I’m not unpatriotic before anyone gets the impression that I’m about to bash America.  I’ve lived in nondemocratic countries and have a deep appreciation for the freedom and liberty this nation espouses and which we celebrate on the fourth of July.  But, underneath all the flag waving, parades, and expensive displays of fireworks (which were really cool this year) there are some realities that need challenging. 

We took our kids to the fourth of July parade that our town hosts on the eve of this holiday.  Like any other parade candy is thrown to the children so in some ways this isn’t any different than our Halloween parade or a Fair Parade except it was in the context of the celebration of independence. 

My daughter is on the small side for her age and so it’s quite easy for other children to, by their size alone, push her out of the way.  Quite a few times as people were throwing out candy she would run to it only to have the bigger kids grab everything in their path leaving none for her. 

As a father it was heart wrenching to watch especially when she would come back to me and say “I didn’t get any”.  I could barely take it without wanting to yell at the other kids to not be so greedy.  It’s only candy for crying out loud so why do we think we need to grab it up as if it were going to delay old age or something.  But then again this is the fourth of July and how fitting it is for children to reflect the values of the nation whose holiday we are celebrating. 

Is the fourth about freedom or greed?  Perhaps us adults we’re not much different from those children.  We use the instruments of politics, power, corporate structures to take as much resources as possible from any country that is smaller than us because our sheer size and strength allows us to do so. 

I’M SURE THERE ARE FATHERS IN POOR COUNTRIES THAT SEE THE UNITED STATES TAKING ALL THE GOOD LAND, FOOD, OIL, TREES, ETC. WHILE THEIR CHILDREN DIE OF STARVATION AND THERE’S NOTHING THEY CAN DO BECAUSE WE HAVE THE BIGGER GUNS. 

How should we respond to our own habit of snatching up everything we can without thinking of others?  How should we respond to our children who snatch up all the candy or to those children who get none?  IT’S ONLY CANDY but tomorrow it will be something much bigger.

There are many opinions and theories about the eccentric and iconic life of Michael Jackson.  What gets lost amidst the dehumanizing jokes and screams of sickeningly over adoring fans is the humanity of the person who lived like a king.  Behind the mask whether it was real or fake is a human being created in the image of God with the capacity to love and be loved. 

It’s hard to see Michael’s humanity amidst the crazy media circus and bizarre lifestyle.  Still it exists while at the same time being hidden by our attempts to latch on to and squeeze to death the very icon that we’ve created.  Michael and the Jackson family made their choices.  But, the choices were offered by us, the one’s who followed the stories, bought the albums and attended the concerts.  Even if we weren’t fans, I wasn’t, we participated in this demigod creation through the pop cultural system that most of us allow to speak for our ideals as much as we use it to smother ourselves in false identities to escape the pain of the real world. 

The icon of Michael Jackson became a false reality that hid the real man.  We might not like it, we might actually hate it, but Michael Jackson was more than a pop star, a wealthy artists, and all the other stuff; he was a human being.  One who allowed the fame and wealth of the pop cultural world to create a false person hiding the real one.  And still it was there.  But, there is not where we are in our screams of adoration and curses of hate for an icon of America’s desires to possess the hearts of the masses only to realize the more you have, the more you possess, the more your face is an icon of fame the more you die not knowing who you really are. 

Let us not continue to demonize but love even the wealthy and powerful among us so that the iconic demons of pop culture can be overthrown in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  It’s not the pop culture that’s the problem but the worship of something that is a lie and distorts not only us the worshipper but dehumanizes the artists.  Artists are human beings too just like you and me.

The two of us basically had it out with each other, accusing each other of disrespect each other and not supporting one another.  When it was all said and done there was an emptiness; an I can’t believe we just did that.  Is it possible to turn back the clock.  To go back and not let it come to this.  We were both devastated and assumed that our friendship was over. 

I walked away and cried.  My friend asked if he could talk to me again and so not knowing what he was going to say I agreed.  He grabbed me and gave me a hug and we both stood there hugging and crying.  It sounds kind of cheesy for two grown men to cry and hug like that.  But, what’s really cheesy is letting our own selfishness destroy a friendship and distance two people. 

Those tears were the release of all the frustration and separation that had come between us.  They were the sweet tears of forgiveness and I would gladly shed them again to bring healing and peace.  What’s not important is whether we sinned but that we forgave and allowed God’s grace to bring healing and wholeness to our lives and our relationship. 

Too often we focus on whose at fault and whether or not some action was a sin.  Basically, we’re trying to justify ourselves and trying to find a way to get out of a situation without having to give up too much.  In other words, we’re being selfish when we look for whose to blame and whether or not there are consequences.  But, my friend and I put all that aside and simply forgave each other acknowledging that we both were at fault and we both were victims needing the grace of God to heal us and forgive us. 

