Lent 3: A Trickle (or not)

         There are all kinds of wildernesses.  But the variety of wilderness most often envisioned in our area is a hike in part of the untamed woods of our mountains.  Some of them are even designated wilderness areas.  Those tend not to have ready access to vehicular traffic.  To hike in those areas one really does need some coping skills.

            A wooded wilderness still has many obstacles.  The canopy might shield us from a clear vision of the heavens.  On our first week we saw that SLOTH and ENVY could cloud our vision of God.  Or undergrowth might entangle our feet and bring us down, trapping us so we might not easily resume our walk.  On Lent 2 we saw how easily it is to be ensnared by LUST.  Bruised and a little disoriented we find the stream bed only to discover the source of life-giving water has been trapped upstream and we remain parched.  GREED, another one of the classic deadly sins, has choked the stream for its own aggrandizement.

            Oh yes, greed is definitely a nasty individual sin, especially for those of us who are sure we rarely commit it.  If we have felt we have been victims of it though, our evaluation is that the greedy person certainly deserves what they get in any Great Reckoning!

            In considering this topic I found an interesting study in Scientific American.  The article was dated in 2014 and authored by a Michael Norton.  The attention grabbing title was “Why Greed Begets More Greed”.  In it he told of an experiment.  People were given an envelope with $6.00 in it and the instructions to give envelopes to the recipients of their choice with some distribution of that $6.00.  There were some who followed the “pass it on” type of formula and their recipient received an envelope with either the full $6.00 or at least $5.00.  Generosity turned to generosity.  Some split the difference and the recipient received $3.00.  Fairness was the guiding principle for those givers.  But where people received an empty envelope to an almost empty envelope, greed was evident.  And when given the opportunity to start the chain reaction over, those who received greed often perpetuated greed and greed was the most common response.

I can’t vouch for the veracity of the exercise of scientific conclusions, but as an observer, I am not surprised.

            Now even then, Greed doesn’t seem like such a big deal.  We have idealized those who have been the big success stories – those who have gone from rags to riches.  We would more likely consider most of them cunning not greedy.  And if we exhibit the behavior on a micro-scale, we would probably think of ourselves as preparing for our futures, taking care of ourselves, building up a nest egg, industrious or any other combination of descriptions used regularly.

We might even advocate for government policies that suggest the wealthy will, by their very nature, take care of those who are poor and needy.

            Sadly we have been discovering for some thirty years that economic policies that are built on that trickle down philosophy have made a very few very rich and left a great many people eating the crumbs of the economic pie.

            Our wilderness walk as we kneel beside the dry stream might make us aware of the evil of greed that is damming the source of water.  If we were to acknowledge greed as a constrictive force, we might decide that if we ever get out of this wilderness we might contribute a bit more to some worthy charity, or ask some insightful questions to our legislators.  Surely such a reaction will show good faith and a bit of growth in our understanding.

            The evil of greed is much more insidious that that.  We can’t undo the effects of this choking demon with a $5.00 gift to a charity.

Unless we realize how prevalent greed is in our corporate lives, and how much damage this attitude is for the good of all humankind, we will have chosen greed over God every time.

            How would you feel if you received the empty envelope or the envelope with 6 cents in it in that experiment I mentioned?  My guess is that your response would include disappointment, annoyance to anger, resentment,  to name a few.  That is what they found in the experiment.  They also found that those that receive the even distribution felt they had achieved what was fair.  But the attitudes that went with that were all positive.  Gratitude was the present there as well it was present for those who received the larger amounts. 

            We live in one of the wealthiest nations in the world and people go to bed every night trying to figure out how to pay the bills.  People go without meals because they cannot afford them.  Good people live in substandard situations because there is no money for daily life let alone an emergency situation.  Not even paying attention to the needs of people globally as we enjoy the benefits of great wealth in this nation, what does that say about us and about our values?

