For if the punishment for say, murder is death, and that punishment is carried out by the community, then the community has murdered, and thus they now should face the same punishment, yet because they are the ones committing the crime of murder they tend to over look that they are doing so and live on to murder another day.

Yes, I know this is not the way many think of it. In part it may be the language we use, as we tend to not use the term murder when we refer to the act of the calculated, planed taking life of one who  has been accused and convicted of taking the life of another. We also tend to separate ourselves from the act, and not think of the aspect of our involvement. This post is mainly focusing on the communal murder described earlier in this paragraph, but I want to express that this is not the only form of communal murder we commit. There is also the communal murder committed by military and related action, by excessive police force, by our choosing to not eradicate hunger and extreme poverty, even though it could be done for a lot less then the communal murder done through acts of war, the deaths caused by us refusing to ensure all have access to basic life saving medical care… So when I describe numbers of how many communal murders I have been a part of it is in reference to just that type of communal murder and not the others, unless I state otherwise.

In some ways I am a lucky person, if I look at just the acts of the communities in which the governments represented me. In my lifetime, like all Americans alive in that time period we have communally murdered three people, and in the states where I was a legal resident of, I have been a party to 3 additional murders for a total of 6. The three state level communal murders took place prior to my having the legal right to vote, the the three federal after I had the right to vote. In addition to this I have lived while attending school and participating in internships and fellowships in states where additional communal murders took place, though my legal residence remained in a state where none took place. Summer 2004- I was in Ohio, during those three months: 3 communal murders, Once more in Ohio  for most of 2006, 7, 8, 9, and 10 for School, during the time I was in that state there were 14 communal murders. Thus through the governments that represented me I participated in 6 murders, three of them enacted once I had voice and vote, three before I had voice and vote, and was present in a state where I had no vote for an additional 14 for a total of 20 that I was present in the legal jurisdiction where the communal murder took place. Compare that to someone the same date as I who lived in say Texas their entire life- 489TX+3Fed for a total 491 (289 of them after age 18), I am lucky to have murdered so few (3,6, or 20 depending on how one counts… or 22 if one counts the 2 in Ohio that took place while I was not in Ohio, but while I still had belongings in a residence in Ohio). In my lifetime 1273 people have been communally murdered within the various legal jurisdictions of United States, 697 since I turned 18. Since it is possible for federal level law to end communal murder even in the states, my count could rise up to these numbers as well. I don’t have numbers for the rest of the world, but that will rise it even higher as a member of the Human family. I do not want to be a murder, and am very sorrowful that I have communally murdered so many… not to count the thousands, if not millions we have communally murdered during this time through lack of action, war…. This is not Okay.As a person of faith, I stand with clear voice saying this is not okay.

The first communal murder I have much recollection of, is the first of the three that took place in states where I lived. It took place while I was 10 years of age. I wasn’t physically there, but I do recall sitting in the living room, the TV on and watching the news as they talked about the man we were about to murder, as they showed the protestors outside, the governor’s refusal to commute the sentence… I don’t recall much details of the case or the man. I remember seeing pictures of where the death would take place… and things like that…

Here in Oregon our current Governor,  has just prevented the first communal murder in 14 years(scheduled for the 6th of Dec.) from taking place. In the last 49 years only 2 communal murders have taken place in Oregon, one in 1996, one in 1997. Both of these took place under the governorship of the same man who is once again our Governor, even though he himself was not for communal murder, and has described it as the hardest decision he has ever made and he expressed regret in allowing them to take place. However, he did not commute the communal murder, but postponed it stating no communal murders will take place during his time as governor, but that he feels that while he has the authority to commute all 34 who are waiting to be murdered by us to sentences of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, it is something that the voters must address. I hope that we as Oregonians will take this chance to step up, and say we will murder no more and end the practice all together. The Governor has stated that that is what he intends to push for, the elimination of communal murder sentencing, and instead life without parole being the option. (I find it interesting that Oregon has had at least two Governors who have allowed communal murder to take place whose personal beliefs and morals is that communal murder is wrong, our current Governor Kitzhaber [D] his past stint, and Gov/Sen Hatfield [R]… there could be others, I just know of these two, in in Kitzhaber’s case we know he has regretted doing so, and has said it will not happen again while he is Governor)

