Pine Valley Christian Church
Isaiah 56: 11-17
September 1, 2013
Rev. David Hansen
A few weeks ago when I started thinking about this sermon I was mindful that this is Labor Day weekend and that Saket Soni, the Executive Director or the National Guestworker Alliance is in town. I had the opportunity to meet with him and learn from him about how some U.S. companies are recruiting people from other countries and bringing them to the United States where they are being held in what are called “work camps.” These workers have no rights or legal recourse, work for subminimum wages and are held in confined lodging areas surrounded by fences and patrolled by security forces. I am glad for the work Saket is doing to expose these practices and to bring this situation to light.
Over the past few weeks I had heard rumblings about plans for national job actions by fast food workers. Fast food workers in Kansas City and Topeka and in other cities around the country walked out this past week. We can expect more job actions in the future. People have a hard time making it in $7.25 or $8 or even $9 an hour. Nine dollars an hour at 40 hours a week for 52 weeks a year comes to less than $19,000 income for the year. The Mayor of Washington, D.C. said this past week that people cannot live in that area if they are making less than $12.50 an hour. That’s $26,000 a year. Fast food workers are seeking $15 an hour, or $30,000 a year. Supporting these workers and others who are seeking a living minimum wage is a way for us to support families and fight poverty. It is not a utopian dream. It is more accurately a statement that we believe everyone has a right to earn a living wage. Everyone has a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Last Sunday we celebrated the 50th anniversary of Dr. King’s Dream Speech. It was one of the most important speeches of the 20th century. I suspect that when he visited us last week Mark McCormick, the Executive Director of the Kansas African American History Museum talked about that speech. I am sorry I did not hear what he had to say. I imagine that Mr. McCormick reminded us that the “Dream Speech” is also called the “Debt Speech.” In that address Dr. King said that American has signed a promissory note to its people, and America has not made good on that promise. The check bounced. It bounced because the nation had insufficient funds in its moral bank account. We need a new economy.
Economists in the World Council of Churches have been arguing for a decade that in addition to the Poverty Line we need a Greed Line. A Greed Line would ask us to look at the difference in the pay scale between the entry level position and the top rung of the economic ladder, and to ask ourselves, “What ratio is reasonable?” Is a 10:1 ratio reasonable? That was what some economists proposed when I was studying economics in 1980. That means that in a pay chain that includes wages and total compensation, for every dollar the newest hire on the line makes, the person at the top of the chart makes $10. Today the ratio is as high as 480:1, and in some cases it is much more skewed. The economists at the World Council of Churches are asking us to consider pay and compensation ratios and to ask ourselves, “What is reasonable?” And they are talking about more than income and wealth ratios. They also point to sources of income and a complex set of economic metrics to create what they call the Greed Line. In a civil society, they argue, no one should live below the Poverty Line or above the Greed Line. In order to move the Poverty Line, we must also move Greed Line.
Democracy will not survive the kind of economic disparity we have today, but the economic climate won’t change unless people get involved. That is why fast food workers went on strike. Dr. King asked in his last book, “Where do we go from here: Chaos or Community?” In that book he called for a living wage and for full employment. I believe that we are coming to a time when we will see more clearly than we have in the past that economic democracy and political democracy are kinfolk, one supports and strengthens the other, weaken one and you weaken the other. The true measure of the economy is not the stock exchange or even the Gross Domestic Product. The true measure of the economy is the well-being of the people.
The prophet Isaiah had vision of such a time. He called his vision a new heaven and a new earth. There will be no more crying or sorrow in the city, but affordable, accessible, adequate health care for all. Children will not die in infancy from malnutrition or preventable disease, or abuse, or neglect. People will live in houses that they will build—in the words of Millard Fuller, there will be “love in the mortar joints” of our homes and communities. People will enjoy grapes from their own vineyards—sustainable agriculture will be common sense, and everyone will have enough. They will not hurt or destroy on God’s holy mountain—this planet Earth. Nations will study war no more. Drones will be beaten into pruning forks and bombs into text books and school classrooms. What an extraordinary week it has been. Governments asked the people if they should go to war against Syria, and the people said, “No.” Clearly the use of chemical weapons is a crime against humanity. But let’s name it for what it is and go to the international court and make the case.
