My father was a gracious man, born in Mobile, Alabama in 1917. My grandmother, a Bible believing Christian, at times used racial slurs to refer to people of color without a pause or sense that such language typecast groups of people as “other than us.” The South, with its “Southern Gentility,” replaces an overt tirade with a smiling, “I love your dress!” and a head-turned, “But I hate your guts.” “Woke!,” “DEI Hire!,” and “Illegal!” reflect the neobigotry of genteel racism.
My father, Howard, a WWII Navy veteran, moved to Phoenix following the war and lived in a mobile home with my mother, May, in the back section of the Sun Valley Motel, my first home after birth. The U.S. Highway Route 66 tied a post-Dust Bowl travel ribbon of the American dream West 2400 miles, from Chicago, Illinois to Santa Monica, California. This ribbon flowed in front of my grandparents’ theme motel shown below on Van Buren Street, in Phoenix. Van Buren became the mecca of theme motels where people could park their cars next to their cabin as got their kicks on Route 66.
This historic postcard of my grandparents’ Sun Valley Motel was listed for sale on Amazon. Following the scorched drive West through Arizona desert, the Sun Valley’s dense Augustine grass, highlighted by its neon sign, served as a green runway welcoming travelers to a night’s rest, where they could park their car a few steps away from their own cabins.This traveler described resting at the Sun Valley Motel “so very tired and heartbroken” following the loss of a beloved pet. “Doing all the driving…”
These historic “motor hotels” boasted kitchenette apartments, shuffle-board, phones, and beautifully landscaped grounds framed with neon signs heralding their presence:
What was not advertised were the stories my father told me of watching Ira Hayes, the Pima Indian war hero stumble drunk and forgotten along the Van Buren Street on the sidewalk in front of my grandparents’ Sun Valley Motel. Johnny Cash also sang the plight of this Pima Indian and other Native Tribes, with their lands used and exploited before being tossed aside and forgotten. Even so with Ira Hayes, Iwo Jima war hero, who died in a watery grave trying to numb his PTSD with alcohol, as the trauma of the war and the guilt of surviving when so many of his comrades had died weighed heavily on him.
In May 14, 1945, the Boston Daily Globe quoted Mr. Hayes saying: “How can I feel like a hero when I hit the beach with two hundred and fifty buddies and only twenty-seven of us walked off alive?”
How may veterans, such as Ira Hayes, have been purged from our U.S. history by its myopic neobigotry actions of the present administration to redact and forget those they label DEI, such as Ira Hayes.
Neobigotry’s genteel racism walks a path racism one step removed. This was the same scorched earth policy launched by the U.S. Army following the Civil War as it then waged war against the Plains Native Americans with a “one step removed” eradication of the Buffalo. Without one shot fired at Native Americans, they took away their food and life essentials by killing their symbol of life — the Buffalo! Buffalo skull mounds served as bleached tombstones for the Plains Native Tribes.
Buffalo Skull Mounds Tombstone for the Plains Native Tribes
The attack against the “Woke,” the “DEI Hires,” and the “Illegals” is nothing short of “Buffalo Hunting” that creates disparate treatment and harassment for protected classes of race, gender, sex, religion, age, and orientation. Before eradicating human groups, humans like to ascribe subhuman names to them that lessen the guilt of eradicating real people. The genteel terms given to “Woke”, “DEI Hires” and “Illegals,” while one step removed from historic racial slurs, are symbiotic with protected classes of people. Those seeking eradication of these classes may boast they shot not one word of hate against people of color, age, or sexual orientation, while at the same time these neobigotry attacks result in the scorched earth destruction of the sources that feed a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace and culture in a truly fair and free America.
The attack against the “Woke,” the “DEI Hires,” and the “Illegals” is nothing short of “Buffalo Hunting” that creates disparate treatment and harassment for protected classes of race, gender, sex, religion, age, and orientation.
Pastor Jim
The Buffalo Hunt
The Parable of the Good Samaritan
25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’[c]; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[d]”
28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
Read Luke chapter 10 for the parable.
– Luke 10
“…l’d love to wear a rainbow every day And tell the world that everything’s okay But I’ll try to carry off a little darkness on my back Until things are brighter I’m the Man In Black.” ~Johnny Cash
“Day One of Cat’s Plan to Eliminate Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI)”
The year is 2050. If you are reading this, the labor pool of the United States is in free fall. The non-white community has captured the majority of the population, with whites first time a minority. The crisis: working age people to non-working adults fell 15 percent between 2020 and 2050, as workers aged out of their careers. Labor costs a premium as employers hike wages and politicians promise to woo workers from other nations. But these nations have soured on the United States following decades of xenophobic persecution of undocumented workers, discarding them like litter thrown out a car window in their home countries. The 2050 politicians now quarrel how to undo the wayward policies, crying, “We didn’t know how much we needed the labor at the time. They lied to us and were only interested in poll numbers of the approving base.”
