Tag Archives: Greed

No gods at all?

Dust bowl 2Living in the Spirit
August 23, 2016

Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 2:4-13

Has a nation changed its gods,
   even though they are no gods?
But my people have changed their glory
   for something that does not profit.
Be appalled, O heavens, at this,
   be shocked, be utterly desolate,  

says the Lord,
for my people have committed two evils:
   they have forsaken me,
the fountain of living water,
   and dug out cisterns for themselves,
cracked cisterns
   that can hold no water. –Jeremiah 2:11-13

Have we traded in God for other gods which mean for no god at all? Jeremiah is not only condemning the people for changing gods but trading God, the source of living water, for a god they created that could not hold water at all.

The Dust Bowl in the Great Plains during the 1930’s was to a great extent created by humans. Plowing every inch of available ground in flat, straight rows for grain planting with no concern for the top soil resulted in disaster. Greed is often the idol that we humans replace for God. Oklahoma is a windy state at any time. The relentless wind coupled with no rain for days on end caused the earth to became dryer than dry resulting in precious, necessary topsoil blowing away. We learned from that mistake and in the recovery introduced new and better methods of plowing.

It is sad that we cannot take what we learn from one experience and apply it to similar ones. We do not even retain lessons learned if enough time has elapsed. The prophets of the Hebrew Bible warned the Israelites of coming disaster as the result of their misdirected choices of gods. They did not apply them any better in their time than we do today when we know the disaster that came when the Israelites ignored the prophets.

Following the oil bust of the 1980’s Oklahoma’s economy had to be diversified and proper funding for necessary governmental services allocated and steps were taken to do just that. Now we find ourselves in the same or worse situation because we revoked many of those steps that set our state on stable footing. While the current downturn would have still been challenging, it did not have to become a disaster that will take years to overcome.

Prayer: God forgive us when we create gods of our own making and turn away from you. In our repentance, guide us to your way. 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.

Enough is Enough

EnoughLiving in the Spirit
July 30, 2016

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

Our society, perhaps the world, is experiencing an epidemic of greed, which I believe will be our downfall if we do not implement the cure for it. It is a disease as old as time itself. Was Abel’s offering better than Cain’s? Should a mother’s favored son get the inheritance?

The prophet’s ranted against greed. Jerimiah said in Jerimiah 6:3,
For from the least to the greatest of them,
   everyone is greedy for unjust gain;
and from prophet to priest,
   everyone deals falsely.

Our scripture today quotes Jesus speaking about greed.

Greed is insidious. It creeps into all our lives in bits and pieces until it gains control. It is when we cross over the line placing greed as the driving force in our life that we cannot seem to escape it. The need for more grows greater than our need for God—more money, more power, more control.

The power of God’s love in and through us is the only antidote to greed. When we truly accept God’s love our need for more vanishes. When we share our love with others, we recognize that everyone having enough grows to be as important as any of us having more.

Prayer: Lord, fill my soul with your love so that there is no room left for greed and let my love be the source of everyone having enough. 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.

A Living Wage

nickeled and dimedLiving in the Spirit
July 10, 2016

Scripture Reading: Amos 8:1-12

Hear this, you that trample on the needy,
   and bring to ruin the poor of the land,
saying, ‘When will the new moon be over
   so that we may sell grain;
and the Sabbath,
   so that we may offer wheat for sale?
We will make the ephah small and the shekel great,
   and practice deceit with false balances,
buying the poor for silver
   and the needy for a pair of sandals,
   and selling the sweepings of the wheat.’ –Amos 8:4-6

Oklahoma has had one of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation for a while. Even in a major oil and gas economic downturn, our unemployment rate has only risen to about the national average.The problem for Oklahoma is not unemployment; it is underemployment. The median income in Oklahoma (half the population earns more than this amount and half less than the amount) is $46,235. The living wage for a family of four in Oklahoma with both parents working is $56,950*. Nicholas Kristof, a New York Times writer, chose to evaluate extreme poverty in Tulsa this year rather than traveling to a third world country, and he was stunned by the similarities to the problems he found.

Much of the underemployment results from low wages, an inadequately supported education system, and the inertia of those benefiting from the underemployment that causes them to ignore the reality of much of the state’s population living with inadequate earned incomes. The number with inadequate incomes also includes the elderly and persons with disabilities living on Social Security payments that are below the real cost of living.

