Food For Thought -- Wednesday 9-19, Greyhouse, 8 AM

     We looked at a modern, sarcastic take on some of Jesus' parables which raise the issues of money and power and the distribution of both.   I passed out some pamphlets that were made up basically of the book of Amos.  I thought we'd read through Amos the next couple of weeks and see if a disparity between rich and power is something that gets God hot under the collar when it comes to His children.
   I also found a pretty substantial analysis of what the author calls The Great Divergence.  I haven't read it yet but being an old fashioned guy I did print it off.  I should have looked more closely.  It was 40 pages long!  You can find it on the web site for Slate.  Specifically you can find it at:             http://img.slate.com/media/3/100914_NoahT_GreatDivergence.pdf
    If this poses too big an article to read by tomorrow, you might try a piece in The Atlantic.  It's about where we rank as a country in income discrepancy: http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2011/09/map-us-ranks-near-bottom-on-income-inequality/245315/  (I don't want to be the one to point out that it isn't pretty)
     If this is the kind of thing that interests you I would also recommend Rediscovering Values by Jim Wallis.  It is one of the most comprehensive discussions of economics through the eyes of Christ that I have ever come across.  Last week's excerpt was from that book.
    I would also recommend you checking out Brian McLaren's post on CNN about evangelical Christians and Islam (in light of the recent attacks).  You can find that at:
http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/09/15/my-take-its-time-for-islamophobic-evangelicals-to-choose/
McLaren has just come out with a new book, cleverly entitled, Why Did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha, and Mohammed Cross the Road?  I'm giving serious thought to inviting you all to read through it with me or just come and discuss ideas about the best way to witness to our faith in a multi-cultural/multi-faith world.
     Hope to see you in the morning.