"The Dead Cannot Save Us"

For Sunday, September 26th, 2010

(Graphic from http://www.churchpowerpoint.com/, used with permission)

Lectionary Reading - Luke 16:19-31 (NRSV)

"There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man's table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores.

The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. He called out, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in agony in these flames.'

But Abraham said, 'Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony. Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.' He said, 'Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father's house – for I have five brothers – that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.'

Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.' He said, 'No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.' He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.'"

The Dead Cannot Save Us

Professor Emeritus Walter Wink of Auburn Theological Seminary is a great inspiration to me. He’s a Methodist minister with Master of Divinity and Ph.D. degrees from Union Theological Seminary in New York City. He is also a Peace Fellow at the United States Institute of Peace. Recently, on the Sojourners’ website for sermon preparation, he shared a story that should give any of us pause to think:

There once was a rich nation that consumed almost half the world's resources. Landed elites in the poor nations became rich by producing cash crops for export to this nation while their own people lacked adequate nutrition. Even in that rich nation, many were hungry and homeless, unemployed and ill. Yet the rich nation ignored them, or had them arrested. Because the rich nation really was not religious, but only pretended to be, it had no fear of divine punishment. And because it was so powerful politically and militarily, it was able to protect itself against revolts abroad and revolutions at home.

In short, this rich nation had nothing to fear from any quarter. Yet, inexplicably, it began to fall apart. The judgment it scoffed at in the future began to eat away at it like acid. In desperation its people began to arm themselves. Soon this rich land had the most heavily armed populace in the world. But still the acids continued to eat. They built walls to shut the emigrants and "inferior races" out. But still the acids continued to eat.

They called for the death penalty, for more prisons, for more arrests, for greater surveillance, for tougher sentencing. Their politicians got elected on platforms of resentment, fear, and greed. The people cried for the restoration of traditional values, not recognizing that these values had landed them in the soup they were now in. And still the corrosive acids continued to eat at the fabric of society.

It never occurred to them that salvation lay in solidarity with these poor within and outside their borders. Like the rich man in the parable, this rich nation could not understand that the gate outside which Lazarus perpetually lies is an opening, not a barrier. All he had to do is go out and connect with the poor, and seek a common destiny. All he had to do was recognize what lay before his very eyes.

This parable is not about an afterlife (on which we may be willing to take our chances). The poor are at our gate—now. The judgment is already ineluctably working. It is stark warning and desperate compassion: If we won't do what's right because it's right, will we at least do it out of fear?

The above is what this blog is all about, i.e. do what’s right because it’s right. I have to credit and thank one of my readers for making that succinct insight about my blog when visiting her and her husband several months ago. I then have to thank someone like Wink for the courage he demonstrates in speaking so frankly and pointedly about those who would keep what I call the Lazarus-Rich Man Syndrome alive and well.

I am now approaching the first anniversary of this blog. I had no idea what insights would come from it or even if there would be any. I am grateful however that a recognizable theme and dynamic have arisen. I’m quite glad to be in the company of voices like Wink’s.  I extend my warmest thanks to my readers for their encouragement and feedback.

So here are some conclusions I have reached after nearly a year at this effort. The primary thing, as Ernest Hemingway once said, is that writers must write first for themselves. The focus of that is I must write about “doing what’s right because it’s right.” Secondly, I must not concern myself with others finding my writing palatable. If my writing is good then readers will follow – also something Hemingway once said. Lastly, through sharing my stories and insights and the insights and stories of others, my mission is the end of any and all forms of oppression or abuse whether those are knowingly committed or unwittingly supported. I want subtle manipulative forms and systems unmasked and cast out. I want egregious forms dealt with visibly and forthrightly. I demand justice, dignity, equity, and well-being for each and every living soul on God’s good earth. The Lazarus and Rich Man syndrome must end.

Walter Wink put it best in an October 1978 Sojourners article titled, “Unmasking the Powers” when he wrote:

It is God's will that we live corporately, sustained, nourished, and served by these supra-personal structures [economics, politics, systems, social structures]. Yet at the same time, these powers are also demonic, seeking their own advantage as the highest good, regardless of the long-term, best interests of humanity.