Isaiah gives us a challenging vision. Some dismiss it as a utopian vision. I would submit also a worthy vision. Building our capacity for trust, building our capacity for confidence and hope makes it possible for us to wade into the muddy waters of our time, and to cross the great chasms of despair and disbelief. Maybe one of the images we need for today is Nik Wallenda walking on a tightrope across Niagara Falls. The rope he used for that walk was 1,800 feet long and weighted 7 tons. It took a full crew 20 hours to put the rope in place. While it seems like Nik’s walk was a solo act of courage, there was a full team of people working for several days to make it possible. One of the great spiritual challenges of our time, perhaps it is the great challenge of our time, is become a people willing to walk the tightrope of hope across the great chasms of despair, and proclaim a radical vision of a new heaven and a new earth.
Today we might say that Isaiah’s great gift to his time was the gift of positive mentoring a new generation. He gave a new generation the gift of a dream, the dream of a new heaven and a new earth, and the dream was not in vain. King’s dream was not in vain.
With Isaiah and King as our mentors, let me turn to a recent event in or community. I am thinking particularly about an editorial that appeared in The Wichita Eagle on Wednesday, August 21, 2013. The editorial was written by Rhonda Holman. She called her essay, “A Cultural Lesson.” The focus of her essay was “the viral firestorm” created by a parent who visited Minneha School on opening day and took a picture of a bulletin board that displayed the five pillars of Islam. It was not the only bulletin board. But she took a picture of that bulletin board and posted it on the internet. She put the picture on a Facebook page under the heading, “Prepare to take America Back.”
In her attack on the school, its principle and the program, this enraged parent apparently did not bother to find out that Minneha is a Core Knowledge Magnet Elementary School that for 15 years has been studying the world’s five major religions as part of its core curriculum. She did not bother to find out that Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam are all studied as part of the core curriculum. She did not bother to educate herself. She just took the picture and posted it. And when State Representative Dennis Hedke saw it, he did not bother to find out about Core Knowledge. He did not take the time to learn that this curriculum is based on the idea that all students must know a set of culturally common ideas to succeed in life. The woman who took the picture and State Representative Hedke did not bother to take the time to find out that the program came about as the result of alliance between so-called “conservative” parents and the teachers union, and so she posted the picture of the Five Pillars of Islam on Facebook under the heading, “Prepare to take America back” and 3,500 followers piled on.
So today I am proposing that you and I get on the tightrope and venture out to cross this chasm of ignorance and bigotry. I am proposing that you and I sign a letter to Ms. Linda Hope, the Principle of Minneha Elementary School. I want to be clear that I have not talked with her or anyone else in the school district about this. And my asking you to sign this letter with me is not a test of faith. Signing or not signing is a personal decision and commitment and we all have our reasons for what we do. I respect those reasons and each person’s decision. Some people may want to sign this letter but for various reasons cannot and others may just choose not to sign it. I respect that. I hope some of you will be able to sign with me. But I want to send a letter to Principal Hope and to The Wichita Eagle.
Here is my letter.
September 1, 2013
Ms. Linda Hope, Principal
Minneha Elementary School
701 N. Webb Road
Wichita, Ks 67206
Dear Principal Hope,
Pine Valley Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is a Christian community. In our Mission Statement, unanimously approved by the members of the congregation in 2013, we profess that we are “a progressive faith community practicing unconditional love and seeking justice in an interfaith world so that all people may experience abundant life.”
Our Mission Statement compels us, the undersigned members of Pine Valley Christian Church, to speak out regarding the recent and unfortunate controversy at Minneha Elementary School. We affirm the value of the school’s Core Knowledge fourth grade social studies curriculum, which includes the study of the five major religions of the world: Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam. We understand and value the school’s decision to not promote religion, but to study religion as a part of culture. Understanding our own faith tradition and the faith traditions of others is, we believe, necessary for success in life. Deepening and broadening our knowledge of our own tradition and the traditions of others is a constructive effort to create a more peaceful world.
Many of us who are members of Pine Valley Christian Church have also signed a Family Pledge of Nonviolence, written and distributed by the Institute for Peace and Justice. Signing this Pledge was for us a way to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s speech, “I have a Dream,” and to renew our commitment to his vision of nonviolence. We are appalled by those who would threaten you and others with acts of violence in the name of Christianity.
We would like you to know of our appreciation for the pioneering work you and the faculty of Minneha Elementary School are doing in the field of education. Thank you.