Are Allentown officials listening to the concerns of city residents?

Can we talk? Joan Rivers always used that line to introduce the next string of jokes. But what I want to talk about with you is no joking matter.

A year ago more than 200 people gathered at historic Zion’s “Liberty Bell” United Church of Christ to witness Mayor Pawlowski’s answer to one question: will you work with groups and organizations from the city to create a community benefits agreement ? A CBA is a written agreement between the community and developers that details specific and measurable benefits the community will receive for a project funded with tax dollars. 

We told the mayor that we were pleased and hopeful about the potential benefits of the Neighborhood Improvement Zone for the planned hockey arena and other construction. We shared research data about the high poverty and unemployment levels in downtown Allentown. We asked if the mayor was willing to convene a meeting with “a longer table and more chairs” that would include faith-based organizations, neighborhood groups, non-profit and service agencies, who could collaborate with city officials and developers to create a community benefits agreement (CBA)? The mayor responded, “Yes.”

The following week he referred us to his Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED). We provided a list of groups and organizations that had expressed interest in joining the conversation and suggested that DCED invite others to that “longer table” for a truly collaborative discussion.

However, we soon learned that an open, collaborative process was not going to happen. A few CUNA leaders were invited to meet with DCED staff several times over several months. We explained that we already had talked with two developers who expressed interest in a CBA. We expounded the value of gathering groups and organizations in collaborative decision-making. However, we observed that this goal was not shared or valued, and to make a very long story short, it became obvious that they were not going to convene those “longer table” meetings.

So last summer, CUNA leaders began our trademark “one-to-one” conversations with leaders and members of other organizations. As a result, the Allentown Community Benefits Coalition formed. This broad-based coalition includes the NAACP, the Housing Association and Development Corporation of Allentown, the Hispanic American League of Artists, the Lehigh County Conference of Churches, Resurrected Life Community Development Corporation, the Martin Luther and Coretta Scott King Memorial Project, as well as CUNA and several downtown churches.

We created, distributed among our constituents and then collated a simple survey about priorities for community benefits. A month ago we presented the results to DCED, elected officials, the Allentown Neighborhood Improvement Zone Authority, and the press. As a bunch of citizen-volunteers we worked hard to be a catalyst for a fully collaborative process. The only response we have received from DCED is that they are working on their own statement.

As the pastor of this downtown church for more than 18 years, I often have been asked what I thought about the future of the city, and my answer for many years has been the same: there are so many good people working for the good of the city, good things are going to happen.
Good things are happening! But can you imagine how much more good we could accomplish around issues like job creation for Allentown residents, affordable housing, and quality education if we were brought together?

Who can bring us together if the city’s Department of Community and Economic Development is not willing to do so? Why is it so difficult for city officials to provide leadership for collaborative conversations about matters that affect so many people in Allentown?

Peter Block, consultant and author of “Community: The Structure of Belonging,” observes that in many of our cities, government entities, businesses, schools, social service organizations, congregations and other faith-based organizations, as well as neighborhood groups, function in isolation and aren’t brought together for the common good.

Sound familiar? Sadly, this fragmentation not only robs us of a true experience of community, it also prevents the development of synergies that could occur if these sectors collaborated about the problems and opportunities we have in common.

We now realize the question is no longer, “Can we talk?” We now want to know, “is anybody listening? Who will bring us together?”

c. 2013 Rev. Robert T. Stevens, Zion’s ‘Liberty Bell’ U.C.C.

God’s House Band … and the Spirit’s Blend

We are so blessed every Sunday to have music like this:  Grace Like Rain / thanks to the ministry of Kathryn Foster, our student pastor, Bob Fahringer (Kathryn’s husband) as well as Lynn and Paul Rice from Zion, professional musicians in their own right. They start us off with 15 minutes of great contemporary praise music before our liturgical service begins. For many of our members, this has helped create a blend that includes the best of traditional music as well as contemporary Christian songs. (CCLI podcast license # CSPL034777).