Wink then stated that many powers encompass us; they serve and exploit us, benefit and burden us. The names of these powers and principalities are well known to us. We call them economics, politics, systems, social structures. Their managers in this world are often the wealthy, the powerful, the self-absorbed, the malignantly narcissistic, or some combination thereof.

There must be a new dream, a dream that transcends our world managers, a dream that rightly extends to each and every person now living or ever to be. The dream is uncomplicated. Stated simply, it must be that in making a meaningful contribution to one’s community, we must guarantee that a person will have full and unfettered access to all resources needed for their well-being and that of their loved ones. And a meaningful contribution will be defined such that even the least among us will be empowered to offer their unique gifts and abilities.

There must be no more Lazarus at the gate with only dogs to provide comfort and lick wounds. There must be no more of the checked-out wealthy, powerful, influential, or any narcissistic or sociopathic self-absorbed persons allowed to knowingly, or even unwittingly, toy with people’s lives in pursuit of their own wants or needs.

The message, the dream, the mission must be our reality now. The dead will not arise to save us from ourselves.

"The Dishonest Steward"

For Sunday, September 19th, 2010

(Graphic from ChurchPowerPoint.com, used with permission)

Luke 16:1-13 (NRSV)

Then Jesus said to the disciples, "There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was squandering his property. So he summoned him and said to him, 'What is this that I hear about you? Give me an accounting of your management, because you cannot be my manager any longer.'

Then the manager said to himself, 'What will I do, now that my master is taking the position away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do so that, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.'

So, summoning his master's debtors one by one, he asked the first, 'How much do you owe my master?' He answered, 'A hundred jugs of olive oil.' He said to him, 'Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty.' Then he asked another, 'And how much do you owe?' He replied, 'A hundred containers of wheat.' He said to him, 'Take your bill and make it eighty.'

And his master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes. "Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own? No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth."

The Dishonest Steward

Jesus makes a profound point in the above teaching. Basically he says that secular persons pursuing their goals in the secular marketplace do so more cleverly, astutely, resourcefully and wisely than do communities of faith, i.e. the children of light. The goal of course for the children of light is God’s Peaceable Kingdom here on earth. Certainly it’s no small task, however Jesus makes clear that we must pursue it more shrewdly and aggressively than we do.

In the above scripture story, the lazy and dishonest manager sees the writing on the wall and what his self-serving ways are about to get him. In great desperation, like a celebrated but out of shape athlete wanting to hold on to his title, the manager resurrects his previous skills and calls upon all his past experience. If there’s to be any hope of keeping his status and the quality of life he’s accustomed to, he must get things back in shape. And if he’s unable to keep his job and status, he will need the support and help of friends, so he cuts favorable deals here and there with the master’s debtors, thereby creating a network of appreciative persons now indebted to him for his generosity. Surprisingly and despite the odds against him, the manager’s shrewdness impresses his master. The master gives him a reprieve and decides to keep the manager in the game – much to the manager’s relief as we might guess.

So if we take the above and apply it to communities of faith (i.e. the children of light), Jesus is pretty much telling the faith communities of his time (and ours) that they need to get their acts together for the Peaceable Kingdom cause. If not, then they will be cast out, passed up, and passed over.

Now in Jesus’ time, the faith communities he frequented and criticized were likely the unreceptive synagogues where his message and healings and teaching about the Peaceable Kingdom were ridiculed or dismissed. In short, Jesus is saying that faith communities (then and now) must become less self-serving or risk being passed over and their operations ultimately closed down. If these groups were however to fully realize and grasp their situation like the dishonest manager, they would see the writing on the wall. They would change their ways. They would become more productive. They would achieve the things God actually wants them to and they would do so more cleverly, astutely, resourcefully and wisely than they have ever done before. For as Jesus puts it, we cannot serve two masters; either we must choose to serve ourselves or choose to serve God.

