Our Long- in- the- Making Constitutional Crisis

 

“The National Archives Building’s architect, John Russell Pope, designated space for two large murals in the Rotunda for the Charters of Freedom. These oil-on-canvas paintings were painted by artist Barry Faulkner in 1935–36. Faulkner created allegorical scenes depicting the writing and adoption of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States. These massive murals, each about the size of a city bus (14 feet by 37.5 feet), add life and color to the space.”

This mural is of the signing of the Constitution. George Washington stands front and center.

There is already a Constitutional crisis existent. But it is not merely a recent one, nor is it the result only of elected officials who blatantly disregard its provisions. The preponderance of fault lies with much of the American electorate who have cared little to naught about this most fundamental expression of American nature, character, and construct.

Oh, for sure, many, when they were in high school memorized the Preamble. But I doubt that they took the time or cognitive energy to learn or discover that the Preamble describes the scope and purpose of the Constitution.

We the People of the United States,

 in Order to form a more perfect Union,

 establish Justice,

 insure domestic Tranquility,

 provide for the common defence,

 promote the general Welfare,

 and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity,

 do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Aside from the much cliched throwing about of the first three words and maybe the Second Amendment, most citizens have not read the fullness of the Constitution. Nor do they refer to it to ascertain the accuracy of some statement a candidate or elected official may state. Nor yet do they even have a copy in their possession or know where to find one on the internet.

    It is no wonder that we are in a state of Constitutional Crisis. Few people are aware of the Constitution’s significance. Many people do not care.

Upon entering service in the military, elective or appointive office, serving as a Election day poll worker, we speak an oath to support and defend the Constitution.

I think most people raise their hands and in a perfunctory manner recite the oath out of a sense of mere bureaucratic correctness. I assert that one cannot in sincerity offer reverence to something with which they have not become familiar.

If ever you have had to file for bankruptcy protection, or think that you may need to one day, the Constitution makes that provision. If you are a songwriter, publisher, artist or other person of the creative arts or inventive processes, the Constitution provides protections of your works for you. If you enjoy driving state to state without having to acquire a different driver’s license for each state, thank the Constitution.

    Without the Constitution, without the diligent adherence to the Constitution, we will become an unpredictable hodgepodge of “who’s got what rights today?”

It is not only the responsibility of schools and teachers to make the content of the Constitution well-known, much more so, it is the duty of each citizen to become sufficiently informed of the content that they will know when elected leaders are abdicating their own oath which they had taken.

The first three words of the preamble of the Constitution are not words that place burden on elected officials, they place the burden to maintain the Constitution on the citizenry…

We the people, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

You can become familiar with the Constitution at:

https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/constitution

 

 

For Lent, Let's Give up National Idolatry and Permanently Replace it with Christ-like Compassion

 

I question the sincerity of those who claim an importance of legal versus illegal means of entry into the country…

If a person values legality so highly, then I suggest that the next time that person discovers they are driving over the speed limit that they should immediately drive to the local police station, confess their infraction, and insist on paying the fine.

 Perhaps you think I am being silly in my argument. I refer you to the following information found at https://www.nhtsa.gov/press-releases/speed-campaign-speeding-fatalities-14-year-high

There we read the following information…

“Speeding accounts for nearly one-third of all fatalities on our roads and puts everyone at risk, including people in other vehicles, pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists and people with disabilities,”

Illegal driving causes deaths. It is a serious concern.

Anyone with personal integrity who insists that those who enter the country illegally should be deported, that person should insist on paying the fine for their infraction of speeding, however many times it may happen.

I think the concern about illegality of immigrants is merely a convenient veil to disguise the ugly face of hubris-infected nationalism.

What has troubled me since I was fourteen in 1969 is this fear: Many, if not most, Church-goers in America are first and foremost National Idolators who fit Jesus in so long as he does not interfere with their national idolatry, national pride, and cultural and financial comfort.

What continues to trouble me are church-goers that resemble Pharisees much more than Jesus.

A Pharisee will be quick and eager to pick up a stone to throw at someone accused of infraction. An imitator of Jesus will show compassion and defense.

Imagine if Jesus, instead of defending the woman, had opened his Scriptures and following the verses with his finger, said to the woman “I want you to know I am sympathetic. But it says right here to stone you.” And then, looking at the Pharisees, said “OK boys, have at it!”

Or let’s say the woman had been brought to Jesus a second or third time. Do you think Jesus would have said “Well, woman, you had your chance!” And then thrown the first stone?

Jesus never let anything get in the way of showing compassion. We should imitate Jesus.

Matthew 25:

³⁵ For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, ³⁶ I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

Sing the National Anthem in the Style and Manner it Moves You

 

My elementary school days were in Detroit Michigan during the 1960s.

Those formative years introduced me to much cultural diversity which has enlightened and informed my worldview.

While in Detroit, my next- door neighbor was a Muslim kid from Egypt. We had much verbal exchange of religious ideas. A girl at school was from Saudi Arabia. Again, I learned much about Islam. We had kids from South America. We had kids from Puerto Rico. Detroit was home to many languages, religions, art and musical tastes.