A Grumpy Uncle Sam, who alienated his world family, now sits in like an old man in an understaffed nursing home and calls out for foreign help to empty his gold plated bed pan of a failed economy. But there were no workers left willing to soil their hands and answer the cries of the one who, though he once treated them like family, now disowned them and cut them off. Uncle Sam inbred and defiled “the genetic code of business” that “people do business with their friends.”
The truth was that the “Make America Great Again” called for discarding of the people collateral of other nations living in the U.S, which would be needed to secure our economy in the future. The politicians who once proposed bounties on the heads of undocumented labor now cry for the import of labor at all costs due to the U.S.’s inability raise labor’s spoon to its mouth. The tragedy of the mainline church was its silence and its participation in the largest human roundup since World War II. Carefully crafted slogans demonized the undocumented as the evil among us, calling them criminals and sexual predators, knowing that cooperation in the mass roundup increases to the extent that the strangers are considered “subhuman.” The church’s response during this time could be called, “The Silence of the Lambs: How the Church became Complicit in Deporting its Future.”
Pax Americana: Road to a Secure Future
The Gospel of Luke’s account of the birth of Jesus gives insight into the Roman Empire’s “Pax Romana,” that which made Rome truly great. As Rome expanded, it created allies, built roads, and expanded taxation. Luke wrote –
2 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world.2 (This was the first census that took place while[a]Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to their own town to register. Luke 2:1-3
Let’s apply the above to the millions of undocumented persons among us.
The Lamb Speaks
A look at Jesus’ words in Matthew 25, Jesus reminds us of the moral imperative the church has to care for the stranger, the undocumented among us. “For I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in.” – Matthew 25:35
Q: “Pastor Jim, that was weak Jesus. We believe in the Alpha Male Jesus who gets tough on crime, such as illegal immigration. These immigrants must be unbelievers, because a true believer would not break our immigration laws. In fact, by turning them in, we are actually helping them come to the faith and embrace our Alpha Jesus.”
A: Like the Israelites formed the “golden calf” to produce tangible results, so is the temptation to fashion a god who fits into our political idolatry for immediate benefit. The problem with a “golden calf” is that it produces short-term benefits and creates a confirmation bias that this was certainly the right path. People became obsessed with ushering in a new golden age promised by the golden calf committees. The price of gold skyrocketed. Golden Calf parades became a glue that brought people together, like a football team who won a few games but lost the championship due to a failed long-term strategy. In a confirmation bias, the short-term wins blind participants of the underlying failure and true losses at stake. The lure of the preachers of these “golden calfs” reflects what St. John wrote when he said, “Even now many antichrists have come. By this we know that this is the last hour” (1 John 2:18).
Q: “Are you saying that you approve thieves, murderers, and sexual predators to remain among us?”
A: Demonizing an entire group by the actions of a few does not solve the problems of a nation. Some in Missouri have proposed legislative bills that call for life imprisonment for undocumented immigrants who enter the state and a bounty of $1,000 on the heads of the immigrants. ICE, for its national policy, said that, while they focus on criminals, should an undocumented person be present, they will be deported with the criminals to a staging camp, such as Guantanamo. Writing off the life of a ten-year-old child or wife who was the undocumented daughter of immigrants, raises the question: “Does the right to life end in the womb and stop at the Border?”
Guantanamo Bay
”You can’t say, ‘Right to life!,’” you say, “That’s our slogan we used to protect unborn babies. It has nothing to do with immigration. Apples and oranges!”
For you, the “right to life” has been politicized to a political platform that has been trained to ignore the other “rights to life” with dignity, in safety, in housing, in education, and in health. Limiting the “right to life” strictly to the abortion issue gives Christians a free pass on these other areas that would severely reduce the quality of life or shorten it.
Operation “Allies in America”
Borrowing from the practice of Roman Empire, the Pax Americana would build on three great strategies: 1) a census of the undocumented and a registry by home country, 2) taxation of undocumented and elimination of underground cash economy, 3) the undocumented would pay reduced percentage into Medicare and Social Security but would not be able to draw unless they became U.S. citizens, 4) the securing of the U.S. Border would stabilize the level of the undocumented living in the U.S. and provide formal paths to U.S. entry and citizenship. “Allies in America” (AIA) identification cards and driver’s licenses would be vetted in U.S. and international criminal databases to establish the security of the AIA workforce.
The “Allies in America” Census
This week my wife and I visited two local water stores where we saw Hispanic men filling carts with multiple five-gallon water jugs on carts. My impression was, “Somebody is preparing for siege or perhaps hiding out in the desert until ICE moves to another neighborhood.” The problem with present ICE deportation rhetoric is the double-speak, “We are only going after criminals to deport” …”Unless you don’t cooperate; then we kick down your door.” “We are only going after gang members and sexual predators” … “But we haven’t ruled out operations at elementary schools and hospitals.” “We want to protect you from criminals” … “But if you are undocumented and present in our sweep, you are going to Guantanamo!”
