While reading through some of my email over lunch, I came across a link to text of a sermon given recently by Jim Winkler, General Secretary, General Board for Church and Society, United Methodist Church.  An early statement:

I began thinking of the truth about poverty and a couple of things occurred to me. First, I believe the truth is we don’t have to have poverty. Second, a great many of our people are more committed to the economic theory of capitalism than they are to the eradication of poverty.

His final paragraphs are:

The changes required are really conservative in nature. They are about living out our values: care for others and the land and the seas, involvement in the community, love of neighbor and stranger, challenging racism, materialism and consumerism, raising our children to do the same.

We cannot, however, continue to operate as a highly individualistic culture. It is disastrous.

What an important message for each of us as we listen to the news about the oil spill, the news about proposed budgets that make severe cuts to preventative human services, the increasingly louid voices claiming racism is dead, the push for ever harsh immigration policies that keep the stranger at bay, etc….