TODAY something like 60 (sorry the exact number escapes me) SCNC youth and adults leave for National Youth Event in Tennessee!  We pray traveling mercies for them and the almost 3000 from across the UCC who will gather in Tennessee for worship, learning and fun as the family of faith.  Please hold them in prayer! Next week we'll share a "Quick News from NYE"!

 How Shall We Pray in These Economic Times?
Every morning I listen to the NPR news and every day is increasingly filled with analysis, interviews, etc. about the state of the U.S. economy: banks failing, gas and food prices rising, the mortgage crisis, national and individual excessive indebtedness, and more.  As I take my morning walks and try to pray, I find myself in something of a dilemma that others who read this may share.  How to pray in such a time? My own daughter, for instance, is struggling with a husband recently laid off and their home at risk.  I have heard other stories from our pastors about their own families and church members.  There is no question that many individuals  are experiencing loss, challenge while a whole strata of our population, particularly those many folks who work long hours for low pay and are paying higher food and transportation costs, are facing genuine hardship.  How shall we pray for them?  Is there more to hope and pray for than just a better producing market?
 
I have no doubt that some of us in the UCC Pension program or with other investments going down and down are at least tempted to ask God to 'restore our fortunes'!   Any who believe in the value of a 'trickle down' economy might also be inclined to pray that the fortunes of this country might be 'restored'.   I understand that and my lifetime of comfort and ease tempts me to that secret longing. I confess it!  And not just for 'myself' but for my own children and grandchildren and those others who are struggling.
 
But...(You knew there would be a 'but' didn't you?)  But I cannot help but think that this season is not just an adjustment of the economy (as some pundits are saying) but potentially an adjustment for justice.  Instead of 'trickle down' wealth, perhaps we stand at an opportunity for justice to roll down and the waves of justice to trim down those at the top and lift up those who are at the bottom of our U.S. economy, even helping to lift those at the desperate bottom of the global economy.  Idealistic?  Maybe.  But what if?  What if this time is God's time to shake some stuff down and get our attention in this country? What if these times give us a needed incentive and impetus to 'live more simply so others can simply live' ?
 
I'm no economist.  I make no claim to understanding all the complexities of this time.  I'm just one who wants to follow Jesus and who believes that Christian faith has an important word to speak about economics.  If you don't remember or haven't seen the 1989 UCC Pronouncement on Christian Faith: Economic Life and Justice, I encourage you to check it out---I served on the pronouncement development team for 9 years and the work deeply impacted my life and ministry...Though dated, the pronouncement still reminds us of that connection and of value still, I believe, are the "Marks of a Just Economy". Other General Synod statements since have continued to address global economic justice.   Our ecumenical Christian community has also raised a voice to these concerns.  In 2004 I was a UCC delegate to the World Alliance of Reformed Churches which made a powerful statement (The Accra Confession) on covenanting for economic justice (you can find it here).  It speaks from a global and particularly southern hemisphere perspective so may not be comfortable for many Americans to read but our faith does not necessarily call us to comfort...In any case, my point here is to affirm that our Christian faith speaks to the issue of economic justice.  And so, I believe, must our prayers -in a time like this and in all times.
 
So here is my prayer for this economic time-it's not very poetic, it's just my prayer: 

            Shake us down, oh God,
Shake down the ease and excess to which many like me have become accustomed and
Roll down your justice to lift up those most in need.
            Give those of us in comfortable ease willing spirits to trim the excess to which we have become too accustomed.
            Give us all the will and wisdom to work at narrowing the chasm between the richest and poorest in
                        this nation and in our global community.
            Teach us the costs of mindless affluence in the lives of rich and poor alike and help us teach others.
            Lead those who have power in economic systems to ways through this mess that yield more of your justice.
Make of us a Joseph church, giving give wise counsel to pharaoh in hard times.
Give your church a voice to speak with courage whenever and wherever we can to make your plea for
                        a world where all of your children have access to home, health, food, learning and hope.
            The way to that vision is not clear and we suspect it is a really long way,
            So on the way, please just do what you can with us!
            Give us joy in sharing, gentleness of challenging spirit with the richest among us, encouragement and help to the poorest,
                        and a vision of HOPE for all of us that another world is possible.
 
            We pray for Jesus sake, the Jesus we see in every child of the earth,          

Amen.