Amos is speaking of us and to us in our scripture today. When did wealth become our god? Just as Israel did, we will pay a heavy price for the greed that is the norm today. While some reading this may be underemployed, we the people who can vote have a say in who makes the decisions about these issues.

Prayer: Lord, forgive us for not investing the time and energy needed to find a way for all to earn enough to have adequate food, clothing, shelter, and other basic life needs. Let your love be our catalyst for assuring the well-being of all our neighbors. Amen.

*See at http://www.living wage.mit.edu
**http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/19/opinion/sunday/why-i-was-wrong-about-welfare-reform.html.)

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.

God’s Integrity Measure

solidLiving in the Spirit
July 4, 2016

Scripture Reading: Amos 7:7-17

This is what he showed me: the Lord was standing beside a wall built with a plumb-line, with a plumb-line in his hand. And the Lord said to me, ‘Amos, what do you see?’ And I said, ‘A plumb-line.’ Then the Lord said,
‘See, I am setting a plumb-line
   in the midst of my people Israel;
   I will never again pass them by;
   the high places of Isaac shall be made desolate,
   and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste,
   and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.’ –Amos 7:7-9

After two warnings God lets down a plumb line and finds the nation of Israel sorely lacking integrity, like children’s bocks stacked in such a way that a slight wind would blow them over. While Amos may have had some concerns about the actual structural integrity of Israel’s fortifications, he is definitely talking about the people’s being in alignment with God’s will. They weren’t.

I often thought as I listened to the evening news in recent years in the USA, how I could have save my time keeping up with daily events because a simple reading of the book of Amos would have told me all I needed to know. Israel suffered from an epidemic of greed and privilege much as we do today. What is important in our society is how much money we can take in no matter who we have to step on or over to get it. The end of the story for Israel was not good. They were taken into bondage and lost everything.

I do not understand this so much as punishment but the absolute outcome of wasting the abundance that comes from being in synch with God. It is not abundance measured by the stock market but fullness of a life centered in love.

Prayer: Lord forgive us for trading your abundant life for the lesser things in life that may appear to have integrity by can never be a trustworthy foundation for wholeness. 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.

Greed in the Name of God

Claws_Of_AxosLiving in the Spirit
June 6, 2016

Scripture Reading: 1 Kings 21:1-21a

So [Jezebel] wrote letters in Ahab’s name and sealed them with his seal; she sent the letters to the elders and the nobles who lived with Naboth in his city. She wrote in the letters, ‘Proclaim a fast, and seat Naboth at the head of the assembly; seat two scoundrels opposite him, and have them bring a charge against him, saying, “You have cursed God and the king.” Then take him out, and stone him to death.’ The men of his city, the elders and the nobles who lived in his city, did as Jezebel had sent word to them. Just as it was written in the letters that she had sent to them, they proclaimed a fast and seated Naboth at the head of the assembly. The two scoundrels came in and sat opposite him; and the scoundrels brought a charge against Naboth, in the presence of the people, saying, ‘Naboth cursed God and the king.’ So they took him outside the city, and stoned him to death. Then they sent to Jezebel, saying, ‘Naboth has been stoned; he is dead.’—1 Kings 21:8-14

This story starts with Ahab wanting a piece of Naboth’s land that he did not want to sell and Naboth, as you see above, paid a high price for wanting to retain his ancestral land. After all, Ahad needed a garden plot closer to his house and he was not to be denied. The very idea of procuring a garden plot by falsely accusing someone of cursing God is absurd but is it very far fetch from what is happening in our own country as we sell our souls for transitory wealth?

I find it nearly as offensive when we misuse our tax dollars to line someone’s pockets. Private prisons come to mind when we cross the line of keeping them fully stocked with prisoners to meet a quota whether that is the best means of rehabilitating the prisoner or not. The buying and selling of candidates for office might also fit in this category.

Greed is probably more addictive than tobacco which I understand is one of the most addictive drugs, at least hardest to quit. The first step in recovering from an addiction is acknowledging that it exists but that is only the first step. The most important step is sharing that acknowledgement in repentance with God and enlisting God’s help in freeing oneself of its tentacles.

Prayer: Lord, open my eyes to see the grips of greed that have infiltrated my life and guide me to your way of ordering my needs and wants. 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.

