Our Democracy is on Hospice... end stages...

Our primary Diagnosis is Aspiration Certainty... due to a Growing Cancer that is choking it down.
The mass is growing, at its core abuses of wealth and power fed by a corrupt, elitist election system.
Many have abandoned any hope of treatment and have embraced the cancerous growth, while others have just resigned themselves to the idea that it will run its course, so they try to ignore it.
The Prognosis does not look good.  With every election cycle, we feed the tumor heartily with our
own aspirations to be the ones to abuse the power and wealth and for others with our apathy, complacency or silence in addressing it.  And the disease itself - those who profit by the death of our Democracy, pit these family members against each other so they cannot agree to pursue the cure.
There is *ONE LAST CHANCE for RADICAL TREATMENT to restore our Democracy to health, but there is no money in it for the wealthy, and it means giving up power to THE PEOPLE for those who have it now, so much is being done to get the people to ignore, be frightened against and deny the possibility of a restoration of true Democracy... and it is working... the resistance to curative treatment is strong... the Cancer's status quo or accelerated growth are seemingly the only two options being presented to the patient.
So, some will be as "comfortable" as they can be for as long as it takes for the aggressive mass to squeeze the rest of the life out of our Democracy, after this election, most likely taken off ANY life support.
There are those who regularly Nurse the disease, keeping it comfortable and treating the painful symptoms with feel good stuff.
The Social Workers of our society speak of hope and comfort and treat the psychological symptoms, because the cure is no longer being sought.
The Spiritual Care Counselors are treating the Spiritual losses with comforting words of Grace and Hope, some of them only praying for some kind of "supernatural" intervention, rather than justice or righteousness to be restored, because that is the only remaining thread of connection between their faith and how they live in society... the supernatural, not relational...
The CNA's (Corporate News Agencies), as always, clean up the mess... put a fresh face, a nice spin on things as they care for the cancer itself... making the outside look nice and clean as the inner workings rot in the corrupt tissue of the cancerous mass... and sometimes the smell of the decay is so strong that no amount of sanitizing can cover what is really going on, but they try.
And the pulling of the plug... the euthanizing of this Democracy will be finally by the silent who are compliant with what has been happening in this mass's accelerated growth since 1981.  The Politicians, PAC's, SCOTUS and hate-filled, greedy, power hungry will be there to hold their hand in encouragement that it is the "right thing to do".  Let it rest in peace, true Democracy.  We will memorialize it with words and museums, like the dead thing it is.
The problem is that this could be an epidemic, as we have seen signs, even recently, out of Panama and even in unlikely places that have been resistant to this strain like Iceland and other places.

Our *ONE LAST CHANCE is to embrace FOR THE FIRST TIME IN OUR NATION, the Democratic Ideal... in this election... with the candidate that MANY have ignored in the media and society, others have tried to scare us against with the same old rhetoric of the past and others readily attack in their desire to embrace the status quo.

We must walk away from this PLUTOCRATIC OLIGARCHY, maintained through the Meritocracies of the Electoral College system and now Super Delegates within parties and fed by billions of the dollars of Corporate and Old Money PAC's through lobbyists working for the 1%, who buy candidates through elections who are then beholden to them. 

But in order for that to happen, the lumpen proletariat would have to rise up and BE the Democratic body and stop being the silent and compliant "wannabe's" of power and wealth themselves, and the self-indulgent ones drunk with self-satisfaction over some measure of their own trinket-filled lives.

In order for recovery, it would have to be important enough to the people by, for and of whom this government is supposed to work.

So, the Prognosis is not good.

Pastor Jamie

Community is...

Community is people coming together...
   it is a sense of unity...
   it is a commitment to one another...
   it is about communication and communion together...
   it is about cooperation and mutual support...
   it is about inclusion of all, equally...
   it is about looking out for the most vulnerable among us...
   it is about human beings caring for human beings - compassion
   it is about promoting the life of others - whatever is best for each

It is NOT about uniformity...
It is NOT about cliques...
It is NOT about property values...
It is NOT about nice, manicured lawns and flawless buildings...
It is NOT about preserving self over others...
It is NOT about keeping the right people in and the right ones out...
It is NOT about controlling others...
It is NOT about homogeneity out of xenophobia, ethnocentrism, racism,
                          homophobia, classism, nationalism, religious beliefs or income level

Many neighborhoods do not understand this.
Many churches do not understand this.

