Battle vs predatory lenders. . .

How a Texas Church Drove Out the Predatory Loan Industry     

For one Garland pastor, living out the gospel means collective political action.

 

Payday lenders have been having a tough time in Garland, Texas.

 

Their storefronts have closed, their gaudy signs spray-painted over in black. In recent months, about a third have left the city of 230,000, situated 18 miles northeast of Dallas.

 

Nobody could be more delighted at their demise than Keith Stewart, senior pastor of Springcreek, Garland’s largest church. Springcreek will not tolerate what Stewart calls the “predatory loan business.” Stewart estimates something like a third of his congregation of 1,700 have been put through the wringer after they (or their family members) secured loans with interest rates easily within the range of 200 to 500 percent.

 

Read more here.

Vision

Possibility

If I were to wish for anything I should not wish for wealth and power, but for the passionate sense of what can be, for the eye, which, ever young and ardent, sees the possible. Pleasure disappoints, possibility never. And what wine is so sparkling, what so fragrant, what so intoxicating as possibility?

Soren Kierkegaard
Source: Either/Or

Risk

We Must Move

We must move from the realm of abstraction and dreams into the physical realm of risk and results. Risk is ultimately a birthing stage, often marked by sweat, blood and tears, along with moments of ecstatic joy. Something tangible becomes visible and begins to breathe. Our creativity finds form and substance. We sound a call for some new initiative and hope others will respond. Some go from gestation to birth with painful contractions, making this a difficult and anxious stage. Some enter this stage triumphant, just glad to be rid of doubt and indecision. For them, risk feels like a long-awaited adventure. Others feel timid and hesitant, afraid to act and yet more afraid to go back.

Marjory Bankson
Source: The Call to the Soul

2014 and disciplined thought

Again in 2014, I'll attempt to post something sensible on an almost daily basis. 

Confession:  I do this mainly for my own benefit.

I try to read as widely as I have the time on a daily basis.  Admittedly, much of what I read connects to my work and concerns related to poverty, economics, neighborhood revitalization and life in hard, inner city neighborhoods and communities here in Dallas and across the nation. 

There is something about the plan, the need, the compulsion to write daily that keeps me focused and as "on track" as I can remain.  I find that when I fail to write, I feel scattered, dislocated and without clarity or discipline. 

So, I write to work and to stay at thoughts having to do with life and poverty and faith and labor and children and homeless friends and family. 

Those who stop here often know a good deal about my grandchildren.  They are pure treasure to me--each in his or her own way.  Getting to watch these four amazing people is the most satisfying, thrilling experience.  Again and again, I'm made to stop and laugh, wonder, cry, rejoice and celebrate their lives.  Somehow, Gracie, Wyatt, Owen and Henry point me clearly toward my purpose.  Somehow, they provide balance, strength and courage for my life.  So, expect to learn more about them in 2014!

Now, enough of the personal stuff.

Bring on 2014!  And, agree or disagree, please know that your comments make this page much more helpful than it could ever be without them.

I'll look for you here.
___________________

R.I.P. and Happy Birthday, Mom.  You'll never be forgotten.

Public morality--rich and poor

For years, actually decades, and in rural, urban and suburban settings I've noticed that the background assumptions of our culture, our economy, our policy, our leaders and, yes, even our churches would lead one to believe that the poor are bad, evil or flawed.  At the same time, the rich we consider basically good, moral and favored largely because of their superior moral decisions.  This uniquely American brand of economic morality feels very Calvinistic in its interpretations of life and the human struggle.

These assumptions have led us to a national battle over the proper response to poverty and those captured by it.  Food stamps and unemployment benefits set over against corporate subsidies and tax loopholes:  these are the particulars of our current national debate. On Thursday, (12-19-13), The New York Times published an op-ed piece by Timothy Egan titled "Good Poor, Bad Poor."

It will be worth your time to read it right here.

Reactions invited.

New sounds from Francis I

Pope Attacks 'Tyranny' of Markets in Manifesto for Papacy

That's how the headline read in a recent news report in The New York Times about Pope Francis' latest and most comprehensive teaching to date. 

What the pope has to say about poverty is refreshing, and a word that we haven't really heard in decades from the Vatican. 

It appears this pope reads the bible!

Check out the story here.

Decision

Saving and Losing Our Lives

Those who, in the biblical phrase, would save their lives—that is, those who want to get along, who don’t want commitments, who don’t want to get into problems, who want to stay outside of a situation that demands the involvement of all of us—they will lose their lives. What a terrible thing to have lived quite comfortably, with no suffering, not getting involved in problems, quite tranquil, quite settled, with good connections politically, economically, socially—lacking nothing, having everything. To what good? They will lose their lives.

Oscar Romero

from Inward/Outward

Dr. King's fight for economic justice--Taylor Branch and James Cone

Taylor Branch's books about the American Civil Rights Movement are classics.

 I was fortunate enough to sit in the classroom during seminary with James Cone.

 Both men command our attention, especially today.

 Watch and then react.