For a census of the “Allies in America” to succeed, ICE and Homeland Security need to guarantee that to register as an “Ally in America” will provide them U.S. legal due process and fair review of immigration status if charged with a crime. Those who have been previously found guilty of felony crime, would not be eligible for the “Allies in America” plan. The “Allies in America” would not be able to vote, purchase property, start businesses, receive Medicare or Medicaid, or draw Social Security, with restrictions lifted if citizenship is granted.
“Allies in America” Taxation
An “Ally in America” would be taxed on State and Federal taxes, along with a contribution (a reduced amount) to Medicare and Social Security to benefit U.S. members already in the system. These contributions are credited to the “Ally in America” if citizenship is granted. Additional tax would be for “Allies in America Charitable Trust” for medical and disability needs of AIA and a required retirement savings account to be transferred to Social Security if the AIA member returns to his home country.
Q: “These undocumented are all illegal. Why not deport them all and be done with it?”
A: It feels good to express our anger and do something, like the man who punches a wall to take out his anger, only to find he broke the wall and fractured his knuckles.
“Easy to tear down … Hard to build up.” - Anonymous Three-Year-Old
Image from ScaryMommy.com
Building Roads to Peace
A key practice of the Pax Romana was the building of roads, which exist into the present day. Consider the year 2050 should the U.S. continue on its present course of dumping gang members, criminals, and noncriminals to their home countries, like a “criminal carpet bombing” that looks good in the polls but has unintended consequences. That the countries are accepting military transports of immigrants shows these countries are friends of the U.S. The unintended consequence of mass deportation of criminals is the destabilization of governments in Central and South America as well as Caribbean islands, such as Haiti.
Q: “Pastor Jim, how is that our problem? The illegals broke the law by coming to the U.S. and then broke our laws again.”
A: As Mexico builds as major trading partner with China and other nations, destabilized governments may reach to China and Russia to provide aid in exchange for their “peacekeeping” presence in the country. While the U.S. congratulates itself in getting one problem off its lawn, the vast resources of a country could shift alliances to another country simply as a matter of survival.
The Essential Friendship of Diplomacy
Fast forward again to 2050, a newly elected Cesar Galvan, President of Mexico, who ran on the promise of “The Consolidated States of Latin America” – the alliance of all Latino states into one block, including Cuba. As he sits behind his desk of power, he looks at the picture of his father, whom the U.S. deported from a 12-hour- a-day chicken butchering shop. At age 10 he and his family, upon his father’s return as “The Shunned,” were forced into a cardboard and sheet metal shanty town with other deported. Cesar’s infant brother and sister died of measles in the slum town. The U.S. cut off measles vaccines and baby formula. Due to poverty, Cesar helped bury his siblings in the smoldering trash heap by using a stick and his hands. The words “José and Angelina … Forever In My Heart” he had tattooed over his heart as the only tombstone they had. Years later during the two years before his election, vast rare earth minerals were found in the territorial seabed of Mexico and The Consolidated States. On this day in the anteroom sits the Chinese Ambassador to Mexico. Prior to meeting the ambassador, President Galvan touches the photo of his parents and his heart, says a prayer, and walks out to embrace his guest as they walk to share a long awaited business lunch with his new friend.
What could the U.S. have done differently? In the words of Jesus, “Who was the neighbor?” … U.S. or China? Why? How could the U.S. chart a course with an eye towards the future international relationships and aid?
In the rules of quantum mechanics, a particle can exist in multiple states at the same time … until it is measured. Erwin Schrödinger’s(1935) thought experiment described a cat inside an opaque box, sealed with a radioactive flask of poison and a Geiger counter. Until the box is opened and the cat is observed, the cat is both alive and dead. The act of prying open the box and peering inside marks the collapse of the superimposed state.
Similarly, U.S. political parties represent simultaneous multiple states of justice, mercy, and grace. The parties can also be represented as possessing qualities of male, female and neutral gender platforms. Like quantum computing, the U.S. political process generates “noise” — a lot of noise as political platforms are spun up and down. Like quantum computing, the solution for this political noise is an error checking process that is independent and outside of the political box itself. A survey of St. Paul’s writings demonstrates the best influence of the cat in the political box is to resist the temptation to pry open the box itself and tamper with the outcome, collapsing the quantum state into a lopsided and imbalanced state.
It wouldn’t be a stretch to describe the Republicans as the party of justice, the Democrats as mercy. Or, the Republicans represent the party of Alpha Males, the Democrats as Mother Earthers, and the Independents as neutral, wavering between the parties, like a free radical awaiting capture. For simplicity, we will use Republican and Democrat for our discussion.
