Standing Up to Black Friday

If you know me at all, you know how obsessed I have become with the story of Jdmityai Damour, the Walmart employee who was tramped to death on Black Friday in 2008.

For those who don't know, a brief refresher. And then, a word about this year...ie, what's happening, what I'm consider, for this Black Friday 2012.

For a little refresher, here's the first blog I wrote about Damour's death in 2010. This will catch you up to speed.

Here's another from last year.

Finally, here's a blog about the disgusting lengths Walmart took to avoid paying a paltry $7000 fine in the matter.

But maybe you don't celebrate "Black Friday," and don't truly believe how insane it all gets.

If you don't believe that things are ridiculous and crazy on Black Friday, check out these actual videos from last year, some from stores in our area.

Jdmityai has made it into sermons of mine for the past several years. His story would not let me go. Eventually, I found myself having to write a song. Hear it here.

So, for several years, I've grieved Jdmityai. But this year, I'm feeling the pull/call to do more.

This year, there are two counter-movements growing:

1) Avoid Walmart and other Big Boxes by shopping local on Black Friday.
2) Support Walmart workers in their efforts to make a living wage.

Let me say more about both...

Avoid Walmart/Shop Local
I'm really pleased that Lance Price has invited me to play a set of my music at CD Source on Friday.

For the past several years, Lance has stood against Black Friday by sponsoring "Record Store Day." It's a chance to support a great local small business, and hear some real live music from real-live local songwriters.

Here are the details.

So, one way to do something positive is: Avoid Walmart. Shop local.

Come join us on "Record Day" this Friday!
I'll be there at 7 pm. But they will have live music all day.

Another way is....

Support Walmart Workers
If you haven't heard of "Our Walmart," it's a new group of Walmart employees who are organizing strikes/protests around the nation on Black Friday. Here's their website. This is mainly a site for Walmart employees themselves.

But it has a link to this powerful video, showing why they are standing up:

If you make $15,000 at Walmart, you are considered "fulltime." Some of the other reason very good reason are listed in this video, and it's time for folks to stand up.

There is a protest planned for here in the Dallas-area on Black Friday. I may not be back in town at 7 am that day. But if it's still going on later in the day, I will definitely go by.

Here are the details.

In the past few years, some have "critiqued the critique" of Walmart/Black Friday, suggesting that the only folks who are against it are those wealthy enough to just stay home. Last year, I tried to answer that criticism here.

This year, there's an even stronger reason: Because these workers are standing up. Because they are standing up, we should stand up with them.

So, I'm hoping to get more involved myself.

If you're wondering why I am interested in all this, it's because my faith calls me to it. Here's what my United Methodist Church says about the Rights of Workers:

"Since 1908, the church has advocated for a living wage in every industry (1908 Social Creed) and continues to support the rights of workers to share fully in the prosperity of society. Unfortunately, too many workers earn poverty wages with few benefits, and disparities are growing between high wage earners and low-wage earners. Despite rising productivity and profits in recent years, these gains have not been shared by a majority of workers."

You can read the entire statement here. God call us to stand with workers, seeking a better life.

Again, here's the link about the local protest on Friday. If I am in town while it's still going on, I will be there.

One way or another, I hope you will join me in not only opposing Black Friday, but by doing something positive as well.

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"In Store" at CD Source Next Friday

Still pumped about last night's show at Uncle Calvin's. But on the heels of that, I need to let you know that I'll be playing at the great CD Source, on Greenville Avenue, next Friday:

CD Source's "Record Store Day Black Friday
November 23, 2012 7 pm
(Get a map here)

I can't think of a better way to celebrate the day.

Great songwriters will be playing 45 minute sets of their music all day. They include my dear friends, Annie Benjamin, Kerri Arista, the great Colin Boyd, and many more.

Click here for a nice write up of the event in "Guide Live."

As I said, I'll be playing at 7 pm.

Here are several great reasons to come:

1) It's a real, live RECORD STORE.
What's more awesome than that?

2) You'll be avoiding the ridiculousness and potential evil of "Black Friday" at big chains.
More on that here.

3) You'll be supporting a local, small business.
One of the best ways to do your holiday shopping.

4) You get to hear free live music.

Doing good. Avoiding potential evil. What's not to love?

See you there.

EF

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Burnings

One of the more fascinating stories to come out of this presidential election cycle is the Romney campaign's behavior on election night.

For ninety minutes that evening, despite the fact that all the major television networks had called the race (even FOX), there was no communication from the Romney campaign.

