The reason I haven’t been posting for a while is that my husband’s cancer grew worse — a very good way to put things — grew worse. He has a very aggressive cancer that the doctors are calling an undifferentiated squamous cell carcinoma. What we experience is the very rapid growth of this cancer, and its resistance to both radiation and chemo. After nearly dying from the cancer treatments my husband had surgery to remove the cancer from his facial area. He finally came home without a nose, and with a rather dramatic graft on his face. We were told that they got all the cancer from that location. We returned for more PET scans, and discovered that the cancer had spread to his lung and abdomen. It was also showing up again in his face. When faced with the options my husband chose to stop the treatments. Now he is in hospice care. He was pretty well up through New Year’s Eve, but since that date has progressively gotten weaker. The cancer is proceeding as rapidly as expected, darn it, and he has reached the stage where he is no longer able to get out of bed without a lot of help. My time is filled up with caring for him. I wish I could stay in the realm of denial, but reality keeps shaking our world. He is dying.
On the other hand, the book I started writing in 2006 has been published, and I am getting ready to participate in a Book Festival at Seattle University on February 13th. This work of mine has come to birth, and there is new life here, and a pull toward the future. Endings and beginnings — such is the stuff of life.
You can find out more about the Book Festival by going to the web site for the School of Theology and Ministry. My book is titled All Creation Waits. The Unfulfilled Promise of Christianity. This blog came about because I was working on this book, and started dialoguing with it, and with others. It is an odd feeling to be celebrating the release of this book at the same time I am saying good bye to my husband. We have been married nearly 40 years, and I don’t like that he is dying one bit. He has been so supportive of my work. I am going to miss him dreadfully. It doesn’t matter that we believe in an afterlife, and that he will be going to God. What matters is that he is leaving me, and I already miss him, and so the tears come.
Life is such a mixed bag of joys and sorrows, and here I am experiencing both joy and grief at the same time. How odd, terrible and beautiful is life.
First a little update on my husband’s situation with cancer. He has been through weeks of twice a day radiation treatments, and once a week chemo treatments, and this cancer has proved to be very stubborn. While the treatments stopped the tumor from growing, they did not cause it to back off. We are meeting with a head and neck surgeon tomorrow to see what can be done now. The tumor is on the left side of his nose. The treatments were so harsh, as the oncologists were determined to beat back this tumor, that my poor husband’s mouth and throat have been burned raw. He also has lost a lot of weight and is now very weak. He had to have a feeding tube inserted in his tummy. This has not been fun, that’s for sure. All of you who pray, I ask for prayers for my husband, and for me, too. I like to lean into the support of prayer at times like this.
♦
Now on to other things. As the debate rages on about health care, I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to be a Christian. There are billions of people around the world who call themselves “Christians,” but not everyone who claims the name can in return be claimed as a Christian. It is very easy to label yourself a Christian, but quite different to live as, and be a Christian. There is a reason that being a Christian is described as following the “Narrow Way.”
The Way is narrow not only because there are few that find it, and fewer that follow it, but because the Way is deceptively simple, or “narrow” in focus. The Way of the Christian is to love others in the same way that Christ loves us. In other words to love others by laying down our lives for them. The Way is the way of compassion. Like the Good Samaritan, the Christian lays down time, money and talent for the sake of other’s need.
Matthew 25: 31-46 illustrates the difference between those who are following the narrow way, and others who are going the way of the world.
I was hungry and you fed me,
I was thirsty and you gave me a drink,
I was homeless and you gave me a room,
I was shivering and you gave me clothes,
I was sick and you stopped to visit,
I was in prison and you came to me.’
‘I’m telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me.’ (The Message version).
This little pericape is one of the judgment stories. All is decided for eternity by whether or not we care about others, and act on their behalf. How we respond to the needs of the least ones in our midst determines how God responds to us. What I’ve discovered in my reading of scripture is that God could care less whether or not a person recognizes Christ, or calls him or herself a Christian. It is how you live and respond to others in the Spirit of Christ that matters. As I’ve written before, those who enter heaven are those who know how to live there already, by practicing here on earth. Our work as Christians is to be about building the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven.
