putting your money where your mouth is... even if it hurts

Recently there has been a call on some of the social media outlets I follow... a call to take money out of the big banks. 

As a part of the larger "occupy"movement, people are being asked to put their money where their mouth is... literally... and close their accounts with the the big guys on Wall Street and to move that money to local banks and community credit unions.  A link to the pledge can be found here: http://www.rebuildthedream.com/move-your-money/

I like this idea.  I appreciate local businesses. I like the accountability that comes when you are in personal contact with the people who take care of your money. I like that it is more than just feet on the ground complaining about things they don't like, but people willing to make changes in their personal lives based upon the message they are preaching.

I don't like what doing this would do to my personal credit rating. 

When the pledge first crossed my desk, I immediately went and started searching for information on the statewide United Methodist supported credit union.  I looked at loan rates and credit card rates and started doing the math to see what kind of a personal financial impact it would have if I closed my accounts with the "big banks" and moved my debt and my checking account somewhere more local. 

My Bank of America credit line has been around for over 11 years.  As a freshamn in college, I caved to the credit card pressure... but it was a "Working Assets" card - and they donated 1% every year to non-profits that you get to choose.  At the time, I justified my decision, thinking it was the "conscientious choice"... if I was going to have a credit card, that's the one I wanted.  But they were bought out by the big guys and I've been with BoA ever since.  Because I have been with them for a while, and pay my bills faithfully, it is also my largest line of credit.

The only line of credit I have with Citigroup is fairly new... and I opened the card to transfer some balances with no interest so that I could work on paying off debt from college/seminary/long-distance-relationship-plane-tickets...

To close the first account and to open a new one would drastically reduce both my average age of open credit lines and my open card utilization percentage... thereby significantly affecting my credit score (especially since I have that newer line of credit from only a year ago).

To transfer balances would involve fees and especially with the Citigroup account, I still have another year of no interest and would rather spend that time paying off that little amount, rather than incurring another fee and having to pay interest.

Argh...

Sometimes, doing something that is seems right, hurts. Taking a stand involves personal cost. Finding the courage to literally put our money where our mouth is... priceless.

(sorry, I couldn't resist).

But we should spend time wrestling with financial questions.

• Where is my money invested? 
• Who benefits from my money/debt?
• What kind of transformative change does the power of a single dollar have?
• Does my bank align with my values?
• What kind of damage does debt do to my spiritual life?
• What does your spending say about your spiritual life?

All sorts of thoughts are rolling around in my head, all as a result of a little tweet.

a few bytes of inspiration

I took copious notes at the recent GBCS forum I attended in Washington, D.C.

And then I came home and had hoped to decipher and debrief, but ran smack into four funerals and piles of mail and pastoral visitation needs, and a husband who missed me, and family gatherings... you get the picture.

But remember, I took notes! 

So here are some of my attempts at wading through the tiny print all over my folder from the event... the statements and questions that continue to linger in my mind:

• Can we balance the budget without hurting the poor?  This is the top advocacy issue for economic justice.
• the difference between lobbyists and advocates:  one works for the benefit of their organization, the other works for the benefits of others and do not raise money for legislators.
• government of the people, by the people, and FOR the people
• The United Methodist Building was built before the Supreme Court that is next door to it.
• Your call is: one sentence, impossible, won't let you go.
• Pastors stand at the gaps to bring reconciliation between people - the pastor has to get involved... and you have to win the hearts of the people
• We say, "WE BELIEVE..." but will we help usher in these things that we believe so firmly in?
• Legislative priorities adopted by the GBCS are based on our Book of Resolutions and Social Principles.... but also depend on what congress is actually going to focus on that year. 
• Do we have FOOLISH VIGOR?
• Everyone needs to be proud about what THEY bring to the table... otherwise there cannot be alliances, partnerships, solidarity
• the church is never called to be partisan, but always called to be political
• EKKLESIA means to be called out - called out of the world, from the world... the church is the body that is called out, and calls out.
• Congregational vitality has everything to do with Justice and Mercy... we can't feed people's souls if they die of hunger.
• A leader is someone who makes sure no one falls down (7 year old boy)
• Do we really believe the UMC can change the world?  Do we really believe God can work through us to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the TRANSFORMATION OF THE WORLD?
• In Defense of Creation talks about three systems that destroy: hunger making systems, war making systems, and desert making systems.  The intersection of these destroys life.
• Evangelism is absolutely connected with Mercy and Justice ministries... as long as you communicate WHY you are doing what you are doing.
• you have to have some kind of personal engagement with what you do... in D.C. policy is traded without an awareness of lives that are affected.  We need to know what the INCARNATIONAL IMPACT OF JUSTICE is.
• The point of justice is not programs and issues but relationships...
• To be Christian is going to COST something... faithful sacrifice.
• Ask folks how they feel about this issue personally... how does it affect them? what is it like to read the news? where do they have fears and hopes?
• the UMC is a leader on Capital Hill because we have United Methodists who passionately care about the issues.

