Couldn’t I just go to the beach?
Ok, I’ll deliver Your message…

“Set out for the great city of Nineveh, and announce to it the message that I will tell you.”

Imagine you were visited by God sometime around 1936. God tells you to board a plane and travel to Nuremberg. You are to visit the largest Nazi rally ever held. You are to take the stand, in front of all the microphones, stand right next to Hitler, and tell him and all the gathered crowds that they are doing evil and are required to repent. They must repent or they will be destroyed.

That’s the message Jonah received. The Assyrians were the Nazis of the ancient world. They conquered huge territories. They were particularly brutal. Their statues show their kings standing over conquered people while they were brutally tortured and killed.

Jonah, the happy-go-lucky prophet was to go to the center of their capital, a four city megalopolis, with walls so thick you could drive three chariots abreast along them. There were 1,500 towers, and 120,000 people living there, and it would take three days to walk through the city.

Jonah figured, forget faith in God — I’m going to run away, head to the beach. But no one can run from God who is everywhere.

Faith is confidence in the caring and powerful love of God who makes all things right. Our God who does miraculous things. The brutal Assyrians were no match for a Jonah when he finally decided to follow God’s word and act with faith.

We all face our Nineveh, we all face our lions, and we are all called to trust that God’s miracles overcome. We are called to faith and trust, that God who could love and forgive the psychotic and brutal Assyrians, who could still the lions, who raised Jesus from death, will save and renew us.

God is already rewarding our faith and trust in Him. It isn’t easy to trust like that, to set aside fears and the practicalities — but we do. It is there, in our eyes, in our resolve. His miracles are for us.

You want me to do what? Couldn’t we just shake hands?

God is talking with Abraham, making a covenant with him and his descendants. God says:

Every male among you shall be circumcised. You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you.

A covenant is a contract. In ancient times people would sacrifice an animal as a sign of the pact they made. They would divide the animal in two, and each would walk between the two halves, sealing the deal. God had already done that with Abraham, but Abraham did not walk through the sacrificed animals, only God did in the form of a smoking fire pot and a burning torch. God promised, by Himself, to keep the deal He made with His people.

Now God is asking Abraham to make an outward sign of this deal in his flesh, and the flesh of his descendants.

It would be great if it were that simple with God. Maybe as Christians, as people of the new covenant, we should place a fish bumper sticker on our cars, or wear a gold chain with a cross. Would people know then that we are Jesus’ people, people of the covenant?

That’s unlikely. How many times do we see people carrying the outward signs of Christianity, only to disappoint by their actions? It was the same with Abraham and his descendants who carried the sign of the covenant in their flesh, but neglected to carry the sign of the covenant in their hearts.

To be truly circumcised means to carry the gospel in the way we live, talk, act, feel, treat others, pray, worship, and … well in everything we do. Yes, the outward signs of our Christianity ARE important. That is our proclamation. Our proclamation must be coupled with our witness, with hearts that live what the outward signs represent.

David Playing the Harp Ahead of the Ark, Jan de Bray, 1670

And it was told King David, “The LORD has blessed the household of O’bed-e’dom and all that belongs to him, because of the ark of God.” So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of O’bed-e’dom to the city of David with rejoicing; and when those who bore the ark of the LORD had gone six paces, he sacrificed an ox and a fatling. And David danced before the LORD with all his might; and David was girded with a linen ephod. So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouting, and with the sound of the horn. — 2 Samuel 6:12-15

The Stoning of St. Stephen, Bartłomiej Strobel, ca. 1620,

“You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did not your fathers persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.” Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth against him. But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God.” But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together upon him. Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him; and the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. And as they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” And he knelt down and cried with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep. — Acts 7:51-60

Nativity Scene, Władysław Skoczylas, ca. 1910

When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” And they went with haste, and found Mary and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. And when they saw it they made known the saying which had been told them concerning this child; and all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them. — Luke 2:15-20

Leaders in the House majority plan a vote on HR 3630—a bill that would slash federal unemployment benefits in every state and cut federal UI benefits by more than half in the states with the highest unemployment rates. Tell your Members of Congress and Congressional leaders to oppose these reckless and harmful cuts to unemployment insurance, and instead support swift action to fully renew the federal UI program through 2012.

Millions of hardworking Americans—nearly 2 million in January alone, and over 6 million in 2012—will be cut off from the emergency lifeline of federal unemployment insurance, unless Congress acts to fully renew the program before it expires December 31st. In the past three years, federal unemployment insurance has helped more than 17 million Americans while they’ve looked for work in the toughest job market since the Great Depression. Recent Census figures show that federal unemployment insurance helped keep more than 3 million from falling into poverty last year alone.

A January 2010 report from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) looked at a variety of strategies for increasing employment and raising the gross domestic product (GDP), which is the market value of all goods and services that reach the consumer. It noted that for every dollar in UI benefits, $1.90 in economic benefit is created. The CBO looked at a variety of strategies to boost the economy — or to keep things from getting worse — such as investing in infrastructure, reducing income taxes, or cutting payroll taxes for companies that hire new people. Increasing aid to the unemployed offered the biggest bang for the buck, according to its estimates. Other studies such as that by Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody’s Analytics, note similar results.

