I think I like that better since it says if you have your internal controls and procedures worked out that your external demeanor will be that of confidence. And you can inspire trust and confidence from the people you are serving whether that be the hungry person at your door, the donor who give food or funds to the organization, or the person you meet on the street who has questions about your business even when the preasure rises - as it always does.
More importantly, it tells us that we should not fear evaluation because in all essential things we have done our homework and come at the task as prepared as we can. Without that assurance we are left with a house of smoke and mirrors that really does not have the substance to meet the intended meaning of our words.
May it be that way for all of us as we approach our spiritual lives this Lenten season. May all of your words of belief, meet with positive action to help other people be better than they could possibly be by themselves.
Peace and towels,
Joe Sellepack
The staff of the Council know that this is kind of the verse of the year. We have been working quite intently on making sure the inner workings of the council match what we say. If we say that we feed hungry people through CHOW for instance, you know that we are trying to do that work as efficiently and quickly as possible. We don't want to inhibit the feeding of people by unneccessary rules or procedures, however, to ensure that we are meeting the expectations of donors and partners we need to do it in the most transparent and effective way possible.
According to Isaiah then, the effect of knowing this - that our words and actions meet - creates peace and assurance. The NRSV translates the Hebrew word for assurance instead as confidence - and I think I like that better since it says if you have your internal controls and procedures worked out that your external demeanor will be that of confidence. And you can inspire trust and confidence from the people you are serving whether that be the hungry person at your door, the donor who give food or funds to the organization, or the person you meet on the street who has questions about your business even when the preasure rises - as it always does.
More importantly, it tells us that we should not fear evaluation because in all essential things we have done our homework and come at the task as prepared as we can. Without that assurance we are left with a house of smoke and mirrors that really does not have the substance to meet the intended meaning of our words.
May it be that way for all of us as we approach our spiritual lives this Lenten season. May all of your words of belief, meet with positive action to help other people be better than they could possibly be by themselves.
Peace and towels,
Joe Sellepack
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Kingdom Economics
This Lent I have begun to work my way through the Gospel of Luke. Since I try to be broadly eccumenical, this year I started my reading on the first Sunday of Lent according to the Eastern Calendar (who do not celebrate Ash Wedesday) and will conclude it on Easter which, this year unlike other years is a date shared by both the Eastern and Western Calendar. Side note: before taking the position with the Council, I had no idea the amount of discord that a date for Easter might engender - but that is the subject for another day.
Recently my reading has been very slow, each section bringing thoughts that require time to develop - making it rather unlikely that I will make it through the Gospel during these fourty days. It may take all year.
My reading began fast enough. I read through the narratives leading up to the birth of Jesus fairly quickly since they get rather broad play around Advent and Christmas. Given the unrest in the Middle East and in our own country I was taken a bit back by Mary's Magnificat which really does deal with some strong political themes. It's tough to hear the words "He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty" without sensing that Luke is taking a side in the current issues confronting us both globally and domestically.
But where I am getting bogged down right now is the "Sermon on the Plain." I am so used to Matthew's "Sermon on the Mount" that Luke seems to be speaking a foreign language. For instance Matthew adds "in spirit" to Jesus' words "Blessed are the poor" which makes me feel better, but Luke won't let me off the hook. He looks me square in the eyes and says, "Blessed are the Poor" and then he gets nasty and says, "By the way, Woe to the Rich!" Luke won't have any of that comformist crap that my middle aged life craves, instead he lets me have it right between the eyes.
And then he goes on to say, "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you... If you love those who love you what credit is that to you? If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you. But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return..." It confronts me right where I live and it confronts Americans particularly those of us who are so concerned with safety, security and economics right where we live.
We split hairs about who the deserving and underserving poor are and Luke says, "Your reward will be great and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the grateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful." And then we pick apart entitlement programs and place a lot of it on the chopping block while trying to raise, not lower, military spending.
