hard work – Salvaged Faith

rights of workers

Posted on March 15, 2011Leave a comment

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Recently, we have wrestled in various states surrounding Iowa, and now in our own state with the rights of workers. I watched the situation unfolding in Wisconsin over the last month and was appalled at how it has all turned out.

The United Methodist Church has had a long history of supporting labor reforms and the labor movement. From advocating against child labor to supporting the improvement of working conditions for laborers to advocating passage of the Fair Labor Standards Act and the National Labor Relations Act, we have been at the forefront of this issue from the very beginning.

Part of our support for all working people includes support for collective barganining. This is our current position:

¶ 163 B) Collective Bargaining—We support the right of all public and private employees and employers to organize for collective bargaining into unions and other groups of their own choosing. Further, we support the right of both parties to protection in so doing and their responsibility to bargain in good faith within the framework of the public interest.

In order that the rights of all members of the society may be maintained and promoted, we support innovative bargaining procedures that include representatives of the public interest in negotiation and settlement of labor-management contracts, including some that may lead to forms of judicial resolution of issues.

We reject the use of violence by either party during collective bargaining or any labor/management disagreement. We likewise reject the permanent replacement of a worker who engages in a lawful strike. From The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church – 2008. Copyright 2008 by The United Methodist Publishing House. Used by permission.

Biblically, we come at our views of labor through a number of scriptures… beginning in the beginning. The creation of the Sabbath and the command to respect and honor the Sabbath was radical for its day – it was a counter to other nations that forced their laborers to work 7 days a week. Time and space for rest, renewal and our spiritual relationships is a fundamental part of God’s intention for creation and the people of God.

On Ash Wednesday last week, we read from Isaiah and remember that:

they also complain, ‘Why do we fast and you don’t look our way? Why do we humble ourselves and you don’t even notice?’

“Well, here’s why: “The bottom line on your ‘fast days’ is profit. You drive your employees much too hard. You fast, but at the same time you bicker and fight. You fast, but you swing a mean fist. The kind of fasting you do won’t get your prayers off the ground. Do you think this is the kind of fast day I’m after: a day to show off humility? To put on a pious long face and parade around solemnly in black? Do you call that fasting, a fast day that I, God, would like?

“This is the kind of fast day I’m after: to break the chains of injustice, get rid of exploitation in the workplace, free the oppressed, cancel debts. Isaiah 58:3-6, The Message

We have a parable where all people are paid what they need to survive that day, no matter how long or hard they have worked (Matthew 20:1-16) and we have numerous prophets and epistles and proverbs that talk about the relationship between the worker and their employer (1 Cor. 9:7-11, James 5:4, Deut. 24:14-15)

But there are also verses and sayings directed at the worker. They must work hard, honestly, respecting those they work for and the task at hand (2 Thess. 3:10, Col. 3:23, Prov 12:11).

So how do we look at this situation in light of our tradition and our scriptures?

I think my first response is that at times, workers have abused the system. Sometimes workers have pushed to get more of what they want, rather than what they need. Yet, if we look at numbers and statistics being thrown around in Wisconsin…. well, there are so many numbers from so many sides that I don’t even know what to believe. Some talk about the burden on the tax payers, others talk about how all of the money that goes into the pensions and health benefits comes from the workers themselves in a salary deferrment agreement, and so it is actually budget neutral.

Whatever the case, the public employee unions were in the end willing to compromise, lower their expectations, take the cuts to their benefits… but it didn’t matter. The collective bargaining was what the government wanted to strip. And it did. As United Methodists, we clearly and unconditionally support the right of workers to organize and to bargain in good faith. That is now gone in the state of Wisconsin.

In Iowa, this issue is also before us. It has come up both in Governor Brandstad’s Executive Order 69 which prohibits project labor agreements and in the House bill which limits the power of unions in layoff decisions. These are slightly different ways of handling the problems of imbalance between the government and workers, but as we talk to our own legislators, and as we pray and think about these issues, keep the scriptures and our tradition in mind. There are positive and negative implications for workers and for our lived reality together in both of these bills.

