Tag Archives: Common Good

Injustice Hurts Even the Perpetrator

EstherLiving in the Spirit
September 21, 2015

Scripture Reading: Esther 7:1-6, 9-10, 9:20-22

So the king and Haman went in to feast with Queen Esther. On the second day, as they were drinking wine, the king again said to Esther, ‘What is your petition, Queen Esther? It shall be granted you. And what is your request? Even to the half of my kingdom, it shall be fulfilled.’ Then Queen Esther answered, ‘If I have won your favor, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my life be given me—that is my petition—and the lives of my people—that is my request. For we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be annihilated. If we had been sold merely as slaves, men and women, I would have held my peace; but no enemy can compensate for this damage to the king.’ –Esther 7:1-4

Esther appeals to the king for her people who are scheduled to be destroyed by Haman one of the King’s men stating her reasoning that the death of her people would actually do damage to the king. While this was a very smart approach, it is true, I believe, that all injustice hurts society as a whole. When we build ourselves up at the expense of others we may receive short term benefits but the long term ramifications are always bad.

The United States is suffering the consequences of wealth transfer from primarily the middle class to the upper class over the past thirty or forty years. This has resulted in the shrinkage of the middle class and a rise in the number of those poor. The bottom line of profit seems to be the only thing that matters any more. We privatized many governmental services resulting in ever increasing costs because of the need to make a profit. The privatizing of prisons is an excellent example. Profits are made in growth industries. Our goal as a society is to reduce the number of people held in prison. The goal of business is to increase their clientele to increase their profits. This disconnect has resulting in The United States having less than 5 percent of the world’s population. But it has almost a quarter of the world’s prisoners.* Are our war policies also being driven by profits?

We need to repent of our greed and strive to create a society where everyone thrives.

Prayer: Lord, forgive us of our drive toward wealth in dollars rather than wealth in your love. Give us the courage to reformat our society to be ruled by justice for all. Amen.

*http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/23/world/americas/23iht-23prison.12253738.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

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 American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Developing our Working-Together Skills

Working_Together_Teamwork_Puzzle_ConceptLiving in the Spirit
July 30, 2015

Scripture Reading: Ephesians 4:1-16

I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all. –Ephesians 4:1-16

It has taken me a lifetime, two careers, and retirement to even begin to come to the understanding, much less accept it; God made us different on purpose. God created us to be interdependent, to need one another. God apparently equipped us with the skills to work together. Few of us tap into the vast array of skills that each of us have. We skim the surface of several and hone in on one or two perhaps. I fear not many of us in recent years have tried very hard to enhance our working-together skills.

We do work together on occasion. Particularly here in Oklahoma, we have responding to disasters down to a fine science. Had to. Our response to the Oklahoma City bombing was praised as being exemplary. It was forged on the backs of responses to tornados and other natural disasters. Our disaster readiness also could probably be traced back to the Dust Bowl of the great depression and even to the Indian removal to Oklahoma in the nineteenth century. I am glad we do respond but we really have little choice where disasters are concerned. It is in and of itself the source of motivation for response.

Where working together seems to falter is in the everyday challenges of loving our neighbor as we love ourselves and overflows into seeking the common good. The result of failure to do either of these activities is not as readily apparent as a foundation where a house once stood and a family that is now homeless, but the ramifications of our not loving our neighbor as we love ourselves and not taking the time to address the common good in the long run has even more serious consequences. We need to dust off our working-together skills and use them until we are one.

Prayer: Lord we need your instruction and guidance in developing our working-together skills. Make us whole, make us one. Amen.

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 American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

 

Distracted

IconStJohnBLiving in the Spirit
July 11, 2015

Scripture Reading: Mark 6:14-29

King Herod heard of it, for Jesus’ name had become known. Some were saying, ‘John the baptizer has been raised from the dead; and for this reason these powers are at work in him.’ But others said, ‘It is Elijah.’ And others said, ‘It is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.’ But when Herod heard of it, he said, ‘John, whom I beheaded, has been raised.’ –Mark 6:14-16

We always face the consequences of our own actions even if the consequences are only our haunted guilt. The story of John’s beheading seems out of place in the scripture. It is an aside comment on the depravity of society at the time.  Herod apparently took to heart some of John’s proclamations, knowing them to be truth, but these truths could not overcome his pride and need to prove his power. When this man Jesus came along, drawing even more attention than John had, Herod saw the same truth in Jesus’ message and feared him too.

Beheading is apparently still a tool of derision used by terrorist today to intimidate and plant fear, but we who view ourselves as more civilized tend to use words to inflame fear and hatred.  More often than not, like our story today, issues blown out of proportion have little if anything to do with real areas of concern. They are most often limited in scope, diversions to distract us from dealing with realities impacting the Common Good. Our legislature in Oklahoma this year spent a lot of time on such diversions while failing to adequately fund most areas of government and we are all paying the consequences for their inaction.

We are called to do justice. Jesus stressed the importance of feeding the hungry, caring for the sick, helping prisoners, and welcoming strangers. He did not get caught up in the intrigues of the day or get distracted from his quest to fulfill God’s plan for a kingdom of love. He set a good example for us to follow.

Prayer: God of Wisdom, help us to see the full picture as we struggle to bring about the Common Good through our responsibilities as citizens and show us the way to meld that role with our role of being part of the Body of Christ in the world today. Amen.

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 American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Governance

Common GoodLiving in the Spirit
June 1, 2015

Scripture Reading: 1 Samuel 8:4-20

Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, and said to him, ‘You are old and your sons do not follow in your ways; appoint for us, then, a king to govern us, like other nations.’ But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, ‘Give us a king to govern us.’ Samuel prayed to the Lord, and the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. Just as they have done to me, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so also they are doing to you. Now then, listen to their voice; only—you shall solemnly warn them, and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.’—1 Samuel 8:4-9

It is interesting to read about the establishment of a monarchy in Israel some three thousand years ago. Things haven’t changed much. The people wanted the government to be and do everything for them when they wanted it but not when they didn’t. Today, we want personal freedom and our privacy protected thus we do not want our telephone calls stored for possible tracking by the government, but we also want the government to stop terrorist activities before they start. The Israelites wanted to play on the big stage with their mighty neighbors, but they did not consider the costs. Samuel spells it out for them in very specific terms.

As civilizations develop, the need for an entity to coordinate activities to protect the common good grows. Family structure becomes tribal which leads to loose amalgamations of order, like the judges in the history of Israel, which eventually morphs into a formal government. Whether that government takes the form of a monarchy or a democracy, its purpose remains the same to protect the common good. I do not believe that Samuel was concerned with the need for such a structure as much as he was concerned about the people’s motivations for having a king. Their desire to be a world power, as they knew it at the time, was overtaking their commitment to serve God.

The people of the United State of America chose to be a democracy with a representative governmental structure. As we strive to define this entity charged with protecting the common good, we need to be very careful with our motivations and not lose sight of that common-good purpose of government. We seem to want smaller government for everybody else but ourselves.

Prayer: Lord, open our hearts and minds to your leadership and let your purposes be our purposes as we struggle to govern ourselves and our neighbors. Amen.

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 American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.