{"id":1823,"date":"2014-10-19T15:11:16","date_gmt":"2014-10-19T15:11:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/balboaunionchurch.org\/wpaccess\/?post_type=ctc_sermon&p=1823"},"modified":"2015-02-14T15:14:02","modified_gmt":"2015-02-14T15:14:02","slug":"were-walking-here","status":"publish","type":"ctc_sermon","link":"http:\/\/balboaunionchurch.org\/es\/sermons\/were-walking-here\/","title":{"rendered":"We’re Walking Here"},"content":{"rendered":"

There was a wonderful op-ed in the NY Times this week about the ways people transport themselves safely from one place to another in Manhattan. There are cabs, buses, cars, subways, and bicycles \u2013 more bicycles than ever, and the roads are getting friendlier to them all the time — but in New York City, THE FOOT, the PEDESTRIAN is king! The title of the op-ed was, \u201cWe\u2019re walkin\u2019 here!\u201d a rift on Dustin Hoffman\u2019s famous ad lib in Midnight Cowboy <\/em>where he and Jon Voigt were filming and almost got hit by a cab: \u201cHey!,\u201d Hoffman yelled, \u201cWe\u2019re walkin\u2019 here!\u201d (They kept that in the movie!) As the op-ed put it, in New York, \u2026in matters of traffic safety, all are equal, but pedestrians are more equal than others. <\/em><\/p>\n

The point was that despite the fact that two pedestrians have been killed by cyclists in the City in the past two months, pedestrians are actually safer in Manhattan than they have ever been. As an example the Times <\/em>went back to 1904, on a typical Sunday afternoon, there were NINE deaths by horses and carriages run amok just around Central Park. So while two deaths in two months is not good, thanks to laws that are enforced, the streets are oh-so-obviously safer than ever.<\/p>\n

The Times then took the opportunity to remind New York citizens that, yes, the traffic laws apply to EVERYONE, and that means you.<\/p>\n

Hey! We\u2019re walkin\u2019 here!!!<\/p>\n

As most of you know, my beloved mother-in-law died last year. She was the subject of so many of my sermons as our political views were\u2026diametrically opposite. She consistently voted Republican, which is generally considered the more conservative party in the United States. I think a better description is that the Republican Party in the United States tends to favor small government. Republicans will often quote their mentor and \u201csaint,\u201d Ronald Regan, who famously said, \u201cThe nine most terrifying words in the English language are, \u2018I\u2019m from the government, and I\u2019m here to help.\u201d The general attitude among Republicans is that if the government is doing it, it\u2019s slow, wasteful, incompetently managed, and costs way more than it should — and, in every case, private business could do it faster, cheaper, and better.<\/p>\n

So we have a story this morning about Jesus, the Pharisees, and the coin. \u201cIs it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor or not?\u201d This is a question about government, a question about empire, a question about where our money goes and what it buys. The word that\u2019s used here is \u201clawful\u201d– is it LAWFUL to pay taxes? — but the Pharisees set it up with a moral frame: \u201cWe know, Jesus, you teach the way of God in accordance with The Truth.\u201d \u201cIs it lawful to pay taxes?\u201d<\/p>\n

In other words, where does God stand with Rome and the Emperor \u2013 and government in general?<\/p>\n

There had to be some among Jesus\u2019 followers — then and NOW — who hoped and expected him to say, \u201cAbsolutely not! The people of God should NOT pay taxes to the immoral, corrupt emperor of Rome!\u201d Imagine what our world would look like if he HAD said that. \u201cGod does not want you to support your government.\u00bb<\/p>\n

But Jesus didn\u2019t say that. \u00a0He said, \u201cRender unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar and unto God that which belongs to God.\u201d Bureaucrats all over the world heave a giant sigh of relief!<\/p>\n

So I wanted to talk a little about government this morning. And because we\u2019re Christians and we live intentionally \u2013 which means we don\u2019t just mindlessly follow the culture — I don\u2019t want to talk about government the way everybody USUALLY talks about it \u2013 which is ALL BAD!<\/p>\n

