For One of My Saints

For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.

Romans 12: 4-8

One of the saints of my life has found her way into the loving arms of our Creator. Elsie Menard would never have equated her life with that of a saint and that may just be what qualifies her. Humbly serving her Lord without need for recognition was nearly as natural as breathing for Elsie. While I do not know all of the random acts of kindness and generosity that she committed, I do know how she touched my life. Elsie would not be entirely comfortable with these accolades, and I respect her humility. I share these thoughts because she has provided us with a powerful example of how a simple gift can make a difference in the lives of many.
Twenty years or so ago when I left my home in Kankakee, IL for Culver-Stockton College in Canton, MO I had very little savings and my family was still trying to recover from the recession of the 1980's. I majored in Business Administration with a Computer Science emphasis. I wanted some of what Bill Gates and Steve Jobs had so that I could help others out of poverty. It was not long before I was sick with "accountingitis" and ready to change the direction of my life, well actually just get my wheels back on the track that I had been on since my early teens.

As a teenager I spent more hours with folks from Central Christian Church than with my High School peers. I participated in about every aspect of the church and many adults including Elsie would occassionally suggest that I should serve the Lord as a minister of Christ's church. I was always flattered by the suggestions and I was always affirmed in my talents and gifts for ministry. So, during my first year of college, I changed my major to Religion and Philosophy and began the journey toward accepting my call to ministry. Elsie was overjoyed and began faithfully sending me cards about every month or two encouraging me along the journey.

Elsie's cards always included some update about my home church, a worship bulletin from a previous Sunday and a check or cash. I so appreciated the words of encouragement and the updates and at times Teri and I survived on the $25 or so that accompanied them. I was fortunate after finishing my degrees to be able to share my gratitude with Elsie. Time and time again, Elsie's card was in our mailbox at the best possible moment - when we were flat broke and in need of gas for the car or groceries or a prescription. Student ministry is not often a lucrative venture and we like many young couples struggled to make ends meet. Elsie saved us from piling on debt upon debt, time after time. I never added the Elsie's Cards line item to our budget as projected income, but I could have because her generosity and kindness was as dependable as direct deposit is today.

Elsie's generosity and support of young ministry students should serve as an example of the genuine love that Paul admonished the Roman Christians and us to have for one another as members of the body of Christ. Generosity was certainly one of Elsie's gifts for ministry as she served and loved her Lord while buidling up the body of Christ through her words of encouragement and her contributions. No strings attached, no demands to repay, Elsie gave out of her love for her church and for her Lord. Her simple gifts of encouragement now reach beyond the cards and money everytime I am able to minister in word and in deed to those who need the hope of abundant life granted to each and to all through our Lord, Jesus Christ. Elsie's spirit of generosity challenges each of us to be givers as well. Imagine the good you could do with the simple gifts you are able to give. Could you give hope to one who is struggling to find it? Could you ease the stress of one facing tough times? Could you encourage someone to keep their faith and serve the Lord? Elsie did all of that for Teri and me. And, she is one of our saints, who now from her labors rests in the loving and peaceful realm of our Creator who has certainly greeted her saying, "well done, good and faithful servant."

Communities in Crisis

This morning I attended a meeting in Peoria with Tom Heinemann from the US Department of Treasury with IL Peoples Action, borrowers in foreclosure and representatives from several community agencies. The meeting was a result of the work that National Peoples Action and PICO have been doing to bring the voices of those most devastated by the foreclosure crisis to those responsible for providing protection for borrowers and for making sure that banks comply with the rules in our nation. One of several meetings across the country, IPA's meeting saw more than 400 people from across the state in attendance at New Hope International Ministries.

During the meeting we heard testimonies from several borrowers who have faced months and in some cases years of frustration dealing with large banks who have refused to help them stay in their homes, who have repeatedly asked for the same documents and who have not used the federal programs designed to help home borrowers avoid foreclosure. Mr. Heinemann seemed to be moved somewhat by the large maps of each of our communities showing the thousands of foreclosures currently plaguing our neighborhoods, not including the thousands of homes already demolished or sold in sheriff sales. One collaborator from Chicago displayed a map of a 2 square mile neighborhood adjacent to Midway Airport. Every block had multiple foreclosures marked by red dots. "This neighborhood is bleeding" he told the Treasury rep. Our communities are bleeding, our local economies are bleeding, our familes, our churches, our schools and municipalities are all bleeding as a result of profit driven insanity that has driven the foreclosure rate to one home every 13 seconds in America! Bandaids will not fix this crisis! We are losing our economic health and strength at rates that will soon send us into a code blue condition - many are already there! We must stop the loss of the vitality of American communities, now! Our communities, our neighborhoods, our neighbors are dying while Wall Street boasts record gains, big bonuses continue to be paid to CEOs, and our federal regulators bow to the titans of banking and investment instead of serving the people! Enough is Enough!