How to Fast … After Valentine’s Day

This year, due to an untimely convergence of holidays, Valentine’s Day follows Ash Wednesday, the start of the Lenten season. Since many Christians “give up” sweets during the season as an act of devotion and self-denial, I hereby declare, by the power vested in me upon my ordination, that for the evening of February 14 all members of Zion’s church will be exempt from their Lenten discipline and may fully indulge themselves in chocolates provided by their valentine. For my theologically astute friends, this gives a whole new meaning to the term “indulgence.”
That’s what I posted on Facebook on Ash Wednesday, and I got an immediate positive response from the chocoholics. I read complaints in several other friends’ posts as they bemoaned how difficult it is to give up a favorite food or snack.

So let’s revisit this whole “giving up” idea. It’s really about fasting, and you should read Jesus’ words on the subject in his sermon on the mount (Matthew 6:1-18). Fasting is a spiritual discipline, and it especially is encouraged in the season of Lent (the 40 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter – not counting Sundays).

There are basically two kinds of fasts: a complete fast and a partial fast. A complete fast would be not eating or drinking anything, usually for a day or two. Many people who fast for a day use the biblical definition of the day as ending at sundown, so they eat their last meal before sunset on one day, and then break the fast after sundown the following day. Most people who fast for several days, or even for one day, allow themselves water, or fruit juice, to be sure they are properly hydrated. Complete fasts shouldn’t be undertaken without medical advice, especially if you are on medication.
A partial fast, like abstaining from meat on Fridays, or sweets during Lent, or giving up one meal a day, is usually more manageable for beginners. And many people would say, depending on the food item they are giving up, it is just as difficult as a complete fast! But the important thing is that a partial fast accomplishes the same spiritual purpose and has the same spiritual benefit as a complete fast.
Especially in the season of Lent, the first consideration is that in fasting you experience solidarity with the poor. After just one day of not eating, you will suffer hunger pangs that many North Americans don’t ever have to endure. We pop a snack as soon as we feel a little rumbling in our belly, so not having food for a day helps you to sympathize with people all over the world who experience hunger pangs every day, and for longer periods of time.
Even in a partial fast, as you deny yourself the food you are craving, you come to appreciate how blessed you are because you normally can indulge yourself whenever you want. Such learnings are offered to God in prayer. Skipping a meal, or not eating for a day, also provides you with more time in your schedule, which should be used for prayer or devotional reading.
The second consideration is that by not eating, you are saving money. This should be set aside as a special gift, perhaps most obviously given to an agency or project that helps alleviate hunger for others, like a food bank. In our own U.C.C. denominational tradition, we have a One Great Hour of Sharing offering during Lent that would be a perfect recipient for your contributions. Jesus speaks of giving alms “in secret,” just as fasting should be done “in secret” (Matt 6:2ff). This is a reminder that the entire experience of fasting is also to be an exercise in humility.
The third consideration in fasting is that it helps to develops self-discipline. To be able to say “No” to your appetite or to your cravings for a favorite food item reminds you that your body is not your master, and that you are, in fact, much more than the sum of your appetites. Some people even have discovered, by denying themselves one particular food during the season of Lent, that they are able to maintain that discipline after Easter. When the food you are abstaining from is not particularly healthful, this can have lasting positive benefits. And many people learn to extend this act of self-discipline to other behaviors, too.

So go ahead, give fasting a try. After Valentine’s Day.

Can Advent Candles Push Back the Darkness of Newtown?

Tragedy is not a strong enough word to carry the sorrow and helplessness we feel when we hear about the senseless murder of children and teachers in Newtown. I’m sure that thousands of pastors are scrapping the sermon they planned, wondering what they can say to their congregation the weekend after these sad events. After all, Advent is the season of peace, hope, joy and love. But for these Newtown families, the Christmas they planned to have is impossible, and a cloud of grief will hang over our nation as we fumble through the pain and the fears Newtown has brought. We will keep them in our prayers and wonder whether the Advent candles are bright enough to push back the darkness of our violent world.