Did he know some objective data nobody else did?
Was he assembling lawyers for a recount?

In the days after the election, CBS News had the best analysis of what happened with Romney and his closest advisors: They didn't believe they could lose.

Jan Crawford's story for CBS describes Romney as "shellshocked."

But the most incredible line comes from an unnamed advisor:

"I don't think there was one person who saw this coming."

Reports are that Romney had not written the standard "concession speech," so confident had he been of a win.

For now, let me turn aside from political analysis of this decision...ie, a failure to read the demographics, polls, etc...

Instead, let me share why I was personally astounded by this story. I am astounded by it, because I have had the good fortune to advise several candidates for office here in Dallas over the past few years.

Any one of them will tell you that I have a single, simple "first-rule" of running for public office. There are certainly many other rules, and many good ones that actual political analysts give to candidates.

But this is mine:

Do not run for office if you are not prepared to lose.

Ask anybody. I say this all the time. In my book, it's the first and only rule you must never forget.

Here's how I've expand on it, in the few times people have asked me for political advice. I say:

"I'm not saying expect to lose. Being "prepared" to lose is not "expecting" to lose. In fact, to run successfully, you've got to believe you can win.
But we hold elections in America. We do not crown kings/queens who rule by right. We elect leaders, who lead by will. It is the will of the people to, at any moment, either elect or reject them. 

So, if you're going to throw your hat in the ring --even if you're an incumbent who's successfully been elected dozens of times-- always be prepared for the fact that you can lose. It's always possible."

What's astounding to me is that at the highest level of our national politics, there seems to have been a candidate who either didn't have anybody telling him about this simple truth; or who, in the fog of the campaign, simply forgot.

This attitude I'm describing here has nothing to do with polls, demographics, societal trends. I am describing a spiritual attitude, really.

To be brutally honest, in a spiritual sense, nothing you have now is guaranteed to you always.
As the Buddha says, "Life is suffering."

Every bond is a bond to sorrowYour blue sky turns greyEverything you love will be taken awayCry for your mamaCry for your dadCry for everything you know they never had

Read more: SLAID CLEAVES - CRY LYRICS

As Slaid Cleeves sings:

"Every bond is a bond to sorrow
Every blue sky fades to gray
Everything you love will be taken away."

In the Judeo-Christian tradition, the best example of this is the story of Abraham and Isaac.

I'm not gonna try to sugar coat this. It's a story about attempted murder. Theologians have been trying to gloss that part of the story for centuries. But --and this is the only way the story makes some modicum of sense-- scholars also suggest that the story is so ancient that it dates to a time when "child sacrifice" was practiced.

The moral of the Genesis version? "Don't do that. Don't sacrifice your child. God doesn't want that."

Again, that's the only justification for the story that gets close for me. And even if it's true, it still rings like tinnitus on modern ears.

I'm more interested in the spiritual lesson. This story teaches a spiritual lesson that's terribly hard to learn, that most of us avoid like the plague, but that eventually comes to each and every one of us.

And the lesson comes from first observing the point Slaid and the Buddha just made....Loss comes. Heartbreak comes. Illness comes. Death comes. We don't get to choose the time and place of it. But it comes nonetheless.

"Everything you love will be taken away."

So, what Abraham and Isaac teaches us is:

If we are asked, could we give up the people, places, things that are most dear to us? 

It may never be asked of us. We may sail through life with little misery at all. (It happens to some) But, if the worse happens, are we ready?

Could we give it all up?

That's what God asked Abraham to do. This child that he and Sarai had dreamed of for almost 100 years --this most precious thing in all the world to them-- that is what he's asked to give up.
And, shockingly, he was ready.

But (and this is the good news) in the end it was not required. Only the willingness was.

I have often wondered this: perhaps the very readiness to give it all up is the thing that allows us to keep our lives. Again, I don't mean in all cases. Certainly, there are good people who hold their lives loosely, who end up suffering greatly anyway.

Dying brings rising
Suffering brings a place for joy
Death brings life   

This time of year, here's a good way to frame it: Holding life loosely allows us to become more thankful. 

One of my teachers/mentors, Thom Elliott, used to pray a prayer in memorial services very similar to the following:

"Teach me, O God, not to hold on to life too tightly.
Teach me to hold it lightly; not carelessly, but lightly, easily.

Teach me to take it as a gift, to enjoy and to cherish while I have it, and to let it go gracefully and thankfully when the time comes.
The gift is great, but the Giver is greater still. Amen. 