In light of the above, one commentary states that the wealth and blessings that God has placed in our lives are for the benefit of all and not just our own self-focused desires. With that in mind, the commentary asks us children of light to think on the future we want for ourselves, our families, and our communities. What will it take to achieve it? What holds us back from working toward that goal?

For me, I think communities of faith across all faith traditions could be powerful amazing advocates for the common good envisioned by God’s Peaceable Kingdom. What holds us back is our need to compete with each other and our phenomenal irrational resistance to change. In fact, the problem and battles have become so bad among U.S. Christian churches that scholars now estimate that most of these 300,000 churches will close down and disappear over the next twenty years.  Long and short of it, we children of light have managed to leave a pretty bad taste in the mouths of those we most desperately seek. We are perhaps our own worst enemy in holding back the cause for the Peaceable Kingdom for we try to serve two masters, i.e. our own vanities and our God.

Perhaps however we can see the writing on the wall as did the self-absorbed manager. Perhaps with renewed effort we can resurrect our resourcefulness, shrewdness, and creativity. Perhaps we can rediscover the cause for the common good and once again have the Peaceable Kingdom become our mission rather that opting for a Sunday morning social club gathering. We have much to attend to if the Peaceable Kingdom is ever to be a reality. Communities of faith all around the world could be, as they have been in the past, powerful advocates of God’s Day of Peace for all living souls.

I would not be so bold or arrogant as to suggest that rediscovery of the common good be an American vision, but I think the issues and tasks involved were meaningfully articulated by U.S President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, over 66 years ago in a State of the Union address before the U.S. Congress in June 1944. In that address, Roosevelt called for a second Bill of Rights or what some have come to identify as an Economic Bill of Rights. Introducing those rights, Roosevelt shared the following:

…..political rights proved inadequate to assure us equality in the pursuit of happiness.  We have come to a clear realization of the fact that true individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. "Necessitous men are not free men." People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made.  In our day these economic truths have become accepted as self-evident. We have accepted, so to speak, a second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be established for all — regardless of station, race, or creed.

Roosevelt then laid out the following vision for an Economic Bill of Rights which detailed the following things:

• The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of  the nation;
• The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;
• The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living;
• The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;
• The right of every family to a decent home;
• The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;
• The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;
• The right to a good education

The above needs massage in terms of gender inclusive language and rephrasing of some things into more contemporary terms, but that aside, Roosevelt's words constitute in many ways a compelling vision for God's Peaceable Kingdom vision. As Roosevelt drew his State of the Union address to a close, he expressed these finals thoughts:

All of these rights spell security. And after this war [World War II] is won we must be prepared to move forward, in the implementation of these rights, to new goals of human happiness and well-being.

There are those in this world who fight tooth and nail to keep the above from ever becoming reality. They do so even while claiming they too are “children of light.” For my part, I doubt that I will ever understand the kind of Peaceable Kingdom vision that resides in such persons. Perhaps they think that one day God will simply wave a magic wand to rid our world of all its ills and until then they’ll simply resign themselves to a strange kind of notion that God destined some people to suffer homelessness, poverty, joblessness, disease, hunger, ignorance, and insults or assaults or losses or disasters wrought by the criminality of others. They will be comfortable with such things until they – like the dishonest manager – become personally affected. When they become affected – as ultimately they will – perhaps then they shall reflect anew on this week’s teaching from Jesus, i.e. that a person cannot serve two masters.
 
If each of us would therefore become the shrewdest and wisest manager we can be over what God has placed into our care, let us serve then the master for whom our best efforts matter most.

"The Jesus Approach"

For Sunday, September 12th, 2010

(JESUS MAFA. The Pharisee and the Publican, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=48268. Used under Creative Commons license)

Lectionary Scripture Luke 15:1-10 NRSV

Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, "This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them." So he told them this parable: "Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.' Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.' Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

The Jesus Approach

Commentary from my faith tradition on the above scripture states that God loves all people. Therefore, in God’s eyes, no differences or divisions exist based on culture, social standing, or personal achievement. Consequently, the disciple’s mission in our tradition requires that we uphold the dignity and worth of all persons and invite them to share in God’s Peaceable Kingdom cause. So my faith tradition asks this question, “What is your passion and commitment for upholding the worth of all persons?”