Worshipping the Baal of Greed

log-eyeLiving in the Spirit
May 23, 2016

Scripture Reading: 1 Kings 18:20-39

So Ahab sent to all the Israelites, and assembled the prophets at Mount Carmel. Elijah then came near to all the people, and said, ‘How long will you go limping with two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.’ The people did not answer him a word.
–1 Kings 18:20-21

Sound familiar? It should. It accurately describes our world today. The Baal is money and the power it can buy. If we search deep in our souls, we would find that most of us have worshipped at its feet. Its power has oozed through every crevice of our lives. It is probably best reflected in our political systems right now. We cannot put the blame on the politicians for we created them. Demanding that they provide for everything we want without being willing to pay for it. The Common Good has lost all meaning; greed is good.

What passes for morality today is concern about where transgender persons go to the bathroom. According to the New York Times, the best estimate of the number of transgender persons in the USA is about .3% of the population (700,000 people). In 2014, 48.1 million Americans were classified as food insecure most elderly and children; 35 million Americans make less than $10.55 an hour which is well below the living wage requirements but above the minimum wage requirement of $7.25 an hour. Our prisons are currently filled with non-violent offenders, who are disproportionately persons of color with numbers running in the millions. And we are concerned about where people, who probably just want to be left alone, go to the bathroom? Have we lost our moral compass?

It is time for us to turn around and face our own trespasses. Reorganize our priorities and get in synch with the God of love who cares for all the children, adults too, of the world by following Jesus’ example.

Prayer: Lord forgive us for failing to take the log out of our own eye, while being overly concerned about a speck defined by us in our neighbor’s eye. 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.

Wisdom at the Crossroads

stand-at-the-crossroads-1024x791Living in the Spirit
May 16, 2016

Scripture Reading: Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31

Does not wisdom call, and does not understanding raise her voice?
On the heights, beside the way, at the crossroads she takes her stand;
Beside the gates in front of the town, at the entrance of the portals she cries out:
To you, O People, I call, and my cry is to all that live. –Proverbs 8:1-4

If we reach down deep inside, most of us know what is right and what is not. We in the USA do stand at a great crossroad between doing what is right or doing what is expedient to meeting our desires. We have lived too long settling for the lesser gods of instant gratification. We want what we want, and we want it now without regard to who may get hurt including ourselves. We also want what we want without having to pay for it in many instances. We want well educated people to keep making all those things we want but we do not want to pay for the education. We do not want our environment to make us sick or destroy our homes, but we do not want to invest our time and energy in creating a world that reduces the risk of environmental damage. We do not want to deal with the health problems of third world countries but when we finally have a health care system that is available only to the wealthiest that is exactly what we will have. We do not want to live in fear of crime or terrorism. . . .and so on it goes.

We have become addicted to greed and privilege and we either do not know how to escape their grasps or are so far gone we do not want to escape it. Wisdom does stand at the crossroads readily available for accessing. There are no quick fixes. There is no white knight going to ride in, wave a magic wane, and get us out of this mess. We have only ourselves to blame for being at this intersection and we, ourselves, will have to take the steps necessary to get us out.

I, probably like you, do not look forward to six more months of political campaigning but who we put into office matters. Will our desire for instant gratification override wisdom in our decision making?

Prayer: Lord, open our minds to your wisdom. Infuse us with wholeness enabling us to see wisdom at the crossroads. 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.

Standing Up to False Truth

politifact-photos-Meter_close2Lent
March 13, 2016

Scripture Reading: John 12:1-8

But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, ‘Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?’ (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) Jesus said, ‘Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.’ –John 12:4-8

Greed is a pandemic in our land. Judas was certainly not the first and, alas, not the last. It eats at us like little gremlins running around in our heads sending us messages that are false. It is very hard to ignore them. Truth has become whatever it is we hear reported over and over. It has little connection to actual facts but it does support our greed and lust for power. I find it interesting that fact checking has become a needed industry in our world today. Yet we readily ignore the facts they check. It forces us to be cynical, not believing much what we hear.