Of course, every one of us has a story:\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cI waited hours in line to renew my cedula\u201d \u201cI spent all morning trying to get a driver\u2019s license.\u201d Everybody in Panama knows that the supreme court justice Alejandro Moncada Luna is corrupt, and he\u2019ll lose his job but he won\u2019t go to jail. I take La Prensa, and to read it is to get a daily drumbeat of misery, the awful things the government does, the wasteful way it spends money, the corruption among the politicians, the streets that flood, the electricity that goes off, San Miguelito without water.<\/p>\n

And if you think people and the press bad-mouth the government here, you should try living in the U.S. There are cable news networks dedicated <\/em>to GLEEFULLY reciting hour after hour of government incompetence and how you should be AFRAID because the government will not protect you from EBOLA<\/em> \u2013 which out of 350 million people living in the U.S., THREE have Ebola. Three. But the INCOMPETENT government allowed those three to get it, and now we\u2019re ALL in danger!!! Run for your lives!<\/p>\n

And don\u2019t even get us STARTED on how the government can\u2019t protect us from ISLAMIC TERRORISTS\u2026<\/p>\n

Anti-government talk is everywhere. Even the gurus of the emerging Christian church (the progressives, the liberals) \u2013 Brian McLaren, Peggy Pickle, Robin Meyers \u2013 include in all their books how Jesus calls us to be anti-imperial, that he doesn\u2019t want us to buy into justice purchased by the rich, that we must speak truth to power, that we must approach our dealings with anything large and powerful \u2013 most especially The Government — with great skepticism.<\/p>\n

The effect of all this anti-government talk is, of course, that even as the countries of West Africa and Afghanistan and Somalia disintegrate and show us how awful life can be without effective government, for all the rest of us the word \u201cgovernment\u201d has come to mean \u201cthe great evil of our age.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Jesus says, \u201cRender unto Caesar that which is Caesar\u2019s\u2026\u201d Much as his followers saw him as an anti-Roman revolutionary, he had A LOT more to say about the hypocrites in his own culture and religion than he did about the conquering Roman Empire. In fact, on the subject of the Roman government of the day, Jesus actually said very little.<\/p>\n

So with that in mind, on the subject of government \u2013 good government — I want to make three points. I would start by putting a couple of faces to the word \u201cgovernment,\u201d faces we sit with every Sunday, people who work hard all week in, yes, government offices, doing the \u201cwork of the people.\u201d Our own Elisa Dorado, chair of the Youth & Adult Activities Committee, is a pharmacist in the government-run Social Security Hospital. She works amidst shortages, low pay, long lines out the door, and difficult situations. She\u2019s on call this Christmas, so we won\u2019t see her around for our annual service \u2013 but she will be doing what she does every day, serving the people of Panama and making sure they get the medicines they need. Likewise, our pastor\u2019s wife, Mitzie Samudio de Schnell, is a mover and shaker inside the budget workings of the Panama government. She, too, can tell stories of political maneuverings and difficult choices; but, like Elisa and so many others, she is a dedicated public servant who works every day to create a better Panama for all of us.<\/p>\n

So that\u2019s my first point. As Christians, when we complain about anything, we are committed by faith to put people first. So, people first, when we all speak of our government, let\u2019s put these two hard-working government servants (and maybe others we know), people we love and respect, right at the front of our thoughts. I think that will change the tone of the conversation. I know myself that if I have both of those people metaphorically standing beside me, I will automatically be more positive, more respectful \u2013 and I\u2019m pretty sure my thinking on the subject will be more constructive and productive.<\/p>\n

So let\u2019s start there.<\/p>\n

THEN this. There are some vital and important projects that ONLY government can and will do. The rich can and will insulate themselves from the vagaries of life and nature, but the Kingdom of God, as Jesus envisioned it, is a place where suffering is mitigated and everyone <\/strong>has a chance to do well. Churches and charities are great, but only government has the resources for the large need. I always use the example of Hurricane Katrina and how the Red Cross raised a $1 Billion (with a B) dollars in donations. No non-profit in the history of the world had ever raised that much money that fast. However, Katrina did $250 billion dollars\u2019 worth of damage \u2013 250 times what the Red Cross could raise. Private industry looks at a mess like that and says, \u201cSure, we\u2019ll help. Pay us, first.\u201d Stockholders of publicly-traded companies are NOT into charity. No, only the government can and will spend that kind of money on the well-being of its people.<\/p>\n