For me, such passions and commitment are the core of who I am. They drive me so thoroughly that if I encounter someone who takes others for granted or abuses or misuses their authority or mistreats another person, I can become incensed. I feel that way if I find it happening at a personal and individual level and I feel that way if I find it happening in a more macro and/or systemic way. So what particularly appeals to me in the above scripture is Jesus’ courage to intervene with such persons who in this case are the Pharisees. In my book, I have typically regarded the Pharisees of Jesus’ time to be little more than judgmental controlling bullies. In effect, Jesus is my hero and model when for the sake and well-being of those whom bullies despise, he dispassionately uses reason, logic, and story-telling to assert undeniable truths. Through this nonviolent approach, he disempowers the intimidation and oppression of such tormentors.

With these things in mind, I reflected further on the question raised by my faith tradition. The reflection sent me wandering through different memories. Some were from childhood and youth and some from adult life. Memories from childhood seemed to have a commonality as I considered the “passion” aspect of the question. Mostly in my childhood immaturity I would beat up kids who beat on other kids. On one occasion, I even broke bones in my hand. In time however, I realized this behavior was an outlet for the abuse I and my siblings and mother experienced from my father. Eventually, I learned to confront my father directly and take stands with him when necessary. Generally, these confrontations involved speaking my mind and telling him what I would not allow. Usually this calmed him and therefore I came to appreciate Jesus’ way of handling things nonviolently -- an approach some call pacifist when taking a stand on behalf of others or even myself.

As the Jesus approach took greater hold of me in my youth, I seldom found the physical or violent approach necessary. I remember an incident one summer during high school years when a friend and I went swimming at the city pool. Finished with our swim and in the men’s dressing room, the local bully showed up. He verbally tormented my friend for no reason at all. He then shoved him around hoping to provoke a fight. Knowing the bully’s history, he wanted an excuse to beat my friend to a pulp. Wisely, my friend put up no resistance hoping the bully would lose interest and leave. When that didn’t happen and it appeared that things might escalate into physical assault, I stepped between the two of them and said, "Stop."  I smiled at the bully and said, “He’s done nothing to you. He’s no threat to you.” The bully turned his angry stare toward me. I expected the worst to follow and steeled myself for an all out brawl – not only with him and but also the buddy at his side. All that happened was a shove and the bully turned around and left. What a relief!

In adulthood, I’ve learned more about such people through my professional training in psychology and clinical experience in public mental health. I have come to understand a great deal about the issues of bullies and rigid judgmental controlling people like the Pharisees. I have discovered how the Jesus approach is even more important in dealing with such persons.  The primary thing a Jungian psychiatrist once told me in supervision is this, “Recognize when you are in the presence of evil. When you can do that, you will be able to deal objectively with the situation before you.” Later, I would learn from this gifted and compassionate doctor the highly subtle forms evil can take in persons. From out of such learning, I came to understand when to let go of someone or some situation and when to advocate with all my soul for the well-being of another, even if that meant demanding for action to be taken to contain evil and set boundaries around it.

From my perspective, Jesus understood the above distinctions with a sophistication and finesse born of his brilliance, his commitment to the worth of all, and from the inspiration God gave him in tough situations. He could distinguish between the evil of sinners who could be called to repentance, e.g. the tax collectors. And he could distinguish between the evil of grumbling Pharisaical persons who would despise him from the start of his mortal ministry to its ending upon the cross. Such persons could never be called to repentance. Such persons would remain forever committed to their own ends. Such persons always needed others over whom they lorded or controlled.

