Matthew 6:24-34
Epiphany 8 - Year A
Thanksgiving - Year B
"You cannot serve God and wealth." A recent movie exemplifying this is Redbelt by David Mamet. God here might be defined as personal integrity, but, however you spell it, the issue is one that is contemporary in every culture and economic system.
If you can neither serve G*D (the good I want, I don't; what I don't want, I do) nor wealth (there is always someone more sneaky, more wealthy) we are pushed back to the wisdom of Qoheleth in Ecclesiastes 5:10-20 [The Message]:
"The one who loves money is never satisfied with money,
Nor the one who loves wealth with big profits. More smoke."The more loot you get, the more looters show up.
And what fun is that—to be robbed in broad daylight?"Hard and honest work earns a good night's sleep,
Whether supper is beans or steak.
But a rich man's belly gives him insomnia."Here's a piece of bad luck I've seen happen:
A man hoards far more wealth than is good for him
And then loses it all in a bad business deal.
He fathered a child but hasn't a cent left to give him.
He arrived naked from the womb of his mother;
He'll leave in the same condition—with nothing.
This is bad luck, for sure—naked he came, naked he went.
So what was the point of working for a salary of smoke?
All for a miserable life spent in the dark?"After looking at the way things are on this earth, here's what I've decided is the best way to live: Take care of yourself, have a good time, and make the most of whatever job you have for as long as God gives you life. And that's about it. That's the human lot. Yes, we should make the most of what God gives, both the bounty and the capacity to enjoy it, accepting what's given and delighting in the work. It's God's gift! God deals out joy in the present, the now. It's useless to brood over how long we might live."
When you can't move into the future (G*D) or live with the past (accumulated wealth), there isn't much left than the present – so, don't worry, enjoy. This may be what is meant by the difficult task outlined of "striving" for the presence of G*D. In a moment of enjoyment all that is necessary will be found.
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2008_05_01_archive.html
In today's world we might translate, "You cannot serve God and Corporations."
If that is not self-evident, I'm not sure what can be done to help focus this. The issue of wealth or money is built on a zero-sum principle of competition to get your piece of the pie. And, since it is a competition, there is no end to the size of the piece that one needs. The operative word is a drivenness of "more". There is no sense of a joy of "enough".
Today's inward/outward quote is pertinent here:
The Spiral of Materialism - Matthew Fox
The spiral of materialism is eternal and never ends.... The materialist is never satisfied. For the heart is not made full or satisfied by any, or even all, of the things that the religion of materialism and its preachers of advertising want so desperately to sell us. "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be," warned Jesus. And the treasures that lead to compassionate living are not buyable because they are less objects than they are experiences.... Greed never asks when is enough, enough? It knows nothing of limits. Therefore, it knows nothing of the true pleasures that life is about. It is utterly ignorant of celebration.
If you value relationship, growth, and celebration more than accumulating resources, you might be interested in a new opportunity to band together to return corporations to their functional state and remove them from competition with people's well-being. Russ Feingold and many others have begun an attempt at challenging the current and growing power of corporations. You join me in signing on at: http://www.progressivesunited.org/.
This is larger than Russ, though he is a face for it. It is larger than you, though your action is as crucial as anyones. This is for all those who are tired of striving's vanity. This is for those who understand the freedom of G*D and healthy relationships are the starting points for knowing how to live with enough today that more will have enough tomorrow.
Here is a key question: What is more about? Is it about food, clothing, security, happiness, satisfaction? What do you need more of? Is it assurance of blessedness? Is it trust in meaning beyond that which passes too quickly away? Is it simple beauty, a graceful movement through the opportunities and challenges of any ordinary day? What do you need more of?
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2011/02/matthew-624-34.html
don't worry - choose
Matthew 6:24-34
No one can divide their allegiance
without other divisions in their life:
extremes of hate and love will come out
fawning and distain will become primary choices.
You cannot long stand between
Steadfast Love and Maximized Profit
without debilitating worry or
self-imposed ignorance.
Participation in meaningful life
is distracted by worry about basics
food, shelter, and universal human rights.
Worry adds no length of days or
cure of self-perceived defects.
Note well birds and flowers
eating when they can and attracting fertilizing bees.
There is value in participating in creation
at whatever level is available.
Our faith falters when we deny our creatureliness
and focus on fancy food and fashionable dress.
G*D-Human living fades when faced with fear
instilled by a class-dividing market.
Our question is not "What to eat?" but
"Why do we eat?"
"What?" worries us, "Why?" focuses us.
Why? A radical freedom of enough.
This is the place of paradise,
this is compassion set loose
far beyond, "More and more".
We have enough trouble staying loyal
to larger care for our commonwealth
without the distractions and worries
of fighting ourselves and each other
for mere "more" today and
just a bit more "more" tomorrow.
Don't worry - choose
rising hope
expansive kindness,
deep care.
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2011/02/dont-worry-choose.html