David Hilfiker
A Theology Out of My Life with Alzheimer Disease **
February 24, 2013
The following is a teaching I presented at our Eighth Day Faith Community. I'd previously made my diagnosis public, so there were very few who were surprised that I chose to preach about it. I felt that I'd been taught enough about Gospel values through my disease that I wanted to share it. We're a small community, so it was an intense morning.
As most of you know, in September, I was diagnosed with progressive cognitive impairment that's almost certainly Alzheimer disease. Living with Alzheimer's has helped me to internalize a lot of theology in these past five months, and I want to share some of that with you this morning. Actually, I can't attest to it really being theology, but Fred has assured me that when we talk about the deepest human issues, we're talking about theology.
As I've described to many of you, I've had symptoms for over two years but didn't recognize them as Alzheimer's until a visit to a neurologist in September. Since then there's been a slow but noticeable decline in my ability to remember and to think clearly. If you talk with me much and pay attention you'll notice my memory loss and my trouble finding the right words; I've made enough mistakes as treasurer in the past few months to ask Kate Lasso to take over the books within the next several weeks; and I've had a few episodes of confusion.
Geoengineering ... because we must[1]
As climate change denial fades as an argument, geoengineering techniques will become the focus in delaying adequate CO2 controls. Suggested geoengineering solutions are blocking the sun's rays, manipulating Earth's biology to absorb more CO2, and scrubbing CO2 from the atmosphere. These techniques are expensive, dangerous or both. Nevertheless we must probably use some form of geoengineering but not as a replacement for carbon controls but as a necessary adjunct.
The Earth’s Immune System
When we consider the state of the Earth--its environment, its injustice, its economics, and governance--its difficult to retain hope. But there are many hundreds of thousands of nonprofits around the world actively working to change those conditions, to raise our consciousness and rouse our attention. The whole is much greater than the sum of its parts. Earth's Immunity gives us reason to hope.
Over the past several years, I’ve been writing a lot about death: the deaths of millions of children around the world, the deaths within our environment, the deaths from militarism, the million small deaths from consumerism, the death of our economic system, and so on. And while I’ve tried to hold on to hope (sometimes even successfully), much of me has leaned toward despair. I really haven’t seen any way out of this morass that is even remotely possible. The essential vision, as I’ve seen it, is to support justice around the world and to save the Earth from the depredations of our consumer culture.
Paul and Secession from Empire
This is a sermon offered at the Eighth Day faith community on January 30, 2011. It presents some information from recent scholarship on the writings of the Apostle Paul, and its relevance to the church as we confront the American empire, and how we in the Eighth Day community might respond.
We’ve talked a good deal in this community about empire. We’ve found considerable insight in scripture and current literature that challenges the dominant consciousness of our day: its militarism, consumerism, individualism, and idolatry of money, prestige, and power. This has given our community a foundation on which we’ve worked to build an alternative vision of peace, solidarity with the oppressed, downward mobility, ecological sanity and community.
Common Sense on Social Security
As politicians and pundits debate what to do about the exploding federal deficit, the Social Security Trust Fund will be an easy target. Dire predictions about the future of the fund will create pressures to reduce Social Security benefits. In fact Social Security currrently has a $2.6 trillion surplus, has not contributed at all to the federal debt, and minor corrections will be enough to keep the fund solvent indefinitely. Let's not be confused by the hype!
Note: The decision to reduce 2010 FICA taxes in order to stimulate the economy considerably alters some of the calculations below, especially if the cuts are continued indefinitely, as -- given political realities -- they probably will. This will radically reduce the long-term viabililty of Social Security.
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