I think we Christians need to pay closer attention to the songs we sing. The message I’ve been developing for Sunday begins with, O Come, O Come Emmanuel, the most beloved hymn of the season. The words of that song remind us God’s people “mourn in lonely exile here.” The stanzas speak of the longing of humanity to be freed, not only from envy, strife, and quarrels; but from Satan’s tyranny, from the depths of hell, from death’s dark shadow and the grave. The biblical story speaks plainly about the evil and pain in the world that Christ came to save.

Church songs are very different from the holly-jolly secular songs of the season. They remind us there is another side to the Christmas story, not always told. Maybe this year we will read about the “slaughter of the innocents” in Matthew 2:16-18, usually excised from the Advent lectionary. Or maybe we will learn that the story of Hanukkah is not just a miracle story about lights that would not go out, but about the bravery of the Maccabees who fought back against the violence in their world.

But I wonder, can we bear to hear those stories alongside the Newtown story, in the context of Christ’s birth? Can we sing “in thy dark streets shineth the everlasting light” through our tears, knowing that “the hopes and fears of all the years” are met in Christ, and then resolve to do something about the violence in our nation?

You lose some, you win some. But that’s not the point.

A few months ago, two of our members left the church because I spoke about a contemporary political issue. More recently, two people joined the church and were delighted to hear references to health care issues in my message that day.

The first pair left, not because I said anything partisan, but because, in their opinion, a pastor should speak only about the Bible or Jesus. “So I’m not supposed to explain how the Bible relates to us today, or how Jesus’ teachings impact current issues?” Not according to them. My message  clashed with their personal opinions and that is what made it so troubling for them.

The second pair, on the other hand, seemed almost surprised, but pleasantly so, that I related a Biblical text to a current issue like health care. My statements confirmed, with Biblical authority, their own opinions on the issue.

The problem for me as a pastor is not: how do I figure out what I should say considering people’s opinions are so divergent? For me, the question is, how did confirming one’s own opinions become the norm for Christians to judge the suitability of a sermon?

No doubt there are many church-goers who just want to hear a “nice” sermon each week. But that 15-20 minute block of time is the only opportunity in the week that most people have to hear a Word from the Lord. It’s my job to teach, as best as I am able. Do people realize how often the Word of the Lord in the Bible is a challenging Word? Not discouraging or dispiriting or depressing. But challenging … even confrontational!

The stuff I hear when I troll for sermons on the Internet for the most part is either filled with bland devotional platitudes, or fundamentalist judgmental attitudes. Is it possible, instead, to cultivate enlightened biblical aptitudes? At the very least, listening to the Bible requires that we bracket our own bias long enough to hear  what the Bible actually says.

Couple #1 does not agree with that principle. Couple #2 says they do. We shall see. In the meantime, I continue to pastor, to preach and teach the Word to those who have ears to hear. And that’s the point.

God, Bless America

During this time of economic turmoil in our nation, five Allentown clergy from Congregations United for Neighborhood Action (CUNA) traveled to New Orleans last week to join more than 500 clergy from 26 states, representing Protestant, Catholic, Jewish and Muslim faith traditions.

The Reverends Dick Baumann, Maritza Dolich, John Grabish, David Charles Smith, CUNA executive director, Joshua Chisholm, and I attended the convocation in response to a “prophetic call to action.” That call reminds us about the responsibility of a people, especially those in power, to care for the poor and the vulnerable members of their society.

In fact-filled presentations, we saw statistical evidence that poverty and inequality are growing faster than any time since the 1920s. Indeed, the income gap between the top 1% and the rest of the people is almost as extreme as it was in 1929!

Clergy in New Orleans shared story after story about the devastating realities of unemployment, foreclosure and financial stress on our communities. How can anyone not be moved by the plight of a young father searching fruitlessly for work; parents and children evicted from the home they can no longer afford; or a retiree watching her life savings disappear – all due to an economic crisis they did not cause?

We clergy have witnessed the emotional and spiritual suffering that such stress often brings. The “occupied” sections of many of our nation’s cities demonstrate the despair and frustration that people feel. And now the “super-committee” has brought us the same old same old: political gridlock and gamesmanship. People who already are stressed and despairing lose hope as politicians position themselves for re-election instead of collaborating for the common good.

