SERMON ON GAMBLING

TEXT: Jeremiah 8:18-9:3

My joy is gone, grief is upon me, my heart is sick. Hark, the cry of my poor people from far and wide in the land: “Is the Lord not in Zion? Is her King not in her?” (“Why have they provoked me to anger with their images, with their foreign idols?”) “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.” For the hurt of my poor people I am hurt, I mourn, and dismay has taken hold of me. Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has the health of my poor people not been restored?

O that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears, so that I might weep day and night for the slain of my poor people! O that I had in the desert a traveler’s lodging place, that I might leave my people and go away from them! For they are all adulterers, a band of traitors. They bend their tongues like bows; they have grown strong in the land for falsehood, and not for truth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not know me, says the Lord.

TITLE: Are Casinos the balm in Gilead?

PREACHED BY: The Rev. Caroline B. Edge on Sunday, September 23, 2007 at Carter Memorial United Methodist Church, Needham, MA.

I hate the expression "It’s déjà vu all over again," because it is so redundant. Yet I certainly found myself saying it this week after hearing last Sunday that Governor Patrick was going to propose building three casinos in Massachusetts.

"It’s déjà vu all over again." My last appointment was to Christ UMC in Groton, Ct. I served there the entire decade of the ‘90’s. Feb. 15, 1992 the Mashantucket Pequot Indians opened a casino five miles from my church – Foxwoods. Soon the Mohegan’s followed opening the Mohegan Sun casino – equally as close to my church in the other direction. Traffic on I – 95 along the Connecticut shoreline became worst that 128. These kinds of stories began appearing in the paper – father leaves child in car at casino all day as he gambles. The Mashantucket’s had to begin patrolling their parking lots looking for abandoned children in locked cars. Another child was abandoned at a nearby MacDonald’s all day while the father went "gaming" – the euphemism for gambling. Although both tribes were good employers, some families were effected as the parents were changed from one shift to another with no time for them to make arrangements for their children. Busloads of people were brought in to gamble. The saddest to me – and I have seen this in the TV clips this week – are the older women – widows, lonely, bored, glued to the slot machines looking for meaning in their lives. I walked thru Foxwoods one day with an out-of-town guest who wanted to go to the casino and offered to take me to dinner there. I have never more felt like I was walking through hell – smoke filled the rooms, people stared at the machines, the gaming tables with faces glum and hypnotized. The only people laughing and having fun were those at the craps table. I do not know anything about shooting craps but at least those folks were lively. Everyone else looked like they were in Dante’s inferno. In the midst of this devil’s den I spyed a human size cardboard figure of Jesus – "Jesus Christ Superstar" was being staged at the casino’s theater. I found myself walking up to the poster of Jesus and saying, "I might know you would be here in the midst of hell." If that poster could have talked, I think Jesus would have quoted Jeremiah, "My joy is gone, grief is upon me, my heart is sick." (Jeremiah 8:18) Nearby was an incredibly huge waterfall in the casino – I thought even that much water could not have represented all of the tears God must have felt for God’s people so voluntarily entrapped. "O that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears, so that I might weep day and night for the slain of my poor people," Jeremiah cried (Jeremiah 9: 1). That day at Foxwoods I was so disturbed that I told my friend I had to leave. No way could I eat anything. So you see why I respond emotionally to "Déjà vu all over again."

There are some differences this time. There was nothing that we could do to stop Foxwoods because they were an international nation in the midst of our state and had been granted the Federal right to do what they wanted with their land. This week the governor of our state has proposed that the state basically sell licenses to casinos and reap considerable income that would be turned into "good" things for our citizens. Because this is happening in the context of our state government we have the right, privilege, and I would add – responsibility – to speak out regarding this plan.

I trust you have been paying attention to the news and have heard lots of the political pros and cons regarding the Governor’s proposal. But I am sure you have not heard the moral arguments against not only allowing but encouraging the development of casinos in our commonwealth. "Common – wealth" – what a misnomer! The proposal basically will take whatever "wealth" the poor, the seniors have and turn it into lower property taxes for the rich! (Can you tell I have strong feelings about this?)

