final days forum

Will the recession steal your creativity?

This recession is sneaky.

Not content to rob the country financially, this recession aims to nab our creativity. The gift of our ingenuity is the real prize this recession season seeks. The media reports about the lingering misery of the nation's financial loss, but the news shrouds the most lethal weapon -- the underlying lie that we can't get beyond this recession.

Chaos always attempts to trample the resilient order within human beings, that part of us that says: "Wait a minute! The last time I faced this, it actually turned out OK..." or "Whoa! Remember how I actually achieved more after I lost so much?"

When we give up, when we freeze in place because of chronic problems and overwhelming odds, chaos wins.

If you're out of work, you have time to think. If you want to quit a job you're clinging to because it keeps the lights on and that's about it, take time to think. Great minds seize the freedom to conceive dreams and visions and hopes even when their lives are constrained.  Nobel Prize winner Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich  about a Soviet labor camp touched me when I read it in high school because of the gritty survival it depicted. And I'm still amazed by Paul, who wrote inspired words to his friends in Philippi while under what traditional scholarship says was captivity in Rome.

I have not faced a Soviet labor camp or house arrest, but stories like these and the recession itself have taught me this: Chaos may limit circumstances, but chaos can't capture my spirit unless I submit to it.

Because of this recession, much has been lost, but much more is to be gained. The American Express card may be gone, but because of creative thinking during this recession, you may reach the Dave Ramsey sweet spot where you resist all plastic. The house may be gone, but its loss may drive you to build a business that builds you a new one, not to mention houses for others.

What we do now, what we create when we fight worry with work, what we reinvent ourselves to be despite the financial ashes -- will determine how luminously we emerge when this sly recession passes.

Judy Howard Ellis

Photo: Russian writer and Nobel prize winner Alexander Solzhenitsyn looks out from a train, in Vladivostok, summer 1994, before departing on a journey across Russia. Solzhenitsyn returned to Russia after nearly 20 years in exile. Photo by Mikhail Evstafiev

Dreaming about a radical church

Sleep, originally uploaded by Steven Fernandez.

What would happen if we no longer practiced church as usual?

Close your eyes and dream with me:

1. What if the church pursued welcoming, loving conversations about Jesus on social networking sites like Twitter, Plurk, and Facebook?  What if we saw opportunities on the Web to share Jesus, much like he seized chances to talk about his Father on the roads of Galilee?

2. What if the church didn't make God seem spooky, remote, and weird? Why not talk with people like we were regular people instead of robotic clerics agitated by our itchy hair shirts?

3. What if we took Jesus' words about the Holy Spirit seriously? The Bible says the Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. What if we moved aside and watched the Spirit do his job?

4. What if the church did not act like the fashion police? Wehy can't we get our praise on even when the multi-pierced, the ghoulishly Gothic, the skimpily dressed, and the completely tattooed sit next to us in church?

5. What if we treated all sin as sin and didn't act as if lying, cheating, gossiping, backbiting, adultery, meanness, and gluttony got a pass in the Bible? Ahh. Jesus' words to the folks who wanted to stone the woman caught in adultery: He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.

6. What if we gave people food and bill assistance just because they asked for it? Some people will take advantage of our benevolence, but a lot of other folks would just love the church for helping them out during a rough time. Seems worth the risk to me -- just to see how God touches people and answers their prayers.

7. What if all the televangelists who typically ask viewers to "sow" into their ministry never asked for another dime? What if they urged viewers to sow into the church where they actually attend?

8. What if we actually believed in the expansive power of prayer? We could ask the Lord to heal and prosper our country instead of writing nasty, mean-spirited stuff on the Web and loudly protesting outside of people's homes?

9. What if we love people, regardless of how they vote in this presidential election? Think about it: civility the day after the election. And the church could offer the most civil environment of all.

10. What if we treated people with the grace God gives us? Unconditional love is wonderful to receive. Have we learned how to share it?

What are your dreams for the church?

 

Judy Howard Ellis

 

Share the mind-wealth, fight the poverty

Donations for the poor, originally uploaded by szlea.

 

Some major American ministries have long ago caught the vision about feeding the hungry. Slick advertisements depict hungry children either in the United States or abroad in an effort to tug at the emotions of potential donors.

Rarely have I seen those same ministries show the adults whose lives are whittled away by physical need. Poverty deepens in its visual impact when you witness adults struggling to feed their families and keep them sheltered. Poverty aches when you watch a grown, healthy man search for employment or try to build a small business just to feed his kids. This is the real face of poverty: The distress of an entire family.