For those of us who follow Christ, the communal murder of Jesus son of Mary and Joseph so long ago should be reason enough for us to stand in opposition to communal murdering of those who have committed crimes. If it is not, then the communal murders of many of the first apostles and disciples should be, along with the laws against murder, the teachings of Christ, should be… I’m glad my faith tradition stands in opposition of communal murder, though I am sad it took us until 2000 to pass a world conference resolution stating we stand against it.  I am sad that in this act, as in many others, that while we are called to be prophetic we we late to the game and followed others to standing up for the worth of all persons. (In one of the whereas we indicate that we were not courageous to act prophetically until others did by stating “ A growing number of nations and faith groups including Catholic, Protestant, orthodox, Jewish, and other traditions have either already rejected or urged extreme caution in using the death penalty as a means of punishment or as a deterrent for violent crime.”) The binding parts of the resolution, are the resolves and so the resolves of World Conference resolution 1273 are: “Resolved, That we stand in opposition to the use of the death penalty; and be it further Resolved, That as a peace church we seek ways to achieve healing and restorative justice.”

May we have the courage and conviction to step forward and be prophetic, may we have the courage to act now, and not wait for others to lead the way. Let us embrace our eternal call to care for the world, to bring about healing and reconciliation. Let us stand with conviction that the Holy calls us to love one another and that “One being is as precious in God’s sight as the other” (Jacob 2:27 as quoted in resolves of WCR 1273) and bring an end to the suffering and pain in the world. Bring  an end to the communal murder that is described in this post, but also the communal murder we participate in through our actions and inactions though the means of world hunger, extreme poverty, lack of access to basic healthcare, proper sanitation, through acts of war, through violent use of force by police…. Let us stand with our sisters and brother of other faiths within the circle of all those who call upon the name of Christ, and in the larger circle of faiths of all who call upon the Holy, the Ultimate reality.., and upon the larger circles of all of humanity and all of creation, and heal our broken world…

Peace,

In recent weeks some thoughts have floated through my mind. In the United States there is a federal minimum starting wage. Each of the fifty states that make up the union also have wage laws, some of which set the minimum starting wage higher. Some local governments do as well. However, these wages are often far from livable, especially for families. Often those who pay their employees these wages also do not provide them will full time hours and want open availability, thus making it harder for an individual to have enough to get by, even if full time at the minimum rate would be enough to live on. There have been various proposals out there for increasing wages to be more livable, but rarely do they address the whole problem. Typically they focus on the wage per hour but not the hour per week. They say $x per hour is a livable wage in a location, but forget to mention that is if they are getting 40 hours a week… when many work part time (less than 30-32 a week), or work full time but not 40 as many companies don’t want to risk over time so even full time might be 32, 34, 36 and even at that $x rate that may not be enough to provide the necessities.

We have some states with increases built into their minimum, but still not livable, wage systems. These are great in they at least help keep the minimum wage workers at the same level as they were and not lower. However, this also exposes a problem. It exposes how people being paid at higher hourly rates, often do not see their income increase at proportional rates. So the gap between their starting rate and the minimum starting rate shrinks… brining awareness (if we choose to open our eyes and see) that those living on enough or less than enough to get buy is increasing. It exposes the reality of the shrinking “middle” and the growing “poor.”

We hear cooperation’s, politicians and others speak against proposals to tax corporations and wealthy at rates they were once taxed. We hear people call to cut the safety nets that keep people from starving. We hear arguments from them saying that to restore their taxes would lead to a loss of jobs. The reality is jobs are being lost regardless if we tax them or not. The reality is many companies are paying their top executives more, while reducing their lower paid employees, either number wise or hour wise as much as they can to increase their profits. They seek to keep as many in the part time roles to limit benefit expenses… The reality is that if the safety net programs are cut, people will have less funds to pay for food and other necessities which will make a direct impact on retail sales, which in turn will lead to retail establishments reducing the hours per employee and/or the total number of employees as their income shrinks, which will lead to even loss of sales, as there will be even more people with less to spend. The reality is, a reduction in those corporations taxes will not create more hours, higher wages for the low paid common worker, or more job openings. Instead the money saved on taxes will go to the executives and the shareholders.

The reality is that while in some states with high minimum wages and more safety net programs, even when their unemployment rate is higher they often have fewer people that are food insecure than in states with lower unemployment and lower wage rates and fewer safety net programs. So looking to the states with low unemployment for ways to reduce unemployment is probably not the solution. For what good is low unemployment if people even with a job still can not put food on their plate, a roof over their head, go to the doctor, and put clothes on their backs?

