Well, I was pleased with my sermon Sunday on the difficult topic of “Eros”. People responded well to it. This week I’m talking “storge” or family love. I’m almost finished with my prep and excited about some creative stuff I’m going to try. We took all the kids to the doctor yesterday(Monday) and Drake is at the end of his illness while Charis and Milena are both very sick. It’s some sort of virus(kinda like streep throat but not) so they’re both on antibiotics. Karen and I are very tired because it seems we haven’t gotten a full nights sleep since Thanksgiving. Since Charis was coughing most of the night I tried to stay awake too since it’s not fair for me to sleep while my 4 year old is suffering. Eventually, we got her coughing stopped, but here’s what I was thinking before we both drifted off to sleep.
1. Is it just me, or is there a lot of irony in a a singer named Amy Winehouse being released from rehab so she can perform on the Grammys(that’s what I heard but I’m not sure since no one watched the show) and wins an award for her song “Rehab” and gives a shout out to her lover who is in jail? Maybe it’s just me.
2. I had a political epiphany last night. To me, Barack Obama is really the only Presidential candidate offering change because, let’s face it, he has hardly any Washington experience. He is not an insider like McCain and Clinton. I think that’s what a lot of people are attracted to: the hope that things would be different under his administration. Now, I’ve often thought about running for political office and the issues that I would champion. However, it finally hit me last night that the government may be able to influence people’s circumstances(programs, tax breaks, and assistance) but it can’t change people. These politicians are speaking of government being the hope of the people and if so, we are in BIG trouble. In all societies since the beginning of time, true change has never started at the top but rather at the grass roots. That’s where the church comes in. Government programs are just band aids. The church, through Christ, can offer true transformation. The problems our nation faces are ultimately about people and sadly, the poor or greedy choices we make. Yes, it’s a problem when a company cuts employee wages to increase CEO and board pay, but it’s also sad when that employee spends their decreased wages on a plasma TV instead of milk, bread, and diapers. They then spend their time watching crap TV instead of teaching their kids to read or better yet making sure they’re not doing drugs or sleeping around. The people in our communities are in financial, emotional, spiritual, and physical debt and are looking to the government for hope and solutions because the church has been too busy worrying about stuff that only affects the 40-50 people in their congregation. Basically, the church has let the government do our job. We have turned our backs on widows and orphans because they have Medicare and Medicaid. Acts 2 said that when the early church was working right that no one was in need. I shouldn’t need a politician to raise my awareness about poverty. I should be on the front lines fighting it. I think it’s about time the church reclaimed it’s place in culture and society again by dealing relevantly to the issues of the day. If we don’t then in a few generations our churches will be the same as many in Europe…museums.