And, finally, as I was contemplating this topic, I threw the idea up on my Facebook page and was amazed at not only the quality but the sheer numbers of comments I got back. People are thinking about this! My friend, Dillon Lynch, a Panama Canal Authority employee who has worked for government organizations all his life, wrote me a wonderful e-mail about how before he opens his mouth to criticize anything or anybody, he looks at himself first. He says, \u201cAm I right with God on this?\u201d<\/p>\n

(\u201cAm I right with God on this?\u201d Actually, we should ask that question before we open our mouths on ANY subject.)<\/p>\n

And then our nephew Steve, who is a lawyer in Virginia, wrote, \u201cWhen people complain to me about the government, I think, \u2018Wait, this is a democracy, and I voted! That\u2019s ME you\u2019re talking about!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHey, we\u2019re walkin\u2019 here!\u201d<\/p>\n

So my third point is that all this negative talk is hurting us \u2013 yes, US \u2013 because WE are our government. If we don\u2019t like what\u2019s going on, it is incumbent upon US to change it. And if we appreciate the work that\u2019s being done, we need to SAY THAT, TOO. The governments of Panama and the United States and Germany and everywhere else we hail from are ALL doing good work \u2013 you have only to look to countries with little to no government to appreciate it — and to think only in the negative about them is making us and our children cynical, sarcastic and miserable. It\u2019s unbalanced, and it\u2019s creating an \u201call-government-is-bad\u201d atmosphere where collaboration and change simply can\u2019t happen. That is NOT the Kingdom of God that Jesus envisioned.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll end by telling this little story about my libertarian anti-government cousin, who writes long screeds about how horrible and incompetent all governments are, especially his own. Two weeks ago, he lost the title to his van and needed a new one fast so he could sell it. He wrote on Facebook, \u201cThe title for my van came in only two days! It\u2019s a miracle! Thank God!\u201d I commented that he had mistakenly \u201crendered unto God\u201d appreciation that properly belonged to some anonymous, efficient public servant.<\/p>\n

It was the truth, and so I wrote it on my cousin\u2019s page: \u00a0\u201cThank God for good <\/span>government!\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There was a wonderful op-ed in the NY Times this week about the ways people transport themselves safely from one place to another in Manhattan. There are cabs, buses, cars, subways, and bicycles \u2013 more bicycles than ever, and the roads are getting friendlier to them all the time — but in New York City,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1550,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","ctc_sermon_topic":[25],"ctc_sermon_book":[],"ctc_sermon_series":[],"ctc_sermon_speaker":[64],"ctc_sermon_tag":[9,142,123,144,143],"class_list":["post-1823","ctc_sermon","type-ctc_sermon","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","ctc_sermon_topic-faith-2","ctc_sermon_speaker-sue-robbins","ctc_sermon_tag-faith","ctc_sermon_tag-government","ctc_sermon_tag-patience","ctc_sermon_tag-service","ctc_sermon_tag-taxes","ctfw-has-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/balboaunionchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon\/1823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/balboaunionchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/balboaunionchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/ctc_sermon"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/balboaunionchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/balboaunionchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1823"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/balboaunionchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon\/1823\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1826,"href":"http:\/\/balboaunionchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon\/1823\/revisions\/1826"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/balboaunionchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/balboaunionchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"ctc_sermon_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/balboaunionchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon_topic?post=1823"},{"taxonomy":"ctc_sermon_book","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/balboaunionchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon_book?post=1823"},{"taxonomy":"ctc_sermon_series","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/balboaunionchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon_series?post=1823"},{"taxonomy":"ctc_sermon_speaker","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/balboaunionchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon_speaker?post=1823"},{"taxonomy":"ctc_sermon_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/balboaunionchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon_tag?post=1823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}