A Quantum Balanced System
In quantum politics, the Republicans and Democrats remain each in a simultaneous state of balance, like male complements female. Reasonably, the Republican’s manifest more of a masculine dominance while the Democrats gravitate toward the feminine state. The combined state of the two parties together results in one noisy simultaneous equilibrium of masculine/feminine and justice/mercy/grace. An example of equilibrium- DACA recipient children of undocumented immigrants face calls for deportation by the Republicans for justice while Democrats call for mercy and path to citizenship. Equilibrium results in a “noisy” state in which DACA youth live suspended between deportation and citizenship, allowed to work and remain in the U.S.
U.S. Christians have been seduced by political candidates who overturned Roe v. Wade in exchange for their support of the Republican MAGA ticket. Branding MAGA as Christian and non-MAGA as secular blinds Christians to the inherent weakness of a politicized faith system — they have traded other key faith elements to secure one favored faith element. As Satan tempted Jesus, “All this I will give you, if you will kneel and worship me” (Matthew 4:9). The emergence of “Dominion Theology” has radicalized Christians to embrace political power and might to secure the Christian ticket in this world. The problem is that this is counter to Christ’s own teaching that if “one wants to become Great, he must be the servant of all” (Mark 10:43-45).
The emergence of “Dominion Theology” has radicalized Christians to embrace political power and might to secure the Christian ticket in this world. The problem is that this is counter to Christ’s own teaching that if “one wants to become Great, he must be the servant of all” (Mark 10:43-45).
“I believe in the Right to Life!,” boasts the man who voted a straight Pro-Life ticket. “But I can’t get on board this free childcare and healthcare for single mothers. That’s Socialism! Our Right to Life gives the mother two weeks of disposable diapers and baby food, which is the Christian thing to do. It’s not our job to find the mother housing or childcare while she works. She made her choice and has to live with it.”
A quantum Right to Life ticket would be kept in equilibrium by the Right to Childhood, the Right to Housing, the Right Over My Own Body, the Right to Education, and the Right to Healthcare.
A quantum Right to Life ticket would be kept in equilibrium by the Right to Childhood, the Right to Housing, the Right Over My Own Body, the Right to Education, and the Right to Healthcare.
Q: “Pastor Jim, why that is silly and impossible. How could you have a system that provides all these things?”
A: “These things are impossible with us but all things are possible with God.” Consider the disastrous extremes of Right to Life, with women dying slowly in hospital parking lots in an attempt to prove to the hospital administrators that her fetus was sufficiently dead or well beyond the point of no return to warrant an abortion. Or, the teenager trapped in perpetual cycle of poverty, with no access to contraception, healthcare, or daycare is now labeled an economic vagrant and stripped of Medicaid. We need the balanced interplay of the other parties to temper the extremes of our own party and its inherent prejudices.
This waxing and waining process of harmonization is captured in the Chinese philosophy of Yinyang — “Yin in its highest form is freezing while yang in its highest form is boiling.“ Yinyang represents “the dynamic balance of all things.”
The United States became great not because of Christian involvement with politics, rather Christians influencing culture apart from politics. Religious tampering destabilizes the quantum yinyang suspended state and results in a lopsided manifestation of masculine combativeness at the expense of the feminine state of nurture. As the “salt of the earth” (Matthew 5:13), the function of Christians in culture is to prevent decay by truth-affirming and error checking without prying open Schrödinger’s box and corrupting the outcome. Dietrich Bonhoeffer captured the quantum nature of the church in his quote borrowed below:
The limiting nature of power and money in political systems forces a political party’s member to adhere to a limited agenda of that party’s platform, at the expense of the valid items slated on the other party’s platform. Christians are tempted to go “all in” on what they perceive as a lesser of two evils and declare one political party as inherently Christian while damning the other party. In contrast, the Apostle Paul reminds us that a Christian’s exclusive allegiance to a party has been preempted by “one body, one faith, and one baptism” (Ephesians 4:5).
The sister system to quantum politics is Adam Smith’s invisible hand in ”quantum economics.” By respecting the balances of a stable economic system, the system will find its own equilibrium. The U.S. stock market, for example, is suspended in the balanced quantum state of both gain and loss. However, by tampering with the “invisible hand” by tax or by tariff, the invisible hand is forced to write a manuscript it did not author, resulting in short sighted gains at the expense of long -term progress.
Like a three legged stool, the biblical system of love, justice and mercy forms the Christian basis of U.S. society. Like a tariff’s “pay to play” model, Christians who “pay to play” to prop up their chosen “Christian Party” will find they have sacrificed one or more legs of the stool for a political platform. The result is justice without mercy or mercy without justice.