Those tears were the very essence of forgiveness revealing a reality that went beyond words.  The tears were filled with the life of Christ healing the wounds that we had inflicted upon each other and restoring our friendship with one another.  Whenever there’s a conflict let the tears roll from the heart and heal the wounds of selfish pride.

There is an increasing globalization of the idea that people have the right to choose their lifestyle; their economic and political context.  The idea of choice has made democracy a potent force in the past few decades.  But, this doesn’t mean that people necessarily want the version of democracy found in the United States or agree with the lifestyle and culture that dominates the United States.  People want a democracy that enables them to choose how they will live. 

I think we need to tread carefully in our assessment of the Iranian situation.  President Obama has been careful and wise for the most part in staying on the sidelines so that the Iranians can wrestle with their issues without a biased and unjust meddling from a superpower.  Instead we need to understand and respect that many Iranians values the ability to choose their leaders in as much as they value their Islamic revolution.  The protests in the streets is not a protest against Islam but demand for justice and choice within Islam. 

People want and need freedom to pursue those things that provide humanity with dignity and significance.  Americans often equate freedom with the ability to live anyway a person desires giving rise to our destructive consumptive lifestyle.  True freedom is not about living any way the heart desires which leads to anarchy since our hearts can deceive us in the pursuit of selfishness.  Instead true freedom is a reality when all people have the ability to pursue those things that provide human dignity; having access to housing, food, education, a clean environment, living peace, etc. 

True freedom comes in the dignity of love.  Not a love of self but love for others as much as we love ourselves.  Jesus taught us that the golden rule is to love God with all our heart, mind and soul and to love our neighbors as ourselves.  When we live out this kind of love we have freedom from the tyranny of consumptive lifestyles and the strength to oppose oppressive theocratic regimes. 

Let’s pray for the people of Iran to have freedom to choose the outcome of their history and live in a peace with significance and human dignity.

The basic liberty to choose the leader’s of one’s nation in a fair and just vote is taken for granted by Americans who display contempt and cyncism towards politics.  The source of this malevolence towards the political system is the contrast between the messages that bombard the consumer through PR stunts, advertisments, and stump speeches and the human significance found in having the liberty to create enjoyment in life that is peaceful and just. 

 The American voter is not voting to ensure a better society with significance for the nation as a community.  Instead politicians are appealing to the American voter on the basic human level of fear and self indulgence.  Advertising and consumerism do not manipulate the person as much as they appeal to the self indulgent desires of the person attempting to convince them that those desires will be fulfilled by the product or idea being offered to them.  It’s the consumer’s own desire that fuels the whole system.  In politics this means the message and vote are not about creating a better society but what appeals to the basic desires of the voter in order to get their commitment and win the election. 

The contrast between the consumer voter in the US and the Iranian voter is vast.  In Iran people are voting for politicians who embody a reality, an ideal that will mold their country in particular ways that either provide them with the kind of significance in life they’re searching for or will strip them of that significance.  Of course, which politician provides this significance depends on one’s perspective; that’s what an election is all about.  But, the vote carries a significance for the people in and of itself because it provides them with the means to wrestle with contemporary issues and embody a vision for their nation that gives them purpose and direction. 

The significance in the Iranian vote is the reason people are willing to risk their lives at mass demonstrations.  While Americans can become vocal and bitter about the results of an election and even contest the fairness of one in the courts.  It’s doubtful Americans would stand up to political oppression in order to guarantee their vote was heard because it doesn’t have any significance for them.  The general attitude is that we can always vote again in four years and besides, politicians do whatever is expedient for them anyway so there’s no real substance to the vote. 

Violence is never the answer to any act of injustice.  May God be with the Iranians to find a just and equitable resolution to their political crisis that ensures their vote continues to have significance in setting the course and vision of their nation.  But, may God also be with us to transform our consumer vote into something that is truly worth voting for.  Instead of appealing to our selfish desires or even fears but instead to make a vote count by having politicians who are willing to risk their careers (life?) for what is good for this nation.

What does it mean to live in community with one another anyway?  How do we know we’re bettering our lives when it seems like we’re constantly having to run after the latest fad in order to live in an increasingly dysfunctional world that appears to be teetering on the verge of annihilation (overstatement perhaps but you get the point).  Perhaps we need to start with a bigger picture of reality that allows us to go deeper than the consumer rehash of burned out ideas.

There’s a story of Jesus relating to a blind man who sat by the side of the road.  This blind man had no access to health care or medical treatment.  Being blind he was unprofitable to the society at large and totally dependent upon the compassion of strangers, family, and friends for support.  His world was one of poverty and oppression by foreign rulers so the support that came was minimal.  The man’s existence was marginal and dehumanizing, he didn’t have a meaningful connection to society and was treated with disrespect.  A person to be ignored like all the others that have slipped through the cracks.