So when these grumbling persons whispered in disapproving voices from the sidelines of situations where Jesus extended grace, he would mince few words illustrating the love of God to these rigid individuals. Yet, his illustrations and story-telling would only enrage them further in his depictions of God as a shepherd seeking the lost sheep. For as you may or may not know shepherds were regarded as little more than thieves and low life. “Outrageous!” would also be their reaction at the depiction of God as a woman searching for a lost coin since women had no standing in Jesus time and were little more than property. Such evil Jesus silenced as through his calm presence, storytelling, reasoning, and truth telling evil could find no grounds by which to refute him.

Having been a pastor in three different congregations, I can affirm the Jesus approach as a potent and critical combination when evil must be confronted. I remember one lay minister congregant in particular with a long history of intimidating judgmental controlling behavior. I would call the person a Pharisee in spades. When this person didn’t like how things were going at any given point in time, the individual would tantrum so badly and intensely that others in the congregation suffered panic attacks. From my mental health background, I knew that such hysterics had no real substance to them and simply occurred as attempts to control others. This was particularly so as the person never had the courage to tantrum in my presence. Nor did the person have the courage to approach me directly about issues that were upsetting. Instead, the person would upset others in an effort to manipulate them into taking on the individual's issues as their own.

The day came that enough was enough and that such childish behavior had to stop. I conveyed the message that the behavior must end or the matter would be referred to superiors. Such an approach is necessary as pastors in my tradition have little authority to discipline or intervene with a disruptive antagonistic lay minister congregant. Almost always, a higher level of authority in our hierarchical structure becomes involved when there’s a behavior or discipline concern in a congregation. Sometimes this works out well and sometimes it doesn’t. The laudable goal of course is avoiding congregational splits or divisions or losing even one member of the flock. In this particular instance, the strategy worked and the tantrums stopped – at least within the church building. For a while, a greater measure of peace came upon the congregation. Dignity and worth of persons were upheld and honored for the entire body.

May you in your discipleship always be found as committed and upholding the dignity and worth of all persons, no matter in what setting or circumstance you find yourself. As I was once counseled, may you also have the courage to recognize and accept when evil is before you.  May you not be its plaything. May you have the courage to accept when something must be done. May you do so in a way potent enough to resolve the problem yet compassionate enough to make Jesus proud. Do this so Jesus may have admiration for you -- for those whom he admired he called blessed. Such is my hope, may it be yours as well is my prayer for you this week.

United Methodist Church "Call to Action" independent research study

Dear North American Readers

I seldom do posts other than my reflections on the lectionary, however my wife who works at First United Methodist Church in Portland, Oregon, recently learned of an independent research project commissioned by the United Methodist Church (UMC) demonination regarding vital North American UMC congregations.  Knowing of my passion for this kind of effort and information and my desire to see my denomination's congregations become effective and vital to their communities, she told me about the UMC "Call to Action" study.  So I have eagerly researched the project.

One telling statistic of the independent research is that of 32,228 North American UMC congregations studied, only 4,961 (or 15%) congregations were rated by the independent researchers as having a "high-vitality" index score.  As a result of the study's findings, UMC Bishop Gregory Palmer of the "Call to Action" project steering group shares some frank thoughts about UMC congregations ceasing defeating and ineffective behaviors and ending ways of being that are disconnected from addressing the larger issues and needs of our times in North America.  He urges congregations to embrace information and behavior and principles that will aid connectedness and meaningful relationship with their communities.  Below are some links that readers may wish to explore:

YouTube - UMC Call to Action - Intro/Research - Bishop Gregory Palmer

Keys to Building Vital Congregations - UMC.org

UMC "Call to Action" PDF presentation 

"Freedom to Follow"

For Sunday, September 5th, 2010

(Graphic is from www.ChurchPowerPoint.com, used by permission)

Lectionary Reading from Luke 14:25-33 (NRSV)

Now large crowds were traveling with him; and he turned and said to them, "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. Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, saying, 'This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.' Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? If he cannot, then, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.