St. Paul in I Corinthians 13 said, “When one says, ‘I follow Paul,’ and another, ‘I follow Apollos,’ are you not mere human beings? … So then, no more boasting about human leaders! All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future — all are yours, and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God.”
The “Quantum Cardinal” Kurt Koch
Catholic Cardinal Kurt Koch rejected the extreme position of both the traditionalists and the progressives in favor the the tension of the balanced. See this press release:
Swiss Cardinal Kurt Koch, President of the Dicastery Promoting Christian Unity.
I asked Gemini AI to create a quantum image for the two sayings of Jesus, “You are the salt of the earth (Matthew 5:13) and “My kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36)-
The Superposition of Faith and Works, Of Progressive and Traditional
The image captures that believers are both in the world but not of it, in divine tension. The AI’s own typos reflect the noisy process as our work continues, misses the ideal, and starts again. The Christian is both “salt of the earth” and “not of this world,” at the same time, held in balance by God’s quantum grace. As some believers battle for the inerrancy of the Bible manuscripts, they forget we are fallible as humans, needing others to check our inclination to gravitate toward extremes.
The Political Path Forward
The Schrödinger temptation is to pry open the box in an attempt to save the cat. Jesus did not call his church to pry open and destabilize government by christening a political party as Christian at the expense of labeling the other party as unChristian. The truth affirming, error checking role of believers as salt and light in the community provides stabilization that prevents a political party from moving from imbalance to fanaticism. Dr. Guy Greenfield, former Professor of Ethics at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, described this process as “the heresy of the extremes and the orthodoxy of the balanced.”
The temptation of Christ was for him to “do something right now”! Throw yourself off the Temple and show everyone that you are a real man … the guy in charge! Throw the Romans out of Jerusalem and become the Alpha Messiah! Instead, Jesus wept and prayed over Jerusalem in Matthew 23, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.”
– Pastor Jim
As in quantum economics, one can participate in insider trading and order Government to improve conditions that guarantee profit; however, the outcomes deteriorate in correlation with the tampering. So it is with Christians who try to force the manifestation of God’s kingdom on earth.
Q: “Jim, are you asking us to do nothing and sit back as Satan’s dark forces capture the US?”
A: St. Paul reminds us, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:12). As we said, worldly political parties are limited by money and power regarding what policies they can support on their platform. In order to keep that party from moving into imbalance and even fanaticism, it takes the other parties to harmonize balance.
Q: “So, are you saying no Christian should commit to a political party?”
A: A declaration of party affiliation should be safeguarded with an allegiance only to Jesus Christ and a humility that we need the other parties to bring the noisy harmony needed for a balanced path forward.
Salt: Truth Affirming Error Checking
As the particle spin of quantum computing creates nothing short of an AI hallucination, so does an imbalanced political party create its own climate of disinformation and distrust. The church’s response as salt and light is to form a balanced dialogue with the prevailing political parties. This week I watched a national politician’s show on a Christian television network. The presumption was that this politician and his party were the “Christian party” and that the other parties were of the devil. He hosted a fellow national politician as they castigated a politician and his family, members of the opposing party.
While the politician generates appearance that he is “doing something for God and fighting the devil,” in truth he is destabilizing his own political process down a path of self-deception fueled by money and power rather than the presence of the Holy Spirit.
God needeth not the help of a material sword of steel to assist the sword of the Spirit in the affairs of conscience.-Roger Williams , The founder of Rhode Island, a place he established in 1636 after being banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for his radical beliefs. Williams was a champion of religious freedom.
The Paradox Ring of Power
Imagine two politicians walking opposite directions, each on a far side of the planet. Both walk faster than the speed of light on a sidewalk suspended like Saturn’s ring. Around and around the politicians whirl, each blaming and accusing the other of walking and leading the wrong direction. Some proposed offering a reward if the “wrong-way” politician was captured. Each used telephoto X-ray cameras to capture proof that the other was wrong and should be shunned at all costs. One day a child pointed out that, “You blamed the other for moving the wrong direction, but you are walking on the same path and direction, but on opposite sides. Without that other direction you couldn’t go your direction.” Without the perspective of the other, the circle would never be completed. Traveling faster than light, both politicians would be perceived in a state of occupying the same space at the same time. So it is with quantum politics; we have met the extremists and the extremists is us. The opposing party is with us on the same path of humanity and a future U.S.
So it is with quantum politics; we have met the extremists and the extremists is us. The opposing party is with us on the same path of humanity and a future U.S.
Note the difference between “variation” and “variety”. Variety is the “spice of life”; variation is not. Variety in available products and services can of course enrich life. In contrast, variation is nasty: it makes life difficult, unpredictable, untrustworthy. It is “bad quality”. “Good quality” implies reliability, trustworthiness, no nasty surprises: i.e. little variation.