At the core, we need to be mindful of the public interest, our debt load and budget – but balance that alongside the needs of the actual workers. If the PLA’s cause our building projects inflate the costs, that is one thing, but if they ensure fair and good wages for the ones who are doing the work, that is another. Should they be mandated? Should they be prohibited? Should they be an option? This is a conversation we need to have. Those who work, whether in the public or private sector, whether unionized or not, all contribute to our wellbeing. Good wages help support the economy by putting more money in consumer’s pockets. This is a balancing game… and our scriptures and tradition have some good advice about how we find the right balance.

Pray, read, and if you feel led, call your state representantive. As a citizen of this state, you have a voice… as a person of faith, you have something to say.

full of weeds

Posted on May 17, 20101 Comment

A week and a half ago I found about five hours to prepare and plant my vegetable garden. The spot was mostly cleared – we had burned leaves on the garden in the fall and so there was very little growth of weeds in the spot in the meantime. I did some careful tilling with a hand cultivator and worked in some compost and plotted out my “square plot” garden.

Then, somehow between a morning meeting and UMW in the afternoon I rushed home, planted my seeds, and got back to work.

I haven’t done any gardening since.

Now, part of the reason for that is rain. And rain is probably okay for these little seeds, although they are looking forward to the sunshine they will get in the next few days. Right now, they are under the ground working and waiting and growing and emerging. And so far, the vegetable garden is weed free.

My other garden spots however are a complete mess. The flower beds by the front steps are overgrown and need to be completely pulled up and planted. My tulip bed needs to have the dandilions pulled out and put in some ground cover and/or mulch. The bushes need some help, and some mulch, and some pulling.

Gardening is constant work. And just when you think you have one area taken care of, another place needs your attention. You are dependent on the elements and your own personal resources of time and energy and money for supplies.

But I love it. There is nothing better than getting your fingers dirty and humming sweet old hymns while I dig in the earth. There is nothing better than the blisters that show that you have been hard at work. There is nothing better than the vibrant color of the flowers and plants as they come up.

The same of course, can be said of our faith. There is a reason that Jesus so often employed agricultural and natural parables as he communicated the good news. It takes work, and patience, and outside help, but above all, it’s not something that happens over night.

Hopefully, I’ll get out and get some work done this afternoon. Both internally and externally.

do I want to be a blogger?

Posted on February 2, 20101 Comment

Maybe you’ve noticed I haven’t had a lot of posts recently. Maybe you never really paid attention in the first place so you don’t really care. Either way, I’ve been kind of taking a break from it all for a bit to think about what this whole blogging thing is about, for me, anyways.

I think when I started this blog, it was a progression from other random attempts at journaling in the past. I never actually kept a paper journal, unless you count the random one time-entries that I have posted in about half a dozen notebooks throughout my house (that I now use for taking notes when meeting with families for funerals). But in college, I started using livejournal because my friends were doing it. And I would write and think about being in a long distance relationship and how frustratingly wonderful and terrible it was. sometimes it was fairly emo. I never really cared if people read it – mostly it was for me. I was out there – people could read it if they wanted to – but that’s not what it was really about.

At somepoint, I stopped using livejournal and for the life of me, I can’t remember what I did in between. I had a lot of wonderful men and women around me during that time, so there were probably lots of other places to vent/discuss

This blog started in seminary as I was trying to navigate the waters of my faith. There were certainly things that I wanted to wrestle with and process and save and think about and some of that I wanted to do with other people. And I was preparing to leave a very supportive community and head into ministry all by my lonesome. So, I jumped on the blogger.com bandwagon and away I went.

The question that keeps coming up for me though, is what is this for? Is it simply an online journal? a place to express my thoughts? Or is the goal of this to build connections with others and to have community? Is the goal to create a network of people I can think with and wrestle with?

If it’s the second of those two options, then I’m not serving my task very well. JoPa Productions put out an article about how to build up readers for your blog – which isn’t so much about numbers, but about how to connect with more people. And the simple fact of typing something and putting it out there isn’t going to make that happen. It doesn’t happen in ministry that way either – just by announcing something doesn’t mean anyone is going to show up – it takes personal invitation and the building of relationships.

I haven’t done very much of that at all with this whole blogging thing. I’m kind of doing my own thing – casually reading others here and there as I have time. I’m not putting a whole lot of effort into building relationships, so I shouldn’t be surprised if no one comes knocking on the door.

I was a lot better at this whole thing a year and a half ago, but life has gotten in the way. Ironically, the more I need this kind of deep thinking theological community, the farther away I have pushed it.