If we are serious about combating poverty, then our approaches must rise above just shoving a few bucks in a can for a homeless person or sponsoring a child overseas but never connecting with the youngster's family. Perhaps a more effective way to crush poverty is reaching out to people with a multi-generational approach. And we shouldn't just share our money, we need to give of our mind-wealth. By mind-wealth I mean skills, resources, compassion, creativity, experience, and wisdom.

Americans are generous, but the nation's current economic pain may help some of us finally grasp why  global anti-poverty efforts must reach the whole family and include the vast resources of our collective creativity. Every day on national and local television, Americans can see how it's not just the kids who need care in America's urban, suburban, and rural areas.  Their parents, adult guardians and relatives need to be empowered. These adults need housing relief, jobs, incomes that grow instead of shrink, medical insurance that actually covers what they pay for, affordable education for their children, and access to work with their employers and local governments to improve the plight of their communities. 

If you are so blessed and so wise to have survived this financial meltdown, share your mind-wealth, don't hoard it. Do the same in conjunction with anti-poverty efforts overseas. Offer to assist the poor as they pursue their entrepreneurial dreams. Offer technology that has benefited your life and can benefit theirs. Be humble to set aside your social agendas and let those facing hardship develop their own. That's what I heard today when I listened to a segment on Blog ActionDay  hosted by Easton Ellsworth on BlogTalk Radio, and what I read on one of my favorite blogs, Skelliewag.org. Skellie wrote a great piece about"30 Ways to Battle Poverty with Technology." 

When I use the term mind-wealth, don't think that I worship the human mind. However, I have learned that a mind infused with God's ideas can be a compassionate instrument to accomplish great things. That's the message ministries should send when soliciting support for anti-hunger programs. Real people are hungry and dying every day. Yes. Whole families are being destroyed because of it. Yes and yes. But impoverished imagination and selfish ambition guarantee that the fierce enemy of poverty will win the war.

Judy Howard Ellis

 

The passing of the past

Round the bend, originally uploaded by nugib.

When a girl I liked moved away from our neighborhood in East St. Louis, it was an early lesson about letting go. The girl was fun and sweet and from my viewpoint as a child, 24th Street seemed dimmer after she left. I couldn't stop her passing through my life and neither could she or our other neighborhood friend, who also did not want to see her go.

In life, there are many passings. And we mourn them. When both of my grandmothers died during the same summer after my college graduation, my family walked away from a life we once knew when we left Sunset Cemetery. We will see them again one day, but their time with us in the old way had passed.

When I once lost love, I had to re-orientate my sights to new dreams. When I changed jobs or relocated to other cities, I found my footing in new places. When new opportunities meant exchanging abundance for fewer material things, I learned simplicity. This is the captivating nature of letting go. New understanding is gained; freshly minted maturity is experienced; more profound empathy is shown.

One of the essentially paradoxical things about God is that he does not change in character, perspective, and ability, but his kingdom is anchored in constant change. He's always building, rebuilding, structuring, and restructuring. He's always loosening our moorings.

And we must not be offended by the King of Kings because he maneuvers in our lives this way. It's "craven fear" to do so. While writing this post I am reminded of the character in Hannah Hurnard's beloved book, Hind's Feet for High Places. Even the onery Craven Fear in Hurnard's story was transformed. May we allow God to lovingly guide us through these changes in life, no matter how painful, so that we also can be transformed.

Right now, America is experiencing a great passing of the past. That passing is more than acknowledging that a 720 FICO score and a decent down payment does not guarantee you a house. This passing of the past also is about more than who will occupy the White House in January. These are shadows reflecting the intense movements of heaven. Isaiah 43:19 is cited so often it sometimes seems cliche, but it is fitting here: Behold, God is doing a new thing. Will we not know it?

During this Jewish New Year, 5769, what we can't see is the extensive work of God. He's adjusting the perception of everyone to catch the expansive dream of the kingdom. He wants everyone to realize that kingdom-building  manifests in more ways  than overflowing church parking lots and television programs drawing millions of viewers. Indeed, the Father wants a great company, but they will likely resemble David's men, unlikely recruits who know their God and the demonstration of his power. 

These kingdom-seers display God's glory in the checkout line in the grocery store, and in the neighborhood business that gains a reputation for hiring as many people as possible instead of laying off workers to boost its bottom line. They are the small coterie of saints whose work among the incarcerated restores dozens upon dozens of families. Their labor is identified by miracles, not self-righteousness.

