Back home, preparing to attend our annual Church Conference and then scoot to southern Saskatchewan for a two week wilderness holiday in Grasslands National Park. The Church Conference has little appeal for me, after all these decades of mandatory attendance. It will struggle with restructuring in the face of shrinking resources, as well as nominal nods in the direction of social action regarding "resource development" - Alberta-speak for the Athabasca Tar Sands and the oil it produces at the cost of millions of gallons of irreplaceable water.
I become frustrated with the church's approach to 'shrinking resources.' At a time when our people are earning more money than ever before, and going into debt more deeply than ever before, I do not see why we can't confront them with stark reality about the institution: either we come up with enough money to run it, or we shut it down. Why not ask them, as the ancient Hebrews did, to tithe of their net income. "Tithe" means a tenth. But even if people committed to sharing 2% of their net income annually with their church, we would have no financial issue. Islam requires 2 1/2%, Judaism 10%. The old Methodists - Charles and John Wesley - used to say of the tithing business: "the Jews give only ten percent. Clearly, the expectation was for more than that. We seem to be so timid, as though what we have isn't worth claiming their support! People appear to be willing to 'invest' in all manner of toys - ATVs, hot cars, big trucks, snowmobiles - but we are afraid to ask them to invest in their religious institution? Bizarre.
The oil sands issue - it really is more than that. It's really about the wilful degradation of our whole environment in the interests of making money for large corporations. The folks who work in the oil patch quickly become 'economic slaves.' They are very well paid, and they spend themselves deeply into debt almost immediately. At that point, they are trapped. They can't possibly leave, because then they couldn't service their debt. And having toys and homes re-possessed is beyond imagining. Some of the folks in the industry come from impoverished backgrounds, and have painful memories of having very little. The prospect of that shadow is enough to keep many a man working punishing hours for many years. Albertans work more hours annually, and take fewer vacation days, than people in any other province or territory. In some real-time ways, we are a slave state, though a wealthy one.
Some of my colleagues try writing about this dilemma, and do it quite articulately. However, their passion becomes overlaid with the rage they feel at the powerlessness of their position - our position. Our federal government - one of the worst we've ever had - keeps pounding away on our "recovering economy" - the most crucial issue of all, they tell us. They urge everyone on to greater riches through "resource development," and keep all other other issue on the back burner, including the erosion of democratic processes like free speech and the right to protest. Any oppositional view is labelled "radical," and therefore dangerous and 'to be avoided.'
Believe me, I can get really aroused about this, as more people in our deluded country need to, before we are irreparably damaged. BUT…I'm glad to be going on vacation in the wilds. Two weeks with no TV, no street lights to pollute the night sky, virtually no other people to interfere with movie watching, reading or walking! It all begins on Sunday evening. I'll keep you posted on the experience.
I become frustrated with the church's approach to 'shrinking resources.' At a time when our people are earning more money than ever before, and going into debt more deeply than ever before, I do not see why we can't confront them with stark reality about the institution: either we come up with enough money to run it, or we shut it down. Why not ask them, as the ancient Hebrews did, to tithe of their net income. "Tithe" means a tenth. But even if people committed to sharing 2% of their net income annually with their church, we would have no financial issue. Islam requires 2 1/2%, Judaism 10%. The old Methodists - Charles and John Wesley - used to say of the tithing business: "the Jews give only ten percent. Clearly, the expectation was for more than that. We seem to be so timid, as though what we have isn't worth claiming their support! People appear to be willing to 'invest' in all manner of toys - ATVs, hot cars, big trucks, snowmobiles - but we are afraid to ask them to invest in their religious institution? Bizarre.
The oil sands issue - it really is more than that. It's really about the wilful degradation of our whole environment in the interests of making money for large corporations. The folks who work in the oil patch quickly become 'economic slaves.' They are very well paid, and they spend themselves deeply into debt almost immediately. At that point, they are trapped. They can't possibly leave, because then they couldn't service their debt. And having toys and homes re-possessed is beyond imagining. Some of the folks in the industry come from impoverished backgrounds, and have painful memories of having very little. The prospect of that shadow is enough to keep many a man working punishing hours for many years. Albertans work more hours annually, and take fewer vacation days, than people in any other province or territory. In some real-time ways, we are a slave state, though a wealthy one.
Some of my colleagues try writing about this dilemma, and do it quite articulately. However, their passion becomes overlaid with the rage they feel at the powerlessness of their position - our position. Our federal government - one of the worst we've ever had - keeps pounding away on our "recovering economy" - the most crucial issue of all, they tell us. They urge everyone on to greater riches through "resource development," and keep all other other issue on the back burner, including the erosion of democratic processes like free speech and the right to protest. Any oppositional view is labelled "radical," and therefore dangerous and 'to be avoided.'
Believe me, I can get really aroused about this, as more people in our deluded country need to, before we are irreparably damaged. BUT…I'm glad to be going on vacation in the wilds. Two weeks with no TV, no street lights to pollute the night sky, virtually no other people to interfere with movie watching, reading or walking! It all begins on Sunday evening. I'll keep you posted on the experience.
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