The Wired Word for 1/31/2010

Dear Class Member,

The news we're using as the basis for our next class discussion didn't make it into the headlines, but it illustrates two key biblical principles: the danger of being possessed by our possessions and the importance of loving our neighbors in ways that really help them. So those will be the topics of our class lesson.

  

If you wish to start thinking about our topic in advance, below is some introductory material. 

 

 

Family Downsizes Home, Gives $800,000 to Charity

The Wired Word for January 31, 2010 

 

In the News

 

One day in 2006, Kevin Salwen, a writer and entrepreneur in Atlanta, and his wife, Joan, were driving their 14-year-old daughter, Hannah, home from a sleepover. Stopping for a red light, Hannah noticed a Mercedes coupe on one side of the street and a homeless man begging for food on the other side. A thought suddenly struck her, and she said, "If that man had a less nice car, that man there could have a meal."

 

After the light changed, Hannah pursued the topic, pushing her parents about inequity and insisting that she wanted to do something personally. Finally, her mother, thinking to bring Hannah back to reality, asked, "What do you want to do? Sell our house?"

 

Wrong question for an idealistic teen.

 

Hannah leaped on that idea, urging her parents to sell their luxurious home and give half the proceeds to charity. They could buy a more modest home with the other half, she said.

 

Kevin acknowledges that they were fairly well off, "a result of hard work, good education and career luck," he says. And at the time, the family of four, including Hannah's younger brother, Joseph, were living in an attractive, spacious, three-story home.

 

Hannah wasn't deterred, and in the days ahead, she continued to promote the idea and finally got the rest of her family on board. The Salwens sold their home and moved into one that was half the size and, significantly, half the price of the one they sold. They ended up giving $800,000 to the Hunger Project, a New York City-based international development organization, where it's being used to sponsor health, microfinancing, food and other programs for some 40 villages in Ghana.

 

The whole process brought the family closer together. They researched charities to find the right one to receive their gift. Along the way, they participated in World Vision's 30-Hour Famine to learn what it was like to be hungry. They worked together at a local food bank and soup kitchen, and they labored on a team helping Habitat for Humanity build homes. They even traveled to Ghana with Hunger Project executive John Coonrod. The Salwens discovered that Coonrod and his wife donate so much back to the project from their modest aid-worker salaries that they're among the top Hunger Project givers from New York.

 

But the family came together in another way as well. Kevin says that in the larger house, the family scattered in different directions, but after the downsizing, with less space to scatter to, the family members spend more time in proximity to one another. Unexpectedly, the smaller house turned out to be more family-friendly. "We essentially traded stuff for togetherness and connectedness," Kevin says.

 

The family who purchased the home the Salwens sold were so impressed with what the family was doing that they gave $100,000 to the same project.

 

The Salwens haven't been without critics. Some have called them sanctimonious showoffs, and others have said they should be helping Americans instead of people in Ghana.  

 

Kevin and Hannah have written a book about the whole experience. Titled The Power of Half, it's due to be released in February. Their aim, the father and daughter say, isn't to encourage others to sell their homes but rather to urge them to step off the treadmill of accumulation and define themselves more by what they give than by what they possess.

 

Hannah, now 17 and planning to become a nurse, says, "Everyone has too much of something, whether it's time, talent or treasure. Everyone does have their own half; you just have to find it."

 

More on this story can be found at these links:

 

What could you live without? New York Times

Why we gave away our home. Parade

The Power of Half. Salwen Family Blog 

 

The Big Questions

Here are some of the questions we will discuss in class:

 

1. How much of what you possess could you give away without harming your well-being?

 

2. What possessions or commodities do you have in quantities that are more than you need to be comfortable?

 

3. Under what circumstances might giving away most of your possessions to help others be the right thing to do? 

 

4. What is the main biblical view of possessions?

 

5. To what degree and with whom does motive count when we do acts of charity?

 

Confronting the News with Scripture

We will look at selected verses from these Scripture texts. You may wish to read these in advance for background:

 

Genesis 13:2-12

Luke 14:25-33

Luke 19:1-9

Acts 10:1-8

1 Corinthians 13:1-13 

 

In class, we will talk about these passages and look for some insight on the big questions, as well as talk about other questions you may have about this topic. Please join us.

