c. 2005 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) Let’s assume that scattered retirement-related squalls do coalesce into a “perfect storm.”

Let’s assume, first, that reneging on workers’ pensions continues to be a preferred corporate strategy.

Let’s assume, second, that public officeholders cannot muster the political will to cross party lines on difficult decisions affecting all constituents, such as tax policy and bloated indebtedness.

Let’s assume, third, that officials proceed with risky plans to convert pension planning into Wall Street wagering and the strategy fails.

Let’s assume, finally, that neo-con theorists get their way and that bankrupted federal and state governments are forced to jettison entitlement programs and safety nets.

Result? A few will have extraordinarily lush retirements, and most will retire later than anticipated, if at all, and face years of unmet bills, uninsured illnesses and clever schemes to nab their real estate assets. Young workers will find the job market clogged by older workers unable to retire. Fading dreams will be replaced by anger and despair reminiscent of the Great Depression.

What then?

American democracy depends on a large and reasonably confident middle class. Take that away, and democracy could be in trouble. Educational and charitable institutions depend on end-of-life asset transfers. Deplete those assets, and those institutions could be in trouble. So could spending and life-planning strategies essential to our economy, which assume steady employment, delayed gratification and adequate income throughout retirement. Our cultural expectation that generations will live separately could become financially unrealistic.

And what then for faith communities? That is my special concern. This perfect storm could catch us at a relatively weak moment, when we are increasingly divided _ conservative vs. liberal, urban vs. suburban, youth-oriented vs. older-adult-oriented _ and struggling financially.

Church giving is often the first to go in hard times, so we could face financial meltdown just as our constituents need us. Recent years of casually blending politics and religion leave us intellectually unprepared for dealing with the ambiguity of a fading American Dream. Our doctrinal bickering leaves us theologically unprepared for dislocations and despair that rain on good and bad alike. Hesitancy and rigidity among leaders leave us ill-equipped for addressing anguish that we haven’t seen before. Right opinion doesn’t confer hope, and it is hope in the wilderness that people will need.

What should we be doing? I have a few suggestions, but I think the need for outside-the-box thinking will be even greater than we now see.

First, we must become pastoring communities. Sunday friendliness supplemented by paid pastoral care won’t suffice. If we aren’t already doing so, we need to get people into face-to-face pastoral groups. We need to develop ministry teams who can sniff out denied-retirement frustration, economic worries, inadequate health care and family strains.

Second, we need to form crossing-all-lines partnerships. Youth-oriented congregations must join forces with repositories of the elderly. Wealthy suburban churches must form alliances with all others, even at the expense of the next building program.

Third, we need to find our voice as ethical Christians. We know we don’t agree on certain issues. Fine, but there is a lot more to life than sexual morality, ordination and Supreme Court nominees. We need to start serving our commonweal cooperatively, not skirmishing on a few hot-button issues.

Congregations that serve the “winners” in these economic battles need to be prophetic with them, not congratulatory. Congregations that serve the “losers” must channel their rage into constructive political action. We must train our members to look beyond self-interest and social-compatibility cadres.

Fourth, congregations and denominations must take action now on the two most likely dislocations lying ahead: health care and housing. We should look at parish nurses, health clinics, house-sharing, communal-living and church-sponsored retirement housing suitable for the non-wealthy.

More will be needed. Now is the time to ready ourselves for an unprecedented social, ethical and emotional upheaval.

MO/PH END RNS

(Tom Ehrich is a writer, consultant and leader of workshops. His forthcoming book, “Just Wondering, Jesus: 100 Questions People Want to Ask,” will be published by Morehouse Publishing. An Episcopal priest, he lives in Durham, N.C. His Web site is http://www.onajourney.org.)