Community.  Come, unity.

Pastor Jamie

Imperialism in America

It comes from an arrogant (and ignorant), false sense of superiority and entitlement.
It comes when folk think that just because they can, they should, and it is right.

It happened to the Native Americans.  Europeans came and "discovered" a new land, full of people, planted their flags and fought over it with the people who inhabited this "newly discovered" land until they were gone, also fighting each other to plant their particular flags in different areas of it.  The arrogant and false sense of superiority and entitlement necessarily meant that those who lived here had to be de-humanized in the minds of the people, so they were...

Then, in order to get free labor to make the new "colonies" rich, they enslaved people... went out of their way to get people who did not look like them... went to great lengths and cost to develop an INDUSTRY of capturing, transporting and enslaving people to get free labor... invaded other nations and stole their people, because of their false, insane sense of superiority and entitlement... they were de-humanized in the minds of the people... they could, so they did, and justified it...

And it happens today...

We want oil, we invade Iraq on false pretenses, occupy their country and the Military Industrial Complex, including Halliburton and other contractors, and oil companies get rich off the blood spilled, not just of thousands of our soldiers, but of MILLIONS of Iraqi's... because we could and felt entitled to it... we de-humanized the people there to justify it...

We plant our flag on corporation buildings all across the world, as if they represent the nation in them, as they exploit their workers for cheap labor, rape their lands for their resources and then pollute their air, water and land in order to make more profit.  The logos of these companies turn whole segments of their country into "little Americas"... watch out Cuba, here they come... and then our tourists complain that the locals don't speak English... really "murikkkan"... because the people there are de-humanized in the minds of our gullible, easily duped people...

Churches plant in neighborhoods and then do the work, not of EVANGELISM, but of INDOCTRINATION, using the carrots of prosperity, prestige and power along with the sticks of fear, guilt and exclusion to get more people in their seats and more money in their coffers to make the preacher rich, look good and promote their doctrines... NOT THE TEACHINGS OF THE JESUS WHOSE NAME THEY CLAIM... people are de-humanized... objectified... for the sake, not of the Gospel or Jesus, but the institution and its corporate heads...

"Gentrifiers" do it in neighborhoods also.  They buy up properties when the prices are low and, like the Oklahoma land grabs, come in groups to get a good deal.  Then they clean up, fix up and buy up more.  In the process, the property taxes go up and long-term renters, the elderly and working poor are pushed out, and unique cultural expressions and flavors are lost because the "sameness" they valued in the suburbs they grew up in is IMPOSED on the neighborhood for their comfort.  They de-humanize the people living there... count them as "lesser" in order to justify it in their minds...

It is arrogant, intolerant, hateful, exploitative and IMMORAL.  That is the "exceptional America" we are being sold... It is the evil empire.  WE ARE the evil empire.  Consistently Ruthless. Because we can, we should, right?  Internally, internationally... we are evil - because we do evil to others for our own gain... immoral, unconscionable... America. 
It would not have to be - THAT is the tragedy.

Pastor Jamie

Jesus of the Gospels

Jesus was loving AND not a nice man.
Jesus threatened Rome by gathering 5,000 men (plus women and children), which was a sizable force in the face of Rome.
Jesus confronted the Pharisees, Sadducees, Chief Priests, Scribes and Elders regularly.  He was very sarcastic with and about them.
Jesus talked about Herod in disparaging terms.
Jesus yelled at His disciples about their lack of understanding and lack of faith - repeatedly.  He was also very sarcastic with and about them.