The Wired Word for 1/24/2010

Dear Class Member 

Amid the ongoing tragedy in Haiti, we hear testimonies to the power of faith in God. The news this week brought one such story to us, and we are going to use it as the basis of our next class. We will consider how faith works in the lives of those who hold it when they are in deep trouble.

 

If you wish to start thinking about our topic in advance, below is some introductory material. 

 

 

"Peace Like a River": The Sound of Faith in Collapsed Haiti Hotel

The Wired Word for January 24, 2010 

 

In the News

 

When the 7.0 earthquake hit Haiti on January 12, among the thousands of people caught inside collapsed buildings were three officers from the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) and three representatives from Interchurch Medical Assistance (IMA) World Health, a nonprofit that works in the developing world to provide free health-care services. All six were trapped inside the lobby of Port-au-Prince's Hotel Montana when the four stories of that structure suddenly crumpled down on top of them.

 

The trio from UMCOR -- Rev. James Gulley, Rev. Sam Dixon and Rev. Clint Rabb -- were in Haiti to improve medical services and agricultural practices in that nation. Gulley, formerly a missionary to Nigeria and Cambodia, was a specialist in sustainable agriculture. Dixon was the head of UMCOR, and Rabb was the leader of its office of voluntary mission service.

 

They had come to the hotel to meet with the team from IMA World Health, which included Sarla Chand, an IMA officer; Rick Santos, chief executive of IMA; and Ann Varghese, a representative from Haiti.

 

After meeting in the lobby, the six started toward the restaurant but never got there. Because she had stopped to send an e-mail message from her laptop, Chand was a few steps behind the other five when she heard a noise followed by a blow to her head. "My laptop bag flew off in one direction, my (hand) bag flew off," Chand said. "I'm just being propelled forward. I don't even have time to think of the word earthquake."

 

That was followed by darkness and a moment of dead silence.

 

Eventually, each of the six spoke out in the darkness. Chand, Gulley, Santos and Varghese were okay, but Dixon and Rabb, who were pinned side by side under a large slab of concrete, both indicated that their legs were broken. But even those who were relatively unhurt could find no way out of the rubble, not even by using the light from their cell phones.

 

The six remained in that state of dark entrapment for the next 55 hours, until a French search-and-rescue team finally pulled them from the pancaked building. As it turned out, Dixon died shortly before he could be extracted, and Rabb died later in a Florida hospital to which he had been transported.

 

Both men, however, were conscious through the long, dark hours before the rescuers arrived. Gulley said that as the time passed, "We talked about faith, prayed together and sang. We sang 'Peace Like a River' several times."

 

Gulley said Dixon and Rabb were in great pain, and the rest tried to help as much as possible. Santos had some Aleve with him, which he gave them. "Sam was at an angle that put strong pressure on his legs," Gulley said of Dixon, "so we used laptop computers to brace his back. It would help for a time, and then we would have to rearrange it."

 

Santos also passed around a lollipop he had with him.

 

Gulley credits Chand, who was the nearest to the outside, with getting the attention of rescuers. Once she was pulled out, she insisted the rescuers keep digging for her colleagues. She also told them about two other people she knew were trapped in a nearby elevator.

 

When help finally came, Gulley and the others started singing the doxology, "Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow."

 

Only hours after the rescue did Chand learn that two of those whose voices had comforted and guided her with words of faith during the ordeal had succumbed to their injuries. 

 

"I have no answer about why I was given the gift of life and Sam and Clint were not," Gulley said in an interview with United Methodist News Service. "I can't answer that any better than Job could answer why some people suffer more than others. All I can do is continue to try to use that gift in God's service in whatever way it is intended. I'm grateful to be alive, and I accept that gift."

On Tuesday, a week after the earthquake, Joe Knerr, leader of the Fairfax County, Virginia, urban search-and-rescue team, said workers were still searching the Hotel Montana for survivors. But, he added, "Hotel Montana will have a large number of fatalities."

