Tag Archives: Doing the Right Thing

Judgment

Christmastide

January 2, 2023

Scripture Reading: Isaiah 42:1-9

Here is my servant, whom I uphold,
   my chosen, in whom my soul delights;
I have put my spirit upon him;
   he will bring forth justice to the nations.
He will not cry or lift up his voice,
   or make it heard in the street;
a bruised reed he will not break,
   and a dimly burning wick he will not quench;
   he will faithfully bring forth justice.
He will not grow faint or be crushed
   until he has established justice in the earth;
   and the coastlands wait for his teaching. –Isaiah 42:1-4

The word translated as justice in this scripture is the Hebrew word for judgment*. Justice is also used in English translations for doing the right thing or what is fair. Here we have this Servant, the One who is to come, being charged with the responsibility of rendering judgment, measuring whether God’s people, that is all of us, are doing the right thing and being fair.  John 5:22 tell us that Jesus Christ understood that rendering of ultimate judgment was one of his duties, not ours; The Father judges no one but has given all judgment to the Son. I fear we devote more time to the role of judging rather than fulfilling the roles of doing the right thing or being fair. We are sometimes murky about understanding what is right and what is fair.

On November 13, 2022, the bodies of four white college students were found in Idaho. National news has followed the story since that time. On November 20, 2022, four Chinese nationals’ bodies were found on a marijuana farm in Oklahoma. I have never heard any reports regarding these murders on national news. I wondered what the difference was between these two stories. The police in both cases have pursued and captured suspects. Here, I want to focus on how We, the People, make justice judgments regularly that eventually impact how we pursue the Common Good in a democracy. Are white college students worth more than Chinese nationals, who were probably undocumented, perhaps here against their own will to do hard labor to produce marijuana on the ever expanding Chinese-owned and operated farms in Oklahoma? Do We, the People, drive the content of the news, or does the news define our civic understanding? How much does greed drive our judgments and, thus, our public policies? What is fair, what is right?

Prayer: Lord, guide us as you send us out like sheep into the midst of wolves; [to] be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. (Matthew 10:16). Amen.

*https://biblehub.com/interlinear/isaiah/42-1.htm

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.

Doing Right

Living in the Spirit

September 5, 2022

Scripture Reading: Jeremiah

4:11-12, 22-28

At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem: A hot wind comes from me out of the bare heights in the desert towards my poor people, not to winnow or cleanse— a wind too strong for that. Now it is I who speak in judgment against them.
‘For my people are foolish,
   they do not know me;
they are stupid children,
   they have no understanding.
They are skilled in doing evil,
   but do not know how to do good.’

I looked on the earth, and lo, it was waste and void;
   and to the heavens, and they had no light.
I looked on the mountains, and lo, they were quaking,
   and all the hills moved to and fro.
I looked, and lo, there was no one at all,
   and all the birds of the air had fled.
I looked, and lo, the fruitful land was a desert,
   and all its cities were laid in ruins
   before the Lord, before his fierce anger.

For thus says the Lord: The whole land shall be a desolation, yet I will not make a full end.
Because of this, the earth shall mourn,
   and the heavens above grow black;
for I have spoken, I have purposed;
   I have not relented nor will I turn back.

Jeremiah does not mince words, and still, the people did not pay attention to him. The world he describes sounds a whole lot like ours. The western third of our nation is in a dire state regarding water, the most basic need of living. We seem skilled in doing evil largely related to greed. When the bill was recently passed in Congress including a provision that the staff at the IRS would be increased so they could investigate and deal better with tax cheaters, many were outraged saying it would raise our taxes. They did not seem to recognize that if they are not cheating on their taxes, the taxes will not go up. That reminded me of the County Commissioner crisis in Oklahoma in the 1970s where most of the Commissioners were taking kickbacks on county contracts. When challenged about the process, their answer was everyone was doing it.

We are called to do right and doing right is designed to make our lives better.

Prayer: Lord, forgive us for burying our heads in the sand and ignoring the small and large things in our lives that negatively impact others. 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 America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Workers Deserve their Pay

Kingdom Building

September 11, 2019

Scripture Reading: Psalm 14

Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers
   who eat up my people as they eat bread,
   and do not call upon the Lord?
There they shall be in great terror,
   for God is with the company of the righteous.
You would confound the plans of the poor,
   but the Lord is their refuge.
O that deliverance for Israel would come from Zion!
   When the Lord restores the fortunes of his people,
   Jacob will rejoice; Israel will be glad. –Psalm 14:1-4

This graphic poetry describes evil people who eat up God’s people as easily as they eat the bread of their table creating a sad scene but, I fear, a very real one. While the unemployment rate is low in the USA the underemployment rate is not. ($25,100 according to the Census bureau is poverty level for a family of 4) While large corporations make great profits for their investors and pay their CEO’s and other officers’ high salaries, many of their staff members’ low salaries are offset by food stamps, Medicaid, and childcare subsidies. Working class and middleclass employees pay a disproportionate share of the taxes that support these federal programs.

CEO pay is quickly outpacing yours. In 2016, the CEOs of the top 350 U.S. firms earned on average $15.6 million. … In 2015, CEOs made 286 times the salary of a typical worker and 299 times more in 2014. Compare that to 1978, when CEO earnings were roughly 30 times the typical worker’s salary*.

Big companies have long relied on strategies to reduce their tax bills. But the new tax law is making it even easier, with a new analysis finding that 60 profitable Fortune 500 companies paid no taxes on a total of $79 billion of profits earned in 2018**.

Doing justice requires God’s people to work to do what is right for all God’s children. Assuring that all workers earn a living wage*** receiving at least enough to meet basic needs is the right thing to do.  

Prayer: Lord, teach us how to do justice regarding our economy and give us the courage to seek justice. Amen.

*https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/22/heres-how-much-ceo-pay-has-increased-compared-to-yours-over-the-years.html
**https://www.cbsnews.com/news/2018-taxes-some-of-americas-biggest-companies-paid-little-to-no-federal-income-tax-last-year/
***For more information on a living wage see http://livingwage.mit.edu/

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.