The Spirit of Christ is available to everyone at all times. The Spirit of Christ cannot be contained in a Church, or controlled by religion, and goes freely everywhere and in every time. And so people anywhere can be filled with the Spirit of Christ if they are open and accepting of that Spirit. The availability of God’s Spirit has always been the case down through every age, from the first day of Creation and into all our tomorrows. The person who is open and accepting of the Spirit of Christ is in this sense a Christian, whether or not that person ever knows Jesus the Christ by name. In other words, they may not call themselves Christians, and might even be angry if someone else called them Christians, but they are living the Narrow Way, and pleasing God.
Sadly there are many more so-called Christians who claim to know Jesus, and call themselves Christians, but have never been open to or accepted the Spirit of Christ. They have hearts of stone, and cannot be moved. They don’t know the meaning of compassion. They might do acts of charity, but they don’t understand compassion. They are the ones who walk by the wounded man alongside the road, and don’t even see him. (Read my old post).
So, how do we know the Christians? As the song says: “They will know we are Christians by our love.” Christian love is compassion in action. It is taking active care of the least ones amongst us: feeding the hungry, giving water to the thirsty (wells), housing the homeless, clothing the naked, caring for the sick (health care), and even caring about those who have wronged us (visiting those in prison). Most of us know the “Corporal Works of Mercy.” Another way to think about it is that Christians are to be Bread, blessed, broken and given away for others.
Christians are also best revealed by the fruit of the Spirit. You see, when you are open to and accepting of the Spirit of Christ there are certain signs that appear in your life. Such signs as the following: love, hope, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, generosity, self-control, acceptance, forgiveness, etc. And the following behaviors are signs that a so-called Christian is not in fact a Christian: prejudice or hate in any of its forms; despair (doom and gloom), negativity; violence, hostility, and abusive behaviors of any form; being disruptive and interrupting others, over-talking others; being mean, rude or cruel; being pushy or domineering, bullying; being stingy, grasping, tight-fisted or greedy; being demanding; being impulsive, quick to take offence, and easily roused to rage; being judgmental, unforgiving and resentful; disdaining other people and looking down on others. Watch people at the town hall meetings, and see if you can pick out the Christians in their midst.
God, through the Spirit of Christ seeks people who will be with God on the side of life for all. God is constantly challenging us to seek life, and not just for ourselves. Christians are those who are on the side of life. We are constantly choosing between life and death; between building up the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven, or building up the kingdoms of men. Just because someone goes to Church, wears a shiny cross, sings songs of praise, and shouts “Praise the Lord” all the time, does not make him or her a Christian. It is not enough to confess that Jesus is Lord, and then go about being mean, rude, stingy, greedy, etc. As it says in scripture, it is not enough to call Jesus “Lord, Lord” and then to not do what he says. What Jesus says is this: Love others. Be Bread, blessed and broken and given away for others. Lay down your life — your time, your money, your talents — for others.
In the midst of the Health Care Reform debate we have been dealing with some health concerns of our own. My husband was diagnosed with cancer. Things started with a very tiny bump along the side of his nose, and his doctor believed this to be an infection. After a couple of weeks of antibiotics, it was evident that the lump was growing. When the doctor decided to aspirate the infection, he was shocked to discover that he was dealing with a tumor. He sent us to a different doctor. After three different biopsies, we had the verdict — cancer. And it turns out that it is a very aggessive “wild” type of cancer. It is rare and sometimes called “undifferentiated,” though they are now calling it squamous cell carcinoma because of where it originated.
The original treatment plan failed to stop the growth, and his oncology team had to come up with a different treatment plan. My husband is now on twice a day radiation schedule, and chemo therapy once a week. After doing various scans of his whole body they discovered a small bit of cancer in his lung, too. New decisions had to be made. So, the plan is to deal with the very aggessive cancer on the face first, and then take a break in treatments. After a short break, surgery will be used to deal with the cancer in the lung. In any case we are looking at months of being caught in this thing called cancer. I know I will have less time for blogging, but at least now, with a schedule more in place, I think I can get back to blogging at least sometimes.
My first discovery in this new venture called dealing with cancer is how this thing takes over your life. First, just getting to the diagnosis took so many tests and so much time, and was very frustrating as the cancer thing grew bigger day by day. Next, trying the first treatment plan, doing evaluations, and changing to another plan took more time and energy. Finally, living each day with the treatment schedule, and the increased weakness of my husband because of the chemo therapy, uses up a surprising amount of time. Cancer does all it can to take over your life.