Variation are those forces that destabilize a business or a nation so you don’t know what will happen if you show up at work, if you have a job, and if your 401k will exist tomorrow. Fear and chaos waft through the air at a system of variation like the odors of an outhouse. In contrast, variety is the “spice of life,” meaning something new and wonderful is brewing in the kitchen. An enlightened “Republicrat,” who sees the value of variety between different parties and the danger of extreme variation may blaze the path forward for the political system of the U.S.
“ … the harder they tried to achieve consistency and uniformity, the worse were the effects. The more they tried to shrink variation, the larger it got. They were naturally also interested in cutting costs. When any kind of error, mistake or accident occurred, they went to work on it to try to correct it. It was a noble aim. There was only one little trouble—their worthy efforts did not work. Things got worse …
How does biodiversity in nature teach us the importance of variety?
Why would a wider gene pool provide healthier genetic offspring? Why would protecting and breeding only one genetic line result in its own destruction?
A large gene pool provides a population with greater genetic variation, making it more resilient to disease and environmental changes by reducing the expression of harmful recessive traits and promoting the survival and reproduction of the species.
How does variety benefit businesses, employers and corporations? How does variety benefit our country?
Describe an experience you had with variation when a person, employer, or business lacked consistency that allowed you to depend on them as trustworthy and being able to count on them tomorrow. If you personally did not have the experience, describe a scenario. How does variation’s uncertainty create a inefficient workforce? Discuss the uncertainty facing federal workers mass firings and partial rehiring’s.
Today I spent $27.50 for a local haircut, after tip and tax (post cut pic below). This week a small cup of plain coffee at a national chain … $5.00. I’m channeling my inner childhood memories of a haircuts on the front porch using a kitchen chair and table cloth for a drape. The US needs fewer billionaires created by cash demanded for the next “necessary” gadget and more old kitchen chairs, where we can rediscover that which money cannot buy.
Fascism rises on the wind of popular vote, lifted by the wings of fear and hate.
“Bella ciao” (Traditional Italian Partisan Song): This is a very famous Italian folk song that originated among the mondine (rice paddy workers) in the late 19th century. During the Italian resistance against fascism in World War II, it was adopted as an anthem by the anti-fascist partisans. It speaks of resistance against the oppressor and the desire for freedom.
Evangelical Christians, in believing about a coming Armageddon, must take care lest they actually cause an Armageddon as self-fulfilling prophecy. #separatechurchandhate
If I did a second doctorate, my thesis would be the role of well-intended souls who thought they did God’s will in forcing God’s hand to usher in the Kingdom. This was the devil’s temptation to Jesus. This was replayed in Judas’s betrayal to force Jesus’s hand. The Spanish and French Inquisitions, The Crusades, the Canadian Indian Residential Schools, and Conversion Therapy groups sought to enforce their brand of “pure religion.”
In contrast, Jesus taught – Jesus answered, “My Kingdom is not an earthly kingdom. If it were, my followers would fight to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish leaders. But my Kingdom is not of this world” John 18:36.
Jesus answered, “My Kingdom is not an earthly kingdom. If it were, my followers would fight to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish leaders. But my Kingdom is not of this world.”
John 18:36
The Third Reich sought its pure Millennial Reign. False zealot messiahs have historically proclaimed a salvation by brute force over grace. Give me the lowly, the despised and rejected, for of such is the Kingdom of God.
Jesus revealed his political party by saying, “My kingdom is not of this world.” Well-intentioned zealots have historically promoted forcing Jesus’s hand as the Messiah, including Judas Iscariot on the betrayal in the Garden of Gethsemane. In a world of hate for those of a different political bent, different ethnicity, or orientation, consider how you can enlarge your border and replace resentment and hate with grace. Consider also Jesus’s choice of disciples. Peter, Andrew, James, and John were fisherman and involved in the fishing business. Matthew was a hated tax collector, whose money was considered unclean. Judas Iscariot likely worked in bookkeeping. Simon the Canaanite was a stubborn zealot who wished for an insurrection over the Romans. Some of the disciples we don’t know what they did. Later Paul was a Pharisee and persecutor of the church.
Begin this week following Jesus’s example by making space in your life for those different from you. Remember, “Resentment and hatred have imprisoned more people than all the jails in the world combined.”
Revelation 2:29
29 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
Over the past three years, Carol and I visited over 20 churches in the Verde Valley of Arizona. Conservative – liberal, Baptist-Lutheran, instrumental-noninstrumental, independent-denominational, contemporary-traditional. We learned that churches have acquired a progressive spiritual hearing loss. They have become tone deaf to the needs of the people and lost the ranges needed to stay in tune with the Holy Spirit moving in the world.
