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Signs of the Times  •  18 November 2016  •  No. 97

¶ Processional. “Lift Us Up: A Song for America,” by Peter Yarrow, performed by Bethany Yarrow & friends.

Above: Zhangye Danxia National Geological Park in Gansu, China

Introduction
Special issue on banks and beggars

        In October Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf resigned in the backlash over earlier news that “thousands of Wells Fargo employees secretly opened two million fraudulent accounts without customers’ permission or knowledge, and were incentivized by the company to do so.”

        (See Rose Berger’s excellent reporting and evaluation, “Piracy and Puritanism at Wells Fargo,” Sojouners.)

        The scandal not only throws a light on the chicanery of large banks and other mega-corporations but documents such problems are not simply the result of a handful of devious individuals. Berger illustrates the structural incentive for fraud.

        The fine levied on Wells Fargo may seem steep to most of use wage-earners: $190 million. But that figure is but $100 per felony committed—and the bank admits to no guilt.

        As it turns out, the suspicion over banks’ concentrated wealth has been voiced by political leaders for a very long time. This issue of “Signs of the Times” features this legacy of warning.

¶ Invocation. “A Change Is Gonna Come,” Sam Cooke.

¶ “I have two great enemies, the Southern Army in front of me and the bankers in the rear. Of the two, the one at my rear is my greatest foe." —President Abraham Lincoln

¶ Profit is "always highest in the countries which are going fastest to ruin." —Adam Smith, considered the “father” of modern capitalism

¶ You don’t necessarily think of Forbes Magazine (“reliable business news and financial information”) as the place to turn to for prophetic economic critique, as in Drew Hansen’s “Unless It Changes, Capitalism Will Starve Humanity By 2050.”

¶ Call to worship. “Speak peace to the nation, to every relation, to each hollow and meadow, every inch of creation. Let mercy defend, and gracefully mend; each stranger, each straggler, welcome and befriend.” —continue reading Ken Sehested’s “Go to the hallowed abode,” a litany for worship inspired by Psalm 122

¶ “And Now, For Some Good News. In states and municipalities across the country, voters showed strong support for getting big money out of politics and empowering ordinary citizens,” —Frances Moore Lappé & Adam Eichen, commondreams.org

¶ Iceland’s answer to banking fraud. “Iceland, which became a gold standard for corporate accountability in the wake of its 2008-2011 financial crisis, has found nine bankers guilty for market manipulation in one of the biggest cases of its kind in the country's history.” No sentencing has been made, but one former bank president got 5+ years in prison. —Nadia Prupis, CommonDreams

¶ “I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies.” —President Thomas Jefferson

¶ In 2010 Wachovia Bank settled a suit brought by the US Justice Department for laundering $378.4 billion for a Mexican drug cartel. The bank paid a $50 million fine (2% of its profits for the year). No one went to jail—where we routinely send kids caught with a dime bag of pot. —Ed Vulliamy, The Guardian

¶ Hymn of praise. “How Great Thou Art.” Oldie update, a cappella, 5-part harmony, by Home Free. (Thanks Matt.)

¶ “How can it be that it is not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure, but it is news when the stock market loses two points? . . . A new tyranny is thus born, invisible and often virtual, which unilaterally and relentlessly imposes its own laws and rules. . . . The thirst for power and possessions knows no limits." —Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium” (“The Joy of the Gospel”), 2013 apostolic exhortation

¶ “Do not say to yourself, 'My power and the might of my own hand have gotten me this wealth.'” —Deuteronomy 8:17

¶ Souls severed from bodies. “When the pope criticizes an entire economic system and is negative about it, he is indulging in politics, and I don’t think he should. I personally do not want my spiritual life mixed up with my political life. I go to church to save my soul.” —Stuart Varney, Fox news commentator criticizing Roman Catholic Pope Francis’ “Evangelii Gaudium”

¶ “If the environment were a bank, it would have been saved by now.” —Bernie Sanders

¶ An economic literacy primer in under eight minutes. Three short videos by Robert Reich, economist and former Secretary of Labor:

        • “The 7 Biggest Economic Lies.” (2:47)

        • “What are the 3 biggest economic myths propagated by the moneyed interests? (2:34)

        • “The war on the poor and working families.” (2.25)

¶ Suspect outrage. “But even while Republicans are outraged by Wells Fargo’s wrongdoing, all the Republican senators who spoke against the bank at today’s hearing have gone on record at various times in calling for the full repeal of President Obama’s financial regulation law—which would mean eliminating the agency that uncovered the wrongdoing and levied the biggest fines.” —Matthew Yglesias, “Republican senators outraged by Wells Fargo’s fraud want to eliminate the agency that uncovered it,” Vox

¶ "Now as through this world I ramble / I see lots of funny men / Some rob you with a six gun / And some with a fountain pen."  —Woody Guthrie in "Pretty Boy Floyd"

¶ Confession. “In those years, people will say, we lost track / of the meaning of we, of you / we found ourselves / reduced to I / and the whole thing became / silly, ironic, terrible. . . . / But the great dark birds of history screamed and plunged / into our personal weather.” —Adrienne Rich, “In Those Years.” Listen to a reading of the poem by Chelsea Tobin.

¶ “[The banks’] objective isn’t to control [war’s] conflict. It’s to control the debt that the conflict produces. You see, the real value of a conflict, the true value is in the debt that it creates. You control the debt, you control everything. You find this upsetting, yes? But this is the very essence of the banking industry, to make us all, whether we be nations or individuals, slaves to debt.  —banking executive advice in “The International,” a film starring Clive Owen and Naomi Watts

¶ “We know now that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob.” —President Franklin D. Roosevelt

¶ “‘[Martin Luther] King is so hot these days [because of his criticism of capitalism] that it looks like Marx coming to the White House,’ complained President John F. Kennedy in 1963.” —Zaid Jilani, “Martin Luther King Jr. Celebrations Overlook His Critiques of Capitalism and Militarism”

¶ Hymn of lamentation. “Padded with power here they come / International loan sharks backed by the guns / Of market hungry military profiteers / Whose word is a swamp and whose brow is smeared / With the blood of the poor/” —Bruce Cockburn, “Call It Democracy” (Thanks Randy.)

¶ “Money has no motherland; financiers are without patriotism and without decency; their sole object is gain.” —Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of France, 1815

¶ “An infectious greed seemed to grip much of our business community,'' said Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan in 2002. ''It is not,'' he added, ''that humans have become any more greedy than in generations past. It is that the avenues to express greed had grown so enormously.'' —quoted in Floyd Norris, “The Markets”

¶ Words of assurance. “I Know Who Holds Tomorrow,” Alison Krauss.

¶ Capitalism is the extraordinary belief that the nastiest of men, for the nastiest of reasons, will somehow work for the benefit of us all." —economist John Maynard Keynes

¶ Short story. Several centuries ago a Roman pope who was an avid patron of the arts is said to have surveyed the vast artistic riches he had amassed and to have gloated: "No longer can the Church of Jesus Christ say 'Silver and gold have I none.'"  "True, Sire," a subordinate replied, "but then neither can she now say, 'Rise up and walk!'"

¶ "The proposal of any new law or regulation of commerce which comes from merchants and manufacturers should always be listened to with great precaution, and ought never to be adopted till after having been long and carefully examined with the most suspicious attention." —Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations

¶ Hymn of intercession. “Like a bird on the wire,  / like a drunk in a midnight choir  / I have tried in my way to be free.  / Like a worm on a hook,  / like a knight from some old fashioned book  / I have saved all my ribbons for thee.  / If I, if I have been unkind,  / I hope that you can just let it go by.” —Johnny Cash singing Leonard Cohen’s “Bird on a Wire”

¶ “Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures, the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge, has marked the upward surge of mankind and greed, you mark my words, will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA.” —stockebroker Gordon Gecko, fictional character played by Michael Douglas, in his 1987 film “Wall Street”

¶ When only the blues will do. “I got me a fearless heart / Strong enough to get you through the scary part / It's been broken many times before / A fearless heart just comes back for more.” —Stevie Earl, “Fearless Heart”

¶ "Capitalism has defeated communism. It is now well on its way to defeating democracy." —David Korten

¶ Preach it. “A friend called last week to ask “What on earth are you going to say [about the election outcome]?” I responded, ‘Don’t know yet—still sorting through my own emotional reactions . . . something between flamethrowing and fetal crouch.’ Those are typically our immediate reactions to threat.” —Ken Sehested, “New secrets, waiting to be found,” a post-election sermon.  Or view a video of the sermon.