Holding life lightly, being willing to give it up, allows us space to become more truly thankful people.
 ++++++++++++++++++++

As I shared with friends at the Second Monday Series last Monday, every now and then I practice this during my prayer time. I practice/meditate on this by burning one of my business cards.

This is something I've done for years. I can't even remember who taught me this idea. I'm sure I didn't think it up on my own.

I take one of my cards, I light it, and I watch it burn away. And I imagine that, with it, it's taking away my career, all of my accomplishments, all of my "titles" and anything "honorific" that has ever come my way.

All of it is burns away, with the card.

 The title "Rev." burns away.  My first name goes. My last too. My title. "Senior Pastor." Burned and gone. The Church name. The name "United Methodist Church."

Early on, when I was in seminary, several mentors of mine told me something which I have always found to be horrible advice. The said this "Eric, if you do anything else in life and be happy, do it."

I've always found that terrible advice.

In fact, I've found the opposite to be true. I've found that the constantly willingness to imagine giving it all up is the very thing that's allowed me to keep going.


When the institutional church is at its worse...
When burnout takes its toll...
When stress is at its highest...
It helps deeply me to remember: "You could always give it up."

Believing anything less, it seems to me, would be terribly soul-killing.

Interestingly, when I was with a group of clergy earlier this year, all celebrating our 20th Year in ministry, many of them said that this exact same attitude helps them get by too.

Tex Sample spoke to some of this last weekend when he was here. We were at a dinner with him, and somebody asked him what it takes to have "institutional courage."

He told the story of a colleague who always carried his "resignation letter" in his back pocket. That decision, he said, gave the man the courage to step out and be prophetic at important times in his ministry.

To me, that's kind of a like a "burning" too.

Please understand, I'm not planning on going anywhere. Not planning any changes. But as we move toward Thanksgiving, I thought I'd share an inward and spiritual practice that keeps me going.

Being willing to give up, burn away, all things we believe we "must" have can free us.

It can free us for a new life, where we see each day, each opportunity, as a gift.

David Wilcox once sang about this in his song, "Farthest Shore"

One verse imagines leaving everything you own on one shore and swimming to the other side.

The chorus says:

 "So...Let me dive into the water,
Leave behind all that I've worked for
Except what I remember and believe
and when I stand on the farthest shore
I will have all I need"

(Interestingly, the second verse is also about a burning!)

Yes. Exactly it.

As we enter the week of Thanksgiving, I invite you to ask yourself the deep spiritual questions:

What if you lost it all?
What if it were all taken from you?
What if all you had left was you?

If the worst did happen, this much would still be true:
You would still be God's dearly beloved child.
You would still be alive.
You would have at least another day to celebrate the gift of life itself.

One of the greatest benefits of  this spiritual insight is the ability to celebrate the gifts of life --to not take them for granted-- and to enter into each new day with gratitude for what comes.

Everything you love can be taken away. (Probably will be) 

So, don't cling to your life too tightly, and watch how life comes back to you again.

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Praying for the Peace of Jerusalem

Deeply concerned about the news out of Israel and Gaza today.

It seems like both sides of that conflict are engaged in a dangerous game of chicken with each other.

And so, perhaps a good time to repost this song and video from me.

In the name of our common God, let's keep praying for peace.

Ishmael and Isaac

Two young half brothers

sons of different mothers
playing with each other
in that hot desert sand.
But the sins on their fathers
are still the sins of their sons
in this land that's still just promise
and this war that's never won.

There has never been a war that's holy.
this has never been an empty land.
there has never been a side that's blameless
in the feud between the sons of Abraham.

Two young half brothers

sons of different mothers
playing with each other
in that hot desert sand.
But the sins on their fathers
are still the sins of their sons
in this land that's still just promise
and this war that's never won.
Woe...

Turn back times pages and all you'll see
is the world's oldest sibling rivalry
And so we pray crazy prayers that
Peace could one day kiss this land
And that children of today could live
as those two sons began...when they were...

Two young half brothers

sons of different mothers
playing with each other
in that hot desert sand.
But the sins on their fathers
are still the sins of their sons
in this land that's still just promise
and this war that's never won.

Yes, the land is still just promise.
And this war cannot be won.
Woe...

words and music, Eric Folkerth © All Rights Reserved.


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What the Presidential Election Should Teach the United Methodist Church

One of the trends in United Methodism these days is to talk extensively about "the mission field."

It's a buzz word. It's a concept.