This week I came home with a milestone of senior living – hearing aids. My hearing aid provider gave me two assignments: 1)Wear them and 2)Listen to and identify the sounds. Then report back on the experience in a week. He detailed how a lady described the sound of something like cats running on her roof. The audiologist was both perplexed and concerned that perhaps some creature was loose on her roof. Further listening revealed that the sound only occurred when the drier operated. Opening the drier door, she found loose bouncing objects were her roof cats. “That would be a senior moment,” I thought and that “Not an experience I would confess.”
Later that day, after dinner, my turn came. I heard the sound of the scraping of a vinyl record (for those who remember vinyl) when the needle hits the end of track while the record is still spinning. “Sshhh …. sshhh … sshhh.” I set off down the hall in search for the record – looking and turning my ear. It was coming from our tiled hallway. Then it matched my steps … It was my steps! I was dragging my bare feet in a senior shuffle. The Mummy wearing hearing aids. My wife chimed in, “I told you you’ve been dragging your feet!” Now with my new hearing, I am resolved to march like a drum major in a parade and “Pick up those feet!”
Imperceptibly, today’s church has fallen into the shuffle of a listless movement toward no perceptible direction. It is movement without meaning, one step ahead of a fall, wrapped up in its own agenda like the Mummy.
Lon Chaney, Jr. – The Mummy
Audiogram of the Spirit
I ran a Logos Bible software analysis and found this Audiogram of the need for Spiritual Hearing in the church.
Your Scrabble word of day is “epiphonema.” Legendary newsman, Walter Cronkite’s closing line was “And that’s the way it is.” He never intended to use this line but stumbled into it when his producers pressured him to cut time. Jesus ended his teachings with “He who has ears, let him hear.” The Spirit of Jesus, in Revelation, continued the same sign off in His word to the churches.
Or as the late evangelist, Bob Mussmon (Lancaster, PA), would stop mid-sermon and say, “Are you still with me, saints, or have you gone home yet? … Hello? … Hello?” That was his epiphonema, an epiphany but of words.
A City on a Hill … Creates a Steep Driveway
Along our journey to 20 churches, we visited churches situated on hilltops, with vistas that embraced the red rocks of Sedona. These churches sat on highways by which tens of thousands pass each year. Certainly these beacons of faith would stand and icons of spirituality. What we found were churches isolated by their own location. Jesus did not teach “Go sit in a city on a hill.” He taught his disciples on the shores of Lake Gennesaret, in Galilee, how to be present, visible among the people to whom you minister.
Strangely churches become protective of isolation on the hill. “We can’t host an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting in our church; we found some cigarette butts in our parking lot last time we tried that.” Churches in isolation can be identified by their “one stringed instrument.” One church used a xylophone as their instrument of worship. Nothing wrong with a xylophone or a Marimba band banging out a relaxing Caribbean mix. Sunday after Sunday … the same instrument, such as a xylophone, will eventually sound like a record needle stuck in a track.
Assignment: Listen to the sounds in your church this Sunday. What are your xylophones? What one step can you take this month to come down from the mountaintop and add some variety? Where can you leave your isolation and be present with people? Perhaps the topics below will open stuffy ears.
ABT – Always Be Teaching
In 1920, on the heels of the Spanish Flu pandemic, the Sunday School Board hired Arthur Flake as its Sunday School Superintendent. Using his principles, the Southern Baptist church became the largest protestant denomination in the United States. Facing post-pandemic declines of 30 percent, the Southern Baptists are rediscovering Flake’s Five Principles:
Know the possibilities. Flake advocated surveying the community to determine what persons might be prospective Sunday School members. Goals were established based on real actionable information.
Enlarge the organization. Flake advocated expanding the organizational structure in anticipation of growth; not just in response to it. Upon encouraging every church to have a class for babies, I’ve heard the same response dozens of times: “But we don’t have any babies.” And you never will if you don’t enlarge the organization in expectation that you will!
Enlist and train leaders. A growing organization must have leaders who are properly enlisted and adequately trained. The typical Sunday School will need to enlist and train about 15 new leaders to staff five new classes that will result in a growth of 50 in attendance.
Provide space. To start new classes or groups, you’ve got to have leaders and a place to meet. To start five new units, you’ll need five “spaces.” Not necessarily rooms. Not necessarily at the church.
GO after the people! The other four steps don’t matter if you don’t do this one. That’s why Flake started with a survey that produced real names and addresses. Enroll people in the classes.
"He who has ears to hear, let him hear." - Matthew 11:15
No, I don’t intend to offend but, like an ear adjusting to hearing aid’s new sound, it will take adjustment while your church’s spiritual mind adjusts and embraces some new highs and lows of ministry. Ready to hear? … Or have you gone home yet?