¶ Can’t makes this sh*t up. “PEACE OF MIND: Now available at a great rate. 3.00% APY 47-month CD/CD IRA.” —a 2003 Wachovia Bank ad

¶ Call to the table. “O see the darkness yielding / That tore the light apart / Come healing of the reason / Come healing of the heart.” —Leonard Cohen, “Come Healing”

¶ "We live in capitalism. Its power seems inescapable. So did the divine right of kings." —Ursula K. LeGuin

¶ The state of our disunion. “Oxford Dictionaries, standard-bearer for English language usage, has named “post-truth” as its international word of the year.“ —Alison Flood, The Guardian

¶ Best one-liner. “The issue which has swept down the centuries and which will have to be fought sooner or later is the people versus the banks.” —Lord Acton, 19th century British politician and historian

¶ Millennia before Karl Marx posited wealth as the principle influence on human behavior, Jesus said “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” —Matthew 6:21

¶ For the beauty of the earth. “A Bird ballet” (2:32 video), a starling flock’s aerial choreography, filmed by Neels Castillon, with Alt-J’s “Hand-made” musical background. 

¶ Altar call. “Come close, sisters and brothers, all you who have journeyed to this House of Memory, to this Table of Delight. All you anear, welcome!. All from afar, ¡bienvenido!” —continue reading Ken Sehested’s “Adelante—Keep Moving Forward,” a litany for worship

¶ Benediction. The profession of Jesus-oriented faith is hinged on the conviction that the future belongs to an insurgency against the rancorous reign of wealth. If next Sunday’s benediction doesn’t imply this mandate, ask why. —Ken Sehested

¶ Ten years ago. Maybe the most overlooked recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize was Muhammad Yunnis, the 2006 recipient, along with the Grameen Bank he founded in Bangladesh to give small loans, especially to women, to foster economic self-development. His example is important because of it indicates that economic justice must be part of peacebuilding work; and that on the small scale, free enterprise can be an engine for redemptive social change. Just recently Yunnis challenged president-elect Donald Trump to build bridges instead of walls.

¶ Recessional. World Dance Federation, 2014 World Formation (This is worth the 8:14).

¶ Lectionary for Sunday next. Engraving of Isaiah 2:4 (left) in the Ralph Bunche Park across from the United Nations building in New York City. The park is named for Mr. Ralph Bunche, US diplomat who received the 1950 Nobel Peace Prize.

¶ Just for fun. “10+ People Who Turned Log Piling Into An Art Form,” Šarūnė Mac , boredpanda.com (Thanks Sally.)

#  #  #

Featured this week on prayer&politiks

• “Go to the hallowed abode,” a litany for worship inspired by Psalm 122

• “Adelante—Keep Moving Forward,” a litany for worship

• “Watching and Waiting in a Half-Spent Night,” a sermon based on Matthew 24:36-44

• “New secrets, waiting to be found,” a post-election sermon.  Or view a video of the sermon.
 
Other features
• “Advent & Christmas resources for worship,” litanies, poems, sermons and new lyrics to old hymns

©Ken Sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org. Language not otherwise indicated above is that of the editor. Don’t let the “copyright” notice keep you from circulating material you find here (and elsewhere in this site). Reprint permission is hereby granted in advance for noncommercial purposes.

Your comments are always welcomed. If you have news, views, notes or quotes to add to the list above, please do. If you like what you read, pass this along to your friends. You can reach me directly at kensehested@prayerandpolitiks.org.

Signs of the Times  •  8 November •  No. 143

Special Issue
SUTHERLAND SPRINGS ARE US
Facing the facts, imagining a different future

¶ Processional. “Motete: Versa est in luctum,” 17th century Spanish Renaissance composer Tomás Victoria, a setting of Job 30:31; 7:16. English translation: “My harp is turned to mourning and my organ into the voice of those that weep. Spare me, O Lord, for my days are nothing.” (Thanks Brooks.)

Above: View in Garner State Park in the Texas Hill Country, an area just northwest of Sutherland Springs. Photo by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department

¶ Invocation. "O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not listen? Or cry to you 'Violence!' and you will not save? Why do you make me see wrongdoing and look at trouble? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise. So the law becomes slack and justice never prevails. The wicked surround the righteous—therefore judgment comes forth perverted.” —Habakkuk 1:2-4

¶ These are the victims of the shooting at First Baptist Church, Sutherland Springs, Texas: Read their names, see their faces (2:14 video).

¶ Call to worship. “I go about in sunless gloom; I stand up in the assembly and cry for help. My lyre is turned to mourning, and my pipe to the voice of those who weep.” —Job 30:28, 31

¶ The poem about gun violence every American needs to hear.” —IN-Qu, Occupy Democrats (3:14 video. Thanks Virginia.)

¶ Hymn of praise. “Well I’m pressing on / Yes, I’m pressing on / Well I’m pressing on / To the higher calling of my Lord.” —Regina McCrary & Chicago Mass Choir, “Pressing On”

¶ “The only variable that can explain the high rate of mass shootings in America is its astronomical number of guns.” —Max Fisher & Josh Keller, New York Times

¶ “People all over the world become furious and try to harm others, but only in the United States do we suffer such mass shootings so regularly; only in the U.S. do we lose one person every 15 minutes to gun violence.” —Nicholas Kristoff, “How to Reduce Shootings,” New York Times

¶ Confession. “‘In retrospect Sandy Hook marked the end of the US gun control debate,’ Dan Hodges, a British journalist, wrote in a post on Twitter two years ago, referring to the 2012 attack that killed 20 young students at an elementary school in Connecticut. ‘Once America decided killing children was bearable, it was over.’” —Max Fisher & Josh Keller, New York Times

¶ Intercession. “O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not listen? Or cry to you ‘Violence!’ and you will not save?” —Habakkuk 1:2

¶ Hymn of supplication. “Kumbaya,” Choeur Gospel du Conservatoire, France (with dance).

¶ “Americans make up about 4.4% the global population but own 42% of the world’s guns. From 1966 to 2012, 31% of the gunmen in mass shootings worldwide were American. . . .

        • “American crime is more lethal. A New Yorker is just as likely to be robbed as a Londoner, for instance, but the New Yorker is 54 times more likely to be killed in the process. . . .

        • “Gun control legislation tends to reduce gun murders, according to a recent analysis of 130 studies from 10 countries.

        • “The US is one of only three countries” where “people have an inherent right to own guns. . . .” —Max Fisher & Josh Keller, New York Times

¶ The overlooked gun factor: virulent masculinity.

        • George Ciccariello-Maher, political science professor at Drexel University, was recently banned from campus after questioning why mass shootings in the US are almost always carried out by white men. ­—read a brief interview with him by “Democracy Now!” program host Amy Goodman

        • “The persistent crime that connects mass shooters and terror suspects: Domestic violence.” —Mark Berman, Washington Post

        • “What Mass Shooters Have In Common: Domestic Violence Records.” —Emily O’Hara, NBC News

        • The traits that are strongly linked with violence are “being young and male and having a history of childhood abuse and exposure to violence.” —Jeffrey Swanson, Duke University psychiatry professor, quoted in Lindsey Tanner/AP, Washington Post

¶ Prophesy. “Your iniquities have been barriers between you and your God, and your sins have hidden God’s face from you so that God does not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue mutters wickedness.” —Isaiah 59:2-3

¶ Words of assurance. “You may be down and feel like God / Has somehow forgotten / That you are faced with circumstances / You can't get through / But now it seems that there's no way out / And you're going under / God's proven time and time again / He'll take care of you.” —McKenzie George, “He’ll Do It Again”

¶ This makes my head spin.

