Polluting streams for fishing with God

[caption id="attachment_14763" align="alignleft" width="221"] Bernardo's feeding multitudes[/caption]

Editor - Want to go fishing, catch something good,  in the company of a comrade who will help you learn to fish well with simplicity and love?  It turns out it’s hard to find a good place to fish and enjoy the benefits of fishing that is not corrupted by signs saying “Keep Out” or elaborate fences and walls that make it difficult to find a stream.   These are the kinds of things that get between God and good fishing and man in faith-based groups.

As religions grow larger, the need for organization becomes the demand of those who sometimes seek order for itself alone and  want to prevent new members from straying too far from the rules.  But often it’s the organization that keeps fishing so far removed from people they starve for lack of food.

Jesus is referred to as the fisherman because his close companions were simple folk who worked at simple tasks.  He referred to the fishing for souls, in an allegorical way, to define the mission of teaching a message of love.  Other religions have their prophets, leaders, gurus,  who echo that same message of caring for your fellow man.

The currents of love and joy needed by everyone are often corrupted by “greed is good” and the manufacture of special rules to manage growth in the faith and yet maintain control.  That is the barrier between God and man exercised by virtually every faith-based organization.  But does this behavior actually serve God or just prosper those who set the rules themselves?

The Faith Life Church is expanding and building a huge church in the State of Florida. An 82,000-square-foot facility in Lakewood Ranch was purchased for $4 million in October 2010.  This is part of a pattern that has developed since the 1970’s, with the doubling of megachurches since 2008 to the current count of 1200.  The most megachurches are in Florida, Texas and Georgia.

But in that same space of time the rate of poverty has dramatically increased,  as has the gap between rich and poor and both  individual and collective violence.    This leads to fish that are dying as they can’t get the resources to live and flourish in the streams where they hoped to survive.

And while faith is said to be that vessel to carry people to everlasting good,  the barriers created by religious form and style prevent the vessel from catching or keeping many fish.  For as faith-groups gather their numbers, in edifices that grow larger every day, the people in these places have become so entrenched in political divisions that fishing  cannot happen for the poison that’s  within.

Research indicates great numbers of people may go forth to declare their faith in mega-churches, then turn away from the loving attraction that keeps folks from coming back for more because of the divisions and the power grabs from religious groups themselves.  And why that occurs seems best answered by this comment on an information site:  “Apparently followers idolize their religion more than the teachings.”

Those instruction books on fishing,  and the loving all as brothers, have no value when those crystal springs of mercy become lost in the mire of materialism, bigotry and greed.    And it is that pollution keeping us all from learning how to fish and loving fishing with the guidance of our God.

Boomers, elderly face increasing homelessness

[caption id="attachment_14243" align="alignleft" width="200"] Homeless senior[/caption]

Carol Forsloff - Before 1960’s poverty programs and the introduction of Medicare, most seniors lived in poverty.  The prosperity of the later years, however, brought the bulk of seniors into solid middle class, so many people entered their golden years with high hopes for their retirement.  But as the gap between rich and poor have widened following the recent economic downturn, homelessness is increasing among seniors.

In Massachusetts homelessness among seniors has increased 60%.  But experts maintain that the concerns for the elderly should include those who are standing at the door of aging, those over age 50, many of whom have no safety nets like Medicare and Social Security.  These individuals are particularly vulnerable to homelessness.

The younger elderly poor, without the help of federal programs, end up with deteriorated health and well-being from lack of proper nutrition and difficult living conditions.  A report to the Congress reveals that 30.6% of those staying in emergency shelters more than 180 days are over age 50.  The rate of homelessness among seniors is growing at such a rate, that experts report a potential increase of 30% in the next eight years.

These at-risk individuals will likely put additional pressure on social programs throughout the United States.   Healthy seniors lose that good health when faced with poor food and homelessness.    This is of particular concern when examining proposals of eliminating Medicare for the new elderly in the coming years, as has been proposed by some of the conservative politicians in Congress.

Aging and Independent Services of San Diego offers transitional housing for its seniors and has found 90% of those the organization has helped have been able to move into permanent housing.  It is the cost of rent across the country that remains a significant barrier to finding affordable housing.

While the talk of immigration, the economy and the threat from Iran remain hot topics for political debates, the rising problem of homelessness needs to be addressed, experts tell us, as not to do so, or to withdraw existing programs, will create an even bigger problem in future years.