 

As of that day, 22 people had been pulled alive from the destroyed hotel, and 10 bodies had been recovered. But more people were known to have been inside. "We've searched with dogs and listened if there were voices," one rescue worker said. "No positive results."

 

More on this story may be found at these links:

 

Survivor: UMCOR trio kept faith in Haiti ruins. UMC.org

Haiti survivor Chand recalls hotel rescue. UMC.org 

Quake victim recounts time buried alive, rescue. NPR 

James Gulley recalls 55 hours in earthquake ruins. Global Ministries

Little hope left for Canadians trapped under Haiti's Montana Hotel. The Province

 

The Big Questions

Here are some of the questions we will discuss in class:

 

1. The Christian faith tells us we are in the hands of God. What does it mean for faithful people to be in the hands of God when in life-threatening situations from which some faithful people do not survive?

 

2. How is it possible to have "peace like a river" when one is drowning in the flow of circumstances?

 

3. If serious illness, deep troubles, life-threatening circumstances or something similar cause someone to cease to trust God, does that mean that person's faith wasn't real to begin with? Why or why not?

 

4. How might times of trouble actually restore or strengthen someone's faltering faith?

 

5. If your life had been spared during a tragedy when others next to you died, how might that affect your relationship with God? How might it affect how you live the rest of your life?

 

Confronting the News with Scripture

We will look at selected verses from these Scripture texts. You may wish to read these in advance for background:

 

Acts 16:16-34

Psalm 116:1-19

Luke 1:26-38

2 Corinthians 1:8-11

1 Peter 1:3-9

 

In class, we will talk about these passages and look for some insight on the big questions, as well as talk about other questions you may have about this topic. Please join us.

The Wired Word for 1/17/2010

Dear Church Member,

On Tuesday, Haiti was hit by a devastating earthquake, bringing suffering and death to the people of that nation, the poorest in this hemisphere. The cost in human lives, the loss of homes and other buildings, and the grief and fear among the survivors makes Haiti a place needing prayers, charitable support and direct assistance from Christians around the world.

 

Because the poor have fewer resources and often live in substandard structures, natural disasters that would be significant problems elsewhere have much worse effects in impoverished countries. This reminds us that the Bible has quite a bit to say about the poor and about acts and attitudes toward the poor among those who are better off. So that will be the topic of our next class.   

 

If you wish to start thinking about our topic in advance, below is some introductory material. 

 

 

 

Haiti Devastated by 7.0 Earthquake

The Wired Word for January 17, 2010

 

In the News

 

Just before 5 p.m. Eastern Time on Tuesday, a 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck Haiti, with the epicenter just 10 miles from Port-au-Prince, the island nation's capital city. In that city of 2 million people, the damage has been massive and widespread, and early estimates are that tens of thousands have lost their homes and many have perished. It was the worst quake in the area in two centuries.

 

Electricity and phone lines failed almost immediately, and the island air-traffic control center collapsed, so getting accurate reports was difficult, but people on the ground described the damage as "staggering" and "catastrophic." The Red Cross says 3 million people have been affected. One worker for Food for the Poor charity said, "Hundreds of casualties would be a a serious understatement."

 

The presidential palace, the U.N. headquarters, a hospital, public buildings, churches, schools, hotels, private homes and many other structures collapsed with people inside, and rescuers working with only their bare hands and only by the light of flashlights after dark were trying to dig people out, but it is feared many victims are beyond rescue. 

 

Aftershocks of 5.9 and 5.5 magnitude followed, and a tsunami watch was issued for Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Cuba and the Bahamas, but that was later lifted.

 

Haiti, with a population of 10 million, is the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, with most people living on less than $2 per day. In normal times, the government can barely take care of its people; under natural disaster, it is even less able. Because of the poverty, many of the buildings in Haiti were not built to withstand earthquakes, and many people live in flimsy shanties clinging to hillsides. The nation's infrastructure before the quake was barely adequate; now it is almost nonexistent. Thus, while a 7.0 earthquake would be a disaster in any part of the world, in Haiti it is a catastrophe of gigantic proportions.