Now Jesus is walking along with a crowd of people and this blind man hears whose approaching and starts to call out Jesus’ name.  The people around him tell him to shut up thinking that he’s not worth much and shouldn’t be acting this way.  But, the man is stubborn and refuses to listen to their voices.  Jesus comes to him and asks him what he can do for him to which the man replies that he wants to see.  So Jesus heals him right there on the spot.  Jesus humanizes someone who has been rejected by giving him time, listening to him, and meeting his needs with respect and dignity.

What we need isn’t another self help idea or some new model for community.  What we need is the willingness on the part of average everyday people like you and me to step out of our comfort zones, leave behind what is normal, right, and safe for us and find ways to humanize, love, listen to and positively interact with the other, the stranger, the enemy.  We need to stretch out our hands and touch the sick and stop waiting for some government agency to do it for us.  It’s time to get off the couch with it’s mind numbing control of programs and methods that don’t change hearts and only provide a band aid and start loving the other and humanizing the stranger.  Then true community will be created and experienced.

Hammas and Israel have calculated the cost of their furious attacks on each other in a gamble to gain leverage in the Palestinian/Jewish dilemma.  Who gets to dictate the terms of peace and how it affects the people is the ongoing question.  The one who has the power, not necessarily military power, but more importantly political power, world clout, the backing of the people will be the one to dictate the terms of peace.  But, if one side doesn’t have the power to dictate peace they’re capable of using terrorism or overwhelming military might to delay peace till they win a more favorable position.  Otherwise, all this fighting and bloodshed is for a war that fighting will never win and in the end it’s the people who suffer as two powers duke it out.

True peace, however, isn’t going to come thru any kind of negotiated terms.  Neither will lasting peace that brings justice and harmony in the region be won by building walls, arming checkpoints, or rockets.  Peace is only possible when both sides are willing to accept the other as a legitimate human being who has just as much a right to justice, land, and all the blessings life has to give as they do.  It’s only when enemies lay down their weapons and seek each other’s well being that they’re is true peace. 

The conditions for true peace to become reality require seeing the world thru different eyes.  Instead of using power and might to achieve an agenda (and this would include the military underdog using terror) both sides need to put aside the agenda itself.  An offer of forgiveness needs to be given to the victimizer.  A table of food set in the midst of the wasteland that invites everyone to come and eat together so that everyone can step into the other person’s shoes and see the world from their perspective.  Till Israelis are willing to see the world from the perspective of the Palestinians and Palestinians see the world from the perspective of the Israelis it’s difficult if not impossible for either side to understand why their fighting and find a solution to the hostilities. 

God stepped into our world in Christ and took on a human perspective of life.  The result was death, not one that is meaningless leading to nihilism, but a death filled with meaning because Christ laid down power in order to bring life.  Instead using whatever power Jesus had as the Son of God (remember he was doing all these miracles including raising the dead like Lazarus) he lets go of his power and becomes weak.  This weakness shows the way to true forgiveness just as Christ forgave his killers while hanging on the cross.  Enemies in any conflict need to lay down their power and forgive even if it means death otherwise they really have no desire for true peace.  The result of Christ’s death and forgiveness was life, the resurrection, which was only possible by dieing first.     

Peace in the Middle East will only come when all sides lay down their arms, thier power, and take the vulnerable act of stepping into each other’s shoes; even if this cost them their life.  It’s the only way to bring a lasting change.

I’m not against good and creative commercials with the intent of selling a product.  However, there needs to be a recognition that commercials are not neutral visuals and stories but an influential form of art designed to motivate and manipulate a person into accepting a particular idea that is connected to the product being sold.  For example, the whopper idepict what Americans perceive to be distant and remote locations in the world, places where there are no Burger Kings, where there are virgin whopper eaters.  These places are then introduced the whopper with the result that people enthusiastically endorse the product.  The message is that even people who’ve never been “tainted” by fast food will choose the whopper over their own food.  It’s an ideal of fast, cheap food being promoted as tasting better than even the poor food of “far away” people so that it must taste better than the food of those of us who are watching the commercial. 

Folgers is not much better showing a Romanian family where a humanitarian volunteer is giving his time receiving a care package that contains a jug of Folger’s coffee.  The message is that the packaged, mass produced coffee is better than the lifestyle and culture of the poor family who find themselves overjoyed by the coffee in spite of the fact that their economic situation has not changed. 

In a global economy the culture of the powerful, the dominant overthrows the culture of the weaker.  This happened in the Roman Empire two thousand years ago when the expansion of the empire meant the Romanization of others whose cultures suddenly became irrelevant.  What’s ironic about the current “romanization” is that it’s being done by a nation who believes in freedom and choice.  While we don’t use military force (or do we) to impose our ideals thru our products we use advertising and economic dominance to manipulate and cajole. 