        • “Gun homicides . . . in England are about as common as deaths from agricultural machinery accidents in the United States.

        • “. . . in Canada are about as common as deaths from alcohol poisoning in the US.

        • “. . . in Norway are about as common as deaths from accidental stranglings and hangings in the US.

        • “. . . in Germany are about as common as deaths from thrown or falling objects in the US.

        • “. . . in New Zealand are about as common as deaths from falling from a ladder in the US.

        • “. . . in the Netherlands are about as common as deaths from accidental gas poisoning in the US.

        • “. . . in Iceland are about as common as deaths from electrocution in the US.

        • “. . . in Spain are about as common as deaths from excessive natural heat in the US.

        • “. . . in Poland are about as common as deaths from bicycle riders being hit by cars in the US.

        • “. . . in Japan are about as common as deaths from being struck by lightning in the US.

        • “. . . in Scotland are about as common as deaths from cataclysmic storms in the US.” —for more see Kevin Quealy & Margot Sanger-Katz, New York Times

¶ Hymn of intercession. “Swing Low Sweet Chariot,” Garrison Keillor, Arlo Guthrie, The DiGiallonardo Sisters, Heather Masse and The Guy's All-Star Shoe Band.

¶ Both President Trump and Texas Governor Greg Abbott blame the Sutherland Springs shooting on mental illness. Yet “Most people with mental illness are not violent” and only 3-5% of violent acts “can be attributed to individuals living with a series mental illness,” according to the US Department of Health and Human Services website. —see Lindsey Tanner/AP, Washington Post

¶ By the numbers. There are more than 51,000 licensed gun shops (and 30,000 supermarkets) in the US.

¶ The National Rifle Association (NRA) began in 1871 by Union civil war veterans, after witnessing their troop’s inept shooting accuracy during the war. Its motto was “Firearms Safety Education, Marksmanship Training, Shooting for Recreation.”
        In 1933 and 1938 the NRA helped President Franklin D. Roosevelt craft gun control legislation. In Congressional testimony in 1938, NRA President Karl T. Frederick said “I have never believed in the general practice of carrying weapons. I do not believe in the general promiscuous toting of guns. I think it should be sharply restricted and only under licenses.” —for more see Steven Rosenfeld, Salon

¶ “How the NRA Enables Domestic Terrorism,” Jim Wallis, Sojo.net.

¶ Here are some myths that are trotted out regularly by the gun lobby, and that will likely be trotted out again today: “Mass Shooting in Texas and False Arguments Against Gun Control,” Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker.

¶ “Almost two-thirds of the people in the US live in homes without guns, and there is no evidence that the inhabitants of these homes are at greater risk of being robbed, injured or killed by criminals compared with citizens in homes with guns. Instead, the evidence is overwhelming that a gun in the home increases the likelihood not only that a household member will be shot accidentally, but also that someone in the home will die in a suicide or homicide.” —David Hemenway, “Does owning a gun make you safer?” LATimes

¶ Preach it. “Because violence is born of fantasy, visions of peace are the only antidote.” —see Alan Bean, “Violence is born of fantasy; so is the cure”

¶ What to do? In terms of public policy goals, here’s the best suggestion I’ve seen.
         “Frankly, liberal opposition to guns has often been ineffective, and sometimes counterproductive. . . . The left sometimes focuses on ‘gun control,’ which scares off gun owners and leads to more gun sales. A better framing is ‘gun safety’ or ‘reducing gun violence,’ and using auto safety as a model—constant efforts to make the products safer and to limit access by people who are most likely to misuse them.” —Nicholas Kristoff, “How to Reduce Shootings,” New York Times

¶ Commonsense gun regulation. “Do we go to the Ford Motor Company and stay stop making automobiles because people get drunk and kill people in cars?”
         “No, but we do enact stricter blood alcohol limits, raise the drinking age, ramp us enforcement penalties, charge bartenders who serve drunks, and launch huge public awareness campaigns to stigmatize the dangerous behavior in question. We do all those things because it might just help bring drunk driving rates down by, oh, I don’t know, two-thirds in a few decades. And in all that time, Americans didn’t lose the right to buy cars.” —Jon Stewart, Daily Show

¶ Strong bipartisan consensus on these gun-related matters. A 2016 poll found US citizens largely supportive of these forms of gun control: preventing the mentally ill from purchasing guns (89%); background checks for all (including private and gun show sales (84%); barring gun purchases by those on no-fly watch lists (83%); creating federal database to track gun sales (71%); banning assault weapons (68%); banning high-capacity magazines (65%). —Pew Research Center

¶ Even in the military, which rigorously trains troops to use firearms, there are serious gun restrictions. On military bases and naval ships, firearms are kept under lock-and-key except for specified training exercises—though in November 2016 the Department of Defense issued new guidelines allowing open and concealed weapons by military personnel, a policy change vigorously opposed by Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley. —see Brendan McGarry, military.org

¶ Can’t makes this sh*t up. One of our nation’s growing vacation trends is machine gun shooting range tourism. “DeSoto County, Florida, Honolulu, and Las Vegas practice aggressive marketing to lure gun-avid tourism. Said one new business owners in South Carolina, “The more people that get to shoot machine guns, the better. Combined with large-scale machine gun shoots and silencer shoots, we hope that some things about who is allowed to own these things and who isn’t changes.” —for more see Hannah Gardner, USAToday

¶ It’s been a while since my grammar schooling; but the rhetoric of the Second Amendment to the Constitution—“A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed”—is not that complicated.

        The second part, concerning the “right to bear arms,” is a dependent clause controlled by the independent clause, on the need to maintain a well-regulated militia. Which is to say, the second part is governed by the first for its significance and meaning. The US no longer has militias, but we do have a national guard, whose members have a right to be armed.

        P.S. It wasn’t until 2008, in the Supreme Court’s District of Columbia v. Heller case, that that this Amendment was judged to protect the constitutional right for every individual, regardless of military service, to own firearms. —for a more thorough presentation on this topic, read the commentary of a real grammarian, Mark Moe, IdeaLog

¶ Call to the table. “. . . we feel round rage and desolation the finally enfolding tenderness.” —Rainer Maria Rilke

¶ Best one-liner. When you hear Republican politicians offering thoughts and prayers today [for the mass shooting in Las Vegas], remember they voted to sell guns to the mentally ill this year. —for more see Jessica Taylor, “House Votes To Overturn Obama Rule Restricting Gun Sales To The Severely Mentally Ill,” NPR

¶ Pastoral admonishment. “It is incomprehensible to us, as Australians, that a country so proud and great can allow itself to be savaged again and again by its own citizens. We cannot understand how the long years of senseless murder, the Sandy Hooks and Orlandos and Columbines, have not proved to Americans that the gun is not a precious symbol of freedom, but a deadly cancer on their society.

        “We point to our own success with gun control in the wake of the Port Arthur massacre, that Australia has not seen a mass shooting since. We have not bought our security at the price of liberty; we have instead consented to a social contract that states lives are precious, and not to be casually ended by lone madmen.” —editorial, Sydney Morning Herald, which goes on to recommend eight specific, commonsensical policy recommendations (Thanks Ivan.)

¶ The state of our disunion. Watch Fox News host Ainsley Earhardt explain why being shot in church is the best place.

¶ More disunion. Ever since 1996 (and quietly renewed in 2015, after the Charleston massacre), Congress has barred the Center for Disease Control from collecting and analyzing gun violence data. —read or listen to (4:52 audio) this PRI story

¶ Altar call. “Well, they guild their houses in preparation for the King / And they line the sidewalks / With every sort of shiny thing / They will be surprised / When they hear him say / Take me to the alley / Take me to the afflicted ones / Take me to the lonely ones / That somehow lost their way.” —Gregory Porter, “Take Me To the Alley” (Thanks Don.)

¶ Benediction. Listen to Stephen Colbert’s brief commentary (3:22 video) on “how gun violence makes us feel powerless—but we’re not.”

¶ Recessional. “Not Again,” Gregg Robins, a song to raise awareness about the proliferation of gun violence.

