Affordable Health Care Makes a Difference

The stories get told. The images are painted. The judgments are made. The opinions are formed. All of this is happening with bold voices and the heir of absolute certainty. The predictions of catastrophe are so vivid that they seem real sometimes; but are they? Do we have any facts about how Obama Care has affected the lives of people we know? What has really happened so far to real people with a real stake in the outcome? Maybe you don’t know anybody yet that has had to make a decision or a change; or do you?

If you were at the United Methodist Church of Merced’s annual Church Conference last Tuesday, you witnessed Affordable Health Care making a difference. This conference is where the church makes decisions on leadership, celebrates the ministries that God has empowered us to carry out, and votes on the planned compensation for pastors. Lately, churches throughout the country come to these meetings in crisis mode. Pastors are not just given cash for their service. They are also receiving health care coverage.  When the price of pastoral leadership increases faster than the resources of the church grow, the churches need to choose between funding a pastor and funding programs that change lives in our communities. The crisis comes when costs enter the equation that is uncontrollable, unpredictable, and unreasonable. That is a perfect description of health care cost in recent years. It is important to note that if health care was affordable it would make a difference to your pastor, to your church, to your community, and to you.

Over the last ten years, the cost of health care coverage has spiked every year. In the last four years, I have been eligible for the conference health plan.  The price to cover a family of three for one year on the conference plan was $17,000 in 2009. By 2013 the conference plan had increased to over $27,000 and the coverage benefits were significantly reduced. The conference plan in 2014 is going to be $34,000 less ($2000 because the annual conference is committing to spend down its discretionary budget to ease the crisis).  No other expense has doubled over the last five years. No significant numbers of donors have doubled their offerings in the last five years. The economy is growing at a rate close to 2% per year (good news, unless expenses are growing at 10% per year). This spike in costs is the primary reason for crisis at charge conferences throughout our connection, but our charge conference was a joyful celebration; wonder why?

The reason that we had a stress free conference has a lot to do with the fact that affordable health care makes a difference.  We live in California and California has done an excellent job of preparing for the advent of Affordable Health Care. The conference board of pensions was well equipped to guide the pastor and the church leadership to understanding the effects of Obama Care. The Covered California website at https://www.coveredca.com/ is working extremely well – I feel informed about a wide variety of options to purchase health care. I am confident that the coverage is through reputable agencies and that the doctors in the networks are every bit as competent and available as they were last year.  One of the options is to have the exact same plan as I had last year with no increase in price. The facts are that the new program looks like an absolute benefit to me, my family, my church, and my community.

The mainstream news is embracing images of apocalyptic failure; while I am experiencing reasons to celebrate, and by extension, so are you. The subsidy program is significant. It is based on Aggregate Taxable income, which has wonderful incentives. For instance, when aggregate taxable income is reduced, the price of health care is reduced. This means that if your pastor chooses to put pre-tax money away for retirement, the price of the families insurance goes down, so does the tax burden at the end of the year. So the program makes it possible for a real middle class income earner to save money on health care today, save money on taxes at the end of the year, and save money for retirement in the future. Why is this story not in the news? 

 

Church leadership is doing a happy dance too. We were bracing ourselves to take another significant hit to the budget – an $8,000 to $10,000 increase in healthcare expenses. To give you perspective, the total amount budgeted for social concerns and program expenses in 2013 was $9000. This is the money that supports CATCH (our connection with community children), elder services, music, and hospitality ministry. An increase in staff expenses of $10,000 would dramatically affect our ability to either operate our church in the way we are accustomed or our ability to impact our community. Even the wonderful stewardship drive (Committed to Christ) would have the wind removed from its sails. Instead of negotiating this unbearable expense, the church is relying on the new health Insurance exchange to provide next year’s coverage for the pastor at last year’s prices. That’s right; our predicted impact of Obama Care is a net benefit to the church budget for 2014 of an estimated $10,000.

What I am saying is Affordable Health Care makes a difference; positive differences to people that are close to us. We can answer the question, “who has Obama Care helped?” The answer is it has helped my pastor, it has helped my church, it has helped my community, and it has helped me. When we are done answering the questions that demand facts from us, we have every right start asking questions of our own. We need to question the voices that paint our government’s effort at making health care affordable in the color of social abomination. We need to apply facts in the places where speculation is used to create fear. Then, when the facts demonstrate that the truth does not exist in the stories that we are hearing, we need to question the motives of the storytellers. The loudest worldview we are hearing is often the worldview that is fuelled by the most fear not necessarily the worldview that is fuelled by the most compassion, or even the most truth.