 

Haiti experienced four major hurricanes in 2008 that killed almost 800 people and had not yet recovered from those, making the quake even worse news. In addition, the country has experienced decades of civil and political instability, all of which have impeded economic progress in the land.

 

The United States, the United Kingdom, Venezuela, Canada, Australia, France, China and number of Latin American nations as well non-governmental organizations and church agencies are mobilizing aid responses, but the need is likely to go well beyond immediate emergency help. 

 

This is a developing story, so check world news sources for updates. 

More on this story may be found at these links:

 

The Haiti earthquake: Pictures of devastation. TIME

Injured Haitians plead for help after quake. TIME 

Haitians confront devastation of quake. New York Times

Earthquake devastation emerges in Haiti. BBC

 

The Big Questions

Here are some of the questions we will discuss in class:

 

1. Is there more than one biblical view of the poor? If so, what are they? If not, what is the single biblical view of the poor? 

 

2. Is it possible to be a faithful Christian without making some sincere effort to help the poor? Explain your answer.

 

3. Catastrophes have a way of changing our perspective about what things are important and what things are not. How does this catastrophe in Haiti affect your view of what is important in life?

 

4. As citizens of the wealthiest nation in the world, do we have more of an obligation than others to help the suffering in Haiti? Why or why not?

 

5. If Jesus were physically present in Haiti right now, what do you think he would be doing?

 

Confronting the News with Scripture

We will look at selected verses from these Scripture texts. You may wish to read these in advance for background:

 

Deuteronomy 15:1-18

Matthew 25:31-46

Luke 4:16-22

Luke 6:17-26

1 John 3:11-24

 

In class, we will talk about these passages and look for some insight on the big questions, as well as talk about other questions you may have about this topic. Please join us.

The Wired Word for 1/10/2010

Dear Church Member, 

Last week, a man who, as a Mississippi attorney, helped to prosecute a 30-year-old murder against a civil rights worker and thereby move civil rights forward in that state, started serving a jail sentence for obstruction of justice in an unrelated case. His sentencing reminds us that no one, no matter how good and faithful he or she has been, is immune to temptation to later to do wrong. It also reminds us of the importance of ongoing maintenance and growth in our spiritual lives.

 

So that will be the topic of this installment of our next lesson.

 

If you wish to start thinking about our topic in advance, below is some introductory material. 

 

 

 

Civil Rights Hero Goes to Jail for Obstruction of Justice

The Wired Word for January 10, 2010

 

In the News

 

In 1994, Bobby DeLaughter, a Mississippi prosecutor, because famous for securing a conviction in the 30-year-old Medgar Evers murder case. Through his work, Ku  Klux Klan member Byron De La Beckwith was sent to prison for the 1963 slaying of civil rights activist Evers. Subsequently DeLaughter's work helped to reopen several civil rights cold cases, and DeLaughter became a hero of the civil rights movement. Alec Baldwin portrayed DeLaughter in the 1996 movie Ghosts of Mississippi.

 

This month, DeLaughter was the one who went to prison, having pled guilty to obstruction of justice in an unrelated case. He is sentenced to 18 months at a prison in Kentucky.

 

In 2002, DeLaughter became a circuit court judge for Hinds County, Mississippi, and in that capacity, he eventually presided over a $15-million asbestos litigation case, where prosecutors said, DeLaughter was influenced by his legal mentor and onetime boss attorney Ed Peters in the case. Prosecutors alleged that Peters received $1 million from the plaintiff's attorney Dickie Scruggs to influence DeLaughter's ruling.

 

In the initial investigation, DeLaughter told FBI agents that he had two conversations with Peters about a lawsuit pending against Scruggs, but prosecutors said DeLaughter actually had dozens of conversations with Peters about the lawsuit. And DeLaughter later admitted that he lied to the FBI.

 

Although DeLaughter never received any money from Scruggs, he was accused of funneling information about the litigation to the Scruggs legal team in exchange for help trying to gain a seat on the federal bench. In July 2009, DeLaughter stepped down as judge and pled guilty to the obstruction of justice charge. 

 

Peters surrendered his law license and returned much of the $1 million bribe he had received. In exchange for his testimony against DeLaughter, Peters was given immunity and no jail time.