The question is asked: "In every place where we do ministry, what does the mission field look like?"

It's a very very good question, and I'm glad we're asking it. Demographics, we are learning, matter to church growth. In fact, seen from one perspective, demographics are destiny when it comes to church growth.

So it is that many of us United Methodist pastors/congregations are now asked:
"Who are the people your church is trying to reach?"
"Who are the people who would miss you if you were not around?"
"What demographic trends are changing in your neighborhoods?"

We've taken to analyzing demographic data, as we can get our hands on it, to see just how well (or not well) we are "working our mission field."

All this is good. But it is not the only question.

Because, while we absolutely should be analyzing the demographic data on the micro-level of neighborhoods, we also need to analyze it on the macro-level of our nation too.

Tuesday night, we got deeply important new data. We got the results of this year's presidential election. We got new data that can help us answer the macro-question:

What Does the "Mission Field" of the United States look like?

If the United Methodist Church is going to survive in the future, it's deeply important that we ask and answer this question, and that we seek the best data to help us with this.

This will, of necessity and whether we like it or not, involve asking political questions:
What are the politics of the American people?
What do they care about?
What issues are becoming more important?
What issues are becoming less important?

So, having set this out for us, let me jump right to the punchline and work my way back to the end....

The United States is a "center/left" nation.
But the United Methodist Church is, increasingly, a "center/right" denomination.

That should be of deep concern to all of us. We are, increasingly, out-of-step, with where the nation is, and with where the nation is going. We are "big ship" that takes a long time to turn, especially on social issues. We are behind. We should expect to fall farther behind in these next four years. Not because I am cynical about us, but because the demographic data tells us this.

How do I come to this conclusion?

I do it by first by analyzing the highest, top-level demographic data available to us: the Presidential Popular Vote.(1)

Arguably, there is no better demographic indicator for the heart of the nation than the popular vote. But what I want you to focus on today is not just what happened Tuesday, but what has been happening for years.

Muse on this fact for a few moments: 
The Republican Party has now *lost* the "popular vote" in five of the past of six elections.

I know this will blow some folk's minds. So, go and check yourself.

Here it is:

1992: Democrat (Clinton)
1996: Democrat (Clinton)
2000: Democrat (Gore)
2004: Republican (Bush)
2008: Democrat (Obama)
2012: Democrat (Obama)

That's the data, right there. We tend to forget that Gore won the popular vote in 2000, because he wasn't elected president. But he absolutely won the popular vote that year.

And while folks in the past two days have said "Well, Obama barely squeaked by this year," the facts are that he won by 3 million votes (exactly the same as Bush/2004) and 2.5 percent (slightly higher than Bush/2004).

 Digging in the demographics of this election, we also see the following:
-- Women favored Democrats by wide margins in both state and national elections.
-- So did African-Americans.
-- So did Hispanics.
-- So did young people of all races.
-- Two states, a popular vote, approve gay marriage
-- That brings to ten percent the number of states that now approve it.

All of these are the fast-growing parts of our United States population.

And all of this demographic data leads me to the following inescapable conclusion: Despite what you have been told for decades, we are a "center/left" nation.

Please hear me very clearly! We are neither a nation of "flaming liberals," nor "reactionary conservatives."

All I am saying is, just looking at the data, from a factual point of view, our nation is slightly to the "left" side of the fence, not the right. And these are trends that do not appear to be reversing themselves. If anything, they appear to be growing stronger.

What does this mean for the United Methodist Church?

Over that same historical period (1996-Present) it would be hard to argue that the United Methodist Church has done anything but move more to the right.

-- On key social issues of the time, such as homosexuality, we have either kept the same language or become more conservative.
-- Our delegates now include an almost 50 percent African contingent, and just about everyone agrees these delegates, on average are more conservative than even most US conservative Christians.

The inescapable conclusion is that over twenty years we have become socially and demographically "out of step" with America.

America is multi-ethnic society (40 percent of whites voted for Obama this year), increasingly younger, increasingly embracing of women in leadership, and increasingly accepting of homosexuality.

But, the United Methodist Church remains overwhelmingly white, unable to attract the young, and fearful of embracing LGBT persons in their full personhood.

When seen from this hindsight of this election, the failure of the "Hamilton-Slaughter" resolution at General Conference is a colossal and tragic missed opportunity.

What can we do?

First, we can acknowledge the reality that we are out of step. 