A true global world is one where each and every culture and language is legitimate because all of humanity is significant.  Thru the Virgin Mary God took on flesh and dwelt among us giving significance to humanity regardless of culture and language.  In other words, in Christ one culture or society is not better than another but all of humanity and it’s diversity is recognized as being good and part of the world God has created (something the church has not always recognized). 

This isn’t to say that people’s lifestyles and cultures are always just or good.  Obviously the current American culture needs to be challenged with it’s dominance but there are good aspects of American culture; I’m happy to be an American and live in a free nation.  But, respecting and cherishing this freedom should not cause us to turn a blind eye to our sins. 

It’s time for corporations to be held responsible for the messages they send and to promote a global diversity that respects all of humanity and provides holistic opportunities for all of humanity without forcing them to become like us.

It’s ironic that the wholesale conversion of land into strip malls and shopping developments was overdone with it’s foundation upon a short sighted view of the future that depended upon greed; the consumer greed to buy, buy, buy till you go broke and then buy some more with credit.  Now stores sit empty on land that once consisted of forests and wetlands that helped to control flooding and keep the air clean.  Land that once grew food which by the way has increased in cost as agriculture is no longer a local thing but tied into this global economy that depends upon greed. 

We are faced with a serious dilemma regarding the closing of stores which will result in the loss of jobs which, in a recession, are not easily replaced.  How our society responds in helping the less fortune is a test of what kind of heart we have; whether it’s a heart of greed or one of compassion.  But, this new economy also provides our nation, the world, with an opportunity to create an economy that’s not based upon greed, consumption, and exploitation but one that’s based upon environmental sustainability, justice, and peace. 

Empty strip malls are an icon of greed that consumes and abuses the person transforming them from being human into a cog in a merciless system of consumption; into being a consumer that is soulless.  People are not consumers but living beings whose significance depends, not on what they can buy, but in the quality of life they live within the context of human relationships.  To base the self-worth upon purchasing power creates an injustice and fuels greed to acquire more stuff whose significance is shallow and thrill quickly fades leading the person to purchase more.  While this cycle of purchasing makes some wealthy it leaves the average person empty because they don’t attain fulfillment or significance but simply a garage filled with more stuff.  So the solution in a greed based economy is to buy more stuff as if it were a drug and the consumer a junky needing a better fix. 

Jesus said where our heart is there will be our treasure.  This doesn’t mean we should live without anything like hermits in the wilderness.  There are too many people for the human population to live that kind of lifestyle and those that do have a special calling in life.  But, for the rest of humanity Jesus raises the question about what we find ourselves attached to, what is the god we serve.  If our god is consumerism then that is where our treasure is; with stuff and stuff and stuff that leaves us seeking more stuff that we don’t need and an economy that collapses. 

Instead we need an economy that provides for the basic needs of people while freeing humanity to contribute to society in ways that are meaningful thru service to the poor and meaningful community interaction.  We can’t live without an economy but an economy should not rule our lives.  Life’s worth is born out of human interaction and contributions to society that create healthier and more holistic ways of living.  It’s a life that is devoted to love, the love of God and the love of all humanity regardless how much they can buy.  But, this kind of economy will only come if people are willing to let go of greed and change.

My reflections are in no way intended to criticize or demean the correction officer’s comments.  This is a person who works in a occupation that involves an incredible amount of risk and danger and should be commended for being willing to take on a dangerous responsibility.  But, his comments reflect our culture’s perspective and view of the world being shaped by business mindset.  This is not necessarily wrong but neither is it necessarily healthy for all circumstances.  To refer to prison as an industry transforms convicts into products to be packaged and marketed to borrow business terms. 

This business mindset allows government, society in general, to develop institutions and programs for accomplishing tasks that fail to realize or account for the humanity of people.  People are not objects that are bought, sold, traded, or manufactured like lifeless commodities in the business world.  People are beings of love whose significance and meaning in life is not given by ecnomic/business models no matter how hard we try to make this so but in relationships that reveal ourselves to one another.  True, authentic relationships can’t be commodified but are freely entered into with no strings attached. 

The prison system is not a business or an industry but a means whereby society attempts to bring justice (no matter how flawed) for the victems and transformation for the victimizer (or at least this should be the goal).  To say prison is an industry not only dehumanizes criminals who, according to the teachings of Christ are still human beings (Jesus ate and had fellowship with the criminal elements of his society such as the woman caught in adultery and Matthew the tax collector) but it sells justice to the highest bidder.  Industry is about producing a product that a business markets to people in order to make a profit.  Prison is about justice and peace in society.  It’s not a business or a growth industry but a part of society whose goal isn’t growth or decline but ensuring society is able to function in a holistic way.