Monday night Emily Rooney had several guests discussing Governor Patrick’s proposal on her program on Channel 2. One of the guests, Jeffrey Berry, a Tufts University professor, said, "I don’t think there is a big moral lobby here in Massachusetts." I heard other discounting the "moral" issue as one that should not be considered. We United Methodists are against gambling for moral reasons. We must let the politicians hear our concerns moral that they are.

First of all, we United Methodists do not believe in "getting something for nothing." John Wesley said "Earn all you can, save all you can, give all you can." Labor – work – is honorable. To become rich – or think one can – the odds are so humongous – by putting money in a machine mocks the honorableness of labor. Taking a chance of getting rich as opposed to working hard to earn money belies the purpose of meaningful labor.

Secondly, winning at the casino is only possible because most people lose. To participate in an activity that might give one wealth based on many, many others losing their hard-earned money goes against the golden rule. How can we care for the poor or those on fixed incomes by creating opportunities for them to lose their money so we can get some – either by winning at the casino or more probably through lowered property taxes.

Thirdly, gambling is immoral because it is a menace to society. Casinos are the worst example of the many types of gambling. Casinos are built without windows so gamblers can not notice that the sun is going down. There are no clocks on the walls. The electronic slots are programmed – so I have read – to tease the gambler – letting one win a bit – so one puts more money in the machine – displaying "almost hits" to encourage one to try again. Maybe one goes in just for a night of "gaming" to spend some discretionary income. Before long the grocery money, the nondiscretionary income is being put into the machine. Some casinos even have the facility to let one borrow against one’s home equity without leaving the casino. You really can lose the house.

A certain percentage of persons will become addicted to gambling. "A 2005 study from the University of Pennsylvania and the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry …reported that more than one out of 10 people over the age of 65 are at risk of having financial problems because of gambling, but older gamblers often are reluctant to admit that they have a problem and need help. And older gamblers are the age group increasing at the fastest rate."

With the proliferation of online gambling and the popularity of poker games, our youth are becoming addicted more easily. With the large college population in the Boston area, I shudder to think what effect an easily assessable casino would have on them. The National Gambling Impact Study Commission created and funded by Congress in 1999 which issued a Federal study of gambling concluded that young people may have an addiction rate as much as two to three times as high as adults.

That same study found that the social costs of gambling addiction double within a 50-mile radius of a gambling facility. With three casinos strategically placed in Massachusetts that would include almost all of our citizens in the threatened geographic areas. The study listed a daunting number of potential social costs, which may include increased divorce rates, domestic violence, child abuse, child death by abuse, rape, assault, suicide, drug abuse, psychiatric and personality disorders, physical illness, bankruptcy, work absenteeism and lost productivity, embezzlement, insurance fraud, arson and increased police, civil justice, and social service costs. These by-products of gambling carry over to other members of the community because they negatively affect our "common good."

Perhaps you are thinking – this is talking about those people – not us here in Needham, not any of us in this church. Gambling addiction is an equal opportunity employer. It goes across all socio-economic strata of society. I personally knew a fine upstanding United Methodist woman who had three sons. One because a United Methodist pastor – the ultimate of moral modeling; the second became president of another liberal protestant denomination; the third became an attorney – became addicted to gambling, embezzled money to feed his habit, ended up in jail. It can happen right here in River City!

Governor Patrick has opened the barn door. But the "horses" are not out yet. There are things we can do to seek to influence our legislators - our representatives in the House as well as the Senate. I believe we have a moral responsibility to do so. You can present some of the political arguments. We certainly can discuss the moral implications. Don’t let the proponents take "the moral argument" away from us as being immaterial, non-existent, discounted.

At the Bishop’s day on the District Bishop Weaver encouraged us to urge our congregations to not only become active on this issue for ourselves but to also talk to our neighbors and co-workers and encourage them to contact their legislators as well.

Again I have provided websites for you to become more familiar with the issues and the list and contact information of our legislatures.

Are casinos the balm that will cure our economic, governmental woes? Jeremiah asks, "Why then has the health of my poor people not been restored?" Amen.