Anything catch your eye? Anything you want to talk more about? 

levels and dimensions

 Last month at our county ministerial alliance gathering, we got to chatting about the books we were reading.  One pastor mentioned a book - and of course the title escapes me - but it had something to do with how we invite people into deeper discipleship. I actually think that it was "Simple Church: Returning to God's Process for Making Disciples" but I'm not 100% positive.

Our conversation from this point talked about the process for making these deep disciples.  We talked about Saddleback Church's Baseball Diamond metaphor... which probably comes from somewhere else first.  We talked about the process at one local pastor's church of moving from an attender to a participator to a server... well, that's not exactly how he phrased it, but it's moving from simply being there to going deeper in your involvement and then giving back in some way. 

It was all about process and movement and how to move people, how to encourage people to not just stay at one level in their spiritual growth, but to... grow!

I left the conversation thinking about the fact our congregation hasn't had a discussion about our discipleship process.  People come to church and we try to get them to join and then... well, pray they get active. It's kind of sad to type that out, but it's probably the truth.

I left the meeting and picked back up the book that I had been reading, "This Beautiful Mess: Practicing the Presence of the Kingdom of God" by Rick McKinley.  And the very chapter I was beginning had this to say: 

When I first became a Christ follower, I was invited to a Bible study... Bring it on, I thought.  I was all for it.  I devoured that one and soon moved on to the next, and then the next one after that, and the next one after that... But there was no end to it.  All I ever arrived at was a new level that needed reaching.  Now you might recognize yourself in my spiritual striving, or you might not.  But I see that kind of striving and competitiveness everywhere... churches especially. Pastors and lay leaders love to talk about advancing the kingdom, about building the kingdom.  It is as if Jesus said, "My kingdom is a pile of lumber on the truck in heave, and I need you boys and girls to get a hammer and help Me nail this thing together.  Could ya?"

But he didn't... He said, "The Kingdom is..."

... What if I told you that the the world is broken and that WE are God's answer to the world's problems?... You yourself - and all that you can do - are crucial to the future of the planet.  Just like you secretly, humbly, all along expected.

Of course, it's not true. The kingdom is. That's it. Jesus does not need you or me to nail it together.

Kind of throws me off.  I like thinking in terms of levels of achievement... if I work hard and do the right things, I can move to the next level... Levels of spirituality are perfect for a culture that deifies the individual.  Our world is focused on self; the kingdom is about the other.  It demands that I notice others, love others, pray for them and serve them. "Levels spirituality" does not.  It allows me to do it myself, by myself.

Jesus hates levels spirutuality. All it does is reinforce the lie that started way back in the beginning - the one that says I can be like God. (pgs 56-58)

So, I spent the morning talking about and embracing this idea of levels and growth through a process and then Rick McKinley turns the whole thing upside down and on its head and says - no.

Of course, it's not necessarily an either/or.  It's a both/and.  We are called both to just be in Christ's kingdom and we are called to take up our cross and follow. 

In spite of my Wesleyan roots, I think I tend to really hold fast to the being of discipleship.  Wesley had a fanatical desire to grow in his spirituality and had all sorts of "methods" for doing so.  Fasting, prayer, visiting the prisoners were all steps in the process of becoming more like Christ. There was the whole idea of sanctification... that we actually COULD by God's grace become more and more like Christ. 

But what I think that in spite of all the doing of discipleship, the early Wesleyans were also putting themselves in situations and among people where they could BE in the Kingdom.  They was seeking out the poor - or they were the poor, the sick, the imprisoned. They sat with the people Jesus loved.  They loved them.  They did what they could for them, but the relationships were important.  When they asked, "how is it with your soul?" they meant it.

Again from Rick McKinley:

...God isn't measuring anything.  He only wants us to live in a dimension that is already there.  He is simply inviting us to be a part of what He is already doing... What I am realizing after a few years of leaving the levels is that our eyes begin to see differently.  We notice the kingdom dimension of life, but slowly... seeing the kingdom may take a few seconds.

My hope as a pastor is not that I get someone to achieve higher levels of discipleship, but that I can love them.  My hope is that I can love them and offer them the opportunity to see the world with new eyes.  To see the world as Christ sees it.  To see the broken and hurting things and to love them.  Yes, there is a goal to be reached  - a time when that hurting and suffering and pain is no more... but that is not for me to determine.  I can simply be in the kingdom and let Christ's love flow through me.