Beefing up our safety nets is needed. But it in and of itself is not enough. Taxing the corporations and those with great wealth in ways to help justly distribute the burdens of a nation and a globe is not enough. they are part of the equation, but only part of it. Raising minimum wages to so-called livable wages is a start, but unless we move from an hourly model to a weekly/monthly/yearly model reflective of the gospel story of the workers who got paid the same regardless of how long they worked, we will have a problem. For people will get paid that living hourly rate, but not given the hours to make it livable.

In pondering ways to try and reign in the ever growing gap between the poor and wealthy, I wonder if however our attempts to set “minimum wages” is the wrong approach. Perhaps we need to set “maximum ratios” instead, or along side. That is set in place a system where we say: The highest paid person in a company’s total compensation can not be more than z times the total compensation of the lowest. For example using the numbers of one company that I work for. My total hourly compensation (wage+401k match+employer side of insurance premiums+ employer social security tax+ my savings by using my employee discount+vacation accrual…)  times 40 hours a week (more than I work a week) times 52 weeks equal several hundredths that of the President/CEO of the company. Even if we were to double that total so it was 80 hours a week the President/CEO would still be making several hundred times more than I per year. And there are many people working in this company for less than I do per hour and with fewer benefits than I.

People argue that these salaries are needed to keep people, and recruit people. However the US tends to have one of the highest ratios in the industrialized world, and the ratio has increased dramatically over the past few decades. Perhaps if we were to cap these ratios,  it would lead to better income equality and fewer hungry people. If a company wanted to pay its top person more to incite him/her to stay or to attract a new head they would also have to increase the wages of their lowest paid employees… What would happen if the ratio went from highest to lowest went from 500:1 down to 50:1, or 10:1 or 5:1? Even in a company that has thousands of employees, it might not lead to drastic changes in the low end, in terms of new jobs or hours, or wage increases, but it may lead to just enough of an increase to make sure they can pay rent, and not have skip a meal every now and again. It may be just enough for them to not need to utilize the safety net programs. It may be just enough to help people have a restored sense of dignity, and perhaps help the people at the top have better awareness of the struggles, realities, and needs of those that labor hard underneath their “leadership” and management.

Is there also a way we could create an income pool that would help larger families out? That is a way so companies still could budget $x per job position but where a single person making way more than they need could give a portion of their income into that pool, and a family of say 4 with the wage worker(s) of the family not receiving an income sufficient for them all could draw from to meet needed expenses… (I’m thinking in part of organizations that have tried to pay people by their need rather than “rank” but struggled as they grew in trying to budget and mange such a system and so had to revaluate their pay system… thus recreating in  a way such a system, but in a more budget friendly manner, and their are companies/organizations out there that have systems like this for sick time & personal leave where people can give their unneeded paid sick leave to those who are experiencing a need that leads to them having to be away from work a long time which could work as a model of how such an income pool could work.)

Just some of the many random thoughts in my mind of ways to try and help transform our current system into something just a bit more just and equitable. (if we could get to the days of all things in common, and making sure all were fed and cared for, as the saints of old did, or at least tried to do, I’m up for that as well…)

What are some of your thoughts and ideas?

Peace,

In April of 2001 a new dog would join the Family, a beautiful little dachshund. My eldest niece, at the time my only one, at just age 4 help my parents pick her out, and chose her first name, Mocha. The pup was also named after my Grandmother who had passed a few years prior providing her with a wonderful string of three names. I first met Mocha when she just a pup. My parents, nieces and her traveled from Oregon to Iowa where I was attending University. The picked me up and took me to Illinois where I was to spend the summer for an internship. That tiny little pup and I bonded right away, and no matter how long we were apart, she would always react with great joy and excitement whenever I returned home.

Over the past 10 years she and I have had many adventures, gone on many walks, played, cuddled, gone camping together. She watched out for the family as well, she knew her cats, her dogs (over the last year or two my sisters family grew to include two dogs, the newest just in the last few months). She was a wonderful companion for us all… In the past couple of years she started having some weight issues, and in the past few days it became clear she was reach the end of her life, though we thought she still had a bit more… Wednesday was hard, but Thursday she seemed to be doing better, moving around more, able to get outside on her own… then yesterday she moved on her own a bit, but was slowing more.  When my mom came home after work and grocery shopping, she found Mocha laying there looking up at her, and she picked her up to carry her out to the back yard, and as she reached the end of the deck, Mocha lifted her head, perked her ears up, sniffed, and passed away within her arms… no longer the struggle with breathing, and he tiredness of the pass few days, she now left to rest eternally.

