….for gays and lesbians to enjoy the full benefits and challenges of marriage.

….for the people of Afghanistan to live in peace.

….for the American global imperial agenda to end.

I wonder sometimes if Obama is trying to unite that which needs to unravel. It was a great speech. But it also cheapened the legacy it claimed to embrace. What I remember: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.

Martin Luther King, Jr., on 8/28/1963

The “I have a dream…” part is the most quoted. But the reality is that MLK was much more radical than we generally admit in public discourse. He never wavered from his clear path to justice as he understood it – and his dream is yet to be fulfilled. Nonetheless, one can’t help but wonder if the “promises of democracy” have been made slightly more real tonight.

What is leadership? What makes a leader?

Starting in September, I’m going to preach three sermons on the subject of leadership. My goal is to help everyone in the congregation start to think of themselves as a leader. If you read this, and have some insight on what makes a leader, please leave me your ideas in the comments. You’ll help me with my sermon, and maybe you’ll give someone else some ideas to chew on.

Have to say it: Last night, as I was walking Buster, I witnessed another crime.

Some kid was trying to get into a woman’s ground-floor apartment on the north side of Farmington, basically across the street from the church and my house. The woman said that she heard him coming in and told him to leave. He stopped for a minute, but resumed his efforts, even after she escalated her threats to calling the police. Frustrated and afraid, she ran out of her apartment building and screamed for help while calling the police.

That’s when I stepped onto Farmington Avenue, heard the commotion and say the would-be burglar flee.

She mentioned that she could smell alcohol on the kid’s breath. Kudos to the cops for showing up quickly and in force – two cop cars were there within ten minutes or so. But there wasn’t much they could do, and they just take down some info. One cop even said to me that they basically just record these kind of events.

Just wanted to report what I saw. Am I a crime magnet or what?

Surprisingly inspired by a Business Week article, Bill Moyers focused his recent edition of the Journal on the business of poverty.

For some, it seems, poverty equals opportunity. But, as one Business Week employee states in the Journal story, it’s an opportunity to exploit – both for profits, and to exploit the poor. As more and more of us join the ranks of the “poor” and become dependent on predatory lending, what will become of these high risk loans? As more and more of us take on medical debt, who will pay when we can’t? Do hospitals accept “80 cents on the dollar” by hiking up their prices so that they still can make money? Do car companies make more money off of financing than off of selling cars?

I’m afraid it might be so.

It’s worth quoting the Bible:

If you lend money to one of my people among you who is needy, do not be like a moneylender; charge him no interest. If you take your neighbor’s cloak as a pledge, return it to him by sunset, because his cloak is the only covering he has for his body. What else will he sleep in? When he cries out to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate.

Exodus 22: 25-27 (New International Version)

It’s worth considering that the missing quality is compassion. After all, the logic of Exodus above is hard to argue with. The only reason predatory lending – which charges desperate people for their desperation – exists is greed.

This summer, I’ve seen a lot of crime in Hartford.

My church was broken into twice. Twice. In two weeks. The first time, I called the police at 9:15 p.m. The first police officer arrived at 12:30 a.m. Over three hours later.

I witnessed a man get beaten on a street near my church. He was screaming for help as a gang of five teenagers pummeled him. I, and many others, ran to his aid, but the young men got away. The man was beaten up, but he’ll be ok.

I’ve heard about crime too. Colin McEnroe wrote a depressing column in the Courant. I was talking with another friend who told me he caught a guy stealing copper pipe from the basement of his house. He trapped the guy in his basement. It took the cops two hours to respond to that one, and the guy got away.

Hartford, we have a problem.

No doubt the recent spike in crime in Hartford is due to the national economic downturn. When the economy goes south, the poorest communities are hit first and hit hardest. Our food program at the church is being taxed heavily, and I know many in my congregation who are looking for work. Hartford’s public education has been a problem for years, and kids have little to occupy themselves with during the summer.

I have to give some credit to the Hartford police. When they finally did show up, they were professional. They did a solid investigation. And they even made an arrest and got a confession. Case closed. But I also kinda think that if we had a better police program, with more cops on the street and more connections between the police and the community, and if we invested in our children, that these crimes might never have happened in the first place. Good police work should prevent crime as much as punish it.

One other thing: The problem has to be admitted before it can be addressed. I hate watching Hartford’s leadership repeatedly gloss over these problems and not take them seriously enough. I hate hearing politicians and community leaders keep telling me to emphasize the positive. Focus on the good. No doubt there is a lot of good in Hartford. I don’t need help focusing on that. But if someone doesn’t start paying attention to what’s really going on in this town, I feel pretty certain that the good that is here won’t be here long. Face it: Hartford is addicted to violence, and Hartford is in denial.