A Smile for the Weekend

There's an old story about a little boy who brought a drawing he made home from Sunday School to show his parents. It was a reasonable facsimile of a large commercial airplane. There were several faces looking out the round windows.

"Who are these people in the plane," his mother asked.

"That's Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus on their flight into Egypt," he replied seriously.

Suppressing her giggles, his mother asked, "And who is this up in the front window of the plane?"

"Aw, Mom," he answered. "You ought to know that. That's Pontius Pilot."

Sometimes Things Are Black and White: Health Care Coverage for Children

"Just then there came a man named Jairus, a leader of the synagogue. He fell at Jesus' feet and begged him to come to his house, for he had an only daughter, about twelve years old, who was dying." (Luke 8:41-42)

"Jesus said, "Let the children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs." (Matthew 19:14)

I don't care where you come down on the new health care reform law, but it seems fairly obvious to me that it is nearly impossible to defend the practice of denying health care coverage to children--especially from a faith perspective. So the fact that the new reform law seemed to deal with that issue is a good thing. But, there is a problem.

Apparently, there is a loophole in the new law that allows insurance companies to decline coverage to children with preexisting conditions in some states. Wisconsin happens to be one of those states. According to 620 WTMJ out of Milwaukee, one Wauwatosa family has found this out the hard way. http://www.620wtmj.com/news/local/103975539.html

I don't usually believe issues are black and white, however, in the case of denying health care coverage to children because of preexisting conditions it's not hard to make an exception. I recognize that covering sick children may cut into an insurers profits, but tough (Humana, the insurer in this story made $1 billion last year--up $393 million from the year before). Some things are just wrong no matter what--and denying coverage to children is just wrong.

We need to be more than just frustrated or upset, however. We need to do more than shake our heads. As Christians, we are called to take action when we see an opportunity to love our neighbors. To me that means, first of all, if you work for Humana (or another insurance company with similar practices) you have to take a stand at work (there are four Humana insurance offices in Wisconsin). That can mean registering official complaints with the company about its policy and working internally to make a change to looking for a new job because staying means supporting business practices that are contrary to the Gospel's claim on our lives.

This goes beyond just the employees of an insurance company. Insurance companies have to hear from those who are invested in them. Often times, when a company slides into the morally grey, they defend themselves by saying something like, "Well, we're accountable to our stockholders. If we don't do (such and such-like deny coverage to children), our profits will go down, our stock will fall, our stockholders will be upset, and we'll lose our jobs." That leads to a lack of accountability because so many of us are invested in companies through our retirement funds without any idea of what they're doing or what they're about. It's true that we are most concerned with profits so we can have a comfortable retirement.

I don't believe we can say we're being faithful and continue to operate in this manner. In this case in particular, I would encourage anyone who has investments with Humana (and any other health insurer who denies health care coverage to children with preexisting conditions) to sell their stock and invest elsewhere. Then, send a letter to the company's investor relations department explaining your actions and the reason behind them. If faithful Christian investors refuse to put up with morally ambiguous business practices, putting our money where our mouths are, then I believe we will begin to see change. At the very least, we can sleep soundly knowing that we're not securing our future by offering up someone else's future.

Personally, I'm currently trying to find out if the General Board of Pension and Health invests in Humana or if they're part of the failed/ineligible companies with whom they will not invest. If they aren't, I will strive to get them removed from the list of companies the UMC invests with so my pension doesn't support denying health coverage to children.

"The Truly Profane" or "Swearing in Church"

What do I do on a Saturday night when I should be heading to sleep before the 5 a.m. alarm clock goes off far too early? I decide to write a blog post.

There was (and is) a professor where I went to seminary who loved to swear in class. He even threw in plenty of GD's and JC's. A lot of what he did I believe was to get people out of their comfort zone so they could see things from a different perspective. We get so comfortable with our little Americanized version of the Bible that we need to be shocked out of it from time to time. I do, however, think he secretly enjoyed having someone get offended and walk out the door (they didn't have much choice but to come back for the next class though--they needed to pass his to graduate).

As I think about profanity, swearing, or whatever you want to call it, I believe we get way too worked up about it. Our offense to it is very cultural (as is most "vulgar" language, as I learned while on a mission trip to Mexico. I used the wrong Spanish word for hot and was told by my interpreter that I was really giving the wrong impression to the woman I was speaking to. Funny, the teacher never pointed out that distinction in my High School Spanish Class). As a matter of fact, I think we should swear more often in the church. It might do us some good.

