Sign of Apocalypse

I was walking through Walgreens the other dayand it caught my eye. All I could say was "what in the world world of sports is this?" You know you have become iconic when you become a chia pet. Our President is a chia pet. I believe that President Obama is the first commander and chief to have such a distinction.

Surely this is a sign of the Apocalypse.

350 Billion Reasons Change Is Coming

What if one day the economic crisis was bad enough, severe enough that state budgets were on the edge of collapse? Faced with this crisis, looking around for alternative revenue streams to close the gaps the governors, the legislators landed on the church. Sounds outrageous?

STATE BUDGET TROUBLES WORSEN by the Center of Budget and Policy Priorities. “At least 46 states faced or are facing shortfalls in their budgets for this and/or next year, and severe fiscal problems are highly likely to continue into the following year as well. Combined budget gaps for the remainder of this fiscal year and state fiscal years 2010 and 2011 are estimated to total more than $350 billion.” http://www.cbpp.org/9-8-08sfp.htm

$350 Billion. Awash in red ink, the states are going to look for answers everywhere. Why not the church? How many people actually go to church? Realistic estimates are around 18%, what if it was closer to 15%. How many people would cry out in outrage if they just took away our tax-exempt status? Less that 20% of the population actually goes to church. That one act would make the church pay property taxes, income taxes and eliminate the deduction taken for contributions. Hey in these tough times shouldn't everyone pull their weight? In Illinois that one change would raise 1 billion dollars per year, and that is low balling the figures. What do you think Illinois would do for 1 billion dollars? What about California, or New York? Just 15% of voters go to church. Not that many. Getting smaller every day.

All I am asking is this, shouldn’t we at least be thinking about this? At some point shouldn’t we at least admit that the possibility of this is greater than nothing? To say nothing about the question of whether or not it would be a good thing in the long term? This is a change that might be coming quicker than we have ever dreamed. 350 billion reasons are staring us in the face.

The Silly Season

In the education world it is the silly season. Here in Illinois it is the ISAT testing. Illinois Standards Achievement Test. Given every year to various grades it is the measure by which teachers, administrators, schools and districts rise and fall. If they don’t achieve their goals for improving their scores schools can be put on watch lists or taken over by the state, principals can be fired, teachers can be released or have their tenure held up. The stress level in the school is toxic and counter productive.

The preparations for this annual feast of anxiety have taken on biblical proportions. They spend hours telling the students how to prepare for this test, what foods to eat before hand, how much sleep to get, what exercises to do, how calm themselves if they feel too much pressure. Keep in mind some of these youngsters are in the third grade. One class had three pages of instructions on how to take this test. And they hand out peppermint LifeSavers because they help with attention. I should of have had truck load in my office. Oh, grab some dark chocolate because that is brain food. Well yeah!

Teachers spend months focusing all of the instruction on the test. Ignoring other subjects not covered or not taken into consideration for the assessment of the school. Science is not one of the keys so it is tossed in where it can fit. Social Studies is not covered so you try fit it where you can. Making sure the illusion that no child is ever going to be left behind is intact.

Yesterday I watched as 6th, 7th, and 8th graders took the test. I watched as some fretted over it and others just messed around. Today I watched third graders take this test. I watched as some of them gave right answers and others gave wrong answers. I have watched as teachers and administrators jolted around like every surface they touched was charged with static electricity.

I know education had to be improved. I see it every day. But this is not way. Standardized testing as it is currently done is not the avenue. Not at the expense of creativity in instruction; not at the price of suffocating anxiety; not with the well intentioned but wrong conviction that all children are the same and can be squeezed into the same educational mold.

Yes, it is the silly season.

What Would Seth Do?

For my money, Seth Godin is flat out brilliant. He has one of the three blogs I will never miss checking. http://sethgodin.typepad.com/ His posts are never long and they always make you think. You walk away with something that you can use right now.

In two of his latest posts he said the following:
· “Instead of spending time and insight and effort reinventing what they do and organizing for a better future, the members are lulled into a sense of security that somehow, somehow, the future will be just like today. You don't have to like change to take advantage of it.”
· “Why is it okay to have employees in any organization who look for a no? If you're out to provide a service, or organized to deliver a product, then look for a yes. At every interaction”

Which made me wonder how often in the church do we fight change when we could be taking advantage of it? And how often are we too quick to say no, when we ought to be finding ways of saying yes.

One example of the first is perhaps how we deal with training and ordination. Seminary education is going to change, it has to. If colleges are going to have to restructure how they approach education then why would seminaries be exempt? Why not move toward an apprenticeship model with periods of intensive academic work? How can we take advantage of the changes are coming?

Oh and with the budget crisis that states are experiencing and the low level of church attendance, it is not much of a stretch of the imagination to see the tax exempt status being revoked to help balance the budgets. Why should government subsidize religion? How could we take advantage of that?

As for the second quote, how many ways we do we say no in the church? In using the building, in supporting a local issue, in gathering with other churches, in changing the music or worship style, anything to do with the youth? Sure there some things we have to say no to, but aren’t those occasions rare? No ought not be the norm. Yes should the answer people hear from us.

Take some time and read Seth Godin. See what you come away thinking.