I hopped into my 7 year old pickup truck a few days ago, turned on the radio, and listened to reports of the ride auto industry execs were preparing to embark on to ask government representatives for a little help (if you can call $15 billion a little help). On November 18th, Rick Wagoner of GM, Alan Mulally of Ford, and Robert Nardelli of Chrysler flew into the nation’s capital in private jets to make their case to Washington that the auto industry is running out of cash and need s $25 billion in taxpayer dollars to avoid bankruptcy. After receiving a substantial butt-whooping at the hands of law makers on their first trip, the chairman of Chrysler drove a hybrid and the Ford boss shared the wheel of a Ford Escape hybrid on the trip to Washington in an effort to affect what the business world calls “optics” or, we could say, things that just don’t look right. Ford is now prepared to throw the company jet, the boss man’s fat salary, and top management’s 2009 bonuses under the bus to make the bailout deal work and to alter current perceptions.

There is a bigger issue at hand. The big three automakers employed 240,000 last year, plus 974,000 parts maker and supplier jobs. These 1.2 million workers spend enough money to keep another 1.7 million people working totaling 2.9 million jobs tied the auto industry. Now multiply this total times the 3 dependents average tied to the 2.9 million workers and we have a crisis effecting 8.7 million individuals and an unemployment rate exceeding 10%. In other words, take out Detroit and unprecedented hunger and homelessness potentially adds millions more to the 1,000,000 plus people who are currently homeless and the millions more who are hungry. Children will be the biggest losers.

In an interview on ABC’s Tuesday, November 25th broadcast, Barbara Walters asked President–Elect Obama, “How did you feel when you read about the three heads of the auto companies taking private planes to Washington?” President-Elect Obama responded saying, “Well, I thought maybe they’re a little tone deaf to what’s happening in America right now. And this has been a chronic problem, not just for the auto industry, I mean, we’re sort of focused on them. But I think it’s been a problem for the captains of industry, generally. When people are pulling down hundred-million-dollar bonuses on Wall Street, and taking enormous risks with other people’s money, that indicates a sense that you don’t have any perspective on what’s happening to ordinary Americans. When the auto makers are getting paid far more than their counterparts at Toyota, or at Honda, and yet, they’re losing money a lot faster than Japanese auto makers are, that tells me that they’re not seeing what’s going on out there, and one of the things I hope my presidency helps to usher in is a, a return to an ethic of responsibility. That if you’re placed in a position of power, then you’ve got responsibilities to your workers. You’ve got a responsibility to your community. Your share holders.”

An “ethic of responsibility” is what we all need as we approach this holiday season. An ethic of responsibility will compel us to begin prioritizing people instead of things. This ethic will move us beyond our religious rhetoric to a tangible expression of what we really believe. The one thing that attracted me to Christianity 18 years ago was the tangible and practical way Jesus interpreted life and love. He moved among people, all types of people, touching them, listening to them, and connecting with them in the places of their personal pain. That’s how they knew he cared. People heard him interpret the priorities of life in one simple two-part statement. He said first “Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Then he said, “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.” Truly loving your neighbor as yourself is easy when the neighbor looks, thinks, and acts as you do, but in the days ahead Americans will have an opportunity to love and care for neighbors who will soon fall into the dire conditions of economic distress, poverty, disease, and mental illness. I’m not sure which comes first, the caring or the touching of another’s life and circumstances, but both are essential. Try connecting emotionally with others’ needs, take the initiative to go to them, to be with them, to see and hear for yourself what their lives are really like beyond the now deteriorating façade of possessions. When you do, a sense of holy disgust should fill your soul, and you shouldn’t be able to stand it until you do something to help. Only then can we fulfill the “ethic of responsibility” that accompanies the mandate of Jesus and become an institution worthy of the community’s trust. If the church doesn’t respond with this ethic, it might as well flag down the big three and hitch a ride on one of their jets into the sunset.

What do you think about the church’s response to the current financial crisis?

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