¶ Lectionary for this Sunday. “Teach your children well. For they are living messages to a lineage you will not see; to a future beyond your horizon.” —continue reading “Teach your children well,” a litany inspired by Psalm 78

¶ Lectionary for Sunday next. “Make vows to the Lord your God . . . who cuts off the spirit of princes, who inspires fear in the kings of the earth.” —Psalm 76:11-12

¶ Just for fun. Saturday Night Live gun satire (1:53 video).

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Featured this week on prayer&politiks

• “Is an attack on one an attack on all? The brutal consequences of our nation’s gun fetish,” a short essay

• In preparation for Veterans’ Day (11 November), see “Patriotic holidays in the US: The nation's liturgical calendar celebrating our militarized history.”

©Ken Sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org. Language not otherwise indicated above is that of the editor, as are those portions cited as “kls.” Don’t let the “copyright” notice keep you from circulating material you find here (and elsewhere in this site). Reprint permission is hereby granted in advance for noncommercial purposes.

Feel free to copy and post any original art on this site. (The ones with “prayer&politiks.org” at the bottom.) As well as other information you find helpful.

Your comments are always welcomed. If you have news, views, notes or quotes to add to the list above, please do. If you like what you read, pass this along to your friends. You can reach me directly at kensehested@prayerandpolitiks.org.

Signs of the Times  •  15 November 2017 •  No. 144

¶ Processional. Wasamba and the Eco Faeries flash mob drum & dance line at a Perth, Australia commercial district plaza.

Above: Vatnajökull National Park, Iceland. Photo by torino071.

Special issue
TAX DEFORM

(and, no, that’s not a typo)

Introduction

“Do not say to yourself, “My power and the might of my own hand have gotten me this wealth.”
—Deuteronomy 8:17

        The US Congress, with cheerleading from President Trump and a boatload of corporate lobbyists, is poised to foist on the nation what might be the biggest con job in DC political history, under the cloak of tax reform.

        If approved, the effect on the commonweal will be far more deforming than reforming. It represents the greedification of tax policy. Not to mention an indication of our spiritual poverty.

        The rush to get it passed—without full legislative deliberation and public debate—comes from three sources: (1) The congressional majority has virtually nothing to show for their dominance of the executive and legislative branches of government in 2017; (2) they know the slightly different House and Senate plans are highly unpopular with the general public and need to be wrapped up before a popular revolt emerges; and (3) wealthy donors are already calling to say get-it-done-or-stop-calling.

        I’ve learned seven key things researching this special edition of “Signs of the Times.” Here are the highlights. —continue reading “The greedification of tax policy is a sign of spiritual impoverishment”

¶ Invocation. “Tell me where is the road I can call my own, / That I left, that I lost, so long ago. / All these years I have wondered, oh when will I know, / There's a way, there's a road that will lead me home.”  —“The Road Home,” Stephen Paulus, performed by Conspirare (click the “show more” button to see the lyrics)

¶ Call to worship. “Oh, visit the earth, ask her to join the dance! Coax rain from the sky. Drench thirsty fields awaiting your touch, ready the land for blossom and fruit. Burden every stalk with grain sufficient to satisfy the hunger of all. Let all the barren rejoice. Let the wilderness blossom. Let every failed hope recover, every broken heart be mended, every silenced voice be heard.” —continue reading “Set our hearts on fire,” a litany for worship inspired by Psalm 65

¶ Finding wonder it out of the way places. Chris Funk of the music group The Decemberists has a passion for finding “the most surprising and most extraordinary people in music.” He recently met and jammed with Gaelynn Lea, who was born with brittle bone disease, confining her to a wheel chair, but writes and performs ballads by playing a violin upright, like a cello. (3:53 video. Thanks Amanda.)

¶ “An ABC News/Washington Post poll released found that most Americans strongly disapprove of the White House's desire to drastically slash the corporate tax rate: 65% of Americans believe that corporations pay too little in taxes, not too much, the survey found. [Only 11% said the corporate tax rate is too high.] Furthermore, 73% of respondents said—consistent with previous surveys—that the US economic system disproportionately favors the wealthy, and that Trump's tax plan will only worsen the gap between the richest and everyone else.” —Jake Johnson, CommonDreams

¶ Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Thursday became the latest Republican to admit the GOP is trying to ram through massive tax cuts for the rich to satisfy its wealthy donors, telling a journalist that if the party's tax push fails, ‘the financial contributions will stop.’” Earlier in the week “Rep. Chris Collins (R-NY) made a similar comment, complaining that his donors are pressuring him to pass tax cuts ‘or don’t ever call me again.’” —Jake Johnson, CommonDreams

¶ “Why tax breaks for big corps do not create jobs,” video (2:49) produced by Alex Cequea for act.tv.

¶ "‘Those with the very highest incomes would receive the biggest tax cuts,’ Tax Policy Center's report, the first in-depth analysis of Trump's proposals, notes. ‘Taxpayers in the top 1% (incomes above $730,000), would receive about 50% of the total tax benefit [in 2018]; their after-tax income would increase an average of 8.5%.’” —Jake Johnson, CommonDreams

¶ “Most important is the linkage [in Ephesians 5:5] of greed (pleonektes) with idolatry, so that exploitative affront against a vulnerable neighbor is equated with false worship. That equivalence, in the horizon of the Sinai commandments, brings together the first commandments on idolatry (Exod. 20:1-6) and the tenth commandment on coveting (Exod. 20:17).” —Walter Brueggemann, Money and Possessions

¶ “The first independent analysis of the Republican tax plan is in, and its bottom line is about what you’d expect: The vast majority of benefits go to the very richest Americans. The analysis comes from the Tax Policy Center, a joint effort by the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute and the producer of some of the most authoritative economic analyses produced in Washington. The center calculates that by 2027 the top 20% of U.S. taxpayers (those earning $149,400 or more in 2017) would receive 86.6% of all the tax cuts in the GOP ‘framework’ released on Wednesday and the top 1% (income of $732,800 and up) would pocket 79.7% of the benefits. The top 0.1% ($3.43 million and up) would get almost 40% of all the benefits, collecting an average break of more than $1 million a year.” —Michael Hiltzik, LATimes

¶ “Bloomberg’s analysis of the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation’s breakdown of the Senate tax reform plan found that in 2019, the average filer with an income between $50,000 and $75,000 would save a whopping $688, while those with earnings of more than $1 million would gain an additional $58,000.” —Helaine Olen, “Why are Republicans rushing tax reform through? So voters don’t find out who loses,” Washington Post

¶ “Under both the Senate and House bills, nearly half of households making less than $100,000 will see either a negligible tax change or even a tax hike in 2019, according to calculations from Martin Sullivan, chief economist at Tax Analysts. By 2027, that share rises to 61% under the House bill, which phases down some of the provisions that help middle-class families.” —Catherine Rampell, “If the tax bill is so great, why does the GOP keep lying about it?” Washington Post

¶ “. . . the richest one percent—with average incomes of $2 million—will collectively get $72 billion in tax cuts in 2018 under the Trump plan. That money is enough to cover individual health insurance premiums for more than 12.6 million adults. Or, that $72 billion could cover Pell grants for 12.3 million low-income, and often first generation, college students. Or, that same $72 billion could create 689,900 jobs through infrastructure investment.” —Lindsay Koshgarian, CommonDreams

¶ “A new analysis by the New York Times shows that President Donald Trump would save himself well over a $1 billion if the proposals he laid out were to become law.” —Jon Queally, CommonDreams

¶ "You shall know the truth, and the truth will make you mad." —Aldous Huxley

¶ Hymn of praise. “I Saw the Light / I’ll Fly Away” medley, David Crowder.

¶ Wealth inequality in the US—a stunning visual dramatization. (6:23 video)

¶ Watch this brief video (2:33) of Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-WA) asking some very revealing questions of Thomas Barthold, chief of staff for Congress’ Joint Committee on Taxation.

