truth.

hints of grace// wealth

One summer when I was home from college, I did a bible study with a few friends and our pastor. We met every week and walked through the gospel of Mark and had snacks. We called it "Mark and Munchies." I learned a ton during that summer and loved every second of it. I have always remembered this one passage that in retrospect seems really not enlightening, but was at the time. It's from Mark 12:41-44. It is stated like this in The Message: 

Sitting across from the offering box, he was observing how the crowd tossed money in for the collection. Many of the rich were making large contributions. One poor widow came up and put in two small coins—a measly two cents. Jesus called his disciples over and said, “The truth is that this poor widow gave more to the collection than all the others put together. All the others gave what they’ll never miss; she gave extravagantly what she couldn’t afford—she gave her all."

I was reminded of this while I was reading Chittister's chapter on "Wealth." Wealth is a hard topic and particularly in this country where no one is "supposed to" talk about it, but those who have it do and those who don't have it, don't. Many kids who grow up poor often do not realize that was the case until they are exposed to a world of economic disparity.

The overwhelming theme of this chapter from Uncommon Gratitude seemed to be what I drew from the scripture passage about: We do the best we can with what we have. This is a reality I have yet to live into, but I know it is a mandate of the gospel. It is a way of living that Jesus calls us to and I am faced every day with the challenge to do more out of my wealth than I am currently doing.

Chittister quoted the chinese philosopher, Hsi-Tang, who said, "Although gold dust is precious, when it gets in your eyes it obstructs your vision." Rather than thinking of people for whom this is true, I immediately jump to private hospitals, insurance companies, banks, and other big institutions that continuously seek to make a profit over caring for people, institutions who lean into empire over creation, fear over love, and oppress rather than empower.

That is what having wealth is about: "...[I]t gives us the power to do good. It is not the amount of money a person has that determines her or his real power; it is what the person does with it that measures her or his lasting influence in a society" (23).

I invite your thoughts about this tricky topic of wealth.... Let's have a discussion.

prophetic poetry

"They say talk is cheap, and war is expensive...don't think for a second I will not question U.S. Foreign policy, imperial aggression, inventing war for the quenching of the thirst..." 

Consider this...

This is my sermon delivered at Community Congregational Church, Tiburon on Sept. 8, 2013. The scripture was Luke 14:25-33.

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Are you one of those people who waits to make a decision until you’ve exhausted all your options? For those of you who know the Enneagram, I’m a six. If you don’t know the Enneagram, sixes tend to worry. When people ask me what number I am, I typically respond, “Ah, yes, I’m a six. I’m afraid of the world.” However, that fear is typically founded in a worry about something. I’m worried someone will die. I’m worried the sermon won’t be exactly how I want it. I’m worried I will get too overwhelmed.  I’m worried Curran won’t come back. 

Sometimes it’s about little things, like my travel mug purchase this weekend. Sometimes it’s been about bigger things, like a year ago when I was asking: how would I tell my family I’m dating someone of my same gender. Sometimes it’s worry for the sake of worry, but other times it’s actually discernment. When we run through the entire gamut of options considering which will be best, weighing pros and cons, debating for hours, weeks or months, we are actually taking part in an important spiritual practice that helps us see beyond ourselves.

In our passage from Luke 14, we hear Jesus talking to crowds of people and before we know it, he’s floored them all. “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple.” I can just imagine the crowd, wide-eyes, jaws dropped… Notice how no one is recorded to have said anything back to Jesus… The thing is, though that Jesus doesn’t actually mean “hate”, like the intense loathing of a person, but rather it’s as if he said, “You need to know, that your relationships with these people will change, they will not be the only thing in your life if you come and follow me.” In this passage, Jesus acknowledges the risk that comes with being his follower. He wants the crowds to know that there are a lot of factors that come into play when making such a big decision as this. It changes the way we understand what we own, the relationships we have to friends and family, and the responsibilities we accept.  Much like any issue today, following Jesus was a multi-layered situation.

