The process of securing a mortgage is a daunting, frustrating, difficult, even horrible experience. I understand the need for documentation, but some of the documents required are ridiculous. For instance, I had to make copies of financial reports that had absolutely no financial information on the pages. You see, if a report is 5 pages long, all five pages need to be sent. So I forwarded the page on the bank statement that is for reconciling your account. No numbers were on the page; no records were on the page; no information was on the page. But send it anyway. In a culture that is supposedly trying to do more for environmental stewardship, the amount of paperwork is staggering - and some of it is totally unnecessary. Still, I had to make copies, then either fax the information or go to the post office and spend up to $20 to send that information in priority mail. It was such good news to realize that as soon as I sent those documents, I got a request for other documents.

What I found through the process that was so disheartening, however, is that the process is really dehumanizing. To be fair, the people on the "front lines," the ones with whom I had direct contact, were very helpful and caring. But the system is anything but helpful and caring. Hurry up and submit the documents - and then wait without any information to find out if your loan is going to be approved. You can send an e-mail asking when this will happen, but the front line people are as much in the dark as the applicant is. It's all paper and numbers, but the humanity has seemed to leave the system. That is very sad.

And it is very sad because my experience has also been the experience of other people, and if the process continues to be so impersonal and uncaring, fewer people will seek to refinance a mortgage, and some might feel the way I feel, wondering why put yourself through something like this when you can rent something. Sure, the tax breaks aren't there (and we don't know if those tax breaks will continue, as some people are talking about doing away with the mortgage deducation on the tax forms), but it's a lot easier (though not easy) to just rent. Unfortunately, much of the American economy is based on the housing market, and with it being slow - and then the mortgage system being so impersonal and difficult - this is continuing to hold the economy back.

So banks make it difficult to get a mortgage - but at least the bankers will continue to have a hefty bonus at the end of the year. It's a hard job making things harder for others.

We are close to completing the process of purchasing a new home (and hoping our old home sells soon). I don't want to do this again for a long time. I'm developing a better understanding of why some people say that the time they move out of their home is when they are carried out feet first.

Karl Menninger, in his excellent book "Whatever Became of Sin," talks about corporate irresponsibility, how a system gets in place and no individual can be held accountable for the failings of the system. The system I have dealt with recently is broken and very insensitive to the fact that it is people they are dealing with, not just pieces of paper. Those in the corporate offices need to get out of their cubicles and start talking to real people, so they can understand how frustrating and disappointing the whole system is.

I hope you are happy in your home, and plan to be there a long time, so you don't have to go through what we've gone through.

Just finished reading something that said Michelle Bachmann stated that the earthquake and hurricane this past week were God's way of trying to get the attention of politicians. Was she serious? No, said a spokesperson, she was joking. See the way she was laughing? Hear the way the people were laughing? She wasn't being serious.

Okay, she wasn't being serious. Still, if one simply reads her comments, they come off as being really lousy theology. But then, Ms. Bachmann never said she was an accomplished theologian (and, from reading other remarks she has made previously, not an accomplished historian either). I know there are a lot of people who think that natural disasters are God's way of punishing people for particular sins - Katrina was punishment for New Orleans being a sinful city; the destruction of the Twin Towers on 9/11 God's punishment to America for permitting abortions and homosexuality. That's just bad theology, whether it is Ms. Bachmann saying it, or some TV preachers saying it.

But give her the benefit of the doubt: she was joking, we are told.

If that is the case, then she'd better stop telling these kinds of jokes. Over 20 people lost their lives because of the hurricane. I don't see that as anything to joke about. Billions of dollars of damage have been done. Is that something to joke about as well?

Instead of making stupid comments and then having someone else cover up (she's joking), wouldn't it be nice if politicians would stop to think about what they are really saying? Dare I expect that much from our politicians?

I can still wish for those things, can't I?

I just read a report on Yahoo.com that indicated that "Americans don't know much about religion." In this survey, people were asked 32 questions on a broad range of religious knowledge, including understanding of the Bible, core teachings of different faiths, and major figures in religious history. People were asked whether they could name the Islamic holy book, the first book of the Bible, or say what century the Mormon religion was founded. According to the report, "on average, participants in the survey answered correctly overall for half of the survey questions."

Here's the kicker: Atheists and agnostics scored best, with an average of 21 correct answers. Jews and Mormons were next, averaging 20 correct answers. Protestants overall averaged 16 correct answers, and Catholics averaged 15 correct.

On questions about Christianity, Mormons scored highest, with an average of 8 correct answers out of 12, and white evangelicals were next with an average of seven correct answers.