¶ “With a tax burden of 25% — a measurement that includes income, property, and various other taxes — the US is near the very bottom [on individual tax rates], well below the average of 34%. It ranks below all the measured countries [in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development] except Korea, Chile, and Mexico. . . . [D]eductions and other tax strategies mean relatively few US corporations actually get stuck paying the maximum nominal 35% rate, instead paying about 20% on average.” ­—Ian Salisbury, Business Insider

¶ “U.S. corporate taxation isn't all that big compared with other countries'. As of 2014, U.S. corporate tax revenues were at around 2.2 percent of the GDP. The OECD [Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development] average was 2.8 percent.” —Danielle Kurtzleben, “Does the US Have the Highest Corporate Tax Rate in the World?” NPR

¶ Do corporations need a tax cut to stay competitive? Six reasons why they don’t, from Robert Reich (2:45 illustrated video).

¶ “Our [Global Economy Project] report analyzes the 92 publicly held American corporations that reported a profit in the US every year from 2008 through 2015 and paid less than 20 percent of their earnings in federal income tax.” —Sarah Anderson, New York Times

¶ Confession. “My friends and I have been coddled long enough by a billionaire-friendly Congress. It’s time for our government to get serious about shared sacrifice.” —Warren E. Buffett, one of the wealthiest people in world, who admits that the tax percentage he pays on his income is less than half (on average) that of the other 22 people in his office, New York Times

¶ “. . . the tax plan gives American corporations a $2 trillion tax break, at a time when they’re enjoying record profits and stashing unprecedented amounts of cash in offshore tax shelters.” —Robert Reich, CommonDreams

¶ Hymn of intercession. “Weeping Eyes,” Amir Bar-David & Revital Khalfon.

¶ “More than 400 American millionaires and billionaires are sending a letter to Congress this week urging Republican lawmakers not to cut their taxes.” —Heather Long, Washington Post

¶ Words of assurance. “Softly and Tenderly,” Reba McEntire, Kelly Clarkson & Trisha Yearwood.

¶ Professing our faith. “The godness of YHWH has to do with taking sides against the wicked, that is, the ones who imagine they are autonomous and so are free to prey on the vulnerable.” —Walter Brueggemann, Money and Possessions

¶ By the numbers. “From 2006-2012 at least two-thirds of all corporations had NO federal income tax liability. Moreover, 42% of the largest corporations—those with at least $10 million in assets—paid no income tax in 2012. In fact, 18 major companies actually got tax rebates.” —sources: Roger Yu, USA Today & Patricia Cohen, New York Times

¶ Preach it. “That such language [denouncing private wealth] could still be heard at the heart of imperial Christendom [in the 4th-5th centuries] . . . suggests that it had by then lost much of its force. It could be tolerated to a degree, but only as a bracing hyperbole, appropriate to an accepted religious grammar—an idiom, that is, rather than an imperative. . . .  but in general, Christian adherence had become chiefly just a religion, a support for life in this world rather than a radically different model of how to live.” —David Bentley Hart, author of a new New Testament translation, “Are Christians Supposed to Be Communists?” New York Times

¶ The call to the table includes “the decisive break with conventional economics that assumes that ‘treasure in heaven’ does not require divestment of treasure on earth.” —Walter Brueggemann, Money and Possessions

¶ The state of our disunion. At the very time President Trump was issuing a proclamation naming November as “National Adoption Month,” Congress was hawking a tax plan that eliminates tax credits for adoptive families. —for more see Nathaniel Weixel, “Conservatives hit GOP tax bill for nixing adoption credit,” The Hill

¶ Hymn of resolution. “I'm gonna make my world a better place / I'm gonna keep that smile on my face / I'm gonna teach myself how to understand / I'm gonna make myself a better man.” —Keb’ Mo’, “Better Man”

¶ “Republican tax policy focuses on one central idea: If you cut taxes, the economy will grow. Now the man who helped write that doctrine says it's a myth. Bruce Bartlett, author of ‘The Truth Matters,’ was an economic policy adviser for presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. And during the 1980s, he championed the idea that tax cuts would equal growth in the economy. In a recent op-ed in the Washington Post, Bartlett debunks the myth that, as he puts it, he helped create. Marketplace host Kai Ryssdal talks with Bartlett about the GOP tax myth and why it's lasted so long.” —Kai Ryssdal & Shadeen Ainpour, MarketPlace

¶ “In the US, the 400 richest individuals now own more wealth than the bottom 64% of the population and the three richest own more wealth than the bottom 50%, while pervasive poverty means one in five households have zero or negative net worth.
        “Those are just several of the striking findings of Billionaire Bonanza 2017, a new report by the Institute for Policy Studies that explores in detail the speed with which the US is becoming ‘a hereditary aristocracy of wealth and power.’" —Jake Johnson, CommonDreams

¶ For the beauty of the earth. Photographer Chad Cowan has driven almost 100,000 miles across the US chasing powerful supercell thunderstorms and recording them in high definition. Cowan has recorded hundreds of storms and condensed the highlights into this short film titled “Fractal.” (3:22 video. Thanks Dick.)

¶ “The economist Gabriel Zucman and his colleagues have spent years estimating how much wealth is stashed in low-tax havens and what that means for government coffers. He’s found that 63% of foreign profits made by American multinational corporations are stuffed in these subsidiaries and accounts, depriving the country of about $70 billion in tax revenue each year.” —Bryce Covert, “Paradise Papers Show How Misguided the GOP Is On Taxes,” New York Times

¶ More than a few giant multinational companies based in the US are allowed to use creative bookkeeping methods—declaring the bulk of their business “losses” in the US and their “profits” overseas. Some even got tax rebates from the Treasury Department. —see Paul Buchheit, “This is how the biggest companies cheated on taxes in 2016,” Alternet

¶ Altar call. “The one who had much did not have too much, and the one who had little did not have too little.” —Exodus 16:18

¶ Benediction. “We can go on—we must go on—by taking little steps forward and cherishing the occasional light that shines through the blackness. Those that honor only greed and deception as their deity cannot win and we have to survive to be around to pick up the pieces after they are gone. We will go on.” —“How Can We Possibly Go On,” by Jackie Alan Giuliano

¶ Recessional. Tine Thing Helseth and the Norwegian Broadcasting Orchestra performing J. S. Bach, "Trumpet Concerto in D after Vivaldi, 2nd movement" 

¶ Lectionary for this Sunday. “Make vows to the Lord your God . . . who cuts off the spirit of princes, who inspires fear in the kings of the earth.” —Psalm 76:11-12

Left: photo by Johnny White

¶ Lectionary for Sunday next. “Set our hearts on fire,” a litany for worship inspired by Psalm 65.

¶ Just for fun. Taiwan’s Isaac Hou, amazing cyr wheel performer. (1:59 video)

#  #  #

Featured this week on prayer&politiks

• “Set our hearts on fire,” a litany for worship inspired by Psalm 65

• "The greedification of tax policy is a sign of spiritual impoverishment,” commentary on congressional tax "reform"

Resources for Thanksgiving
• “Gratitude,” a litany for worship
• “Why is it hard to say thanks? 10 reasons”
• “Come Ye Thankful (and Ye Cranky) People Come,” a call to worship on Thanksgiving by Abigail Hastings
• “Now Thank We All Our God,” revised lyrics to a traditional Thanksgiving hymn
• “On saying thanks,” a poem

©Ken Sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org. Language not otherwise indicated above is that of the editor, as are those portions cited as “kls.” Don’t let the “copyright” notice keep you from circulating material you find here (and elsewhere in this site). Reprint permission is hereby granted in advance for noncommercial purposes.

Feel free to copy and post any original art on this site. (The ones with “prayer&politiks.org” at the bottom.) As well as other information you find helpful.

Your comments are always welcomed. If you have news, views, notes or quotes to add to the list above, please do. If you like what you read, pass this along to your friends. You can reach me directly at kensehested@prayerandpolitiks.org.

Signs of the Times  •  25 October 2018 •  No. 176

[graphic id. Data from The Leadership Conference Education Fund (PDF) and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Photo credit: Brutal Deluxe / Wikimedia

¶ Processional. Dance of the scarves. Brooklyn artist Daniel Vurtsela. (2:47 video. Thanks Wendy.)

Above: photo by Muntazeri Abdi, among the recipients of the 2018 Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards.

