The Rev. Chuck Currie

The Art Of The Possible vs. The Kingdom Of God: Reflecting On the President's Address To Congress

The president of the United States offered Americans a progressive vision of the future today based on the moral principles that have historically made our nation strong: reward for hard work, commitment to national service, and a strong national government that seeks not to overwhelm citizens but rather to assist our people achieve their highest aspirations.

Tonight as the president spoke most of the republicans sat in their seats as democrats celebrated the passage of new health care opportunities for children. Republicans also sat on their behinds as the president outlined new tax policies that will benefit the middle class while making the richest Americans pay their fair share. I think most viewers walked away with two clear observations about the republicans: they don’t like poor kids without health care but love really rich guys.

It really is a mystery how President Obama won this election. ;) 

But for all the good plans offered by the President there was something bothering me again about the entire political process. The president wants to achieve what his chief of staff called the “art of the possible” in legislative victories.

I’m a minister ordained to preach and teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I’m not a politician. We have different world views. Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite's words, written for United Church News, might be helpful in illustrating my point:

….we have a responsibility to proclaim, even demand, good stewardship of God's creation and to call to account those who are responsible for making this system work productively so that individuals and families who work hard can have the means to live. A story may help us understand the separate but related roles of proclamation and politics. When Ronald Reagan was elected President, as many of you doubtless remember, his first budget included many cuts in social programs. A group of clergy went to Washington D.C., myself among them, to argue with Congressional representatives that these social programs helped people get out of poverty and that it was wrong to engage in these wholesale cuts.

A few prominent clergypersons were invited to the Oval Office to meet with the President. Rev. William Sloan Coffin, then Senior Pastor of Riverside Church in New York City, was one of those invited. President Reagan patiently explained to the visiting pastors why these cuts were necessary, in his view, to balance the budget. Rev. Coffin replied, "Mr. President, it is up to us to proclaim that 'Justice shall roll down like waters and righteousness like an everflowing stream. Your job is the plumbing."

It is not up to us as church people to dictate a certain economic plan, but it is up to us to say loud and clear when the plumbing isn't working and the means of life is not flowing to most of the people.

I’m happy when new health care proposals to ensure children become law. But tens of millions Americans still don’t have the care they need. I’m looking forward to reading the Obama universal health plan that takes into account the “art of the possible.” My job, however, is to look toward the future with an eye on the impossible. After all, I’m working for the Kingdom of God and that means I’m bound to push the envelope and to advocate for the radical solutions people are afraid to bring up because they’d be “impossible” to achieve. “It’s impossible to achieve” is never a good answer to give to one who follows the resurrected Jesus, the child of God. In God, all things are possible. Thy Kingdom Come!

Note For "Friends of Urban Renewal"

¹³The Lord rises to argue his case;
   he stands to judge the peoples.
¹⁴The Lord enters into judgement
   with the elders and princes of his people:
It is you who have devoured the vineyard;
   the spoil of the poor is in your houses.
¹⁵What do you mean by crushing my people,
   by grinding the face of the poor? says the Lord God of hosts.

Isaiah 3:13-15

Related Link:  Two lawsuits stall Portland's efforts to help the homeless and create an employment district  

The New York Times Point On Faith-Based Funding Well Taken

The New York Times has a point:

On the campaign trail, Mr. Obama made clear that he would extend the faith-based initiative started by former President George Bush to help social service programs run by religious and other charitable groups obtain federal grants and contracts. But he also pledged that unlike Mr. Bush, he would provide meaningful safeguards to avoid the blurring of church-state boundaries, including a firm rule barring discrimination on the basis of religion. The rule is notably missing from his new decree.

Speaking last July in Ohio, Mr. Obama set forth his “basic principles” for assuring constitutional balance. “First, if you get a federal grant, you can’t use the grant money to proselytize to the people you help and you can’t discriminate against them — or against the people you hire — on the basis of religion,” he said. “Second, federal dollars that go directly to churches, temples and mosques can only be used on secular programs.”

He said taxpayer dollars should not be used to advance partisan interests, and there was reassuring language about maintaining the separation of church and state in Mr. Obama’s remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast preceding the issuance of his order, and in the order itself. But it would have been a lot more reassuring if the directive had actually revoked Mr. Bush’s 2002 executive order authorizing religious-oriented recipients of federal funding to hire and fire on religious grounds.

We suspect that Mr. Obama was not particularly proud of this omission. He chose to sign his order away from the view of television cameras or an audience. Joshua DuBois, the Pentecostal minister selected by Mr. Obama to lead his initiative, says the president is “committed to nondiscrimination,” and that the executive order “provides a process” for case-by-case review to decide if grants to faith-based organizations are “consistent with law.”

What process? The executive order says only that White House officials “may” seek Justice Department guidance if questions arise about particular grants. Discrimination by faith-based grantees should be barred.

Full editorial. 

Happy Birthday, Charles Darwin: A Podcast Sermon On Faith and Science

This morning at Parkrose Community United Church of Christ we noted "Evolution Sunday" and the 200th birthday of Charles Darwin.  Our Scripture readings included Genesis 1:1-2:2 and Psalm 8.

Over 1,000 congregations across the United States are taking part in Evolution Sunday - promoting the idea that faith and science ARE compatible. 

Use the below link to download the podcast of my sermon for your iPod or personal computer:   

Happy Birthday, Charles Darwin.

(click with the RIGHT mouse button on the hyperlink and choose “Save Target As” and save to your desktop or other folder – once downloaded click on the file to listen).

Now On ITunes

You can now subscribe to my podcasts on ITunes by clicking here. 

Related Link: UCC Religion and Science Are Not Mutually Exclusive

What's The Matter With Oklahoma?

