At Progressive Revival, guest blogger Rev. Dr. Donna Schaper—Senior Minister of Judson Memorial Church in New York City—reflects on the stimulus package and “the relationship between catastrophe and transformation”:
When I gave the pastoral prayer on Sunday, I couldn’t help myself. I had to pray to God that God stimulate congress. Stimulate means to activate, deepen, embolden, inspire. What stimulates my people right now? Hope, most of which they are having to come up with on their own.
The President is now stumping for the Less than Perfect But Absolutely Necessary Stimulus bill, which sounds like a vitamin that upsets your stomach more than anything else. In the pews, we know what burps. We know the difference between stimulation and boredom, stimulation and soul, stimulation and substance. We know when our leaders don’t know—and we wish they would at least fake it.
In the pews, there is a triumphant pessimism, a load of boomers become doomers, slum dogs pre millionaires. We knew the government was letting the liars and thieves run the government. We know about the people who do enjoy tax cuts. We have seen their houses, their advertisements for themselves, the amount they spend on face cream, which would feed our family for a week. We still have a sliver of hope that someone might lead the liars and thieves and SUV crowd out of town—and do so with a smile, our smile, on their face. So far, not so good. Thus the confirmation of that bulletproof jacket known as cynicism. At least we are not surprised.
Read the full post here.