Holocaust Remembrance Day

This past Tuesday was Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. I am proud of our church for hosting a commemoration of that day sponsored by the Georgetown Ministerial Alliance and Havurah Shalom, a local Jewish congregation. A little over 450 people from our community attended.

We viewed the film, "Nicholas Winton: The Power of Good," an award-winning documentary that describes how Winton, a Christian from London, led an effort to rescue 669 Jewish children from Czechoslovakia at the advent of WWII. Winton has been described as a British "Schindler." The story was both touching and inspiring.

Following the movie a local resident who was rescued from Hungary as a child told her story. I believe she was 2 years old when she was smuggled into a convent. She was reunited with her mother after the war ended 4 years later. She had no other relatives survive. All were killed during the Holocaust.

I want to write more about the experience in another post, but for now I have to admit it was a little disorienting to see a Jewish woman standing in a Church of Christ pulpit! I wonder how many of the people there knew how unlikely a scene that was. But no one seemed to mind. In fact, our willingness to host such an event was welcomed by our members who attended and made a positive impression on others who were there.

But I can see how it might be troubling to some. How could we parnter with people who don't believe Jesus is the Son of God? Isn't that a dangerous compromise? Obviously, to me, it was not.

I do indeed believe that Jesus is the only way to God. For that reason, I do not consider those who have rejected Jesus to be saved. I don't mean to sound judgmental; I'm just saying what I believe the Bible teaches to be true. I'm perfectly content to leave the judging part to God. But even though I don't feel a spiritual connection, I do think I can still be nice. In fact, it makes sense to me that we are more likely to be a positive influence upon others if we treat them with respect, honor and love.

Honestly, did the "you think you are the only ones going to heaven" spirit really serve us very well?

The Economy For Dummies

Sorry to not have written much lately. My limited gray matter has been tied up in other areas.

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I was so disappointed that Kenny Perry didn't win the Masters last week, but so proud of how he played for 70 holes and especially how he handled himself.

I got to play a round of golf with Kenny several years ago, before he won his first tournament. I was the campus minister at Western Kentucky Univ.; Kenny was, and still is, a member of one of our supporting congregations. I like to think that my playing with him had something to do with his later success on the PGA tour. Something along the lines of "I better work hard or I could end up playing like this guy."

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A friend sent me the following explanation for the shape of our economy. Now I get it!

Heidi is the proprietor of a bar in Detroit. In order to increase sales, she decides to allow her loyal customers - most of whom are unemployed alcoholics - to drink now but pay later. She keeps track of the drinks consumed on a ledger (thereby granting the customers loans).

Word gets around about Heidi's drink now pay later marketing strategy and as a result, increasing numbers of customers flood into Heidi's bar and soon she has the largest sale volume for any bar in Detroit. By providing her customers' freedom from immediate payment demands, Heidi gets no resistance when she substantially increases her prices for wine and beer, the most consumed beverages. Her sales volume increases massively.

A young and dynamic vice-president at the local bank recognizes these customer debts as valuable future assets and increases Heidi's borrowing limit. He sees no reason for undue concern since he has the debts of the alcoholics as collateral.

At the bank's corporate headquarters, expert traders transform these customer loans into DRINKBONDS, ALKIBONDS and PUKEBONDS. These securities are then traded on security markets worldwide. Naive investors don't really understand the securities being sold to them as AAA secured bonds are really the debts of unemployed alcoholics. Nevertheless, their prices continuously climb, and the securities become the top-selling items for some of the nation's leading brokerage houses who collect enormous fees on their sales, pay extravagant bonuses to their sales force, and who in turn purchase exotic sports cars and multimillion dollar condominiums.

One day, although the bond prices are still climbing, a risk manager at the bank (subsequently fired due to his negativity), decides that the time has come to demand payment on the debts incurred by the drinkers at Heidi's bar. Heidi then demands payment from her alcoholic patrons, but being unemployed they cannot pay back their drinking debts. Therefore, Heidi cannot fulfill her loan obligations and claims bankruptcy. DRINKBOND and ALKIBOND drop in price by 90 %. PUKEBOND performs better, stabilizing in price after dropping by 80 %. The decreased bond asset value destroys the banks liquidity and prevents it from issuing new loans.

The suppliers of Heidi's bar, having granted her generous payment extensions and having invested in the securities are faced with writing off her debt and losing over 80% on her bonds. Her wine supplier claims bankruptcy, her beer supplier is taken over by a competitor, who immediately closes the local plant and lays off 50 workers. The bank and brokerage houses are saved by the Government following dramatic round-the-clock negotiations by leaders from both political parties. The funds required for this bailout are obtained by a tax levied on employed middle-class non-drinkers.

Great Cloud of Witnesses

A few weeks ago Belinda and I attended a performance of Secret Garden by a local middle school. It was very well done, but the main reason we went wasn't to see the play. It was because Jeremy, a friend of ours, was one of the performers. He did a great job.

One of the nice things about the evening was seeing several "older" friends (i.e. older than us!) who also came to watch him perform. I think the presence of those of us from a couple of generations removed from Jeremy will have a bigger impact on his life than he probably realizes right now. You see, after the performance was over, you would have thought Jeremy had just won an Oscar by the way we carried on. Our praise of him was sincere, but I'm sure he thought we made a much bigger deal of it than a middle school play deserved. It wouldn't surprise me if we even embarrassed him a little, but I also bet deep down he very much enjoyed getting such recognition.

What a blessing it is for all of us, but especially young people, to have "fans;" people who support them, cheer for them, tell them they did ok even when they really didn't. It's a good thing for Moms and Dads to do that, but it's also a blessing when others can cheer on and praise kids not their own. When we believe in them it makes is so much easier for them to believe in themselves.

As I think about my own life, I remember older people at church (actually they were younger than I am now!) who always had an encouraging word for me, even when I didn't want to hear it. At the time, I viewed those people as something of a nuisance. Later, however, after I decided to return home to God after being off in a far country, I always felt that they had contributed in some way to my homecoming. Using the imagery from Hebrews 12, I had my very own cloud of witnesses.

It's nice to know that we can impact people from younger generations in ways that may very well shape their futures. It doesn't require some major effort or ability. It's mostly a matter of just giving them positive attention. Be warned, they make look at you like you're some kind of nut when you say something really out there, like, "Hey, I'm glad to see you today." But don't give up. The contribution you are making will likely make more of an impact than you will ever know.