You see, Jesus’ earthly ministry was all about helping people discern the ways in which they were going to be a catalyst for the Kin-dom of God on earth. I am convinced that the way in which these verses speak to that ministry today is in the spiritual practice of “considering all the factors.” The Divine calls us to see the situation from a variety of perspectives because our faith is bigger than ourselves. Our faith inspires us to consider this… and this… and that. 

For those of you who have been following the news, Syria is in the midst of a grave national crisis. They have been fighting a civil war for two years and the governing regime under Bashar Al-Assad has now potentially engaged the use of chemical weapons. The political viewpoints are numerous and the questions are countless. The situations in the middle east are messy and complicated and consequently, so is our response. As Christians and as residents of this world, we have to ask ourselves, with 2 million refugees, 1.8 million Syrian people in need of humanitarian aid, 100,000 casualties and chemical weapons on the world’s radar, what are we to do? What is the international community’s role? Could sending strategic missile strikes do more good than harm? Should we meet killing with more killing? How do we hold Assad accountable? And these questions are only the tip of the iceberg.

There are all of the questions, and none of the answers. Well, there are lots of answers but we cannot ever expect to have the absolute right answer. When we claim to have the right or the only answers, we often times get there by dismissing all the other perspectives and opinions around us. We take only our own perspective into account, which is important, but it then also dismisses the needs of those around us. Yes, this Syrian conflict has implications for the U.S. but that is only one way of viewing the situation. As people of God, of the Divine, we are in relationship with the international community. Because of this, we cannot negate the experience of the 1 million children that have become Syrian refugees over the last two years. Because of this, we also cannot negate the worth of Bashar Assad’s life. Because of this, we cannot overlook the implication of chemical weapons. There are many, many complex layers to this situation. And although we, in this room, are not making any decisions about what happens in Syria, we are forming opinions about what should or should not happen in the coming days and weeks. These opinions are guided by our values as they are rooted in our faith.  At General Synod, the national gathering of the United Church of Christ, our denomination, there was a pastor who informed all the delegates that they were not voting their opinion, they were voting God’s opinion. The decisions they were making about the denomination were not of their own view but of how they discerned God would vote.

Jesus’ discourse in Luke 14 asks us this question: Are our values and our relationships congruent with our relationship to the Holy?  We forget that this faithful part of our lives plays a role in the things we believe and therefore the things we do. I wonder if this nation’s political advisors also took a moment to think about whether or not they were considering all the options and voting God’s opinion, if the country would come to different conclusions. I am hopeful that they would.

We are called to constantly discern our values, to discern all of the pieces involved, to look at an issue from every side. As I was thinking about this, I was reminded yesterday of Antoinette Tuff, the bookkeeper at an elementary school in Decatur, GA who talked down an armed gunman. The heavily armed man came in ready to kill young children and teachers, and Antoinette Tuff, while praying silently as she spoke, invited the man to recognize that he was worthy of living this life too. She explained to him that she too had a difficult point in her life but she made it through and was so grateful for the chance to try life again. This woman’s values of life, dignity, and worth were based in her faith in God and they are the same values that helped her talk this young man into surrendering himself to the police. She began a conversation that could have ended in death, but the values she held, in that instance, helped a nation understand that listening can compete with gun laws, and the respect for life can overcome the desire for death.  Antoinette Tuff understands the importance of seeing an issue from all sides.

If we really want the world to change, if we really want the Kin-dom of God to come to fruition, we have to consider all the questions from every side of the issue. We have to take into consideration the perspective of the rich and the poor, the powerful and the vulnerable, the blue-collar worker and the stay at home parent, the history of that nation or the world, the single person and the family down the street, we have to discern both the risks and the rewards.

I am convinced that God is in the plethora. God takes delight in the multiplicity of perspectives any one issue can hold. God is there to help us discern, to help us sort it all out. And the Good News is this: God is there to love us through the process. God is present in the decision making surrounding Syria, and God is in the midst of your process too.

Amen.