Jesus also healed, raised from the dead and fed hungry people.
Jesus also taught Kingdom Values.  He agonized over the well-being of many, loved to the point of hurting, stood up to the powerful on behalf of the powerless and gave His life for all humanity without our deserving.
Jesus touched the untouchable.
Jesus broke Sabbath Laws.
Jesus included foreigners of different faiths and lifted up women as examples of the faith.
Jesus turned the world upside down, including instruction on human interaction, values of wealth and power and perspectives on hubris, self-indulgence and humility.

Agape Love is not a feeling.  It is not a gesture.
Agape Love is ACTIVE COMMITMENT on behalf of the other.
Jesus taught it.
Jesus commanded it for anyone who wants to be His follower.
Jesus modeled it, even to dying for us.

Pastor Jamie

Good Friday

No glory.  No praise.  No feel good time.
An execution. A lynching.  Watching someone you love die.
So many are not capable of sitting with Jesus at His death - his disciples among them.
We want the resurrection joy, the glory, the personal salvation... gimme, gimme, gimme...
The church rushes to the "Third Day" because we don't pay the price and don't want to hear
    about the price Jesus paid.
The church brushes past the pain because it does not make us feel good or lift us up.
The truth is, He was lifted up.  Not in the way we always want to be lifted up and highly favored.
He was lifted up in sacrifice.
And we are often unwilling to sacrifice "feel good", even for one day, for Him.
Give me the glory, the praise, the 'feel good'.

I am at the Cross today.
With horror, I see a God who had no sin, take on sin/become sin for me and die a gruesome death.
I see a young man lynched because He was a threat to the Romans, King and Church.
I see a man take on what was my punishment for my lack of mindfulness, dedication and
   commitment to God.
I see a man take on what was my price for not loving my neighbor, even stranger and enemy, as
  I have been commanded to do.
I see a man who, with Agape Love, unconditionally surrendered even to death, and actively
   committed to me, even to giving His life.
I see.  I do not look away.  I do not rush to the empty tomb and wait there until Sunday.

THIS is the true gift.  The Cross.
My redemption - being bought back from sin and death is HERE, NOT in the tomb.
I gotta get outa "gimme, gimme, gimme" for a while to know what He TRULY gave me.
I love Jesus on the Cross.  I wait today and watch with Him through the minutes and hours.
Today is Grace, not cheap, but costly - undeserved loving mercy given freely to me, to you.

Come down with me to the weepin' tree and cry with me a while.
Come all you mothers whose sons have died and cry with me a while.
Are you afraid of the cryin' place, the dyin' place, the weepin' tree?
Come down with me to the weepin' tree and cry with me a while.

HIS glory was in His humility.
HIS strength was in His willingness to be weak.
HIS perfection was in His taking on sin, becoming sin who knew no sin, and dying.
HIS gift is not just in the empty tomb, but on the hard, wooden, blood stained Cross.

THIS is God like no other.
Pastor Jamie

This is your Maundy Thursday. Today.

It was the Passover.  Ah yes, the time when the Sanhedrin (religious leaders) could sell the lambs and turtle doves to make more money.  If you wanted a truly sanctioned lamb, you would buy it from them.  Poor?  Don't worry, you can give your last pennies to buy the sacrifice and eat it with your families later.  It was COMMANDED that people remember the Passover every year with Lamb, and they not only cornered the market on that, but also on exchanging (for profit) the Roman coins for shekels, so that people could give their money in a "godly" way. 
And then Jesus came.  He overturned the money changers' tables.  Worse, He became the Passover Lamb and sacrifice for ALL SIN.  He turned the Pesach into something no longer external and rife with corruption and greed, but into something INTERNAL and a real connection with God again.  It was not about supporting the temple industrial complex or its executives.  It was not about people giving what they had to "buy" God's favor.  God reached into their world and touched them deeply and personally.  They would take God in - His Body and Blood.  They would INTERNALIZE this relationship with God again and live His mandate (Maundy) to Love - to live active commitment on behalf of the other.
Just like in the time before the Protestant Reformation, when the church was getting rich selling indulgences for salvation, and just like now, when people are convinced that giving Praise and Tithes to the church (preachers) is what God wants in order for them to be blessed and highly favored - signs of their "righteousness" before God, the mandate to live unconditional, self-sacrificing active commitment on behalf of the other, the mandate of Jesus is something OTHER THAN what the church leaders are leading people to believe and do.  It is not about ritual purity or holiness.  That is among the bill of goods sold to people so that they will pay.  It is about AGAPE LOVE.
So Jesus comes to us in the Lord's Supper, fulfillment of the Pesach.  He comes to save us with His blood.  Will we be too busy trying to "buy" our salvation by some formula (Law) that the church has concocted to receive Him INTERNALLY and then live the LOVE He commands and follow Him?
THIS is your Maundy Thursday.  Today.
Pastor Jamie