 

DeLaughter's attorneys said that DeLaughter trusted Peters too much, and that Peters exploited their friendship and then turned on DeLaughter to avoid jail himself.

 

Scruggs was sentenced to seven years in prison on corruption charges.

 

Although we cannot make any assumptions about the current state of DeLaughter's faith, The Wired Word has located an article from 1997, just after the Ghosts of Mississippi movie appeared, in which DeLaughter tells the interviewer, Peter Chattaway, that while the movie depicted the murderer De La Beckwith as a Bible-quoting racist, he wished the movie had also shown the positive side of faith. DeLaughter told Chattaway that during the time of the trial, "there wasn't but one other alternative and that was to say a lot of prayers" (see the article on page 4 of this PDF file). We also located a comment from Chattaway where he says he included more quotes about the real-life faith of DeLaughter at that time for an article in a Christian newspaper that does not appear online (see the Chattaway comment at the end of this blog). 

 

More on this story may be found at these links:

 

Bobby DeLaughter, prosecutor ... is going to jail. CBS News/48 Hours Mystery

Civil rights hero caught in corruption probe to begin serving sentence. CNN 

Mississippi Judge Bobby DeLaughter pleads guilty to Scruggs-related obstruction. ABA Journal 

 

The Big Questions

Here are some of the questions we will discuss in class:

 

1. When a person who has done notable good things later falls into wrongdoing, how should that person's life and contributions to the common good be assessed by those who had considered that person an ally? By those who considered that person an opponent? 

 

2. How do you think God views your flaws? Your mistakes? Your deliberate sins?

 

3. Is it possible for good people to "slide" into serious sin, without much forethought or intention? If so, how do we guard against such downfalls?

 

4. Does doing wrong later make your motives for doing earlier good works suspect? Why or why not? 

5. Are committed Christians as susceptible to temptation as are people who have not committed themselves to follow Jesus? Why or why not?  

 

Confronting the News with Scripture

We will look at selected verses from these Scripture texts. You may wish to read these in advance for background:

 

2 Samuel 1:17-27

Mark 4:32-42

1 Corinthians 10:1-13

1 Peter 5:6-11

Matthew 12:43-45

 

In class, we will talk about these passages and look for some insight on the big questions, as well as talk about other questions you may have about this topic. Please join us.

The Wired Word for 1/3/2010

Dear Class Member,

An Anglican priest recently caught the attention of world news sources when he advocated in a sermon that people in serious need who have tried every legal means to obtain the necessities to survive should resort to shoplifting rather than other illegal activities. He indicated that under those circumstances, shoplifting was the right thing to do.

 

While he did not say so in so many words, the priest was implying that under certain conditions, the commandment to not steal could be suspended. And that leads us to our topics for our next class. We will discuss how the timeless commandments from Scripture function to guide us under unusual, emergency or desperate circumstances. And we will also consider how well those who are not poor understand the plight of those who are.

 

If you wish to start thinking about our topic in advance, below is some introductory material. 

 

 

 

Priest OKs Shoplifting When in Dire Straits

The Wired Word for January 3, 2010

 

In the News

 

In his sermon for the Sunday before Christmas, Father Tim Jones, parish priest of the Anglican churches of St. Lawrence and St. Hilda in York, England, told his congregation that shoplifting is acceptable under certain circumstances. When a person is in desperate need and has exhausted all other legal avenues of help to survive, then, said Jones, "My advice, as a Christian priest, is to shoplift."

 

The priest went on to say, "I do not offer such advice because I think that stealing is a good thing, or because I think it is harmless, for it is neither. I would ask that they do not steal from small family businesses, but from large national businesses, knowing that the costs are ultimately passed on to the rest of us in the form of higher prices. I would ask them not to take any more than they need, for any longer than they need. And I would offer this advice with a heavy heart, wishing that our society recognized that bureaucratic ineptitude and systemic delay constitutes a dreadful invitation and incentive to crime for people struggling to cope at the very bottom of our social order."

 

Jones gave his okay to shoplifting after describing the plight of persons who have tried every legal means to receive enough to get by, but who have either been given insufficient help or been put onto a waiting list to receive it. In those circumstances, said the priest, shoplifting is a better alternative than prostitution, burglary or other criminal acts to obtain money.