Second, we can begin to see these social movements, such as homosexuality, not as a threat, but as the genuine moving of God's Holy Spirit in our world.
It's long past the time to admit that the theological justifications for our "Incompatibility Clause" are terribly flimsy. The Bible has far more passages embracing slavery and the subjugation of women than it does about homosexuality, pro-or-con.

In ten states now, pastors and church must now ask "What does legal gay marriage mean for me, pastorally? What is the right way to support LGBT families as they are raising their children?"

These questions will come to all us, and very very soon.

Study after study shows that young people (who voted for Obama) approve of homosexuality in large numbers. Meanwhile, we can't even pass Hamilton-Slaughter?"

Let those with ears hear. This is bad bad news for us, friends.

As Adam Hamilton said after that vote: we will lose the next generation of evangelical Christians. Not just "mainline" ones. Evangelical ones too.

Conclusion:

In some ways, demographics really is destiny. We increasingly acknowledge this at the local level. We push our congregations to "look at the data" of their "mission field."

But we seem unable, or unwilling, to do so at the national level.

Yes, we United Methodist do need to continue to keep our eye on the international "mission field." But not at the sake of the mission field here.

"The world IS our parish." Even America. And our parish is speaking to us with their feet and their votes, increasingly leaving us behind. 

I have said for years that this is not just about demographics. It's also about the working of God's Holy Spirit, at a macro-level, in our society. These demographics are an "outward and visible sign" of God's inward and Spiritual grace, blowing through the nation itself.

Are we listening?
Will we respond?

(1) If you analyze Congress, you could definitely make the argument that the US is still "center-right." However, dispassionate observers on all political sides can admit that there is a whole lot of "gerrymandering" of Congressional districts...on both sides...that tend to lean, on average, toward Republicans. Please hear me: Dems have "safe" districts, drawn poorly, too. But Republicans currently have more...which makes Congress a very poor "barometer" for where the nation is as a whole.

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What If Christians Stopped 'Saving' America, and Started Loving It?

I mean that question pretty literally.

Since Tuesday's election, I've heard  "public Christians" --those speaking on TV, radio, the media-- talking about the horrible apocalypse that was unleashed Tuesday night, at the re-election of Barack Obama.

For months and months now, in my North Dallas neighborhood, I've seen these yardsigns:

They're apparently from the Dallas Tea Party. For the record, I don't believe I know anybody, personally, in the Dallas Tea Party. Nor am I attempting to malign them, or draw them into some kind of discussion. (Really, I'm not. No desire, whatsoever...)

I merely post the sign for symbolic reasons.

The reason is to illustrate that in the culture, there are political folks who believe America needs to be "rescued."

Alongside of this political rhetoric is a kind of Christian theology. As the head of Heritage Action for America said in a video yesterday, "We are in a war to save America." 

Rescue America, politically.
Save America, for Jesus.

The same message, in it's secular and theological forms.

And the point to both seems to be that only by electing a candidate like Mitt Romney, and avoiding candidates like Barack Obama, can we truly affect this rescuing and saving.

But, as you know, Romney lost. And, I suppose if this was your theology and politics, then you might feel pretty defeated and down today. But what if there was another way, entirely, to see our calling?

But what if "saving America" isn't what Jesus has in mind for us to do at all?
What if all Jesus really wants us to LOVE America? All of it?

Because if you look at the "demographics" of this election, you see a very different America. A multi-racial, mulit-ethnic, multi-religious America. An America that embraces equal rights for LGBT people, and wants the poor and middle class to be treated fairly. What if God is calling Christians to love that America

My favorite sign last week was this one:

(btw, this pic comes from this awesome site....)

"The word doesn't want to be saved. It wants to be loved. (That's how you save it)"

You see, this is a fundamentally different way of framing our Christian calling than you hear from many "Christians" in our world today. I believe it's right. I believe our job is not to "save" the world. (That's God's job) Our job, following after God's example, is to love the world:

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son..."

Any saving of the world begins with acts of love. Loving the world is what God does. Sending God's Son INTO the world. (Get ready: Christmas is coming!)

 Loving the world is what God calls us to do.

That means meeting the world where the world is, not trying to change the world to fit our view. This last sentence is a mistake that Christians have made, time and time again, through history.

We made it over slavery, defending it in God's name.
We made it over sufferage, defending the subjugation of women in God's name.

And today, we take the moral issues of homosexuality and immigration and assume there is only one God-approved way of seeing these things.