I don't know what all the questions were, but I find these results stunning. Of course, there may be some questions I would have gotten wrong. But I think it does indicate that we think we know a whole lot more than we really do know, and sometimes what we think we know about Christian faith does not come from Scripture, but from extra-biblical sources.

I think we need to make sure that we do a better job of educating ourselves in Christian faith.

Unless you have been on a deserted island for some time, you are aware that there is a pastor in Gainesville, FL, who is planning to lead his congregation in a Koran-burning display on Saturday, September 11, as a way to remember what took place on 9/11/01. This has made national, and even international, headlines. Gen. David Petraeus has commented on this, urging that the church not do this because it could put the lives of American servicemen and women at more risk - and they are already at great risk given what they do. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has commented about it as well.

Who ever heard of Dove World Outreach Center three months ago? It must be pretty heady stuff for the pastor of that church to make national headlines, and to be interviewed by major networks and be on the front pages of newspapers.

I don't have a lot to add to the conversation already taking place, except to say that what is being planned is stupid, dumb, cold, hateful, lacking in compassion, self-serving, and horribly unloving.

The concern I have is that there will be many people around the world, already skeptical about the claims of Christian faith because the Christian church seems so disjointed, so much in disarray, so much in opposition to others within the church (Gandhi once said something along the lines that he might quite possibly become a Christian if he would see more people living what Jesus taught), and so filled with animosity towards each other - as well as seeming to be filled with hatred and condemnation towards others who are different from them - that everyone, including you and me, will be put in the same category as Rev. Jones and his small group in Gainesville.

Is that fair? Not it is not. But we will all be lumped together with those who seem to feel that being a follower of Jesus involves obeying rules rather than paying attention to Jesus when he says, "love one another," and "love your neighbor as yourself." It is not right, it is not fair, it is not just, that the actions of a few misguided, extremist people who claim to be following the rules of faith cause others to then label all people by what they see in those few.

Kind of like we do when we lable all Muslims because of the actions of a few.

If it is not right for people to think of us as being the same as the people at that (I don't even want to call it a church) in Gainesville. It is not right for us to think that all Muslims are like the extremists. Islam is not the enemy. Muslims are not the enemy. Extremists are - whatever their label.

I'm still doing some reading, but I've also begun some writing. The book I'm reading right now is The Radicalism of the American Revolution by Gordon Wood, and while I can skim some parts, there are some parts of the book that are very interesting and powerful and helpful.

I don't know how much I will end up writing, but this will probably be the longest project I've ever done. In my senior year in seminary, I had a final project that I think was about 20 pages. That will easily be surpassed by what I am doing now. I'm probably looking at something more along the lines of at least 50 pages, and it could be much longer than that. It's hard for me to think in these terms, but it could even possibly turn into a book. I don't know if anyone would publish it, but I would hope some of you would be willing to read it.

As I reflect on what the goals were for the sabbatical, I realize that almost all of it has been dealing with history and the Founding Fathers and the colonial period. There were other themes that I had considered - the irrelevance of the church, grace, the purpose of the church - and I will not specifically be writing about those themes. I do think, however, that what I am working on will contain many of those issues.

Much of this will also speak to some very contemporary issues as well, though not in specific terms. We've heard a lot about religious freedom in the news recently, in regards to the possibility of building that mosque near Ground Zero (we did go to Ground Zero in New York City on July 28th, and it was powerful being there). We've heard references to the Founding Fathers also, as this was mentioned in the news reports about Glenn Beck's rally at the Lincoln Memorial yesterday (I do find his comment that "I really didn't think about the fact that it was the exact same day as when Martin Luther King, Jr. made his famous 'I have a dream' speech" very hard to believe). There's a lot about the Founding Fathers that we must remember and to which we must pay attention; there's also a lot about the Founding Fathers that is myth and story but not necessarily fact. So as I am dwelling in the Revolutionary period, I am finding that it is speaking very loudly and clearly to the present situation.

I'm looking forward to what will be written in these next three weeks.

On another note - we've been attending different churches on Sundays, and it has been a good experience for us. Locally, we've been to 6 Presbyterian churches, and one Methodist church this summer. I've been pleased with what I have seen in those churches, and we local Presbyterians have some good things taking place. It's also been a good experience being the "visitor" also. I can say we do a lot of things right at Forest Hills. I would also say (and I know that summer is not the best time to judge this) that as far as music in the church goes, no one has yet come close to Forest Hills.