   Because I value multiculturalism very much, I become bewildered at a movement to demand that the National Anthem or “Star Spangled Banner” be sequestered to some particular or standard manner of performance to exclude any variation which would be natural to the singer.

   The song lyric and melody (like America itself) are of sufficient strength to maintain integrity while also accommodating various styles of performance.

  In 1968, when Jose Feliciano sang the national anthem to open a World Series game, many people were angry at how he sang it. I felt that it gave the song a freshness which helped the words actually have more meaning and definition.

I said to classmates and teachers “He’s a citizen, isn’t he?” I figure a citizen should have liberty to interpret the national anthem as it moves them.

I am hoping that whoever may sing the national anthem at the Superbowl this Sunday will sing it according to their fullest authenticity and personal integrity.

If you want to hear Jose Feliciano’s interpretation of the song from 1968, the Youtube video link is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQkY2UFBUb4

By the way, the “Star Spangled Banner is much more that just that one verse we sing at sports events.

Perhaps if we want to be truly respectful, we should sing all four:

O! say can you see by the dawn's early light,
⁠What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,
⁠O'er the ramparts we watch'd, were so gallantly streaming?
And the Rockets' red glare, the Bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our Flag was still there;
⁠O! say does that star-spangled Banner yet wave,
⁠O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
⁠Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
⁠As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines on the stream,
'Tis the star-spangled banner, O! long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
⁠That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more?
⁠Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave,
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave,
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave,
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

O! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand,
⁠Between their lov'd home and the war's desolation,
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the Heav'n rescued land,
⁠Praise the Power that hath made and preserv'd us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto—"In God is our Trust;"
⁠And the star-spangled Banner in triumph shall wave,
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Churches Should Be Diligent to Observe Property Tax Exemption Law

 

Disclaimer: I am not an attorney. Consult with your attorney regarding your specific situation in the following matter.

I am a pastor of two churches and I serve as a member of Elkhart County Property Tax Assessment Board of Appeals 

 

    The purpose of this blog- post is to make an appeal to church leadership to attend to Indiana Code regarding property tax exemption of their real estate.

The Code to which I refer is: IC 6-1.1-10-21

As, in Indiana, real estate used for religious purposes is exempt from taxation, this has the practical effect of shifting tax burden to other property tax- payers. Whatever county you may reside in, a quick survey of the number of religious institutions will reveal many thousands of acres exempt from taxation. If we were to assume a low-end value of $10,000 per acre, we can conclude that there is much community subsidy of those religious activities.

   Churches and other religious institutions should find ways to be good neighbors in their local communities.

   A more pressing matter is the use of parsonages, again, IC 6-1.1-10-21 will provide information as to when a parsonage can be tax exempt.

  If  a church, which is renting its parsonage, is not compliant with IC 6-1.1-10-21, then they are operating as a landlord with an unfair advantage over legitimate landlords in the community who do in fact pay taxes.

    Churches and other religious organizations should be proactive and diligent towards making sure that they are in compliance with Indiana Code regarding their parsonages.

    If we are to have authentic witness in the community, we need to do more than express love and care for the community with words. We need to take the initiative to make sure we are not passing along undue burden of taxation to them. And also, we must see to it that we are not exercising an unfair advantage over landlords in the community.

Give the relevant code a read, you may be surprised.

IC 6-1.1-10-21

    

Keeping the Faith in the Midst of Challenge

 

Greetings Sisters and Brothers

1 Corinthians 15:1-8

15:1Now I want you to understand, brothers and sisters, the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand,

15:2through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you--unless you have come to believe in vain.

15:3For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures

15:4and that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures

15:5and that he appeared to Cephas (Peter), then to the twelve.

15:6Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died.

15:7Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.

15:8Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.

Apostle Paul presents argument as to why we should continue in the faith of the Good News. Again, not going on blind faith, but by witness.

These words here in the 15^th chapter of 1 Corinthians are not intended as material for evangelism. They are intended to encourage believers to remain in the faith. Much of what Paul wrote was to keep Jews from going back to Judaism (and excluding gentiles), or to keep converted gentiles from returning to previous religious practices.

The message for us today is to remain in the faith of the Good News of the resurrection of Jesus Christ rather than exchange that faith for worldly and idolatrous ways and means.

Folks, I do not know specifically what “Scriptures” Paul is referring to in verses 3 and 4. When we read the word “Scriptures” in the New Testament” they refer to what we call the Old Testament because the four gospels had not yet been written, Revelation had not been written. Paul’s letters were the first writings of the New Testament (This I have checked with many commentaries and Bible scholars). Therefore, he was referring to something unspecified in the Old Testament.

The closest I can find would be Isaiah 53 which is known as the Suffering Messiah chapter. Likely, Paul was referring to other written material that has been lost or did not make it into the Old Testament.

But, yet more interesting to me is verse 2 in which we read “through which also you are being saved”

Paul understood salvation as a continuing process rather than a “one single moment and event in time”.

So, all the more it becomes important that the point of his writing in chapter 15 here is to encourage believers to remain in the faith.

Keep the faith brothers and sisters…keep the faith!!!

Peace, Pastor Mike