I use the word "we" loosely, of course. Progressive Christians, such as myself would beg to differ. I have found a deep grace and passionate calling to advocate for LGBT persons and to stand up for the rights of immigrants. I am not alone. Millions of other Christians see it the same.

I don't seek to change LGBT persons. I seek to love them, and be in relationship with them. In fact, I assume that gay people will remain gay people, because that's how God made them. I assume that many immigrants I meet may well be "illegal," but that this is simply a description of status, not their innate personhood.

This calling comes from Jesus' original call to minister to the outcast and the marginalized. We see the social change that is coming on these issues not as  the moral decay of America, but as the continuing work of God's Holy Spirit. In as literal a way as you can when talking about "the spirit," we see these movements (Immigration and LGBT issues) as movements of God's Holy Spirit, renewing our land and people.

I have said before: these two groups are the spiritual scapegoats of our time. There are no two groups more maligned, more outcast, more scapegoated than LGBT persons and immigrants. To me, this means God is calling us to give them special attention.

God is calling us to love and embrace them, unconditionally, as brothers and sisters....as good children of God.
No ifs, ands, or buts about it.
No "well, only if they change."

Exit polls show that Latinos(as) voted for Obama by 70 percent. Not all, but large majorities of Latinos(as) favor immigration reform. They favor a path to citizenship. Above all, they favor eliminating discriminatory laws that cause law abiding US citizens to feel constantly under suspicion. (RE: Arizona).

What would it mean if Christians stopped seeing immigrants as "law breakers," and just started loving them?

Ten percent of our states have now approved of some form of gay marriage. Many many straight people embrace the idea of gay marriage and want to see it for their LGBT family and friends. They want to see full civil rights for all LGBT persons. They want to see LGBT people able to fully participate in the life of the church.

What would it meant if Christians stopped seeing LGBT persons as immoral, and simply started loving them?

Some of us have already made the leap. At the church I am honored to serve, gay and straight families worship, study, and pray together. Our straight folks and our gay folks want it that way. Because we are all part of God's family. Because being gay doesn't make one especially loved, or especially condemned, by God. It's just a way God made gay people. God made them gay, not "good" or "bad."

So, we've found that loving each other, living in community together, makes us grow deep bonds of compassion for one another. It is from loving each other, as children of God, that God saves us.

And it's caused us to passionately support immigrants. We've been a proud founding "Covenant Church" with Christ's Foundry UMC, a mostly immigrant congregation very near us. Many of our members see a direct connection between accepting God's love for LGBT persons, and reaching out with that love to immigrants at Christ's Foundry too.

As we do, we realize that immigrants are also our brothers and sisters, not our enemies, or some force that is destroying America. It is from loving them, that God saves us.

Interestingly, the founder of our movement, John Wesley, realized the futility of "saving" folks early in his ministry. Wesley came to America to be a minister to the Native Americans.

Wesley was a colossal failure at converting Indians, and he eventually chose to go back to England, because there was:

"no possibility as yet of instructing the Indians; neither had I, as yet, found or heard of any Indians on the continent of America who had the least desire of being instructed.”

He goes back to England, feeling like a failure at saving others.
He has a heart-warming experience at Aldersgate.
And he sets out on a new mission: to love and serve the poor and the outcast of England, and to preach where ever he can.

Wesley begins preaching among the poor, working class folks of England, and finds that in loving them...serving them....he is able to offer a saving grace like never before.

It's not that he stopped hoping to "save" others. But it's clear he sees that now sees "saving," however it happens, as God's job, not his. His is to just LOVE the people.

What if we could get back to that example of Wesley, that call of Christ, today?

What if, after the election, we Christians, all of us, could look around with joy and say: "This IS a new America."

It's filled with a beautiful diverse coalition of people of differing races.
People of differing views on social/moral issues, like homosexuality.
Younger people who feel the church is totally irrelevant.
Women, who desire to be treated with respect and dignity.

What if we Christians stopped trying to "covert" them, or "change" them, or "save" them?
What if we just started loving them?

You see, that's riskier, because in the end it's likely to not only change them, but also change us. Each of us know this from our experience with our families.

When we love somebody, it changes not only how we see them, but also how we see ourselves. It's not just that they are saved. We are saved/changed too. And while that can be scary, it can also be a God-thing. Trust me.

So, don't seek the save the world.
Just love it.
Then, wait to see what happens to the world.
What happens to you.

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Three Times To See Me In November

In the coming week, I have three  shows/lectures, that I hope you'll come out to see.

If that sounds like a lot, well, maybe it is.

