Living in the Spirit

September 30, 2021

Scripture Reading: Hebrews 1:1-4, 2:5-12

It was fitting that God, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many children to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For the one who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one Father. For this reason Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters, saying,
‘I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters,
   in the midst of the congregation I will praise you.’ -Hebrews 2:10-12

I have a biological sister and brother, and we are markedly different, but even in that small sample, we illustrate that our differences complement one another. God created an interdependent world from the grass that feeds the cows to the rain that grows the grass. As children of God, we have been given a sacred trust to care for one another and the earth that sustains us.  Our failure to respond to that trust has landed us in a precarious place. One hundred and forty million* people live in poverty in the USA or are one major illness from living in poverty. If we do not address the challenges of climate change, we may not have an earth to sustain us. The findings of their review of more than 14,000 studies are clear: climate change is affecting nearly every part of the planet, and there is no doubt that human activities are the cause**.

My mother would describe our actions or lack of action as cutting off our noses to spite our faces. The COVID pandemic has impacted our lives in ways we could not have imagined before it struck. However, it has not caused near the damage as the pandemic of greed that has overtaken our land. In some ways, the devastation of COVID is being made worse by our greed.

Greed is an addiction and must be treated as such. First, we must recognize that most of us suffer from some level of greed. Second, we must work to remove it from our habits of life. Third, we must identify the ways it is controlling our society purging greed from our way of being and channeling the energy it burns into fulfilling the trust responsibilities God placed on all of God’s children.

Prayer: Lord, free us from the addiction of greed and open our hearts to fulfilling our sacred responsibilities to you, one another, and our earth. Amen.

*https://www.poorpeoplescampaign.org/about/jubilee-platform/

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.