Guest Host – Rev. Dr. Bill Trench, Senior Pastor of the East
Greenwich United Methodist Church – check out his blog at www.thinkfaithfully.blogspot.com
After all of the times Jonathan has mentioned the Methodists
in a variety of different ways, it was high time that he had one for an
episode. Bill Trench brings his “A” game to discuss economics, faith, and
justice.
It is no surprise that Bill likes to bring in the ideas of
John Wesley into the conversation. Methodists say they have four sources of
authority, but we all know they have five – reason, experience, tradition,
scripture, and Wesley. Neither Jonathan nor Bill are anti-capitalism (they are
not strongly pro-capitalism either), but they are anti-excess. There is a real
problem with the amount that some have in comparison with the amount that
others have. It is a problem when some are living in lavish excess and others
in the abhorrent squalor. I suppose you could say that they are in favor of
sharing the wealth.
Perhaps the summary would be to say that the voice of
religion needs to have a place at the cultural table when considering matters
of economics. There is something deep-seeded about religions (most of them)
that pulls people to consider again and again the least of society and to ask
how certain policies and practices are effecting them. So it is economic as
well as political, but that is no surprise.
Remember, those who can become Christians do, those who
can’t be Christians become pastors, and those who can’t be pastors become
seminary professors.
Rialage –
Once again, Jonathan is on a rant about close-minded
righteous pastors (and Christians in general) assuming that they are right about
everything. Maybe the problem is Jonathan…
Bill jumped on that band-wagon, specifically criticizing a
literal/fundamentalist approach to scripture
Scripture-
Mark 14:3-9 – yes, there will be poor always but that
doesn’t mean we can ignore them. On the other hand we need to take advantage of
those moments when we can enjoy the fullness of the presence of Christ.
Watcha’ Into
Jonathan enjoyed the 2011 HBO documentary Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory
Bill is digging the William Barclay commentaries and cruising
in his Mustang. He is not doing both at the same time (unless it is at a red
light?)
Again, thanks for listening. Send your comments and
questions to 12ecast@gmail.com and don’t
forget to rate the show on iTunes.
Next episode part 1 of the Ecumenical Breakthrough of Mary
with Jakob Thibault and Douglas Perkins
No comments:
Post a Comment