WHERE FASHION HILLS BOULEVARD RUNS INTO ULRIC STREET there is a big oleander shrub. It is kept trimmed so it is actually a small tree. I stand under it whenever I go down to catch the number 120 city bus. The oleander is an evergreen shrub in the dogbane family and is known to be poisonous. Perhaps it gets our attention, and we use it, because it is both poisonous and beautiful.

SINCE THURSDAY EVENING when I wandered with my camera among folks protesting President Obama’s efforts to establish a national health care program, I haven’t been able to get out of my mind a couple of placards wielded by two obviously angry people, an unhealthy looking man of middle age and an unhappy woman who passed through her middle age at least a decade ago. His sign read, “KEEP GOVERNMENT HANDS OFF MY BUSINESS.” Hers said “OBAMA CARE HAZARDOUS TO YOUR HEALTH AND WEALTH.” Several other sign warned against spending tax money to take care of people.The distinguishing marks of any culture are the symbols that indicate what the people of that culture value most. It’s not so much about what people own but what they would like to own. What they value most for themselves, for their neighbors, and for each other is what they will vote to support. After having spent my professional career in elementary and secondary schools, one of the things I know for sure is that children learn what to value and how to determine value. Knowing what to value is definitely a learned skill; it’s a matter of nurture, not nature. The lessons about value may be quietly taught at home and at school, or they may be inculcated within the subculture of the mall and on main street. We were taught; we were not predestined to be a certain kind of person. What we value was not determined in the womb before we were born. We become what we are taught, and church was one of the places where I was taught when I was a child.

A week ago I pretended I was a preacher, and I prepared a sermon. Although I definitely don’t want a job, any job; I rather liked the pretending. I’ve decided to work on another BLOG sermon, this one prompted by the focus on health care for the American nation. I might choose Matthew 6:19-21, 24 for the New Testament Lesson.

“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You can not serve both God and Mammon.”

On second thought, maybe I’ll use Matthew 19:24. That’s the scripture that says, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.” I remember hearing in Sunday School that in Jerusalem there is a gate called the eye of the needle. We were taught that this gate was so small that a camel could pass through it only if it stooped after first having all its baggage unloaded. I think the story was even a bit more elaborate. We were told that at the end of the day the main gates in Jerusalem were shut and people who wanted to get into the city had to use the smaller gate, through which a camel could only enter if it had all its cargo removed and it got on its knees. It’s a great story for preaching and for Sunday School teaching, but unfortunately it’s a tale made up out of whole cloth. There is no evidence that the story, which was put forth in Europe as early as the ninth century, is based in fact. There is no evidence whatsoever that there ever was such a gate in Jerusalem. So I think Jesus meant something that should make all of us capitalists really uncomfortable.

For purposes of this writing I will assume that Jesus was saying something about what a moral person values. He was talking about “moral hazard.” It’s a term that has been used lately to describe what happens when an individual or an institution plans and acts in ways that will bring them significant personal benefit and ignores the damage done to others by their activity. I got the definition from the summer, 2009, Civil Liberties publication of the ACLU. Anyone who engages in activities that do harm to others but receives personal benefit in spite of the risk to others is said to create moral hazard. Everyone know that Bernard Madoff and Phillip Morris have engaged in moral hazard. Bernie Madoff is in prison; Phillip Morris is still in business because many people in America continue to benefit financially from the company that produces and sells products that cause great harm. But Jesus must have been saying that it’s not enough just to avoid doing things that put others at risk. Two of the Gospels, Matthew (chapter 7, verse 12) and Luke (Chapter 6, verse 31) included a saying of Jesus that we call “The Golden Rule.” In Matthew’s account he clearly says we should be proactive. It’s not just a matter of avoiding doing things that may do some harm to others. He asks us to go out of our way to do the things to and for them that we would like for ourselves. I believe Jesus meant that my congresswoman, who is provided by the government with an excellent health care plan, should surely want an excellent health program for all of her constituents, and indeed for all Americans. My wife and I have excellent health care because we are eligible for the Government’s Medicare Program. If I take Jesus’ suggestions seriously, shouldn’t I want at least the same for my neighbors, for everyone? And the woman who believes the President’s health care program will be hazardous to her health and to her wealth: I wonder if she attends church. I wonder if there are people who attend church with me who agree with her. If there are people in my church who don’t want a health care program for all people, I wonder if my pastors think it is important to tell them about Jesus’ instruction about doing for others what we like to have done for us... I mean really tell them... help them see that we should do it even if it costs us money.

I am aware that ours is a capitalist society. I know the importance of free enterprise. I agree that good business is good for people. Although school professionals sometimes pretend that school is not a business, they all know that it is. They know the importance of the bottom line. The church, too, is a business, and the professionals, the clerics who “run” the church are business people. School people and church people want all the benefits that professionals in other successful businesses expect... and I want it for them. Law firms are businesses. Medical Centers and hospitals are businesses. I want them to be successful as businesses because I believe if they are successful they will be effective in doing what they are supposed to do for people... for all people.

Where there is moral hazard in businesses, I am choosing to opt out... especially in school businesses and church businesses and health care businesses. If there is any policy or practice in any business that presents risk to people, to any person, that business engages in moral hazard. And if, especially in school businesses or church businesses, there is any policy or any practice that denies equity and justice for any person or to any group of people, that institution creates a moral hazard. Perhaps Jesus was anticipating a time and a culture like ours when he told us about why it is important not to make the bottom line, acquiring profits at any costs, the primary value in business. I should like to be able to believe that ours is a culture that values people more than profit. I would like to believe my church does not ever fail to be equitable and just in its policies and practices.

I am prepared to support the efforts of the President to get a health care program for all our people. I believe it is the morally correct thing to do. Go to the following WEB site to hear what President Obama himself says about the matter in the August 15th Op Ed section of the New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/16/opinion/16obama.html?_r=1&emc=eta1

In the end, health care reform isn't about politics and fear. It's about changing a system that often works better for the health-insurance companies than it does for millions of Americans. --Barack Obama