No thinking person need look too far to see that civilization as we know it is, if not actually falling apart, seriously unraveling. Read your morning paper. Look at the evening news. Our own country is being pulled asunder by what has been called, so often that we don’t even hear the word anymore, “polarization.” Good people shriek at each other across a widening cultural divide about elephant-in-the-room ideas and ideals, red-flag concepts and standards: Family values! Guns! Violence! War! Iraq! Nukes in Iran! Nukes in North Dakota! Churches are split by worship wars. The nation is split by culture wars. Public schools die at the hands of a public sick of levies and taxes. Pupils die at the hands of their own classmates.

            Abroad, as the rest of the world’s view of us adds new dimensions to the word “abysmal,” we wage a “War on Terror.” Our young men and women die in Iraq and Afghanistan. Many of us argue back and forth, talking past each other not only about tactics and strategy, but about the validity of the very concept of a “War on Terror.” Innocent men, women and children are killed -- some of us call it “collateral damage” -- in the tens of thousands, but who’s counting? No, seriously: No one is counting! The executive class grows exponentially richer, their tax cuts alone larger than many household incomes. The working class is shunted off into an underpaid service sector, which also grows exponentially. The middle class shrinks. A slight majority argues that none of this is even a problem, while a minority almost as large seethes as its issues go ignored and unaddressed.

...approximately 988 words remaining. You are not logged in. Please see options at the top of this page to view complete sermon.