A glimmer of hope?

CBS news headlines began with a caption saying "Glimmer of hope?" The story was about the current economic climate of the nation, and the week's upturn in the stock market. The brief article stated there seemed to be a little light, but that we are far from over the downward spiral of job losses.

I live in the real world, and am much aware of the struggles people are facing. The church I pastor is located in an area that was hard hit two decades ago when the cotton mills began shutting down. Then the furniture industry was hard hit. Low paying jobs and no jobs are common here. When the people in the community can't work, it affects everything else. Yes, especially the church.

But I haven't intended to write another blog about the economic struggles of the community, nor the church. (I have written those blogs, and they are the most googled of any) To tell you the truth, I rarely listen to network news lately. There is so much negativity that it is depressing. The thing that caught my attention was the caption, along with the question mark.

A glimmer of hope? Glimmer is defined as a faint light. Hope is defined as to desire with expectation of obtainment. And so the question posed by CBS was this-- Is there a faint light shining that will bring an expectaction of obtainment? Or you could put it simply like this-- Is there a light shining?

My answer is that YES, there is hope. There is more than a glimmer. The light of Christ shines in the darkness. The kingdom of God is not paralyzed by the greed of man. He is still on the throne. The Good News is that there IS hope, that Christ lives. The reason the church exists is because there is hope.

You wont find it on the news. You wont find it in the morning paper. But you will find it at your church this Sunday. There will be a praise team or a choir singing about it. There will be teachers in Sunday School or children's church teaching our precious little ones about it. There will be a man or woman of God behind the pulpit sharing this hope. The hope is that no matter what you've done, how you've lived, where you've been. No matter your skin color, education, or what side of the tracks you live on... THERE IS HOPE!

Church gets a bail out

Of course it's not true. I just thought I would bring up the thought. Let's see, to date we have bailed out giant conglomerates such as the insurance industry, banks, and the auto industry. I've lost track of the bailouts quicker than the government lost track of the mobile homes sent to Katrina that never made it to people who needed them. All I know is that week after week the news tell us of another bailout on the way. The common train of thought, laymen terms wise, is "bail out, or else." In other words, if we don't bail them out, life as we know it will cease to exist.

About 10 years ago our county of textile and furniture went belly up. The industries here continue to go out, as over 1200 people lost their job last year in Rutherford County through closings. The closing of businesses and industries here means there is less money, which effects the schools, the diners, the town shops, and yeah, this is what I'm getting to... the church.

I would like to put in for a bail out for the church. We have bailed out big wheels with their extravagant salaries and bonuses while the working man suffers. Sorry, but it is hard for me to feel bad for someone making a gazillion dollars a year while people here are earning $7.25 per hour. The church I pastor consists of 35% kids and youth. They bring a lot of excitement, but they don't have money to support the church. 20% are seniors, and 18% of the seniors are on fixed income. Of the remaining 45%, 15% are without jobs, and of the 30% left, about 20% tithe.

The political proponents of the bail outs have made their pleas and spoken of the absolute necessity of obliging them of their requests. To fail to do so would put our nation in jeopardy, they say. I would like to say, what about the local church? What about the light that shines so brightly in the community? What is a saved life worth? A saved marriage? What about our food programs, our outreach programs? What about our missions to third world countries? Where would this nation be without the lights on in the local church?

I tell you where we would be-- in darkness.

Of course this blog for a bail out in the church is in jest. There would never be such consideration of such a thing. I just wanted to get mind your thinking about the importance of supporting the local church with your tithes and offerings.

Pastor Ronnie