It’s hard on all of us when we loose a loved one. My thoughts and prayers are especially with my eldest niece, she seemed to take it very hard last night, (My sister and her kids were on their way up at the time of Mocha’s passing, had made sure to bring Mocha’s toy that had been left in their car a few weeks ago when My sister, mom, and eldest niece had gone to the coast together with Mocha for my niece’s birthday).

A year a half ago my cat of 21 and a half years passed away, and now my pup of ten and a half has… it’s a bit of a sad time right now, but also a joyous one, for I can ponder and reflect on many wonderful memories, can be happy in knowing Mocha passed in the arms of a loved one, and not alone. I hope appearances of not being in pain are true as well, and thus rejoice that she was not in pain, just tired and worn out.  But I am a bit lonely now without my snoring puppy to cuddle up to, play with, and go on walks with… nor the cat that took care of me since I was just a little boy watching her be born 23 years ago.

Peace be with you all

So, perhaps what I want to know is in depth detail of how things have changed. Have they changed in that now every ministry, budget line etc. is now categorized under one of the five, but beyond that all is the same, or has there been strategic changes to ensure  that the ministries of the church are actually living out the mission of the church in deed. Have we changed any program, gotten rid of any program, added any program due to these 5 initiatives? Are we taking time to actually ensure all resources truly are being used to their fullest for the mission of Christ. Are we re-aligning how we run various facilities of the church? Are we making the historic sites focus more on these initiatives 9allowing spiritual formation, discipleship formation, witnessing become a greater part of them, or just continue to run them as we have as educating people about history and PR for the church with the spiritual and discipleship activities secondary, a bit of passive witnessing and active witnessing even further down the line? Are we aligning the employees of the church with their giftedness and talents and the initiatives, and adjusting roles to better reflect the ministry needed in this world that we have been called and gifted to provide? Or have we just indicated that various former roles are still needed and justify them by saying they are under x y or z, without making sure they really are? I hope we re-evaluating, changing etc… but I just don’t know. the information I have seen publicly being shared, seems very surface level, glossing over and lacking depth of sharing what is truly going on. In many ways I crave and need more detail…

I got a bit more detail a couple days ago, but not really much… and it was the detail, and the lack of it, and the way it came, that made me start to think, start to reflect, and well write this post as a way for me to flush out the thoughts that are running through my mind right now.

Community of Christ HQ in the past year or so ahs sent me various mailings regarding giving. Some directed at me as an ordained minister, some more as a church member. They have focused on the financial side of things, more than other ways of giving… The most recent is no exception. I struggle with this, because while financial is important, so is the giving of time, talents, and other resources. If we focus to much on the financial giving, we may, and perhaps have, moved into a place where those in the pews feel all they need to do is show up and write a check. I know that is not what we are trying to do, the resources on discipleship formation clearly show that is not what a disciple is… but we send mixed messages when we focus on just one bit of stewardship.  I also ponder how much of our limited resources have been used toward encouraging increases in ones financial giving, compared to other aspects of ministry, and what impact have they had? Have they increased the giving by more than they cost, and thus allowed us to expand our ministry or not? Have they also led to people giving more of their time? have they helped lead people into living the mission of Christ closer to 24h/7d a week rather than 1h/1d a week? I don’t know, a doubt anyone knows, except for how it has impacted themselves.

It is also hard for someone like me, with little financial resources, trying to work one’s way out of some financial difficulties that are in part due to health and in part due to my sacrificial giving of self, time, and resources to the mission of Christ as expressed primarily through the church, and preparing myself for further ministry in and with this body of believers and get back on my feet, to be hounded with messages of specific dollar amounts to increase per week… I can’t do it. (I  would be in a much, much better financial position right now, and would probably fared better through some of my health issues,  if it was not for my time with Community of Christ Historic Sites). Yet, while I have not been able to increase by the numbers they toss around, my giving has increased significantly over the past two years, and NONE of it was due to the mailings, etc… but rather my response to the grace and love of Christ, my sense of calling, and evaluating what I could give…. But my greatest financial gift, is one that has been my years of education, to better prepare myself for ministerial service in and with the church. In my mind the cost of my M.Div, and most if not all of the B.A. is truly a sacrificial gift to the mission of Christ, to help empower and strengthen me in my ministry and witness of the church… But there’s no accounting of that in the church’s books, nor recognition of the gift… instead just “as a member”  or “as an ordained ministered” we seek to embrace the mission of Christ, this is what $10 a week more could do… But what about this is what 10 hours a month of volunteer service could do? this is what 10 hours of week engaging in Christ like ministry could do? Well inviting “ten people” or “helping 10 people be baptized” is mentioned on one page of sixteen pages of this newest mailing… and perhaps implied, but never directly engaged in the descriptions of the 5 mission initiatives and the church aligning to them, rather the focus in on the financial… Hmm, I just realized that financially, my giving of one week to serve as a counselor at camp, not counting my expenses, just the missed work… was over 1/2 the amount they asked me to increase my giving in a year, and as I did not serve as a counselor last year… perhaps I have gotten close, but again, no record, nor recognition (which I am okay with, except they keep hounding on the financial aspect rather than on the whole of stewardship so in a way seeming to de-value other needed and important forms of giving and stewardship). Perhaps as well I struggle as I want my church to be contacting me to say “hey, here are ways to utilize your gifts, talents, resources to live out the mission of Jesus the Christ, in and with your sisters and brothers around the globe” instead of “hey if you and everyone else in N. America increase giving by x a week, we can do x y and z…” in a way that seems as “others can” not “I and others can.”