            Greed literally chokes the life-blood from people in our nation.  All the while talk and policies suggest further restrictions to food stamps and WIC programs.  With no fanfare, and no public outcry the American with Disabilities Act was gutted in the House of Representatives because businesses that failed to comply might be sued.    So non-compliance is being proposed as OK in the law.  The suing can take place afterward, if anyone wants to follow up.  Astronomical sums are being spent to keep wealthy politicians in office and corporate profits green and growing.  We idealize the Stock Market and phenomenal numbers when most Americans live from pay check to pay check and stocks are only where some pension money is invested and that money is at risk every day should there be a “correction”.  We paste labels on anyone who even suggests fair distribution of wealth.  We have made Capitalism a God and we tend to worship at that Golden Calf much more than at the foot of the cross.

            This Lenten journey into the wilderness reminds us that we need to find ways to free the waters so that justice might flow as a never ending stream.  This Lent we confront the twin images of God and mammon and are asked “whom will we serve”.  This Lent we realize that we have the power to free the waters.  May it be so.

Grace and Peace,

Rev. Clara

Lent 2:  “in my heart”

            President Jimmy Carter gave us one of the all-time favorite lines when he granted an interview to Playboy magazine.  He mentioned he might have “lusted in his heart”.

            That pretty well sums up our attitude for that “so-called” deadly sin: lust.

What’s the big deal?  “Just appreciating the scenery.”

            In fact when we trip over the trail-hazard of “Lust” on our Lenten wilderness walk, it hardly seems important.  We pick ourselves up, regain our composure and set off again.  There are scarier things in this wilderness.  Surely that minor-demon can’t cause much trouble. 

            After all, it’s only a “problem” for those with a puritanical attitude – people who clearly don’t know how to have fun at all – people who are “goodie-two-shoes”.

            Of course if we pay attention to life in general, we know that the vines of entanglement will only get more pronounced.  We know we have been caught in a web of deception for lust does have the power to dehumanize, to demean, to diminish God’s beloved daughters and sons.  We know also that we remained silent far too often and for far to long about the insidious nature of this demon of our modern life.  We know that lust’s power has been for generation unto generation.

            We live in a time when stories of rape, sexual harassment, domestic violence, sex trafficking are front-page news in our major newspapers, not just the grocery store tabloid.  The “Me Too” movement assumed a prominence few people would have ever expected.  Major celebrities have had their careers aborted.  Plenty of people have spent time apologizing for behavior – and also minimalizing actions as “no big thing”.

            God, known through the prophets of old, called to people of Israel to be a light to the nations – to let justice roll down like water and righteousness as an ever flowing stream.  God, made known in Jesus of Nazareth, confronted evil as he saw it and cast it aside so that those who were oppressed could be free.

            The evil that is lust actualized is very real.  It touches so many lives of those whom we know.  Although the most visible consequences happen to women, men also have been victimized by the evil whose infancy was that seemingly unimportant vice called lust.

            We meet this demon in our Lenten wilderness and we know we have to make a choice.  Do we follow the temptations proposed by “lust” or do we follow Jesus?

            If we say we follow Jesus then we are choosing to make a lifetime of standing up against the injustices oppressing women. 

·      We can neither put women on unrealistic pedestals nor can we silence them

·      We must begin teaching our children to respect one another

·      We will need to listen as science gives us information we did not learn when we were young about gender, sexual orientation, how our bodies are formed

·      We will need to learn the discipline of not sharing the lewd joke, the lusty comment, the “locker-room” talk

·      We will need to learn how to value our own bodies so that in turn we can stop glamorizing unrealistic and unhealthy ideal images

·      We will need to realize that good ideas and creative thinking is not gender based

·      We will be asked to challenge those systems that pay women less for the same amount of work

·      We will be forced to evaluate some government policies and laws

·      We will need to look at the scope of global sex trafficking, name it as the slavery it is and work to end it.

·      We will need to consider pornography and how much our society dare ignore its implications

·      We will need to say that healthy dating and strong marriages do not include date rape or domestic abuse.

·      We will need to advocate for our children so that they are not victimized by sexual abuse

            Our society has been entangled by the work of lust unleashed.  Some have fallen, caught in their own actions.  Our Lenten encounter asks us if we can be Christ’s healing touch in these circumstances.  Some have been trampled as victims of sexist attitudes and misogyny.  Our Lenten encounter asks us if we can confront these forces of evil and lift that burden from their lives. 