¶ Invocation. “Happy are those who walk in the Way of Beauty, harnessed in the Bridle of Mercy and according to the Weal of Justice. In this Law I delight! May it rule soul and soil and society alike.” —continue reading “In this Law I delight,” a litany for worship inspired by Psalm 119

¶ Call to worship. “O blooming branch, / you stand upright in your nobility, / as breaks the dawn on high: / Rejoice now and be glad, / and deign to free us, frail and weakened, / from the wicked habits of our age; / stretch forth your hand / to lift us up aright.” —English translation of “O frondens virga” (“O blooming branch”) lyrics by Hildegard von Bingen, performed by Chanticleer

Special edition
VOTING: FRAUD? SUPPRESSION? GERRYMANDERING?

Introduction

        How quickly we forget that the US Constitution is silent about voting rights. For decades the privilege was reserved for property-owning white men—then, about 6% of the country’s population. Some states also had religious restrictions. It wasn’t until the 1850s that property requirements were dropped. It would be well over a century before women were granted the right; and another half century still before the majority of African Americans secured the right.

        Consider this (widely-shared) opinion of John Adams, signer of the Declaration of Independence and later president, who wrote in 1776 that no good could come from enfranchising more Americans:

        “Depend upon it, Sir, it is dangerous to open so fruitful a source of controversy and altercation as would be opened by attempting to alter the qualifications of voters; there will be no end to it. New claims will arise; women will demand the vote; and every man who has not a farthing, will demand an equal voice with any other, in all acts of state. It tends to confound and destroy all distinctions, and prostrate all ranks to one common level.”

¶ “To my friends who question the value of voting, or have ethical qualms about choosing between the lesser of two evils: Vote, or don’t. Its significance will always lie somewhere between essential and useless. None of us is allowed to assess any action as ultimate—but that’s no license for skepticism or despondence.

        “Voting is such a small part of our commonwealth duty. I spend more time in grocery store lines every month than in polling stations every year. Elections are but the end result of an advocacy for the common good that starts in each watershed.” —continue reading “Vote, or don’t: The issues are larger than elections”

¶ Hymn of praise. “In God alone my soul can find rest and peace, in God my peace and joy. Only in God my soul can find its rest, find its rest and peace.” —Taizé chant, “In God Alone,” music by Jacques Berthier

¶ Money doesn't just talk, it votes. “[T]he gap between voters and non-voters breaks down strongly along class lines. In the 2012 election, 80.2% of those making more than $150,000 voted, while only 46.9% of those making less than $10,000 voted.” —Sean McElwee, “The Income Gap at the Polls,” Politico

¶ “Just 15 groups were responsible for more than 75% of dark money political spending from 2010 to 2016, and together poured more than $600 million—out of a total of $800+ million—into campaigns in the wake of the landmark Citizens United” [2010 Supreme Court case that removed most of the few remaining obstacles to the influence of wealth in elections]. —Jessica Corbett, Alternet

¶ The US trails most developed countries in voter turnout. Among the 32 wealthier democracies, the “leader of the free world” ranks #26. —Drew DeSilver, Pew Research Center

¶ Confession. “It is with careless ease that we say, ‘Bless God, for all life is good,’ when the sun shines during our outings, when no strain threatens our budget. It takes little faith to acknowledge God’s goodness when terror remains at a distance. Bring us into the presence of widows whose faith is stronger than famine. Send Elijah to accompany us to the place where hope outstrips horror.” —continue reading “Elijah and the widow,” a litany for worship inspired by 1 Kings 17:8-24

¶ VOTER FRAUD incidence: 0.0003% – 0.0025%. —“Debunking the Voter Fraud Myth,” Brennan Center for Justice

        • Between 2001–2014: 31 incidents out of more than one billion ballots cast.

        • After the 2016 election, the Washington Post analyzed reported cases of fraud and found a grand total of 4 credible cases (out of 135 million votes cast).

        • “It is more likely that an individual will be struck by lightning than he will impersonate another voter at the polls.” —Ali Velshi, MSNBC

        • In my own state of North Carolina: The State Board of Elections released in April 2017 an audit of the 2016 electoral results. Of 4,769,640 votes cast, only one would have been avoided with a voter ID law. —Charlotte Observer

        • “Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach implemented his own statewide effort, using the prosecutorial powers of his office to attempt to uncover a conspiracy of noncitizen voters. He netted a grand total of nine convictions . . . just one conviction of a noncitizen voter.” —Vann R. Newkirk, “Voter Suppression Is the New Old Normal,” The Atlantic 

¶ VOTER SUPPRESSION. The best brief survey I’ve seen of widespread voter suppression efforts is Timothy Smith’s review essay of Carol Anderson’s One Person, One Vote: How Voter Suppression Is Destroying Our Democracy. Post

        • After Barack Obama’s election in 2008, “Republicans faced a quandary: How should they deal with the rising demographic tide of minority voters? In 1992, nonwhites represented just 13 percent of the voting population — by 2012, they were 28 percent. Republicans had a choice: They could change their policies to appeal to new voters or find a way to suppress their votes.”

        • “In 1867, just after the Civil War, more than 65% of newly enfranchised blacks registered to vote in Mississippi; by 1955, that figure had plummeted to 4.3%. The same dismal story was repeated all across the South.”

        •“Voter suppression had now gone nationwide as it became a Republican-fueled chimera that by 2017 gripped 33 states and cast a pall over more than half the American voting-age population.”

        • “Since 2013, more than 1,000 polling places have been closed in nine Republican-dominated states alone.”

¶ Words of assurance. “On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast. . . . The shroud that is cast over all peoples will be destroyed; and God will swallow up death forever. All tears will be dried, all disgrace removed.” —Isaiah 25:6-9 slightly adapted

        • In Georgia, Secretary of State Brian Kemp—the Republican candidate for governor—has closed polling locations in a third of the state’s counties, three-quarters of whom are disproportionately non-white. And as of 9 October, Kemp has set aside 53,000 voters, 70% of them African American, under his “exact match” policy.

RIGHT: Printed in March 1812, this political cartoon was drawn in reaction to the newly drawn state senate election district of South Essex created by the Massachusetts legislature to favor the Democratic-Republican Party candidates of Governor Elbridge Gerry over the Federalists. The caricature satirizes the bizarre shape of a district in Essex County, Massachusetts, as a dragon-like "monster". Federalist newspaper editors and others at the time likened the district shape to a salamander, and the word gerrymander was a blend of that word and Governor Gerry's last name.

        • “In sum, the 2018 report of the nonpartisan US Commission on Civil Rights concluded that in states like Georgia “cuts to polling places resulted in decreased minority-voter access and influence.” —Jay Michaelson, Daily Beast

        • “In the five years since the US Supreme Court struck down key parts of the Voting Rights Act, nearly a thousand polling places have been shuttered across the country, many of them in southern black communities.” —Matt Vasilogambros, Pew Trust

        • For a quick survey of the states that have approved voter suppression laws since 2010, see “New Voting Restrictions in America,” Brennan Center for Justice

¶ Hymn of supplication. “Hear O Lord, the sound of my voice. Hear O Lord and have mercy.” —Pam Hall, “Hear O Lord”

¶ GERRYMANDERING.

