A month from now, we will undoubtedly have a clearer sense of how the events of the last few weeks have re-shaped our economy and government.  But in this moment, a few things are already becoming clear to the experts.
•    Our government’s efforts to shore up failing financial institutions are likely to call for the largest single taxpayer commitment to any rescue effort in our nation’s history.
•    The dollars needed will likely divert funds from social programs upon which millions of our citizens rely.
•    The bailout plan is likely to represent the single largest transfer of power from Congress to the Executive branch of our government since those branches were formed.
•    The crisis in the U.S. is causing market volatility around the world.

One can ask what any of this has to do with the church.  The answer is not difficult.  At direct risk are the jobs, pension funds, home mortgages, school loans, and health care benefits of our own members.  In addition, the neediest portion of the world’s population, those Christ has called us to serve, are already struggling to simply survive against the costs of food, water, health care, and preventable diseases.  Where the poverty is greatest, violence and war impede assistance.  Longer-term, the debt and damage to infrastructure and environment will ripple to future generations.

Many agree, this has caught us flat-footed.  And most of us feel ill-equipped to understand the causes, let alone propose solutions.  Instead, the ‘fixes’ are likely to be instituted by the leaders of industry and government who, in word and deed demonstrate a religious-like faith in the power of the market to govern itself.

It’s time for the church to name that for the idolatry that it is.

There are some who argue that peace can only be attained at the point of a sword.  Some say we must give up real measures of privacy and civil liberty to safeguard our way of life.  Some would have us believe that when the government acts on behalf of the ‘least of these,’ we are weakening the nation, that natural law has ordained the ‘survival of the fittest.’

Friends, these are common beliefs, but they are not Christian beliefs and it is time for our voice to be heard at the tables of power.

I say ‘our’ voice because our members have lived through the Great Depression and know that the power of shared sacrifice and cooperation is greater than the power of the selfish.  Our members, both pacifist and veteran, know that the only way to reap peace is to sow justice; that a stitch in time saves nine; that taking responsibility for what we can do ourselves is sometimes the only way that a thing will get done.  Our members know that if we don’t change course, we are likely to end up where we’re already headed.  Our members understand that the humility and courage needed to examine the mistakes of our past are the best gifts we can leave for those who will have to live with them.  Our members know that some things can’t be done on our own, but require support and, sometimes, accountability from others.

So I believe in God.  I believe that the spark of the divine that burns in each single person in this world burns a little more brightly when it is honored, rather than denied.  I believe that most people would far prefer to be a help than a hindrance to those in trouble–that most would rather be a source of hope than fear to those in despair.  I believe that most of us are willing to give up some of our ‘own’ wealth if it can mean that everyone will have enough.  And I believe that now, more than ever, the world needs to hear the voice of Jesus Christ.

I am quite sure our nation will weather this crisis.  Even when we’ve been at each others’ throats, we’ve managed to stick it out.

But I think God is calling us to do more than fight our way back to the top, or even to stick it out.  I think we’ve been called to be a light among nations, and where we don’t know the way ourselves, our light will help us learn.

I think Olympic View has been called to point our world to the one true subject of our faith.  And it’s not a market.  It’s not a nation.  It’s not a candidate.  It’s not a party.  It’s not a doctrine.  It’s not even a ‘way of life.’

It’s the almighty, never-failing, ever-present, Love of the One-who-was, the One-who-is, and the One-who-always-will-be.  One Love.  One God.

May God find a voice in us.