Enjoy God,

Pg

The Scarecrows In My Garden

Things that make you go Hmmmm. I went to the United Methodist Women’s Estate sale this morning. It is a glorious event; more than a twenty volunteers, a community waiting with bated breath at the door, a family relieved of the burden of sorting beloved Margaret’s possessions. Yes, that’s right; it was the estate sale for Margaret Freed – long admired and revered at the United Methodist Church of Merced. Our volunteers must have a variety of emotions when they serve the community through estate sales. Are we more emotional when we know the person who passed? Does it make us wonder and question the paths of life as a whole?

I rarely make purchases at these events, but something caught my eye. Margaret was a gardener and she had a scarecrow. Halloween is coming and a scarecrow is just the thing. On the other hand, scarecrows are an amazing testimony to who we are as people, aren’t they? We work hard – toiling in the soil, tending to the garden, producing fruit from nothing but dirt. We certainly don’t want the scavengers to reap the benefits; right? So we create fear to assuage our own fear.

So here I go asking questions and falling into a state of wonder about the intersections of life and faith. How do we feel about our gardens? Who is welcome in the garden? Who or what would we scare away from our garden? What would my/your scarecrow look like?

Speaking of gardens, one of my favorite books in college was called Candide, written by Voltaire. It was a story of tragic life. There seemed to be no end to the obstacles faced by Candide and the other characters. The questions constantly loomed in the background – “Is there a God?, Is God an under-achiever?, Why all the suffering?, What’s the point, anyway?”. In Candide, like at Margaret’s estate sale, the story ends in the garden. Let these words remind you…  (Warning long quote of ancient literature ahead)

I would be glad to know which is worst, to be ravished a hundred times by Negro pirates, to have one buttock cut off, to run the gauntlet among the Bulgarians, to be whipped and hanged at an auto-da-fe, to be dissected, to be chained to an oar in a galley; and, in short, to experience all the miseries through which every one of us hath passed, or to remain here doing nothing?"

This," said Candide, "is a grand question." (…Candid and company visit a wise old man, living the good life and willing to impart wisdom) 

…, he invited the strangers to come into his house. His two daughters and two sons presented them with divers sorts of sherbet of their own making; besides caymac, heightened with the peels of candied citrons, oranges, lemons, pineapples, pistachio nuts, and Mocha coffee unadulterated with the bad coffee of Batavia or the American islands. After which the two daughters of this good Mussulman perfumed the beards of Candide, Pangloss, and Martin. 

"You must certainly have a vast estate," said Candide to the Turk. 

"I have no more than twenty acres of ground," he replied, "the whole of which I cultivate myself with the help of my children; and our labor keeps off from us three great evils-idleness, vice, and want." 

(Candide and friends find it necessary to resolve the gap in life between wisdom and folly.)

"Neither need you tell me," said Candide, "that we must take care of our garden." 

"You are in the right," said Pangloss; "for when man was put into the garden of Eden, it was with an intent to dress it; and this proves that man was not born to be idle." 

"Work then without disputing," said Martin; "it is the only way to render life supportable."

The little society, one and all, entered into this laudable design and set themselves to exert their different talents. The little piece of ground yielded them a plentiful crop. Cunegund indeed was very ugly, but she became an excellent hand at pastrywork: Pacquette embroidered; the old woman had the care of the linen. There was none, down to Brother Giroflee, but did some service; he was a very good carpenter, and became an honest man. Pangloss used now and then to say to Candide: 

"There is a concatenation of all events in the best of possible worlds; for, in short, had you not been kicked out of a fine castle for the love of Miss Cunegund; had you not been put into the Inquisition; had you not traveled over America on foot; had you not run the Baron through the body; and had you not lost all your sheep, which you brought from the good country of El Dorado, you would not have been here to eat preserved citrons and pistachio nuts." 

"Excellently observed," answered Candide; "but let us cultivate our garden." 

 

-THE END- . 

If it is wisdom to cultivate our gardens, is it not also wisdom to protect them? No wonder we think our scarecrows are justified. But what happens when faith intersects with wisdom? I think I found that intersection in Margaret’s garden. Her scarecrow tells the story. When we walk in faith we don’t need to walk in fear. When we have felt the impact of grace we can show radical gratitude, a welcoming spirit – a willingness to give, to support, and to love one another. I know that Margaret’s life was filled with both devastation and unimaginable beauty. Whose isn’t? Yet, she was faithful in cultivating her garden. More than that, she was faithful in her walk with the rest of us too. Just look at her hand-made scarecrow. 

What does the scarecrow in my garden look like?

This week we will talk about Zacheus, the wee little man, on the road to Jericho. A whole community stood shoulder to shoulder, barricading Zacheus from access to what they alone had any right to. There it is again - people and their scarecrows, trying to protect their garden from those unworthy. Yet Jesus came to welcome the lost and the left out. Jesus ignored the people in the barricade and ate with the one left out. Then Zacheus had a response. Zacheus had a faith and  wisdom intersection – he opened his garden.

