The Dow is falling! The Dow is falling!

For readers of this blog, today's religion column for the Tribune & Georgian is familiar territory. After all, I do sometimes use this space to test out ideas and get reactions. So the column started out as a blog entry here, was reflected on in last Sunday's sermon and then appears in today's newspaper. Each time the reflections are different, but it's the same theme running through.

The new thing is how much I have lived into the sermon this week in hearing more stories and trying to sort out more help for people feeling the pinch from the current economic crisis. The problem is not so much Wall Street, but rising gas prices this past year without rising paychecks. But it feels all related.

The column starts:

Like Chicken Licken come to life, we have heard the confusion this week as talking heads on TV and radio proclaim, “The Dow is falling! The Dow is falling!” In the folktale, an acorn falls on the head of a chicken who becomes convinced this is the beginning of the end.

In the classic version of this folktale, the sly fox profits from the chicken’s mistaken fears of disaster by eating many of the frightened animals. I hope that cooler heads prevail in the current crisis, which does seem to be more panic driven than one would hope.

Wall Street is in an uproar created by the economic meltdown surrounding mortgage backed securities, as so many of those securities were backed with risky loans. This is no longer just a problem for the people who bought a home through a sub-prime loan. It is a major financial readjustment whose ripples are being felt in Camden County from builders, banks and real estate agents to retirees wondering how far their funds will go.

The full version is online here: The Dow is falling! The Dow is falling!.

peace,
Frank+
The Rev. Frank Logue, Pastor