Pastor Jim
We can take Flake’s Formula and apply it, beyond Sunday School, to the church’s ministry and mission as a whole:
Consider the Possibilities
Before Sunday comes, visit that modern Nazareth melting pot – your local Walmart. These are the people of your ministry. Watch them come and go, how they act. What are their ages? What are their needs? Jesus himself ministered by “Walking Around” and turned on his spiritual hearing.
Who has been ostracized? Disenfranchised? Who is in need? Ask your key leaders to watch the local news nightly for a week and ask, “Who is in need?” and “Where are they hurting?” Gather together on Sunday and discuss what you can do as a church to meet those needs?
In my last church, we learned that local churches, offended by the Boy Scouts’ position on gay and transgender leaders and scouts, broke their ties with the organization and ended their use of church facilities. Our church reached out to the orphaned troop and offered use of the facilities.
One memorable experience I had was shoulder deep in mud with two colonels from Luke Air Force Base – one over F-16 training and the other head of F-16 maintenance. We nicked a church water line on a son’s Eagle project and the three of us lay shoulder to shoulder in the mud trying to locate punctured line. The pergola was erected, the Eagle badge awarded, and a lasting imprint of the church’s positive impact in the community remains.
Our church combined its Confirmation class with the Scout “God and Country” badge. We invited parents to sit in the class. Church membership was not required. This created a wonderful dialog in faith between Scouts from various faith groups.
Enlarge the Organization
Hide it under a bushel? No!
I'm going to let it shine
Hide it under a bushel? No!
I'm going to let it shine
Let it shine, all the time, let it shine.
This is the decision to act on what the Spirit is telling you. If you hear God’s direction in a ministry, it’s imperative to gain the agreement and support of the pastor and key church staff and lay leaders. This does not mean you have every detail worked out or that you have a 5 year pro forma business plan for your church board. Rather, “We have heard God’s voice and agree to step in this direction.”
Enlist and Train Leaders
For our DIY (Handyman) Ministry, we enrolled participants on via sign-up sheets. We began the work day with breakfast burritos and training stations for what projects we tackled that morning. We fed them, we trained them, and we always stopped on or before the agreed time.
Our DIY Ministry’s projects included: installation of entry ramps for seniors, home plumbing repair, painting, church pew repair, dusting, and church painting.
Pastor Jim’s Maxim: “Never train without providing snacks and drinks.” In one large wedding I did, the bride and groom wanted to greet each of the hundreds of guests before any snack, food and drink were served in the hall. Following the service, I changed out of my robe, greeted the co-officiating pastor and meandered to the reception hall. The atmosphere was that of a morgue. People sat stone-faced across each other at round tables. I elbowed my way into the kitchen and begged a glass of iced tea before departing the hall.
“More iced tea, please?”
People have a nervous energy and need something in their hands or to eat and drink in group settings.
Provide Space
The enclosed carport of the old parsonage became the thrift-store, selling high quality second-hand goods with proceeds going to missions. As executive pastor, I not only bought my own treasures but found that “thrift store ministry” created a fellowship that revolved around meaningful service.
What little work was required in enclosing the carport and air conditioning the same, has been rewarded seven-fold over the years.
Please don’t be offended when I tell you churches can be stingy! Stingy with their space … hoarding of their resources.
Consider for a moment all of the real estate that churches sit on in the Phoenix metro area. These properties are used once a week … for an hour. Meanwhile, as pandemic eviction moratoriums expire, families are thrown from their homes. Rents are beyond reach, requiring nearly more qualification than a home purchase.
How can the church be involved in a housing ministry, Habitat for Humanity or senior apartment construction? (Not a rhetorical question. I don’t have the answer for your church). Historic Los Arcos United Methodist Church, in Scottsdale, built its own senior apartments directly next to the church, operating under a separate church sponsored incorporation. In the Phoenix metro area, if a senior moves to an apartment 10 miles away but can’t drive, she might as well live in a palm frond hut in Paraguay. Isolation and loneliness are real and present dangers for seniors. The senior apartments continue to serve while the Scottsdale church faded into history like those churches of Revelation. I felt privileged to have served in the Desert Southwest Conference with Rev. Tim Lusk, an insightful pastor of this church.
“Los Arcos United Methodist. Built 1063 – 1966 and designed by Cartmel & Rossman.Derivative of the work of the great Mexican architect-engineer Felix Candela, a true innovator in thin-shell paraboloid concrete structures of the time.” – Walt LockleyHacienda De Los Arcos, Scottsdale, AZ
Hear and Go!
What is the Spirit saying to your church? To you? Perhaps that word will transcend the footprint of your church today, reaching far into the future. Spiritual ears, like hearing aids, are of no use unless worn. One example in practice was Spirit of Joy Lutheran Church, Clarkdale, AZ, who heard God’s whisper to provide new sports shoes for community children returning to school. Last Sunday they invited children present to lay hands on the shoes while the congregation, in a responsive liturgy, blessed over seventy pairs !