Enjoy God,



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The Prodigal God

I dare you to think of all the ways that God is prodigal as we explore the stories of the Christ event – God revealed. We all have an implied definition of the word prodigal, which is based on how we understand the story in Luke 15, sometimes titled the “prodigal son.” Because the son makes a plan to enter back into the grace of his father by confessing sin, we equate the word prodigal with sinful, but this isn’t really accurate.  Here is one definition adj. - spending money or resources freely and recklessly; wastefully extravagant. (i.e. “prodigal habits die hard") Here is a second, having or giving something on a lavish scale. (i.e. "the dessert was crunchy with brown sugar and prodigal with whipped cream"). So, if our image of the word prodigal were not hardened by our judgments of the son in Luke’s story, would we be able to see the prodigal in God?

To review the story, Pharisees and scribes were grumbling, like only the righteous authorities can do. “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.” So Jesus goes into story mode. As if it were a foregone conclusion; Jesus posits, “Who among you wouldn’t leave your 99 sheep in search of just one that was lost?” We, from the culture of “a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush,” might be forced to admit that we wouldn’t do this. Why risk all that you have for the “nonessential, the inconsequential, the insignificant? Then he goes on, lost a coin? “who among you would not spend significant time and effort in searching and take even more time in celebrating?” Again, we from the culture of “Time is Money” might be tempted to make very pragmatic decisions. So let’s get prodigal.

The son is scandalous. He has the good fortune of being part of a family with wealth and position. He would have a duty to serve his family and then the honor of receiving a share of the family’s’ assets. But he breaks with tradition. He seems to under value the cultural norms. He takes the inheritance of the father to another country. He squanders all that is his, all to which he is entitled, he is charged with dissolute living. His brother complains that he devoured the father’s property with prostitutes. He enters into a time of famine. He feels starved and abandoned. He aches for the comfort of home, even a comfort that was a fraction of what he has had in the past. His loss is real and profound – the squandering is complete. This reminds me of a description of Jesus.

                Phil 2:5-11

⁵Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, ⁶who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, ⁷but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, ⁸he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross. ⁹Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, ¹⁰so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

The father has actions and emotions that force us to re-imagine the meaning of fatherhood; challenge the relationship between authority and love. When the son is still far off the father’s heart was filled with compassion and he sets out in a full run; an embarrassing display of affection that would be far beneath the authority of his position in the culture. But he doesn’t stop here, he takes the son completely back, robing the son, and giving the son back his place at the table. He celebrates raucously; for example, “… with all the people on earth and all the company in heaven and joining an unending hymn.” When the father is challenged by the righteous family member, this is his response, “We have to celebrate and rejoice…your brother was dead and now he is alive.” How many fathers have these words to say? How many fathers have been redefined by their loving response to a squandering son?

“Love is recklessness, not reason.

Reason seeks profit,

Love comes on strong. Consuming herself,

Unabashed”

(From a poem By Mathnawi Rumi)

The brother appears with familiar identifying markers as well. He is the part of the family that has attempted to obey every cultural expectation. He is the one casting aspersions on the squandering son, “He devoured your property on prostitutes” on sinners. He expects reward for his behavior and is jealous that the father is handing out gifts that are unearned. Finally he is taught by the father not to question the father’s love for him and to draw the circle of acceptance wider – the squanderer is restored.

This is the story that was told in response to the grumbling of the Pharisees and the scribes. Do you see a prodigal God in this story?

Jesus has often referred to himself as a son of God, “I am in my father’s house”. Jesus has often referred to God as father; saying this is how you pray “’abba’, who art in heaven…” Can we see the possibility that Jesus was telling the Pharisees and scribes the whole story? My squandering is intentional. I have a great inheritance, but I will give it all away. I will squander it on sinners and prostitutes. I will let go of all that I have and all that I am. I will be famished. I will feel forsaken. I will long for home and feel so set apart from it. But the father will demonstrate an unimaginable compassion. The father will be redefined by love rather than authority and the son will be restored. What is more, there is neither exclusion nor exclusiveness in store for the righteous, the culturally obedient. 

It is God’s choice and God’s right to be prodigal and it has made all the difference. God revealed is a God that lets go of everything; power, identity, honor, even body. The prodigal God has demonstrated the power to fill the empty hand, the empty life, the empty. It is a distribution of God’s resources that would seem to anyone watching to be free, reckless, and wastefully extravagant. It is a distribution of grace that could only be described as lavish in scale. “The squandering son –restored” is our hope and our guide. In what ways can we let go? Can we have faith that an empty hand is but a fresh vessel for the abundance that waits? What is our relationship to the resources we have been given? What have we done to make room for the resources that are yet to come our way? Can it be that the squandering son is a good steward?

¡Presente!

¡Presente!