        • “If there is one silver bullet that could fix American democracy, it’s getting rid of gerrymandering—the now commonplace practice of drawing electoral districts in a distorted way for partisan gain.” —Brian Klaas, “Gerrymandering is the biggest obstacle to genuine democracy in the United States. So why is no one protesting?” Washington Post

        •Because of gerrymandering, 84% of congressional districts are noncompetitive. —watch this brief (2:26) video, “Gerrymandering Explained”

        •In the 2016 election, some 35 million North Carolinians voted for Republican candidates; 32.1 for Democrats. Yet in the State Assembly, Democrats won only 38% of the House seats; only 30% in the Senate. —Politifact

        • In 2012, Michigan voters cast nearly 53% of their votes for Democrats. Nevertheless, Republicans won 9 of the state’s 14 seats in the House of Representatives. —Ginger Strand, “Among the Gerrymandered,” Pacific Standard

        • In 2017 a federal court ruled that the North Carolina General Assembly, controlled by Republican super-majorities in both chambers, illegally redrew election districts diluting African American voters “with almost surgical precision.” —Sam Levine, Huffpost

¶ Professing our faith. "You do not need to know precisely what is happening, or exactly where it is all going. What you need is to recognize the possibilities and challenges offered by the present moment, and to embrace them with courage, faith and hope." —Thomas Merton

¶ Hymn of intercession. “Soon it will be done / Trouble of the world / Going home to live with God.” —Mahalia Jackson, “Trouble of the World,”

¶ Word. “If the Gods Had Meant Us to Vote They Would Have Given Us Candidates.” —Jim Hightower book title

¶ By the numbers. Money raised for the 2018 congressional election cycle is projected to surpass the $5 billion mark, nearly 20% higher than the two previous record setting cycles—in 2016 and 2010, adjusted for inflation—of giving to congressional candidates. —OpenSecrets, Center for Responsible Politics

¶ Flawed democracy. In January “The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), a unit under the aegis of The Economist magazine, released its annual Democracy Index report, which seeks to understand and measure the state of democracy around the world. Every country on Earth is rated on a 0 to 10 scale. . . .

        “In the EIU report, the US received an overall score of 7.98, ranking second in the “flawed democracy” category, tied with Italy. South Korea ranked slightly higher in the same category, and Japan ranked third.” —Nicole Karlis, Salon

¶ Preach it. “The world is always going to be dangerous, and people get badly banged up, but how can there be more meaning than helping one another stand up in a wind and stay warm?” —Anne Lamott, “Stitches”

¶ Can’t makes this sh*t up. “In 1980 Paul Weyrich, who many insiders credit with founding the modern conservative Christian political movement, said this to a group of conservative evangelical activists: ‘I don’t want everybody to vote. … Our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down.’” —Bruce Gourley, Nurturing Faith

¶ Call to the table. “Christians don't simply learn or study or use Scripture; we assimilate it, take it into our lives in such a way that it gets metabolized into acts of love.” —Eugene H. Peterson

¶ The state of our disunion. “Database Tracks History Of U.S. Meddling In Foreign Elections.” NPR's Ari Shapiro talks to Carnegie Mellon University researcher Dov Levin about his historical database that tracks U.S. involvement in meddling with foreign elections over the years. —National Public Radio  (For more background on “US meddling in other countries’ elections,” see the special edition of “Signs of the Times,” 19 July 2017, #128.)

¶ Best one-liner. “Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder.” —Rumi

¶ For the beauty of the earth. Brief (1:52) video of the Valley of the Gods, in southeastern Utah. —CBS Sunday morning

¶ Altar call. “Come, my Way, my Truth, my Life: such a way as gives us breath, / Such a truth as ends all strife, such a life as conquers death.” —Blackfriars Music, “Come, My Way”

¶ Benediction. “Let your religion be less of a theory and more of a love affair.” —G.K. Chesterton

¶ Recessional. “Carska jektenija” (“The Royal Ektenia, or “Litany of Peace”), performed by Vila, a Serbian Orthodox Singing Society.

¶ Lectionary for this Sunday. “In this Law I delight,” a litany for worship inspired by Psalm 119.

¶ Lectionary for Sunday next. “Elijah and the widow,” a litany for worship inspired by 1 Kings 17:8-24.

¶ Just for fun. Amazing Cirque de Soleil jump rope artist. (2:55 video)

#  #  #

Featured this week on prayer&politiks

• “Vote, or don’t: The issues are larger than elections,” commentary on the present electoral season

• “In this Law I delight,” a litany for worship inspired by Psalm 119

• “Come home,” a litany for worship inspired by Psalm 146

 
Resources for All Hallow’s Eve and All Saints Day

• “Hallowed Week: A call to worship for All Hallows Eve and All Saints Day,” Abigail Hastings

• “All Saints,” an All Saints Day call to worship and pastoral prayer, Nancy Hastings Sehested

• “All Saints Day,” a litany for worship

• “For All the Saints: New lyrics for an old hymn”

©Ken Sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org. Language not otherwise indicated above is that of the editor, as are those portions cited as “kls.” Don’t let the “copyright” notice keep you from circulating material you find here (and elsewhere in this site). Reprint permission is hereby granted in advance for noncommercial purposes.

Feel free to copy and post any original art on this site. (The ones with “prayer&politiks.org” at the bottom.) As well as other information you find helpful.

Your comments are always welcomed. If you have news, views, notes or quotes to add to the list above, please do. If you like what you read, pass this along to your friends. You can reach me directly at kensehested@prayerandpolitiks.org.

Signs of the Times  •  17 October 2018  •  No. 175

¶ Processional. “Saman: Dance of a Thousand Hands,” a traditional dance with music of the Gayo people of Sumatra, performed by the combined Voice of Chicago and DiMension ensembles of the Chicago Children's Choir.

Above: Photo by Doug Lowry.

Special edition
COMMEMORATING CHILDREN'S SABBATH

This year is the Children’s Defense Fund’s (CDF) 27th observance of Children’s Sabbath.
This year’s theme: “Realizing Dr. King’s Vision for Every Child: Lives of Hope, Not Despair.”
The date is 27-29 October (but you can observe the day whenever it seems appropriate).
CDF has special worship material for Christian, Jewish, and interfaith observances, along with other resources.

¶ Invocation. “It takes a whole village to raise our children / It takes a whole village to raise one child / We all everyone must share the burden / We all everyone will share the joy.” —The Choral Project

¶ “No child ever learned curiosity by filling out curiosity work sheets.” —Paul Tough, Helping Children Succeed: What Works and Why

¶ Call to worship. “We pray for children / who put chocolate fingers everywhere, / who like to be tickled, / who stomp in puddles and ruin their new pants, / who sneak popsicles before supper. . . /  And we pray for those who stare at photographers from behind barbed wire, / who can’t bound down the street in a new pair of sneakers, / who are born in places we wouldn’t be caught dead, who never go to the circus, who live in an X-rated world.” —continue reading Ina J. Hughes’ “A Prayer for Children”

¶ Good news. “The student council of Chelsea High School in Michigan have unanimously agreed to replace their homecoming queen tradition with a new ‘Excellence Award’ that will instead recognize students based on attributes other than appearance and/or popularity.

        “The students hope that the new award will help prevent bullying within the school.  The school has been working to fight bullying since they launched their #WhyYouMatter campaign in 2016.” —McKinley Corbley, goodnewsnetwork

¶“Anyone familiar with King James’ translation of Scripture will recognize the phrase ‘Suffer the little children to come unto me,’ spoken by Jesus in rebuffing the disciples’ intent on keeping young ones at arm’s length. (See Mark 9:33-37 and 10:14, with parallel stories in Matthew 18 and Luke 18.) The synoptic writers’ retention of this odd story serves as a point of entry into the Gospel story as a whole.” —continue reading “Suffer the children: A Bible study on Jesus’ teachings about ‘becoming like children’”

¶ Hymn of praise. “All my life I´ve been waiting for / I´ve been praying for / For the people to say / That we don´t wanna fight no more / They´ll be no more wars / And our children will play / One day.” —Koolulam leading 3000 people, three languages in Haifa all singing “One Day” hoping that it is near. (Thanks Marnie.)

¶ “Selfless behaviour could boost confidence in teenagers, new research has found. In a longitudinal study conducted at Brigham Young University, Utah, scientists noted that adolescents who exhibited prosocial behaviour towards strangers had higher self-esteem a year later.

Left: Art by Ade Bethune, ©Ade Bethune Collection, St. Catherine University, St. Paul, MN.

        “’This study helps us to understand that young people who help those with whom they do not have a relationship report feeling better about themselves over time,’ explained the study’s co-author, professor Laura Padilla-Walker.” —Olivia Petter, Independent

¶ Prayer of thanksgiving. ““Dear God, I thank You for the gift of this child to raise, this life to share, this mind to help mold, this body to nurture, and this spirit to enrich. Let me never betray this child’s trust, dampen this child’s hope, or discourage this child’s dreams.” —Marian Wright Edelman, Guide My Feet: Meditations and Prayers On Loving and Working for Children

¶ “Of the many dangers this presidency poses, one of the greatest is deep damage to our children’s perceptions of race, gender and other kinds of difference. We know the youngest children internalize racist perceptions of themselves and others. These effects are powerful in normal times. In this political climate, they’re on steroids.” —Jennifer Harvey, New York Times

¶ Confession. “Create In Me a Clean Heart (Psalm 51),” Thingamakid children’s choir, Jacobs Jewish Summer Camp.