They don't fluctuate like the stock market when God carries them through one season and then the next with rapidity.  They travel his breakneck highways with joy.

Judy Howard Ellis
 

Link to Hannah Hurnard's book, courtesy of books.google.com; link to Isaiah passage courtesy of biblos.com; link to information about the Jewish New Year courtesy of http://joyofthetorah.org
link to David's men in 1 Samuel, courtesy of studylight.com

Got worry? Free your mind

Nine, originally uploaded by moriza.

No joke, there is plenty to worry about: the historic upheaval on Wall Street, the gas shortage in the southeast, the devastation in Galveston and the struggles in Houston after Hurricane Ike, the financial shortfall some entities are facing (the Dallas Independent School District and the state of Colorado as cases in point), company layoffs, the rising cost of food, and the dropping costs of homes. Even Bank of America is refusing to loan McDonald's money to update their coffee machines!

People are giving less to their churches and their favorite nonprofits.  Small business owners are getting creative to drum up customers. More multi-generational families are expected to live together, and that's partly because of the worsening economy.  Things look bleak all over. The temptation is strong to retreat instead of advance, to give up instead of endure, to create our own escape routes instead of seeking God's way out.

And that's where it really gets tough. When we wait for God's plan of escape, we must kick worry out the door. We must be disciplined to wait on God to provide a way of escape. We must believe that yes, God can give us wisdom that matters to us right now.

Joseph, the biblical leader who led his people out of famine, faced demeaning captivity before he stepped into his destiny. For years God used Joseph as a business strategist, although he was a slave in an Egyptian official's home. Then Joseph was lied on by the official's wife and thrown into prison. In both places, despite Joseph's enslavement, God made his gifts bloom. When two of Pharaoh's officials were put in jail with Joseph, God used Joseph to interpret their dreams. When one of the officials was freed from prison, Joseph asked him to put in a good word for him with Pharoah. 

Wrong move.  Joseph's request revealed his frustration. Maybe he was tired of waiting on God. Maybe Joseph reasoned that God's silence must be an OK for him to generate a D-I-Y moment. Whatever Joseph's reason, it was still misguided. The freed official promptly forgot Joseph's request and God's strategist remained in jail another two full years. What would've happened if Joseph had stood still and waited for God to act on his behalf?

It's foolish to heed alternatives, options, and plans that are not delivered from heaven. Satan relishes the opportunity to draw us away from God when problems escalate as they are doing now. He wants us walking the floors at night, anxious and depressed. He wants our prayers to cease so that we will not experience God's creativity and resolve to press forward.

Jumping ahead of God to ease the pain of waiting for his help is easy. Waiting on God-- despite the whipping waves of life-- is a discipline birthed in tears. But guess what? It tickles God! Our disciplined waiting says to him that we believe he's worth waiting for.

Judy Howard Ellis

Links courtesy of dallasnews.com, denverpost.com, bloomberg.com, abcnews.com, chron.com

 

 

A recession? Maybe it’s a holy opportunity

With all the talk about whether the U.S. is already in a recession or falling headlong into one, it's a great time for church communities to serve the nation.

Churches could step up their Crown Financial Ministries classes to teach good money use, host Q&A sessions with savvy financial experts within their congregations, survey and then address the financial needs of their members, increase benevolence funds, encourage members to collaborate with each other and partner with reliable mortgage lenders, bankers, realtors and businesses to help those snared in the housing crunch.

Ministries with enormous platforms on TV and the Internet could talk more about surviving and thriving when the economy goes south. They could specifically address handling finances and give a mike to those who don't mind describing their former money struggles and how God revealed powerful lessons for success.

Charlatan-led prosperity gimmicks should die off like parasites. Whether the gimmick is peddled by unsavory ministers or business people who deal with a sleight of hand, every financial idea should be tested by whether its ambition is to please the heart of God. Only the lasting financial, spiritual, physical and emotional wholeness that God offers should be sought, for He is not only the Giver of provision, He is Provision.

Now is not the time for Christians to allow a bunker mentality. We must talk about money. We must take care of our own homes and reach out to those within and outside our churches.  Those who are a whiz at coupon-saving, trading stocks, maintaining cars, shopping, explaining insurance, balancing checkbooks, running businesses, investing in real estate and scores of other skills should not hoard their gifts. Share them and refuse to judge the people you help. And for those who are on the receiving end, be humble enough to be taught.

Despite the hardships of the current economy, I believe fresh opportunities are on the horizon. Though stocks may plunge and the credit crisis worsens, those who know their God can and will do mighty exploits for Him.