Congress has never cut back or allowed these programs to expire when unemployment was anywhere near this high for this long. Congress must act, and act now.

Tell Congress: Renew the full federal Unemployment Insurance program through 2012 Now! or call toll-free 1-888-245-3381.

Interfaith Worker Justice will hold a Prayer Vigil for the 1% tomorrow, December 8th. You are invited to pray along, starting at 11 a.m., for the wealthiest Americans. We are calling on them to help us create an economy that works for 100 percent of us.

If you are on Facebook, you may RSVP to the Online Prayer Vigil. Then, tomorrow at 11 a.m., change your Facebook status to say: Praying for the One Percent: to whom much is given, more is required — Luke 12:48.

While thousands of unemployed workers and people of faith gather in Washington, D.C. tomorrow for a Flower Prayer Vigil for the 99 percent, I will be praying along with IWJ for the One Percent – the wealthiest Americans who have benefitted from unfair economic policies.

Please join in prayer, even if you’re not on Facebook.

On Tuesday, Dec. 6, IWJ’s national Board of Directors released “An Open Letter to the One Percent:”

To Whom Much Is Given, More is Required:
An Open Letter to the One Percent

During this time of financial crisis and economic disparity, we affirm the God-given dignity of every person. We believe God loves all 100 percent of us and wants to use us to create a more just society.

As faith leaders, we appreciate the generosity, charity, and commitment to the common good that many of you embody.

Still, some of you have used wealth and power to benefit the few at the expense of the many. We expect you to work with us to not only give generously, but to advocate for democracy and economic justice that works for everyone.

We call on you to:

• Support tax policies and legislation that require more from you so our nation can create good jobs in America
• Call for an extension of unemployment benefits for those unable to find work

As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.” We are in this together, all 100 percent of us.

National Board of Directors, Interfaith Worker Justice

From the Sun-Sentinel: Calling of a reluctant bishop

South Florida priest appointed to New England diocese, just in time for Christmas

The Very Rev. Paul Sobiechowski is a reluctant bishop. He never wanted to leave his warm little parish in Davie, where he has served for nearly three decades.

But the fourth time was the charm when the Polish National Catholic Church asked him to become a leading shepherd. This time he said yes.

Sobiechowski will say his final Mass on Dec. 11 at St. Joseph’s Polish Catholic Church in Davie, the exact 28th anniversary of his first Mass there in 1983. The next day, he and wife Karen will pack and move to Holy Trinity Cathedral in Manchester, N.H.

“I liked being a priest; I never wanted to do anything more,” Sobiechowski, 57, said after a morning liturgy at the church. “But now that I’m called to this, I just hope I can do what I need to accomplish [God's] will.”

Sobiechowski was actually chosen in October 2010, during the general synod in Toronto. Polish National Catholic practice, though, elects qualified people before they are needed; that way, there’s always a supply. In May, he was assigned to the Eastern Diocese, 20 parishes in New England, on the retirement of Bishop Thomas Gnat.

Sobiechowski’s name had come up three times before, and he had declined. But this time, he says he heard an inner voice: “I want you to stand for election.” He accepted.

The move will end his work not only in his parish but the community. He was a member of the Davie-Cooper City Rotary Club and a board member of the EASE Foundation, which serves the poor in western Broward.

For 20 years, he and Karen coordinated an annual Advent candlelight service for neighborhood churches. The evening included choirs, sacred dancers, instrumentalists and a buffet. Also included was an offering for Sunset School, a center for special needs children.

Sobiechowski also headed the ecumenical chaplaincy at Memorial Pembroke Hospital, and served as state chaplain for the Polish Legion of American Veterans. And Oct. 18 was declared Bishop Paul Sobiechowski Day in Davie.

He shepherded the church and the 35 residents in its retirement home through three hurricanes and a tornado. Wilma dumped four feet of water on the center of the property. The land has lost some 200 trees altogether; Sobiechowski says he once blew out an arm trying to cut up fallen trees with a 20-inch chainsaw.

“Typical priest work,” he says with a smile.

He considers the stresses worth it for the 150 parishioners, who he says show a “cornucopia of nationalities”: Polish, African American, Asian, Caribbean, several kinds of Hispanic. Sobiechowski says the Spanish-language Mass is the best attended.

More than diversity, Sobiechowski has enjoyed the family atmosphere. “If someone gets sick, everyone is on the phones. If someone gets a birthday, everyone sings ‘Happy Birthday.’

“I love being a priest. You’re always with the people. You get to know families. As a bishop, it’s not just you and the community. It’s 20 communities.”

Even the rectory will expand. He and Karen have become accustomed to living in 800 square feet. He says the bishop’s rectory in Manchester is more than four times larger.

He still sees some pluses to his new home. He likes lobster. He’ll be an hour from Boston. New Hampshire has no state income tax. And people are people, in every state.

“God looked at his creation and said it’s good,” Sobiechowski says. “And if the winters are cold [in New Hampshire], the warmth of the people has to be exceptional.”

“Whatever challenges you have, somehow, with God’s help, we always survive,” he says. “We always pray, ‘Thy will be done.’”

Saint Barbara, Jan van Eyck, 1437

Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!” Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might, and his arm rules for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. He will feed his flock like a shepherd, he will gather the lambs in his arms, he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young. — Isaiah 40:9-11