So it's not the standard of U.S.A. political landscape of either the categories of the right or the left that is important at this juncture. For Luke the importance is how I am embodying the mercy and care that God shows this world. I should be merciful because that is what I experience in God's nature.
And I look into Luke's eyes and I listen. I don't do it because I expect him to be happy with me or the government that makes these decisions, because from the text it is aparent that he is definitely not happy with the way things are going. I do it because I need to hear him pleading with me: "Forgive, and you will be forgiven; give and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down shaken together, running over, will be put in your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back."
It is generosity and grace that matters. And I need to see how well I mirror back to God the generosity and grace that he lavishes on me by how well I treat the poor and the rich, the Liberal and the Tea Partier, those living upstate as well as those downstate, the union worker and the CEO. But it's more than that - Luke does take sides - and his side is on the side of the poor - firmly and poignantly. He won't merely let me off the hook by trying to be impartial because there is nothing impartial about where Luke stands. He looks us right in the eye and says, "Take me on, I dare you."
And as a stumbling, bleeding person, scuffed up and convicted by his words, I have to plead, "God have mercy on me, a sinner..." And work for justice and compassion and embody yet again the grace I experience from the God I profess to know.
Peace and towels,
Joe Sellepack
Recently my reading has been very slow, each section bringing thoughts that require time to develop - making it rather unlikely that I will make it through the Gospel during these fourty days. It may take all year.
My reading began fast enough. I read through the narratives leading up to the birth of Jesus fairly quickly since they get rather broad play around Advent and Christmas. Given the unrest in the Middle East and in our own country I was taken a bit back by Mary's Magnificat which really does deal with some strong political themes. It's tough to hear the words "He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty" without sensing that Luke is taking a side in the current issues confronting us both globally and domestically.
But where I am getting bogged down right now is the "Sermon on the Plain." I am so used to Matthew's "Sermon on the Mount" that Luke seems to be speaking a foreign language. For instance Matthew adds "in spirit" to Jesus' words "Blessed are the poor" which makes me feel better, but Luke won't let me off the hook. He looks me square in the eyes and says, "Blessed are the Poor" and then he gets nasty and says, "By the way, Woe to the Rich!" Luke won't have any of that comformist crap that my middle aged life craves, instead he lets me have it right between the eyes.
And then he goes on to say, "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you... If you love those who love you what credit is that to you? If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you. But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return..." It confronts me right where I live and it confronts Americans particularly those of us who are so concerned with safety, security and economics right where we live.
We split hairs about who the deserving and underserving poor are and Luke says, "Your reward will be great and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the grateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful." And then we pick apart entitlement programs and place a lot of it on the chopping block while trying to raise, not lower, military spending.
So it's not the standard of U.S.A. political landscape of either the categories of the right or the left that is important at this juncture. For Luke the importance is how I am embodying the mercy and care that God shows this world. I should be merciful because that is what I experience in God's nature.
And I look into Luke's eyes and I listen. I don't do it because I expect him to be happy with me or the government that makes these decisions, because from the text it is aparent that he is definitely not happy with the way things are going. I do it because I need to hear him pleading with me: "Forgive, and you will be forgiven; give and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down shaken together, running over, will be put in your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back."
It is generosity and grace that matters. And I need to see how well I mirror back to God the generosity and grace that he lavishes on me by how well I treat the poor and the rich, the Liberal and the Tea Partier, those living upstate as well as those downstate, the union worker and the CEO. But it's more than that - Luke does take sides - and his side is on the side of the poor - firmly and poignantly. He won't merely let me off the hook by trying to be impartial because there is nothing impartial about where Luke stands. He looks us right in the eye and says, "Take me on, I dare you."
And as a stumbling, bleeding person, scuffed up and convicted by his words, I have to plead, "God have mercy on me, a sinner..." And work for justice and compassion and embody yet again the grace I experience from the God I profess to know.
Peace and towels,
Joe Sellepack
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