I've just finished another book (number 15, I think), and I started one more, which I should finish in just a couple of days. I have tried to read not only books by historians, but also by Christian authors who are indicating that the US is a Christian nation and needs to get back to its origins. In the next couple of days, I will start writing, trying to indicate what I have learned about the Founding Fathers and Christian faith and the Constitution.

It has been a fascinating study, and I sure know a whole lot more than I did 2 months ago. I also realize that there is a lot more I have yet to learn. Still, I think I have a decent understanding of some of what was going on, and I'm starting to get some ideas as to what I'm going to write.

One thing I have noticed about the Christian authors is that they all tend to have a kind of conspiracy theory approach to their writing. Much of what is wrong with the country is because the secular humanists have taken over the courts and the educational system. In the video "America's Godly Heritage," David Barton seems to indicate that the basic cause for all the ills in our society is that the Supreme Court in 1962 and 1963 took Bible reading and prayer out of our schools. That has led to all the social problems we face today. I tend to think there were other factors involved - whether they be all the civil rights issues of that time, the Vietnam War, Watergate - to say nothing about sin. Sin doesn't seem to have much to do with those ills. Interesting.

The issues I'll be looking at, and writing about, include the time from the Pilgrims and Puritans (two different and distinct groups) in Massachusetts in 1620 and 1630, as well as the Jamestown settlement, through the time of the Great Awakening, and what happened to those communities and their understanding of "religious freedom." There will be issues of the establishment of churches, and, I think, how the establishment of those state churches were a major factor in the Revolution and the Constitution. I'll look at some of the things we believe about our Founding Fathers, and how we have elevated some of them to god-like status. In fact, on the ceiling in the Rotunda of the US Capitol, is a painting called "The Apotheosis of George Washington," which is essentially about making him a god. There are some myths that we have about the founders, and some authors indicating some things about them that maybe didn't happen the way they say they did. Were Washington and Adams really evangelistic Christians? Was Jefferson an atheist, as so many in the election of 1800, and many today, were and are saying? What does the First Amendment mean? And what does it mean (in words that Jefferson first said in 1801) to have this "wall of separation between church and state"?

I really thought this study would deal more with the faith of the founders, and be more of a study in history - and it has been that. But as I proceed, I think it will be far more about theology, especially as it deals with such questions as "what kind of God do we have?" Does God simply want us to live moral lives, or is there more to it than that?

It's been challenging; it's been fun - and now I get to do the hard part, which is trying to indicate on paper what I have learned.

I am learning that when one is reading history, one cannot simply take all things at face value. One of the books I read contains what I believe to be a number of factual inaccuracies, as well as many opinions stated as fact without any referencing or proof of why those statements should be considered to be factual.

While my study has been on the Colonial period, and the Founding Fathers, I am fairly well-read (not as well-read as some others in the church) on Abraham Lincoln. I've read at least 6 books on Lincoln (as I just looked at the bookshelf to be sure). In a book I just finished, there is a statement made that says the following: "Shortly before his death an Illinois clergyman asked Lincoln, 'Do you love Jesus?' Mr. Lincoln solemnly replied, 'When I left Springfield I asked the people to pray for me. I was not a Christian. When I buried my son, the severest trial of my life, I was not a Christian. But when I went to Gettysburg and saw the graves of thousands of our soldiers, I then and there consecrated myself to Christ. Yes, I do love Jesus.'" This is quoted from a book called Abraham Lincoln, the Christian. That story was used in a sermon some years ago by The Rev. D. James Kennedy.

From my reading about Lincoln, I was not aware of this statement. So I looked at the bibliography included in two of the best books on Lincoln's life: Abraham Lincoln, Redeemer President, by Allen Guelzo, a professor at Gettysburg College, and A. Lincoln, by Ronald C. White, Jr. (whom I heard speak last year at Princeton Seminary). Those books are not included in their bibliographies. I looked at Internet sites, and found some references to this, but they seemed to be of uncertain origin. So I decided to ask an authority, and I sent an e-mail message to Dr. Guelzo at Gettysburg, and I asked him about this statement. I received a message in response, that indicated that my thoughts about it being of uncertain origin were correct, and that there is no hard evidence that any Illinois clergyman ever received that kind of statement from Mr. Lincoln. (I am very appreciative of Dr. Guelzo taking the time to respond to my question.)

Is it possible that Lincoln did, indeed, make that statement? Yes, it is possible. But it seems as though many historians are at best skeptical about that.

I think we need to be careful about how we interpret what we read. It certainly is going to make me more diligent as I think about what I am reading.