THE CHURCH

What started out as a MOVEMENT OF PEOPLE WHO FOLLOWED JESUS, has evolved into an INSTITUTION that seeks to be served by the people who claim Jesus' name.

For decades, since the desolating sacrilege of the Religious "Right" getting in bed with the Political "Right" (Falwell and Reagan), the church has gone into a period of self-promotion through Church Growth, Prosperity Theology, focus on "purity" and "holiness" and centered only on personal salvation ("Me and Jesus") doctrines designed to keep people praising and tithing without regard for what Jesus taught, commanded and modeled for how to live as His followers.  It is also designed to keep people coming and giving out of fear, much like the period before the needed Reformation of the 16th Century.

It is nothing new.  It is nuanced, but the same as it was after the early 1st Century, when people strove to live what Jesus taught, commanded and modeled and it changed the world (Acts). 

Church buildings are grander.
Church bands and choirs more professional.
Preachers are more entertaining.
Church membership has greater prestige.
Church practice and protocols are geared to indoctrinate, rather than share Good News.
The church has a friendly face, smiling leaders and cool, fresh, dope language.
Many churches lure folk in, while at the same time despising who they are, in an attempt to
       eventually get them to conform to their views, all while giving their tithes and offerings.
The church ignores the plight of the poor and most vulnerable, finding it more fashionable to blame
       them for their own plight rather than address the injustices that cause it, because it would be risky
       to confront the powers and principalities it really serves.
Clergy, largely untrained, share false messages of prosperity through giving to the church, supernatural interventions for those who are well enough indoctrinated into their belief systems, the justified (through scripture) hatred of those who are different (faith, sexual orientation, economic class) and a sense of "superiority" of one measures up to their standards of "purity" and "holiness". This is NOT what Jesus taught, commanded and modeled.

The message of the one worshiped, and whose name they claim is about not judging, forgiveness, sacrificial giving of self for other and living Agape Love (unconditional active commitment on behalf of the other) in the world, especially among the most vulnerable (hungry, naked, strangers (resident aliens) and those imprisoned).

But, as I earlier noted, it is nothing new.

"For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths."  II Timothy 4:3

"For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ; I have often told you of them, and now I tell you even with tears.  Their end is destruction; their god is the belly; and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things."  Philippians 3:19

"We must  no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people's trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming."  Ephesians 4:14

"Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes ($1,000 suits), and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to have the best seats in the synagogues (pulpit thrones) and places of honor at banquets (head tables with china and linens)!  They devour widows' houses (take the last little bit from the vulnerable in their tithes) and for the sake of appearance say long prayers (entertain in worship).  They will receive the greater condemnation."  Jesus  Mark 12:38

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees (legalistic church leaders), hypocrites!  For you tithe mint, dill and cummin (show your opulent wealth), and have neglected the weightier matters of the Law (Agape Love); justice and mercy and faith.  It is these you ought to have practiced without neglecting the others.  You blind guides!  You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel!"  Jesus  Matthew 23:23

"Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.  You will know them by their fruits."  Jesus  Matthew 7:15

"You cannot serve God and wealth."  Jesus  Luke 16:13

"For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."  Jesus  Matthew 6:21

"Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord' and do not do what I tell you?"  Jesus  Luke 6:46

Pastor Jamie