            May our walk though the wilderness this Lent lead us to become agents of hope and healing and examples of compassionate listeners.

Grace and Peace

Rev. Clara

Lent 1:  Are we lazy or jealous?

            There is an ancient Christian tradition that names seven vices as particularly egregious.  So much so, that they have been labeled the seven deadly sins.  In the tradition these acts of behavior fall within “capital or cardinal” sins.  Let’s just say to obtain the forgiveness of the church more was required than “I’m sorry”.

            Our tradition does not rely so much on categorizing personal sins in this way.  Putting a category of sin on a scale of one to ten, or calling them venial (lesser) or cardinal (one of the big seven), is left pretty much between a person and God’s own self.

            That said, those seven traditional “deadly sins” do offer us a window as we enter this season of Lent.  In the gospel of Mark we have the most succinct version of “the temptation of Jesus”: 

And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness.  He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.

            This Lenten season I will post a Blog series that invites us into our own wilderness experience.  There I hope to use the framework of the seven deadly sins as a way for us to name those things in this world that demonize us and those with whom we share this planet.  Evil exists in this world and we have a remarkable tendency to dismiss it, ignore it, or rationalize it.  Yet one of the characteristics of Jesus’ ministry on earth (and his instructions for our discipleship) was to confront evil head on and lift it out of those he met so that they may experience of wholeness of life.  This Lent is an opportunity for us to name the demons so that we too can be about the ministry of freedom and justice.

            Because there are six weeks in Lent and seven classic “deadly sins”, week one will combine two:  sloth and envy.

            Using a generic website, http://www.bibleinfo.com/en/questions/what-are-seven-deadly-sins,  here are working definitions for this week:

            Sloth is an excessive laziness or the failure to act and utilize one’s talents.

            Envy is the intense desire to have an item or experience that someone else possesses. 

            Neither of these vices seem particularly threatening to a 21^st Century highly industrialized, highly technological, highly compensated nation such as the United States.  They are more likely to be used as incentives in a capitalistic society to achieve the goals of wealth and well-being.  We have filled our lives with aspirant images.  We have even publically proclaimed that consumerism is the way out of economic downfalls.  We rate our economic success as a nation and as individuals by the amount of things we can buy.   And if we don’t “get-on-board” with that scenario then we are lazy, useless, boring, old-fashioned.  And we certainly are not worth employing in a meaningful way because we would not be willing to put the company’s profit margin as our top life priority.

            How easily character flaws turn into weapons against one another.  And there is the evil we ignore.  They are the first demons of our wilderness journey.  This is where we begin to see how we ourselves are complicit in the evils around us.

            Whether in our homes, our workplaces, or our political setting the evil of “sloth” is working it’s way into  our lives.

·      It happens with our language as we fail to appreciate the hopes and interests of family members who want to pursue their life in one way and we berate them because they do not achieve what we have decided is best for them.

·       It happens in our workplaces when we follow policies and practices that create an excessively stress-filled environment based on productivity and working well beyond any “normal” working day.  Far too many people feel they must be working electronically well into the night because the work policies require instant response.  Far too many people cannot afford to miss work to care for sick children or family members.  And vacation time is a joke.  Failure to work nonstop, or at the decision of the company can cost people their very jobs.

·      It happens in our political sphere as we publically call people lazy as a way to change policy and to remove pieces of a safety net program.  It is even being used against that population known as “Dreamers” on the pretext of justifying deportation.

            Sloth becomes much more than a quaint “seven deadly personal sin” when we realize how often we as a society use it as an excuse to dismiss people so that we don’t have any requirement to use our financial resources to help.  Sloth becomes evil when we use it as a verbal weapon to show our disapproval and disdain for God’s beloved sons and daughters.