For generations America was a land of opportunity, a place where hard work led to a better life. Many working people now feel like the deck is stacked against them, yet attempts to discuss fairness in our society often are labeled “class warfare.” Just as the ancient prophets in our scriptures were called by God to condemn idolatry and injustice, so we feel called to speak out when we see unchecked greed and the corrupting influence of powerful special interests on our government.

The faith leaders who gathered in New Orleans believe that current public debate about economic recovery reflects competing moral and spiritual values that have profound consequences for us all. Who are we as a nation, and what binds us together? Americans always have believed in taking personal responsibility for our own well‑being; we also believe in helping our neighbors in need. Should we not expect a government as good as our people, a government that works for everyone, not just for the powerful and well‑connected?

We think that faith communities have a vital role to play in healing our nation, to shine the light that will remind our leaders to make decisions reflecting our deepest moral values. These values always have included a sense of fairness. These values always have included care for and protection of the most vulnerable among us. These values always have included courage to stand up for those who are being treated unjustly.

We have returned from New Orleans committed to preach, teach and organize in ways that unify people of faith to “do what is just, to love what is kind, and to walk humbly with God (Micah 6:8).” We challenge all of our elected leaders to put the needs of working families and the poor as well as the common good of our nation ahead of short‑term political strategies and special interests. And we invite all clergy to stand with us by reading and signing the call to action (www.cunapico.org) to reduce poverty and increase justice.

We ask for everyone’s prayers, that people of faith will be spiritually emboldened to work for the transformation of our nation, so that we may again give God every good reason to bless America.

NOTE – this was published as an “op ed” in the Morning Call, Nov. 23, 2011

Free-market Christianity or A New Thing from God

Try explaining contemporary Christian music to an Amish man!

I talked with Isaac Lapp about worship and music in his Amish community. Ike is the Amish carpenter who built the 1/2 scale Conestoga wagon for the Liberty Bell Museum, and I drove him, his family and two of his helpers to Allentown last Saturday so they could be with us for its dedication. The long drive gave us a lot of time for conversation.

Holding his thumb and forefinger to indicate the thickness of the big Gesangebuch his Amish community uses for worship, Ike explained this has been passed down for generations. They sing in German, without musical accompaniment of any kind. They sing the same songs sung by their German ancestors, who were persecuted and killed because of their religious ideas. “If it was good enough for them, why wouldn’t it be good enough for us?”

An interesting statement. On one hand, can you imagine a young adult in the suburbs saying that, about almost anything their parents have done? On the other hand, how could I explain to Ike the need for contemporary Christian music? How could I suggest that God is doing new thing in the 21st century church when I’m talking with someone who essentially lives somewhere between the 18th and 19th centuries?

From the worst angle, I suppose the drive to sing contemporary music is due to competition in the marketplace of churches, where individual Christians are free to worship wherever they want. Contemporary music is a marketing strategy, both to retain members and to recruit new members. And clearly, by the numbers alone, contemporary music is drawing many people, for whom contemporary music is the best expression of their spirituality.

From the best angle, in the United Church of Christ we not only say “God is still speaking,” We also say it is “the responsibility of the Church in each generation to make the faith its own in reality of worship, in honesty of thought and expression, and in purity of heart before God.” Ideally, contemporary music forms, from folk to hip-hip and everything in between, become vessels for the faith in a new age.

Over the past two years I have come to love the Lapp family and their uncomplicated approach to life and faith. I would never try to talk them out of it. But I am sad to think about children growing up in a community where music is ossified, where they never will take music appreciation or learn to play an instrument or write a new song unto the Lord (much less a love song to their betrothed!).

At Zion we are beginning to learn the new music, with some members cautious and some members cheering as we create “blended” worship, an elusive goal and a moving target. I suppose the goal really is a blended congregation, with members who affirm there are needs-differing as well as gifts-differing. Members who value one another and value community enough to talk about their spirituality and their musicality. Members who also would say they don’t want their church to be “amished,” stuck in the forms of an earlier generation.