Do you hear the train? Not the one that passes through Tuttle. I mean the train as a metaphor for the U.S. economy. The delicate engine we hear may soon be driven off a cliff resulting in financial crisis.
Should the stalemate that created the conditions of our unstable economic future continue, we will see unemployment like never in my lifetime. I know, “Gloom, despair and agony on us, deep dark depression, excessive misery.” Only this is not bad luck, it is failed leadership – from the Whitehouse to Congress.
The prospects paralyze Wall Street. Investors do not know which way to go. Go long and hold stocks or sit on the sidelines to see what happens. Their decisions affect many a retirement account, Mutual Fund, and the fuel that churns our economy.
It would be easy to give in to the hand wringing. Complaining about legislators who receive six figure salaries and Cadillac benefits is a national sport. If only.
Many will question my suggestion. But, maybe the Church could be viewed as an elixir. Sure, plenty of people believe religion, belief in God, is a crutch, even a delusion. Much of that stems from our generally otherworldly approach to crises. Voices will suggest this is a sign of the times, much like a State pastor who told his Facebook friends they should view a recent earthquake in Kentucky as a reason to “look up,” mainly because it was an unusual place for an earthquake. How is Kentucky any less the place than Oklahoma?
By elixir I mean to suggest the Church could well be an event, even a substance, that could help change the base substance of the way we view crises. In order to serve as such the Church would need to avoid a self-sequestration from the looming crisis, but to be prepared to live with people through it.
When the government stops funding services because it is required by its own laws to do so, people will still have needs. Who will meet them? If we are hunkering down into our vision of the end of time, as we know it, is that not the same as looking out our door at those in need and suggesting, “Be warmed and filled,” but not lifting a proverbial finger?
If the Church manifests in its body the manner and way of Jesus, then maybe we still have the opportunity to change the base substance of our world. Instead of choosing an option that, from the outside, looks as much like the fear everyone faces; we could offer a substantive hope in the Name of Jesus. Participate in your community of faith in a way that the Church becomes the elixir for the world in the way Jesus changed the base substance from hope to fear for all in his life, death, and resurrection.
Note: This piece will appear in the Tuttle Times in the weekly edition this week.