Freedom to Follow

In the above scripture we have several hard sayings of Jesus. Most of those sayings reflect that Jesus had a knack for seeing when crowds followed him simply to be part of the new “in” thing. Periodically therefore, he stops them dead in their tracks and forces their realization of what being a follower entailed. In fairly short order, he makes clear that his mission for God’s Peaceable Kingdom involves dire costs. In detailing those costs he pointedly says that nothing else in life can matter as much as the Peaceable Kingdom cause. Secondly, one must willing give up all one owns in pursuit of the cause. Lastly, the cause will require that one loves the mission for the Peaceable Kingdom more than one’s own life. It should be no surprise then to any of us that if we say those things with our backs to the crowd and then turn around, few if any will remain to see the cause through to fulfillment, especially in our day and time. Most will prefer to hang on to the possessions they have and keep to the routine that has defined their lives day in and day out, year after year, decade upon decade.

Some of us might reason that in Jesus time it was easier to drop everything and follow him and go wherever the Peaceable Kingdom mission might take a person. Most of humanity at that time had very little. Most everyone was poor. Having little more than the clothes on your back and a few possessions that could fit in a small satchel or backpack or be bundled onto the back of a donkey actually made for a kind of freedom. It’s a kind of freedom few of us have today if we reside in one of the world’s more affluent societies. In terms of North America and trying to live out such a freedom, it may sound intriguing and interesting, but how would one do it?

Recently, I daydreamed and then suggested such a possibility to my wife. Given that my current ministry in estate planning covers an eleven state region in the western United States, I pretty much determine what I need to be doing and where I need to be doing it and when I need to be in that particular. So I suggested selling the house, buying a modest RV, getting rid of most of our possessions, storing the rest, my wife quitting her job, us hitting the road, and her writing “the Great American Novel” which has long been one of her dreams. It was there and then that I first heard the phrase from her lips “nomadic lifestyle” followed by “no”. By and large, it was a repeat lesson for me in terms of two things in our marriage. My wife prefers to set down roots in a community and stay there. Secondly, she utterly detests RVs (or Road Whales as some call the vehicles) as she considers them an extravagance and poor investment and not good for the environment. Humorously, we’ve come refer to RVs and the nomadic lifestyle as marriage “deal breakers.”

Despite those realities, we think however that some degree of giving up possessions has sunk in for us. In striving to live more simply and with greater harmony toward the scripture above, we have the house up for sale. If the housing market ever recovers, we hope to downsize into a home half the size of what we have now. We anticipate the extra income will allow us to better support good works for the cause of God’s Peaceable Kingdom, perhaps even retirement travel (no RVs of course) to assist in worthy efforts such as Habitat for Humanity projects. In essence as we age, we increasingly turn to the question of legacy and what our legacy will be, especially the legacy we leave to our two daughters. Will it be that we simply looked after and tended to our own wants and needs and comforts? Or did we do something demonstrative, something selfless and wholly for others that eased their struggles and gave their lives dignity as God would have things be for every living soul in the Peaceable Kingdom.

Watching the movie “Syriana” this past week I had to question if the legacy we’re considering is enough in a world so driven and corrupted by greed, self absorption, lust for power, and satisfying narcissistic needs. Perhaps it is, perhaps it isn’t. After all, my wife and I are but two insignificant souls out of billions who live upon on this planet. Who are we to matter, who are any of us to matter? Yet Jesus makes clear that we do matter and we can impact the world around us tremendously but only to the extent that we willingly turn loose of the things that keep us in bondage to who or what wants control over us. In that regard, Syriana is a painful movie involving heartbreaking lessons about what matters most and then having the courage to pursue it. It provides a sense of that struggle from a position of great wealth and power but also from the position of living in grinding poverty and being considered expendable. If a person isn’t incensed by the end of the movie and willing to stand firm with Jesus or whatever great teacher or prophet one follows for the cause of God’s Day of Peace for all, then that individual needs to watch Syriana again and again until the message of peace and justice and generosity toward all sinks in.

May you and I be persons for whom the message sinks in; may we be numbered among those who find the freedom to follow – the freedom to remain committed to God’s great cause even after hearing the hard things Jesus had to say. Such is my prayer, my hope for you.