Proverbs 8:1-31 † Psalm 8 † Romans 5:1-5 † John 16:12-15

​I suspect our children understand far better than we do the implications of climate change on the future. It is, after all, their future, although we are the ones who have given it to them, such as it is. So let me offer you one simple illustration that caught my attention recently.
​
Most of us are likely aware that populism is not simply an American phenomenon. We have a president who has made a decisively inward turn, advocating for walls and putting things in terms of insiders and outsiders both within and without our country. But we are not the only country where these explosive political dynamics have found new life. There is something of an international battle going on for the soul of our lives whether its arguments over Brexit in the UK, or Yellow Vest protests in France. These are all, at their roots, populist movements, that is, they are in revolt against elites, both in an economic as well as a political sense.

​Bruce Katz and Jeremy Nowak connect the dots for us in their 2017 book The New Localism, which Maggie brought to my attention from her work at Seattle U.

Populism, as it appears from the right, is “nostalgic in focus, nationalistic in tone, and nativist in orientation. The rhetoric of this populist politics seeks to create walls, literal and figurative, that inhibit the flow of people, goods, capital, and ideas across borders; the essence,” they say, “of the modern economy.”[I]

Populism exists on the left as well. According to their analysis usually “devoid of national and ethnic chauvinism,” but still with a nostalgia for a world that no longer exists, seeking simplistic and protectionist solutions they argue no longer fit modern realities.[ii]

Num. 31: 1-7, 25-31 and Mark 5:1-20

Scott has told me that St. Andrew is doing intentional work around being a good neighbor in your immediate community.  When he invited me to preach to the question of how the church might be called to extend that neighbor love to military veterans in the area, I felt honored and excited, and I was, once again, reminded of the remarkable way that the Holy Spirit moves within us and between us.

You see, that very question has been at the growing edge of my ministry as a VA Chaplain for the past couple of years, as my clinical focus has shifted into outpatient mental health and substance abuse treatment.  Through specialized training in the areas of PTSD and Moral Injury, and with deepening experience working with veterans, I am coming to understand the essential role of community in the healing of our wounded warriors.  As a representative of the Church within the secular setting of the healthcare clinic, I’m sad to say that I’ve been made aware of ways in which we have fallen short of our call to embody Christ’s compassion and prophetic love in our communities.   But I am also hopeful and energized by the potential we have to step up and step into our call to be agents of healing and reconciliation in the world.