It isn't often that someone tries to erase you from the history books.  But that is what happened to one United Church of Christ minister yesterday in Oklahoma.  UCNews has the story. 

Mike Huckabee Is Drunk

Mike Huckabee is drunk.  Wait, I take that back.  He's a Southern Baptist and good Southern Baptists don't drink.  But you can understand my confusion.  The former AK AR Governor and 2008 Republican Party candidate called the economic recovery plan passed by Congress “anti-religious,” according to the good folks at Politico.com.  Here's what the online journal reported:

The former Republican presidential candidate pointed to a provision in both the House and Senate versions banning higher education funds in the bill from being used on a “school or department of divinity.”

“You would think the ACLU drafted this bill,” Huckabee said. “For all of the talk about bipartisanship, this Congress is blatantly liberal.”

“Emily’s List, radical environmental groups, etc. all have a seat at the decision making table in Washington these days,” he continued. “Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid are in charge and they are working with an equally ‘progressive’ President Obama (remember his voting record is more liberal than Ted Kennedy!).”

Nothing  Huckabee said sounded even a little bit anti-religious, but I'm just an seminary-trained ordained minister in the United Church of Christ who preaches the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Oh wait!  Maybe I do have something to say on this.   

Rev. Gov.Mr. Huckabee, here is what is anti-religious about the age in which we live.

• Growing numbers of people are becoming homeless.
• Growing numbers of children are going hungry.
• People are watching their retirement benefits slip away.
• Economic policies embraced by you and your party for a generation have driven a deep wedge between those who are poor and those who are rich.
• The policies you've supported have left deficits that our children will be forced to pay.

In short, you've left behind the least of these in favor of the rich and powerful.  Who was it in the Bible who said we shouldn't act like that?  Oh, that's right: Jesus.   

You can see now why I thought you might have been drinking when you said the economic recovery plan was anti-religious because to say such a thing - and thereby attempt to further divide the American people along religious and economic lines - you'd either have to be a mean drunk or just a truly awful person who has put his own political ambitions ahead of Amercia's needs during a time of crisis. 

Because what you said just wasn't true.  The plan isn't going to build the Kingdom for us but it hopefully will move us in a direction as a nation where taking care of the least of these in times of crisis is seen not as charity to be done on the side but as a central role of the people's government.   

Recall Sam Adams Group Filled With Cowards

Who is behind the group Recall Sam Adams? No one knows. The Oregonian reports:

No names are attached to the document or the group's Web site, www.RecallSamAdams.com. The site tells reporters that no spokesperson has been chosen and to e-mail requests to the site.

Our democratic political system can only operate successfully when there is transparency. Hiding behind an anonymous website is a cowardly act. These folks clearly have something to hide. 

When I said that Sam Adams should resign it was on my personal site - www.chuckcurrie.com - where people have the ability to freely judge my record and the reasons I offered in calling for a resignation.  Those who want to influence public life need to take responsibility for their actions. 

Related Link:  Two Things I Don't Want: A Recall Or To Be On The Lars Larson Show

Weekly Podcast From Parkrose Community United Church of Christ For Feb. 4, 2009

Use the below link to download the podcast of this message from Rev. Chuck Currie for your iPod or personal computer.

Download 020409

(click with the RIGHT mouse button on the hyperlink and choose “Save Target As” and save to your desktop or other folder – once downloaded click on the file to listen).

Now On ITunes

You can now subscribe to Rev. Currie's podcasts on ITunes by clicking here.

You can download a PDF copy of this message by clicking here.

Pope Offers Welcome Statement

Worldwide concern was expressed last week when the pope decided to "lift the excommunication of a Holocaust denier."  A new statement has been issued, however, that is welcomed.  The New York Times has the story:

ROME — Responding to global outrage, especially in Pope Benedict XVI’s native Germany, the Vatican for the first time on Wednesday called on a recently rehabilitated bishop to take back his statements denying the Holocaust.

Late last month, the pope revoked the excommunication of four schismatic bishops, including British-born Richard Williamson, who in an interview broadcast last month denied the existence of the Nazi gas chambers.

A statement issued on Wednesday by the Vatican Secretariat of State said that Bishop Williamson “must absolutely, unequivocally and publicly distance himself from his positions on the Shoah,” or Holocaust, which it said were “unknown to the Holy Father at the time he revoked the excommunication.”

The unsigned statement seemed a clear indication that the Vatican was facing an internal and external political crisis.

The Holocaust simply cannot be denied and those that do should have no place in positions of authority in any church.

What I Want For My Birthday

I'll be turning 40 on February 8th.  Funny.  It seems like my 21st birthday was about a week ago.  Please don't send cards or gifts but there is something you can do for me: make a donation.  I'll even give you a few options.

   

The Goose Hollow Family Shelter at Portland's First United Methodist Church is a program that I helped start and later served as the executive director of.  It takes over 150 volunteers a month to run this winter operation and it takes some cash on top of that.  You can send a donation to:

Goose Hollow Family Shelter

1838 SW Jefferson Street

Portland, Oregon 97201

 

 

Snow-Cap is a project that provides emergency food in east Multnomah County.  Parkrose Community United Church of Christ, where I serve as the interim minister, helped start this agency and continues to provide support.  Checks can be sent to:

Snow-Cap

P.O. Box 160

Fairview, Oregon 97024

Finally, I'd like to suggest you consider making a donation to Eden Theological Seminary in St. Louis.  Eden is a United Church of Christ-related graduate school that works in an ecumenical setting to educate future clergy.  Eden is where I earned my M.Div.  Most seminarians leave school over $30,000 in debt.  Donations can be sent to:

 

Eden Theological Seminary

475 East Lockwood

St. Louis, MO 63119 

 

Eden is also able to accept online gifts.  Click here. 

 

If you aren't sure how much to send these places consider $40.

 

Thank you!