But each of these events are unique. None of them will overlap, in terms of the music and the message. So, why not come to it all?

Connections "Super Hits of the 70s Part II"
Saturday, November 10, 6:30 pm
Kidd-Key Auditorium, 
400 Elm Stree
Sherman, Texas, 75090

This will be Connections' last show for 2012. And it will be held in the gorgeous Kidd-Key Auditorium in downtown Sherman. Take a look. It's about a 500-seat place, and our goal is to fill it up.

We'll play and sing some of your favorite hits of the 1970s, and raise $$$ for "Imagine No Malaria."
I get to sing all sorts of songs in this show, like "Sweet Home Alabama," "What's Going On?" and even "Silly Love Songs." I'm partial to our version of "Rocky Mountain Way," which, if I may say so, we kill.

Second Monday Series
Monday, November 12, 7 pm
Northaven Sanctuary

I've been a supporter of the Second Monday Series for several years, and am pleased to be a presenter.

The series invites folks from differing faiths to come and share their paths to God. I will focus on some specific spiritual practices that have been important to me...prayer, meditation, journaling, music, walking...

I'll blend in music and times of group prayer with stories of what it's like to try and develop a spiritual life in the midst of the hectic bustle of today's world. It should be a special night. I hope you'll come. Details here.

Uncle Calvin's Coffeehouse
30th Anniversary "Local Show"
Friday, November 16, 8 pm
(doors open 7:30)

I'm honored that Calvin's has asked me to come and be a part of the "Local Show" to celebrate their 30th year. I want to be clear that this is a GROUP show, nobody's doing more than 2-3 of their songs. But that means you'll get to hear from some amazing talent:
Tom Prasada-Rao
Markley and Balmer
Bill Nash
Lu Mitchell
Emilie Aronson
Wayne Green
Julie McClain

And more...

What an honor to be a part. It should be a very very special show. Details here.

What a blessing for me to have all three of these events in the next week!

Sherman may be a bit far for those of you in Dallas. So even if you can't come, please pass the word along to friends. If you've seen the band, tell them they should too. This will be our first trip to Sherman and our last show of the year.

The Second Monday Lecture will, I hope, be a peek inside to my inner-life....to the extent that anyone can share that with others. I think it will be personal and intimate. Music. Talking. Prayer. Silence. I will be a wonderful night.

And the Calvin's show will be an incredible family gathering. They'll be a warmth and spirit there that night that you won't want to miss, as I get to hang out with, literally, some of my favorite human beings on the planet.

Hope to see you all three places.

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What Did We Learn Yesterday?

What an election.

While I know that there may be many who are stunned this morning, I have to say I am not surprised. This vote went almost exactly the way I assumed it would. As you can see here. (I am surprised by FLA, however...)

So, what did we learn?

1) Trust Nate Silver, not Pundits:
Not gonna gloat about this. But just remember, Silver also correctly called Republican gains in the last midterms. He's interested in the math, not partisanship. He will tell anybody when he thinks they are going to lose.

Trust Nate. Ignore the spin of pundits, left and right.

2) Karl Rove was wrong. Very wrong.
Just sayin'

3) Generally, the same coalition that elected Obama still believes in him.
While he lost a few anglo votes, it wasn't a whole-scale abandonment by whites.
And the rest of his coalition held steady.
Yes, the election was close. But he'll end up winning by more than 2,600,000 votes. That's a four times larger margin than Bush v. Gore.
He'll end up with 330 electoral votes.
Republicans have lost the popular vote in the last five of six elections.
Meditate on that last fact for a while this morning.

4) Voters knew what they were doing.
You can't argue that voters were charmed by rhetoric, or snookered by personality, this time. Given how bad the economy has been, it's impossible to argue that. You also can't voters weren't paying attention.
Obama voters voted for his policies and his view of what the government is supposed to be.

5) This election is really even bigger than Clinton's two wins.
Remember, Clinton was deeply helped --twice-- by a Dallasite named Ross Perot. Perot siphoned off 18 percent of the vote the first time, and almost nine the second Clinton election.
Obama's wins have no such "asterisks" next to them.

6) If you didn't think Obama could win, then you forgot he was a "Community Organizer."
Remember that term? Didn't hear it much this time, did you? You can tease him all you want about it, but community organizers know how to turn out vote. And this leads me to my favorite point...

7) Now and then, "Community Organizers" beat the One Percent.
Can I tell you what makes me happiest this morning? To know that Sheldon Adelson and the Koch Brothers are tearing their hair out and smashing hotel rooms. OK, probably not. But it gives me pleasure to imagine they are.

