Kingdom Building
August 3, 2019
Scripture Reading: Luke 12:13-21
Someone in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.’ But he said to him, ‘Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?’ And he said to them, ‘Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.’ –Luke 12:13-15
Jim Wallis, public theologian, describes racism as America’s original sin in his book America’s Original Sin: Racism, White Privilege, and the Bridge to a New America*. While I do agree with him, I also think we must recognize that greed is the idol that is the basis of racism and that we all to one degree or another suffer from the pandemic of greed awash in our world. I thought as I heard a politician on the news recently justifying the treatment of families on our southern border. “I wonder how long he would last sleeping on concrete under a metallic blanket with barely enough room to half set half lie down unaware of where your family is, and not speaking the language of the people in charge.” Being hungry, perhaps sick, with few places to go to the bathroom, no way to go anywhere beyond the cage is impossible to comprehend. I wonder how long I would last.
A few days earlier in a discussion with a friend, we considered how we react when we are left without a convenience. I described how on discovering that my microwave would not work; I immediately got in my car, drove to a big box store, and purchased a new one without any thought. I remembered driving all over the state as a state employee without any means of communicating with anyone as I panicked recently upon realizing I left my cell phone at home while driving 14 blocks to the pharmacy. And I am in a dither over the sports news source that provides my NBA Thunder games refusing to re-up its contract with the service on which I watch the games. I hope they get their dispute settled before the preseason starts or I will have to find a new service. This paragraph describes my privilege laced with greed. There is nothing inherently wrong with owning a microwave or a cell phone or watching basketball games. The sin occurs when we attain privilege at the expense of others.
Our immigration laws are broken because people get rich from their being broken. Until we the people rise and demand that those laws be adjusted fairly, it will never happen. The power brokers of greed are controlling our country and we end up supporting them because we, in the middle, have grown to enjoy the scraps of their privilege in our lives.
Prayer: Lord, forgive us when we allow greed to filter in and rule our lives. Teach us the worth for each of us when all have enough. Amen.
*https://sojo.net/about-us/news/jim-wallis-slavery-racism-and-america-s-original-sin
All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.