After the meeting, we boarded buses and took our passion for justice to the streets of Peoria and to our "favorite" PayDay lender to pray that they may change their usurious ways!

Now, it's time to get ready for my next visit to DC in two days to chair a meeting with John Dugan, the Chairman of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency who is the regulator for the nation's largest crooks, oops did I say that out loud! We will bring a message of our lack of faith in the OCCs ability to protect consumers from Bank of America, Wells Fargo, JP Morgan Chase, Citibank & Goldman Sachs to name a few. NPA is marching into DC very soon, so lets hope that we have new relationships that are building our trust and our communities!

Conversation is a Place to Begin

Last Tuesday, I had the privilege of moderating a panel of local leaders in a Conversation on Race 2010 hosted by Millikin University, Richland Community College and Decatur Public Schools among others. The second annual event asked the question, "does race matter today?" Focusing on race and identity issues, the folks who organized the event slated a dynamic keynoter to kick off the conversation. Known for her controversial brown eyes/blue eyes experiment/lesson with third graders in Iowa the day after Dr. King was assassinated in Memphis April 4, 1968, Jane Elliott has challenged the ignorance of race prejudice and racism ever since. She is one of my inspirations as I continue to work toward the elimination of the evil of racism and I was thrilled to have the opportunity to meet her in person and to join our efforts.

The keynote was lively and progressive, touching sensitivities and trampling on bigotry in all its forms. Elliott pushed many emotional buttons and challenged long-held perceptions about the ways of the world. I enjoyed every minute of her presentation. The panelists were a diverse representation of our community leaders including educators, clergy, media, students, and a judge. Unfortunately, the audio set-up did not give me the opportunity to have many exchanges with the panelists because I simply could not intelligibly hear their responses. And yet, this annual opportunity to honestly recognize the elephant in the room of many conversations about the future of our community and then to pledge to do our best to address the issues is more than just an hour long work-out. The conversation is a place to begin a regiment of exercise to get our community in shape so that when we face issues of racism in our midst, we are well equipped to constructively challenge ourselves to get it right.

As long as people of color are targeted with predatory financial products, drop-out rates continue to be high for young black men, Latinos are exploited for cheap labor, profiling continues to emotionally crush the hopes of young persons of color, incarceration rates and felony conviction rates (which eliminate the person's right to vote, ability to gain employment in many cases, access to banking in many cases and much more) continue to sky-rocket for blacks and latinos; we need to be strengthening our resolve to make this a land of the free with real opportunity for all. And, I haven't mentioned the huge increase in the number and membership of racial hate groups since 2008. Yes, thats right. Since our nation elected an African-American to the highest office (second or third or fitfth...tenth really behind the CEO's of Goldman Sachs and others), the number of white supremists in America has grown and that is truly sad and dangerous commentary on an historic election.

So, the conversation is a good place to begin, but an annual event with limited participation by community residents (more students in attendance) will not solve our issues. We need an ongoing, truthful dialogue about the lies that we all have bought into about race. We must face the truth about the origins of race prejudice and racism, specifically the economic origins of the concept of classification of people with skin pigmentation differences. We need to remember that the key was and continues to be classification - economic classification with caucasoid at the top and negroid at the bottom. We must confess that the classification was invented by and is perpetuated by the caucasoids or white "race." Race was and is the perpetuation of the control of resources by one class/group/color of people, period.
As Jane Elliott reminded us, "we are all members of one race, the Human race." Yes we are. God made humanity in God's own image, we are taught. Not in the white woman's image or the black woman's image or the olive toned woman's image (substitute man for woman for inclusivity if you wish), but in God's own image. Social scientists indicate that the origin of humanity was most probably anything but white or pale pigmented people and that only through migration to other climates did we gain the human rainbow we now know across this globe.
I truly hope that we will continue the conversation and that we will get it right, eventually. I hope that we will creatively embrace the abundance that is evident in our common humanity, celebrate our beautiful diversity, and then perhaps begin to grasp the depth of God's love for all persons.    Peace & Joy!