So it’s a turning point for me. Do I keep doing what I’m doing, occasionally journaling here and there? Or do I take a step and put in the effort to build the support network? Do I make sure that I take an hour or two every day to read the work of others and engage them in their thoughts? Do I strive to post something that I’m wrestling with on a more regular basis so that I can seek the wisdom and advice and creativity of others?

I think deep down, I really do value this kind of networked organic community. I like the fact that I can build relationships and talk about common problems with people half a world away. I just need to stop being lazy.

Lazy.

Posted on January 18, 20093 Comments

Today has been a lazy day. I’ve spent much of it on the couch playing games and watching movies. It’s been a lazy week, really, and I’m not to proud to admit it.

I feel like I’m kind of in a funk right now – like I have been working too hard and I just don’t want to anymore. And mostly, I know that’s not true – I really haven’t been working all that hard, and compared to some people, who labor very hard all day long, I’m hardly working at all. There is a guy in my church who works two jobs and is a lay preacher for another congregation. And there is my dad who works a bazillion hours a week and farms. I don’t know how they do it. And in some ways, they really shouldn’t be doing it – they are driving their bodies crazy with all that really hard work. (See Thursday’s post)

But I’m in a funk, and I need to get out of it. I need to get off my bum and hop to it.

One of my brilliant ideas this evening (late, late this evening) is to go back and post my sermons from the past year. I’ve started a new blogsite to do so and you can find the link at the top of this blog’s page.

As far as what I’m currently preaching on, I’m working on a sermon series that is largely and heavily borrowed from a wonderful little devotional book “Becoming Jesus’ Prayer” – so i’m not sure how comfortable I feel posting the texts… I’ve put my own spin on it of course, but I’m also using large quoted sections in the preached word. Anyone have ideas of how I can gracefully navigate around that one? Do I post it anyways and give the appropriate citation? Do I include only the sections that I have put in my own words, or the pieces where I have taken the chapter in new directions? Do I ask for permission to include their text?

tuesday thoughts

Posted on July 8, 2008Leave a comment

I’ve been posting every Tuesday over at revgals – and realized that I’m not really posting much here on my OWN blog =) so. I’m going to post my reflections here, and then link from there back over. woot!

I’m doing a series right now on Wesley’s General Rules, or as Reuben Job likes to call them “Three Simple Rules”

Do No Harm
Do Good
Stay in Love With God

Last week, (readings here) do no harm and Paul’s struggle to keep from doing those things that he so doesn’t want to do. I’m mostly going to focus on the last part of the romans passage however… “who will deliver me fom this body of death? I thank God – through Jesus Christ our Lord”

I’m going to tie that in with the Matthew scripture. We struggle and we wrestle and on our own spend so much time focusing on all the bad things that we have done and continue to do in our life. And Wesley’s “do no harm” rule seems like this all over again. But we need to be reminded that Christ himself promised he would teach us. “take my yoke upon you and learm from Me, for I am gentle and lwly in heart and you will find rest for your souls.” so stop beating yourself up over not doing the good. walk with me, become my apprentice, cease from doing harm, and lay aside that burden of guilt.

we don’t cease to do harm because it is a law – we do it because we love Christ and want to become more like him… and we will find when we do so that his yoke is easy and his burden is light

This is week two of the series: Do Good and this week’s parable of the sower actually fits really well! (readings here)

I’m going to talk about what we have to do in our lives to become “good soil” – and that is WORK! the soil needs tilled, weeded, watered, cared for, and it doesn’t happen all on its own. While we can sit around and just wait for the holy spirit to plant seeds, if we just sit on the path and don’t take any risks, if we are surrounded by rocks (i’m going to interpret this part as those who are in families/communities where faith isn’t welcome… such as the kids who come to vbs, get all excited, and then go back to homes where their families don’t take them to church), if we let the cares of the world – weeds – crowd out God… then the seed of love will have a harder time being planted.

Wesley wanted his flock to “do good” and by that he meant an active good – caring for people’s bodies and souls and as a part of that, helping one another in the community of faith. Wesley liked to fill his time with such good deeds – not so much to earn God’s love, but because he loved God…

I am trying to tend my new garden… and it takes a lot of work – far more time that I thought it would… just think about how much work it takes to tend our souls!