I first learned this word in seminary. I had the good fortune to be taught about South American Base Camp communities that practiced a new theology, Liberation theology. These base camps would recognize their own self-worth and dignity as God’s beloved and join together to resist the forces that oppressed them and kept them under-served and under- privileged – I also call these groups the Left-out and left-down.  This movement got recognition in the sixties and seventies when it became clear that the powers of oppression were being challenged. What also happened was the leaders of these groups were starting to disappear. Governments, international trade magnates, drug cartels, war lords; there are gads of powers that would want leaders like this to disappear. But the movement refused to be defeated. When leaders would gather, they would call the names of those present and the response was a loud and proud, “¡Presente!”. As you can imagine, it would be heartbreaking to know that your friend, colleague, and partner in struggling for liberation – in essence a sibling in spirit – would be not answering the call this time because the powers of oppression are causing leaders to disappear. So, a tradition was born – the names of those not present were also called and someone who knew and loved this leader would shout even louder “¡Presente!” Aren’t there leaders among us, both disappeared and embodied? Are any among us “¡Presente!”?

Greg Rienzo has forgotten more about this movement than I will ever know. Mr. Rienzo is a former Mercedian and was present at the birth of the liberation movement. He worked alongside small groups that show amazing power; in fact, the power to change the world. I get goose bumps just thinking of the names that must have been called in Mr. Rienzo’s times of world changing struggle. Who did he work with in Peru? Who did he work with in Nicaragua? Who did God use to make a difference, a strong difference, a difference that caused the powers of oppression to quake with fear and retaliate?

It turns out that one of the names Greg Rienzo would shout is a name from our own church, Betty Stewart. I wonder if we are all aware of the power that Betty showed us – it was the power of small groups of thoughtful concerned people – it was the power to change the world. In the late eighties a small group of people gathered; Greg Rienzo, Betty Stewart, Dave Hetland and I’m sure a few others. They thought that the Sister City movement would be a good way to enrich the lives of people both in the community of Merced and a Community in South America. I wonder if they really knew the power of which they spoke. How could they? This power is changing lives, changing the world, and changing the knowable face of God among us.

It was 1988 when the sister cities became yoked together for the first time. Somoto, Nicaragua is a rural, agricultural city with a little over 40,000 people enjoying rich culture, sharing profound spirituality, and struggling to make its way in a harsh world. The great thing is that we could use those same words to describe Merced in 1988. Over the last twenty-five years, we have been blessed to experience the jewels of Somoto; the local art, the traditional dances, the faith in a liberating God. Merced has brought the art of puppeteering, scholarships to college students, supported a senior center, and demonstrated the love of a sibling or more powerfully the love of a “sibling-by-choice”.

In October of 2007, Betty Stewart died – such a loss, we all felt it. The United Methodist Church of Merced lost an inspirational lay leader. The community of Merced lost a powerful voice in the city council meetings. The Sister City Organization lost a passionate board member. El Ciudad de Somoto lost Une Hermana. Was this a leader disappearing? It wasn’t a malicious presence that took this leader from us, but what is it that causes the next leader to duck in the echoing presence of a call?

On Saturday, October 12^th Mr. Greg Rienzo, at 84 years old, will take flight again. It is the 25^th anniversary of the sister city union that our communities have joined. A small contingent will be in tow, Betty’s daughter, Judy, Elwin and Genie Floyd, and a few others. You may already have made some contributions to the extra luggage that the Floyds are bringing as gifts to those in Somoto. When they are in Somoto, they are bound to meet the Vice Mayor Mauricio Cujina, who was college educated as a result of sister city scholarships. They are likely to meet thousands of children that owned their first pencil through a channel of love that spanned hemispheres. They will problem never tire of hearing people tell them about the puppet show that made them laugh and cry as a child. I’ll bet they will even have time to visit the senior center and the permanent monument to Betty Stewart in the city park. They may even have a chance to visit the clinic that was built by Dr. Dennis Cesar and the organization “Hearts Afire” that sprouted in Merced after a previous sister city trip. In short, I think Elwin and Genie will see a new face of God on this trip. It is the world changing, relational God that calls us to put it all on the line and work side by side for liberation. It is the God of purpose and power that enriches lives on opposite sides of the world by binding them together with love.

Maybe someone will call out the name Senora Betty Stewart. Maybe someone will shout the word “¡Presente!”

I hope so! Because “¡Presente!”,does not just honor the life of the leader that disappeared. “¡Presente!” does not just let the ache of our longing hearts have voice when we remember how much we miss this leader. “¡Presente!” acknowledges the power that created that leader in the first place and “¡Presente!” declares proudly the leadership that has disappeared has not in fact died. Instead someone else stands ¡Presente! In the name of the saints that have gone before us.

Who will shout?                                       God is still at work…

These are the words of anthropologist, Margaret Mead “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has"

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