Enough of that, lets get back to the 5 mission initiatives:

1. Invite people to Christ – 18.64%
2. Abolish Poverty, End Suffering – 14.04%
3. Pursue Peace on Earth – 7.61%
4. Develop Disciples to Serve – 38.57%
5. Experience Congregations in Mission – 21.14%

The percentages following each initiative is the percent of the budgeted world mission tithes giving that has been assigned to each priority. It is these numbers that give me some pause… though I must remember that this is the percentage of 51% of the budgeted income. Income from other sources make up another 49% and the mailing does not include how that 49% is divided up. Since 20 of that 49 is endowment support, and the Temple and its ministries fall under Pursue Peace on Earth, and there is an endowment fund specifically for the Temple perhaps  when we add in the 49% of total income Pursuing Peace is closer in its funding to that of other initiatives than the tithing portion alone indicates… But that’s the thing, we don’t know. All I know for sure is what has been shared, the amount of the 51% of income that comes from contributors that is budgeted toward each of these categories, and that if those levels are not met from giving directed at each initiative, then that given to “use where needed most” will go to fill it out, and then other income sources to try and make sure those amounts are realized…

So I have some problems, which may not be problems depending on how that other 49% is divided up, and what all falls under each of the 5, and how these %s will change over time. I believe in concept and description all five are needed, and meaningful. I however am worried about how we are (possibly) prioritizing/valuing the 5.

Yes, we need to help develop members (and others) on the path of discipleship so that they become active in the sharing of their time, gifts and talents… so that they are spiritually fed, and can feed others, to live in Christ focused ministry/mission 24/7 and not just show up to church once in awhile, not grow in relationship to Christ…. We need to have educated and trained leaders… (I would not have spent 9 years of my life in undergrad and seminary if I didn’t think so)… but should that receive more than the combined amount for the two initiatives that clearly are aimed at ministries focused on healing creation? perhaps it is needed at first, perhaps we need to train, educate, and empower people in their discipleship so they will respond and serve to embrace these needs… If these ratios stay the same over time and are truly this vast when we include the other 49% of income, we have a major problem. Community of Christ since it was founded in 1830 as Church of Christ, has been called to alleviating poverty and ending suffering…we’ve made a lot of mistakes, but it is a major part of our historical calling, our present calling and until the day poverty, hunger, suffering, war is no more a major part of our future calling… yet only 21.64% combined for these to initiatives…. Perhaps it could be explained by the other income sources, perhaps it can be explained in that many ways of using resources, many ministries could fall under several of the 5 initiatives so while Developing disciples get’s 38%, perhaps a significant part of that, and of the congregational ministries’ 21.14% could also be classified into Poverty/suffering and Peace?

Well, I’ve got to go rest a bit so I can go preside over a service in the morning… but I’m glad I wrote this, for while it may sound like a lot of complaining and concern 9which yes there is some) it has led to me see with new eyes the possibilities than when I started… Perhaps the division isn’t as bad as I thought once we add in the other income, and realize so many things can fall into various initiatives, and it seems they have chosen to let them fall in one or another… still I would like more detail of how we have “aligned” ourselves… what actual changes have transpired and are expected to happened due to embracing these initiatives?

How will we start to change the message from a focus on financial stewardship and giving to a holistic message of discipleship including all forms of stewardship and giving and not just monetary?

Peace,