            Likewise envy distorts our lives.  It is no wonder that we might come across the demonizing shape of envy as we wander in the wilderness.  You can recognize it as that which stands between us and God (the very definition of sin).  It is the cloud that blots our ability to express gratitude.  It is the negative energy that keeps us from finding any sense of satisfaction in life.  It is the driving force that propels us on the fast track to acquire more of everything no matter the cost.  It is the filter that allows us to evaluate one another in terms of what we have and not who we are. 

            The challenge as we work our way through these Lenten meditations is to confront the demons and the evils such as sloth and envy, and then figure out how we make the choices to serve God and not them.  How do we look beyond Lent and our life as disciples and continue to deny them power?  How do we look at our civil and religious lives and call out these forces for evil on behalf of those for whom Christ died?

            These Blog meditations are open-ended.  Each person’s journey into the wilderness will be different.  Yet each person, if they are paying attention, will come across each of the classic seven vices.  Each person will be asked to look beyond seeing them as personal failings and instead see them for the destructive force they have on God’s beloved children.  And then, if willing, each person will be called to choose whether to serve the forces of destruction or to serve God, made known in Jesus the Christ, who so loves the world – who so loves us.

Grace and Peace

Rev. Clara

An Inconvenient Conversation

            Here is a question for Americans as well as for those of us who call ourselves Christian:  “What is our response to any categorization of countries largely populated by people of color as being s*---hole countries”?  Do we shake our heads in disbelief?  Do we secretly agree that we would be better off as a nation if immigrants only came from well-developed countries whose racial makeup mirrored northern European nations?  Are we really uncomfortable with this whole discussion?

            This is Martin Luther King’s Weekend.  It is an inconvenient truth that this press release happens to fall on the third weekend of January.  It is much more convenient to look at this federal holiday as the Ski Weekend Getaway. 

            Because I serve as a Christian pastor, I must view these comments about peoples of other nations in light of the gospel I serve.  In Christ we are shown that God’s love extends to all peoples of the world.  In Christ we are shown that we are “members one of another”.  In Christ we are shown how we are to be a “light to the world.”

            I also am American whose ancestors first came to this shore as far back as the 1600s.  I am well aware of the living conditions and persecutions that caused them to risk everything to try to build a life on these shores.  I am also aware as a white woman, that my ancestors had a choice about venturing to this land.  As an American I feel the sense of pride when I see the Statue of Liberty and remember the words of Emma Lazarus that are carved on her.  This is a core American value and this is a value consistent to my Christian faith.

“Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

            On this Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend let us also remember the words from this American visionary.

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly." 

—from ‘Letter from Birmingham, Alabama Jail’, April 16, 1963

            Although this particular quote is related to the specifics of life in 1963 the truth of it transcends date and place.  We are “in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny” with people around the world.   John Donne wrote a similar idea in the 1600s with “No man is an island, entire in himself.”  We are connected to one another as human beings.  We have a responsibility for one another.  Our work for justice around the world counts.  Our acts of compassion around the world make a difference.  As we take this quote from Martin Luther King, Jr. seriously we are acting out of our national identity and we are responding to our instructions of faith.

            "Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that." 

—from Strength to Love, 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr.

            Hate language, exclusionary policies, hubris and arrogance are counterproductive.  What is prized as “American Exceptionalism” includes the idea that others around the world can look to this country as an example of freedom and promise.  In the Gospel of Matthew we hear that we are “the light of the world.”  As this country struggles with issues around race and xenophobia our task is to think about what it means to be God’s light to our world.

            What we cannot do when we hear pronouncements that dismiss people as “less than” because of the color of their skin, the nation of their origin, the sexuality of their being, the economic position of their reality is to ignore those statements as if they do not matter.  The words matter profoundly because each person matters profoundly.  How we respond is a mark of our character.  How we respond is a witness to what we believe. 

            What kind of witness are we going to give about our faith and about the values of American?  Who are we willing to be as a people?  This is a good weekend to reflect on the “Inconvenient Conversation”.  It is a good weekend to begin the longer conversation about race and xenophobia. 

            God in your mercy, forgive us and open our hearts and minds to one another. 

Grace and Peace

Rev. Clara