The sad thing is that just planting the seed of doubt in our minds may be all that is needed to shake our trust. I lived with the widely held belief that government employees are lazy and incompetent for many years while working with some of the most dedicated hardworking even sacrificial people I have ever met. Saying government is inefficient and ineffective is a means to justify “contracting” with the always smart and hardworking private sector. The “private sector” often hired those incompetent state employees and paid them more once the private company was awarded a contract because they could not do the work without the knowledge base the state employee had. Those companies also walked away from their “project” after fulfilling the letter, if not the spirit, of the contract leaving those horrid government employees to clean up the mess. I see this same distortion of fact happening in public education now.

So what does that have to do with Mary’s anointing Jesus’ feet? The fact check Mary did that drove her to this act was the one that said Jesus had confronted the seekers of greed and power using violence when necessary to get what they wanted, and his death became inevitable. Jesus got the last word though. His message of love has stood to challenge the forces of greed and power for over 2000 years.

Prayer: Lord, undergird us with your spirit of love so that we, too, can withstand the forces of evil that infect our world. 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.

Having Enough

DroughtLent
February 18, 2016

Scripture Reading: Philippians 3:17-4:1

Brothers and sisters, join in imitating me, and observe those who live according to the example you have in us. For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ; I have often told you of them, and now I tell you even with tears. Their end is destruction; their god is the belly; and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things. –Philippians 3:17-19

The very thought of anyone imitating me as an example of following Christ is frightening. Even Paul himself, the author of the letter to the Philippians, said, I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. (Romans 7:15) Yet I long for the day when my life has been fulfilled in the image of Christ. In the meantime, we all struggle to be Christ-like while asking for forgiveness when we fail and diligently pursuing wholeness in our relationship with God in response to the saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.

My god has indeed been my belly at times, literally in over indulgences and figuratively as I live out the greed that is epidemic in our world every day in my actions and reactions. I live in a small house in comparison to many, so I was shocked when my five-year-old nephew asked me, “Why do you live in this big old house all by yourself?” My niece, his mother, was struggling to make ends meet as a single mom with two children living on the salary of a preschool teacher in a house that was about two thirds the size of mine. By the way she succeeded in raising two wonderful young adults.

I saw an interview on the news yesterday with a grandmother raising three grandchildren in South Africa. The drought there is so bad there is not enough food to meet basic needs. She sent the children to school with no breakfast knowing that they would get a small bowl of porridge at school, their only meal of the day. She and a younger child, who stayed home with her, shared some fruit she plucked from a withering tree.

Our weather is wreaking havoc around the world as is income inequity because for too many our god is our belly. The God of Adam and Jesus created a world capable of sustaining its inhabitants once we learn God’s way of practicing dominion over it.

Prayer: Lord forgive us for our inability to see how the way we live impacts all your other children. Help us to understand your way, as you demonstrated with the manna in the dessert, of assuring that each of us have enough. 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.

 

Fangs of Greed

money-greedyLiving in the Spirit
October 10, 2015

Scripture Reading: Mark 10:17-31

As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, ‘Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: “You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; You shall not defraud; Honor your father and mother.” ’ He said to him, ‘Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth.’ Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, ‘You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’ When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions. –Mark 10:17-22

Paul gives encouragement to the churches in Rome who faced grave consequences for their faith by saying: Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? (Romans 8:35) We all tend to turn to God when we face difficulties but how much do we value the love of God in the good times? The scene in the story of our scripture above testifies to the fact that Jesus loved the man who had sought him out, but Jesus must have had some question about the man’s willingness to place God at the top of his list of priorities. He could not part with his riches.

I fear this country is suffering from an epidemic of greed that, if not squelched will be its undoing. Our politics and thus are government has come ever more under the influence of wealth. We have interpreted the abundant life of which Jesus talked as meaning financial prosperity, the ability to accumulate things rather than the richness of relationships. I was sickened just yesterday as I heard about the sex trade industry flourishing with parents even selling their own children not just in third world countries but right here in the USA. The speaker I was hearing said the average age of children caught up in the sex trade industry was five years old. This exists because people who have the money are willing to pay a high price to satisfy their lust. They are as pathetic and in need of God’s saving grace as the children they harm.

We each much search our own lives to see what idols we are worshipping that are separating us from God and with God’s help rid ourselves of them. We also have a responsibility to assure that innocents are not being offered on the altars of false idols.

Prayer: Lord, forgive us when we let anything come between us and you. Empower us to be protectors of the innocents caught in the fangs of greed. 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.