 

In the sermon, Jones said he did not give the advice lightly. He explained, "Let my words not be misrepresented as a simplistic call for people to shoplift. The observation that shoplifting is the best option that some people are left with is a grim indictment of who we are. Rather, this is a call for our society no longer to treat its most vulnerable people with indifference and contempt. When people are released from prison, or find themselves suddenly without work or family support, then to leave them for weeks and weeks with inadequate or clumsy social support is monumental, catastrophic folly. We create a situation which leaves some people little option but crime."

 

The leadership of the Diocese of York, of which Jones' churches are a part, has not supported his advice. In a statement on the diocesan Web site, Archdeacon of York Richard Seed said, "The Church of England does not advise anyone to shoplift, or break the law in any way. Fr Tim Jones is raising important issues about the difficulties people face when benefits are not forthcoming, but shoplifting is not the way to overcome these difficulties." Seed went on to refer to organizations and charities that work with people in need.

 

Former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey also did not support Jones, calling the priest's advice "misguided and foolish" while allowing that Jones' concern for the poor was "admirable." Carey added that "We aren't in a Dickensian era when people are driven to picking a pocket or two in order to survive." He pointed out that today the state provides a "safety net" and many charities offer advice, food and shelter. He further said that "nobody is dying of hunger even though the inequalities of our society are still greater than they should be."

 

Members of the British Retail Consortium, a trade organization, also criticized Jones' advice. A spokesperson for the group said that helping vulnerable people is "the job of our welfare system, which retailers support with the billions they pay each year in tax."

 

The North Yorkshire police said that encouraging people to shoplift was "highly irresponsible."  

 

This news reminded one member of The Wired Word editorial team of a scene in the play Les Miserables where the ex-convict Jean Valjean absconds with the silver candlesticks and other valuables from a church. When the police bring him back, the priest, merciful and thinking on his feet, hands Valjean two more candlesticks and says, "Oh -- you forgot these other things that I gave you as well," and thereby keeps Valjean from being sent back to prison.  In the musical version, the priest sings:  "I have bought your soul for God." He also tells Valjean that he should see a higher plan in what had happened, and use the silver "to become an honest man." 

 

Our team member says, "All of this makes me think: It would be a very different thing for this priest to have advocated that shopkeepers should be merciful in the event of people stealing. What if he had encouraged people to have mercy and perhaps 'buy [others'] souls for God,' as happened in Les Miserables?  But the beauty of that option, and the life change that is possible in someone like Jean Valjean when they are shown mercy, falls apart when people begin to feel that they're entitled to do the stealing in the first place."

 

More on this story may be found at these links:

 

Priest: Thou shalt not steal (unless it's from big business). CNN World 

English priest: Shoplifting OK at times. CBS News

'Shoplifting' priest "misguided and foolish." InTheNews

Transcript of Father Tim Jones' sermon. The Press

 

The Big Questions

Here are some of the questions we will discuss in class: 

 

1. What do you think Jesus would say about Father Jones' shoplifting advice? What do you think Jesus would say about the intent behind Jones' advice?

 

2. Are there ever any circumstances when one of the Ten Commandments should be suspended?

 

3. If a person with no funds, resources, employment or relatives willing to help has applied for assistance and is on a waiting list to receive it, what should that person do in the meantime to obtain food and shelter?

 

4. Can a Christian ever be content with the view that helping vulnerable people is the job only of the social welfare system? Why or why not?

 

5. Is Jones right when he says that "bureaucratic ineptitude and systemic delay constitutes a dreadful invitation and incentive to crime for people struggling to cope at the very bottom of our social order"? Why or why not?

 

Confronting the News with Scripture

We will look at selected verses from these Scripture texts. You may wish to read these in advance for background:

 

Exodus 20:1-17

Proverbs 10:15
Luke 1:39-56
Luke 3:1-14
Ephesians 4:25--5:2 

In class, we will talk about these passages and look for some insight on the big questions, as well as talk about other questions you may have about this topic. Please join us.