In an interesting NPR piece on "the American Dream" this morning, we heard the story of a young man who managed to escape the poverty and disadvantage into which he was born.  A professor brought up the idea of living "the American Dream" in a study of Death of a Salesman.  The dream was defined as "You can come from the bottom, and with hard work and dedication, you'll get a nice house, a nice car and enough money for your kids to go to school."

I won't even rant about living wage, or the devastating effects of unexpected chronic illness, or any number of other possible discussions.

My thought was pretty simple this morning.  Is "a nice house, a nice car, and enough money for your kids to go to school" really our best American dream--especially all those of us who celebrate living in a "Christian" nation?  

So Jesus sits on the Mount of Olives and teaches the crowds.  "The Kingdom of God is 'a nice house, a nice car, and enough money for your kids to go to school.'"

"Your old men will see visions and your young men will dream dreams" (the Pentecost story in Acts). Some dream we have here...a nice house, a nice car, and enough money for your kids to go to school.  
Yeah, that'll preach.

Apologies...

I fully intended, after I apologized for the unintentional sabbatical from blogging, to take an intentional sabbatical until August.  Despite the fact that it looks like when my friend Frank "followed" the blog, I stopped writing, I just have struggled with time and inspiration.  I would think of something to blog, and by the time I got to the computer, I couldn't remember what I thought about, or it didn't seem important any more.

I just preached a sermon on Jesus in the wilderness...there are all kinds of wilderness journeys we take as people of faith.  I suppose "failure to blog" might be one of them.

Now that I'm here, I am bit more inspired and a bit less overwhelmed.  Guess the journey out of wilderness starts one step at a time.  If I can't maintain something weekly, I promise I'll let you know and come back in August.

May grace and peace envelop us on our journey...