BILLIONS of dollars of "dark money" were funneled into this race. Eighty percent of this went to Republican candidates. Voters were inundated with TV ads...horrible things said about both candidates.

But: people beat money. 

Friends, that's awesome. Truly awesome.


6) America is changing.
This is the biggest point. So let me write the most about it...

Ben Smith just said it best on TV a minute ago: Most smart Republicans know you cannot win by counting on larger and larger margins of a smaller and smaller universe. As I said above, Karl Rove's model was wrong.

You see this in several key ways, not only in the coalition that elected the President, but also  in the fact that four women were elected in Senate. (maybe five)

But America is changing in two other key ways that I've been watching, as a pastor:
Latinos supported Obama by 70 percent.
Four states affirmed gay marriage.

That means, if my math is right, more than ten percent of American states have now approved gay marriage.

America is changing, demographically. And it's not changing back. We learned this in Dallas County in 2004. I've been telling any friends who will listen since then that this would happen nationally too. And while this election was close? If you stuck these policies, candidates, and parties into a time machine that zips eight years into the future? The margins would have been even HIGHER.

As a pastor, I am so happy to see the demographics on both immigration and gay marriage. My prayer (And, yes, I am praying on these things) is that we'll get real Immigration Reform in our nation, and that we'll see real change on Gay Marriage too.

The church is chicken. I have said this for years. It does not lead on social issues like Immigration and Gay Rights. I wish it did, but it does not. The Church pays attention to where the culture is going. Traditional conservative Christians may recoil at this last sentence.
But it you look at social change over time (everything from slavery to sufferage) it seems to be provable.

So, as we said in the United Methodist Church at the last General Conference: "All means all."

God calls us to reach out to immigrants, LGBT persons, women, men, the poor, people of all colors and creeds.

And my faith tells me that, this morning, Spirit of God is moving through the people. Please hear...I am not saying "God elected Barack Obama."

I am saying that embracing immigrants and supporting Gay Rights are calls of God on our nation and I believe that the elections provides tangible proof of this spiritual movement.
(I have said these things for years..)

America is changing.

Both the church and our politicians should take careful note.

So, I look forward to the conversations/politics of the next four years....

As somebody who loves the armchair quarterbacking of politics...
But even more as a pastor who cares about these key social issues, and how they affect God's children.

 (As always, if you like this post, then "share it" or "like" it on Facebook by clicking the box below, so others can see too...) 

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The Moment Obama Won (in Dallas)

It's over. President Obama has been re-elected. Look like Nate Silver was right. I got pretty close too. (Still a bit surprised that it looks like Obama will win Florida...).

Thought I'd post this video from tonight, here in Dallas.

It's the moment that the television networks called the race for President Obama.

Have a look...

I wanted to post this for two reasons...
a) To show folks how electric the crowd was, and
b) To reflect back on how HUGE this crowd was, compared to 2004.

2004 was the year Dennise was first elected. It was such a strange night. Most of the folks we were with, Dallas County Democrats, were deeply depressed that John Kerry was losing. Many had expected him to win.

But in the midst of this, the small ray of light that was Lupe Valdez, Dennise, and two other judges winning extremely close contests. So, we were unbearably happy around folks who were pretty down. It was kind of surreal.

But! The entire "party" for the party that night took place in a room at The Iron Cactus in downtown. I mean, basically the party room of a restaurant.

Now? Tonight? Just look at that crowd.

Amazing.

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My Predictions

In ten minutes, it will be election day here.

They've already voted in Dixville Knox, and soon will be elsewhere.

As somebody who loves to watch politics the way that others obsessed over football/baseball stats, I thought I'd put forth how I think things will go tomorrow.

Using the map at the great 270towin.com site, here is my map:

We'll see how it really works out.

If you look at the state polls, there is a pretty clear sense that the ones trending blue are trending more blue at this point. Things seem to be breaking Obama's way. (Having said all this, I can't for the life of me figure out how Nate Silver sees Florida breaking for Obama...)

I keep hearing many folks predicting that Romney will win, because Republican enthusiasm is higher. But that doesn't seem to be the case, overall. And independents don't seem to be breaking to Romney in huge numbers.

Both sides seem pretty confident, but the math seems to favor Obama. Anyway, just wanted to be on record. We'll see how closely this resembles the actual result.

It's definitely going to be an interesting and historic day.

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