You see, we get offended when someone swears in church (rarely do we take such offense in our every day lives, except when children are around or involved) and we think we're being reverent. The truth is, I don't think God cares too much about swearing; not even the JC's or GD's.

Let's start there. We believe that people are using "the Lord's name in vain" when they say Jesus Christ or GD it. Likewise, we often say, "in Christ's name we pray" at the end of our prayers because Jesus said, "If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it." (John 14) The truth is, the words Lord or God or YHWH or Jesus Christ have very little to do with asking for something in God's name. Are they literally names of God? Yes. But, to ask for something in Jesus' name is to ask for our wants and needs to be in line with Jesus' will for us. It's not a part of a magical formula. Say these magic words and Jesus will have to do what I want. It's more about asking for our will, our wants, and our needs to be put in line with Jesus' will.

In the same way, to truly use the Lord's name in vain is to falsely say that God is blessing an event, an action, a group of people, etc. So if a dictator says that God wants him to wipe out a group of people and that God will bless all of those who help in doing so--that is using God's name in vain.

Honestly, our political leaders use God's name in vain in this way all the time. To simply say "God Bless America" can be fine, but to say it and to also mean--"God blesses us, our particular set of political beliefs, our country over almost all others" is blasphemous. To ask God to bless our troops is fine, as long as we're not implying that we're asking God to help them kill others (I prefer to pray for all combatants on both sides). Asking God to bless something in the Scriptures is serious business. We no longer look at it that way. We just want God to bless what we like and what we're for (and we'll use God to further our own agenda as well). And so we get upset about someone saying GD it instead.

Now some may quote to me, "So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits. How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire . . . it stains the whole body, sets on fire the cycle of nature, and is itself on fire by hell . . . no one can tame the tongue." (James 3) It is true that James talks a lot about taming the tongue. But, I don't believe he is concerned about swearing or social etiquette. In that same passage he says, "With it (the tongue) we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God."

James is really concerned about the plague of most churches. Gossip. Backstabbing. Misrepresentation. People being judgmental. (Please note that those aren't four letter words he's concerned about). James isn't concerned about our cultural sensibilities. He's more concerned about our relationships with one another, how we treat one another, and how we love one another.

If gossip and rumor mongering ended in the church and it was replaced with bad language, I honestly think the church would be better off and would be closer to God's intention for it. It is gossip and rumors that destroy Christians, lives, and relationships. Often they rise up out of anger, frustration, jealousy, fear, and hate.

So--I don't have a problem if we were to start using more "vulgar" language in church, if in turn we were more careful about what we said about God and what God approves of and what we said about our brothers and sisters sitting next to us (especially when they aren't within ear shot). Let's get offended by hate, slander, lies, and propaganda--and let's start by changing the ways we engage in that behavior. If we have time to deal with four letter words after that, then we'll be in a great place!

Which One of These Things is Not Like the Other

A little Bible quiz: Which one of these four sayings isn’t from the Bible?

• “Do to others as you would have them do to you.”
• “God helps those who help themselves.”
• “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”
• “When you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.”

Not so easy, is it? The correct answer—the adage that’s found nowhere in the Bible—is “God helps those who help themselves.” It’s usually attributed to Benjamin Franklin, who published it in Poor Richard’s Almanac, although the 16^th century poet and Anglican priest George Herbert said something similar: “Help thyself, and God will help thee.”

Surprised? A great many Americans are, when they learn “God helps those who help themselves” isn’t in the Bible. Somehow they just assumed it had to be in there someplace. “God helps those who help themselves” is a beloved tenet of American secular religion, but not of Christianity. It reflects the breezy optimism that, with hard work, anyone can make it in our society.

It’s a nice thought, but the real world is just a little different. And, the greatest part of Christianity is totally different. God reaches out to help us exactly because we can’t help ourselves and doesn’t expect us to. Rather, he calls us to rely totally on Him. Now that’s good news!

From the Mouths of Children

On the way home from church, a little boy asked his mother, “Is it true that we are made of dust?”

“Yes, darling.”

“And do we go back to dust again when we die?”

“Yes, dear.”

“Well, mom, when I said my prayers last night, and looked under the bed, I found someone who is either coming or going.”