¶ “About 15 million children in the United States – 21% of all children – live in families with incomes below the federal poverty threshold, a measurement that has been shown to underestimate the needs of families. Research shows that, on average, families need an income of about twice that level to cover basic expenses. Using this standard, 43% of children live in low-income families.” —National Center for Children in Poverty

¶ Citizens in the US think social mobility—the ability to move from rags to riches—is a hallmark of our nation. Wrong. “[T]he probability of a child born to parents in the bottom fifth of the incomes reaching the top fifth is 7.5% in America.” —Alissa Quart, The Guardian

¶ Words of assurance. “The echoes of childhood whisper violence / Cold wind beating out of the past / Rage in your throat, muffled silence / Hold on, I will stand fast / You are safe in the daylight at last / Nightmare and fear, they have no power here / I will stand fast.” —Fred Small, “I Will Stand Fast,” a song for survivors of child abuse 

¶ We need to incorporate this finding into our analysis. The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry recently gave Dr. Stacy Drury its award for outstanding scientific achievement for her research into how “early childhood trauma can have negative health consequences that seep across generations. The research showed that a biological marker of an infant’s ability to regulate stress was influenced not only by the amount of stress the child’s mother experienced during pregnancy but also by a mother’s life course experiences with stress.” —Keith Brannon, Tulane University

¶ Hymn of resolution. “I am open and I am willing / To be hopeless would seem so strange / It dishonors those who go before us / So lift me up to the light of change. . . . / Give me a mighty oak to hold my confusion / Give me a desert to hold my fears / Give me a sunset to hold my wonder / Give me an ocean to hold my tears.” —Holly Near, “I Am Willing”

¶ Short story. “’The catcher in the rye’ is what 17-year-old Holden Caufield tells his little sister he wants to be, rejecting her suggestions of lawyer and scientist. Holden, the narrator and main character in Salinger’s classic novel The Catcher in the Rye, wants to preserve innocence.

        “He tells his sister that he imagines thousands of small children playing in a field of rye. At the end of the field is a cliff and if the children in the play wander too close and fall, he would be there to protect them.” —Mary Lou Kownacki, OSB, The Nonviolent Moment: Spirituality for the 21st Century

¶ Hymn of intercession. “ICE is loose over those streets. [*ICE = Immigrations and Customs Enforcement; ice = hielo] / We never know when we will be hit. / They cry, the children cry at the doorway, / They cry when they see that their mother will not come back.” —“Ice El Hielo,” La Santa Cecilia

¶ Word. “What a society does to its children, its children will do to society." —Marcus Tullius Cicero, 1st century BCE Roman statesman and philosopher

¶ Preach it. “Your children are not your children. / They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself. / They come through you but not from you,  / And though they are with you yet they belong not to you. . . . / You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.” —Kahlil Gibran, “The Prophet”

¶ This is how gangster capitalism works. “A resolution to encourage breast-feeding was expected to be approved quickly and easily by the hundreds of government delegates who gathered for the United Nations-affiliated World Health Assembly.” Ecuador was slated to present the resolution. But Trump Administration officials threatened the small Latin American country with punishing trade restrictions and a cutoff of military aid.

        “A 2016 study in The Lancet [the world’s oldest and most prestigious medical journal] found that universal breast-feeding would prevent 800,000 child deaths a year across the globe and yield $300 billion in savings from reduced health care costs and improved economic outcomes for those reared on breast milk.” —Andrew Jacobs, New York Times

¶ By the numbers. “The United States ranks near the bottom of the pack of wealthy nations on a measure of child poverty, according to a report from UNICEF. Nearly one third of US children live in households with an income below 60% of the national median income in 2008—about $31,000 annually. . . . The US ranks 36th out of the 41 wealthy countries.” —Christopher Ingraham, Washington Post

¶ Hymn of thanksgiving. “Webale” (“Thank You”), Watoto Children's Choir.

¶ Can’t makes this sh*t up.
        • “It is one of the great acts of American generosity and charity, what we are doing for these unaccompanied kids who are smuggled into our country or come across illegally,” according to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar defending the Trump administration’s separation of migrant children from their parents. —Willa Frej, huffingtonpost
        • “The Five-Year-Old Who Was Detained at the Border [then separated from her grandmother] and Persuaded to Sign Away Her Rights.” —Sarah Stillman, New Yorker

¶ Call to the table. “Let us put our minds together and see what life we can make for our children.” —Sitting Bull, chief of the Hunkpapa Lakota nation

¶ Preparation for All Saints Day. “I Sing a Song of the Saints of God,” The Children's Choir of St. John's Episcopal Church in North Haven, CT.

¶ The state of our disunion. “The number of migrant children being detained by the [US] government has reached its highest level ever, according to a report by The New York Times. Data obtained by the Times showed that 12,800 children were detained in federal custody this month, compared to 2,400 children detained in May 2017.” —Grace Segers, CBS News

        The business of housing, transporting and watching over migrant children detained along the southwest border is a billion-dollar industry. —for more see Manny Fernandez and Katie Benner, New York Times

¶ Best one-liner. "It's bizarre that the produce manager is more important to my children's health than the pediatrician."  —Meryl Streep

¶ For the beauty of the earth. Preparing for babies—watch this bird’s amazing nest building skill. (2:50 video. Thanks Linda.)

¶ Altar call. “People killin' people dyin' / Children hurtin', I hear them cryin' / Can you practice what you preachin'?” —Black Eyed Peas, “Where Is the Love?”

¶ “I’m embarrassed to admit muffling a groan when I first heard “safe church policy” [to guard against sexual abuse of children] mentioned in conversation among our members. Three thoughts came rushing up in complaint.” —continue reading “Safe church policies: Pastoral advice on getting started”

¶ Resources.

        • “13 Children’s Books That Encourage Kindness Towards Others.” —BuzzFeed

        • “Books That Facilitate Empathy: Poverty.” —Melissa Taylor, Imagination Soup

        • “11 Free Reading Websites for Kids.” —Brandi Jordan, Really Good Stuff

¶ Benediction. What to tell the children? “Tell them that this is the great awakening. / Tell them that we humans have made some huge mistakes / And that’s how we now find ourselves in this tenuous place. / Teach them that hate is the poison. / Teach them that love is the remedy, / That it is better to be readied for what comes next, / Even if the revelation is painful.” —read Rachel Kann’s poem written shortly after the November 2016 US election

¶ Recessional. “All people who accept / His authority / Are his children / Are children / Are children / In the power of God.” —English translation of “Bonse Aba,” traditional folk song from the Bemba tribe of Zambia, performed by La Coral Santisima Trinidad de Valencia, Spain

¶ Lectionary for this Sunday.

        • To do a “Children’s Sabbath” sermon, use vv.13-16 of Mark 10 instead of vv. 46-52.

        • “Unimagined grace,” a litany for worship inspired by Jeremiah 31

¶ Lectionary for Sunday next. “Unprotected Texts: The difficult dialogue with the Bible on love and marriage,” a sermon by Nancy Hastings Sehested, anchored in the story of Ruth and Naomi.

¶ Just for fun. “If you were a sibling of Jesus,” Michael Jr. (3:54 video. Thanks Kyle.)

#  #  #

Featured this week on prayer&politiks

• “Suffer the children: A Bible study on Jesus’ teachings about ‘becoming like children’”

• “Unprotected Texts: The difficult dialogue with the Bible on love and marriage,” a sermon by Nancy Hastings Sehested
 
Other features

• “Teach your children well,” a litany for worship inspired by Psalm 78

• “Come home,” a litany for worship inspired by Psalm 146

• “Safe church policies: Pastoral advice on getting started”

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