It is exactly in a situation like this one that having a faith community to turn to for prayers, and good friends to call on for support of all kinds, is shown to be essential in getting through this thing. Both my husband and I are growing in our understanding of compassion as others extend that compassion to us. You think you know the meaning of compassion, and then something like cancer unveils its true depths. In this time of suffering we are learning where God is found in the mystery of suffering.
When bad things happen it is the compassion of caring people that makes all the difference, and reveals the presence of God. Not just people who feel sorry for you, but people who come forward to be with you, and support you in the midst of the bad things. People who are there for you with real help, and not just kind words — that is compassion. In the suffering of Christ, for example, it is not the women who weep along the via delarosa that show compassion; it is Veronica who steps forward to wipe the face of Christ.
As I’ve written before, bad things — suffering — is something that can happen to anyone. There is just something in the dynamic of Creation that allows for the mystery of suffering. There are those who like to pretend that if you are a very good person, favored by God, do all the right things, then you will be protected from suffering, but this is not the way it works. Suffering is part of living, and if you live long enough nearly all of us will experience it in some way. What counts is our response to suffering — our own response, and that of others. Sadly, the poor suffer more from bad things than do the rich, not because they are less loved by God, or because they are worse people, but because they are less able to pay for barriers that block some of the suffering, and less able to pay for the care they need to recover from bad things.
All of our personal experience with health care has made both my husband and I more sensitive to the health care debate going on in our country. The first thing you find yourself doing is pushing aside all considerations of cost. You don’t dare think about that part of health care while in the midst of dealing with cancer. Like Scarlet O’Hara — I’ll think about that tomorrow. But the reality, of course, is that the fear of running up a debt we can’t pay is always in the back ground. Nevertheless, worry over cost must be pushed aside until later. There is not much choice.
Those who are against health care reform seem very concerned about those who earn money from the health care insurance industry, more than they are concerned that all of us in the United States get good health care. Their opposition to a public option is clearly stated as unfair to the insurance companies. What???? Why is it more important that people continue to earn money and profits from selling insurance, than that people get good health care??? Why is corporate profits of such great concern???
For myself, I am disappointed that we are such a “for profit” style of country, that we cannot have a single payer system that would ensure that everyone had access to good health care, at very affordable costs. However, I remember that there are those — mostly the rich – who believe that absolutely everything should be privatized for the sake of the profiteers — that everything should be turned over to those who want to make profits. They would like to privatize schools, prisons, roads, the military, art, museums, parks, libraries, post offices, water, (air if they can find a way to measure it) … you name it — they want to find ways for rich people to get richer from selling what ought to be in The Commons of our country, and available to all.
Greed — the constant pursuit of wealth — is still the root of evil. The rich take from The Commons — that which belongs to all of us — and then sell it back to us at a higher price; and people let them get away with it. Amazing! All the profiteers have to say is… socialism, communism… and scare people, even though people really don’t know what it is they fear, except it sounds like losing something.
For Christians, greed is not an option. The constant pursuit of wealth is not a Christian value. In God’s kingdom no one goes without, and no one has too much. In God’s kingdom there is compassion for others, and we are all called to be like the “Good Samaritan” risking time and wealth to care for the other.
As we are immersed in the life and death of Michael Jackson, my mind took a leap toward thoughts about the “Kingdom of God.” Not sure why, but it may have something to do with Michael Jackson’s creation of Neverland Ranch. It is as if Michael Jackson wanted to create a place on earth that matched something he could see inside himself; a place of peace, tranquility, harmony and at the same time fun.
We Christians pray a prayer we simply call the “Our Father.” Many of us pray this prayer on a daily basis, others at least when at Church, and others maybe only when in need. We are really familiar with the prayer, and while there are differences in some of the words in the prayer depending on your faith tradition, for the most part this is a prayer all Christians hold in common. Here is the version I am most familiar with:
Our Father, Who art in heaven
Hallowed be Thy Name;
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil. Amen.
Notice that I have used the older version, because it is the one I originally learned, and so it is the version I still turn to in prayer. It has old words, like “Thy” and “art” and “hallowed” that we don’t even use today. Nevertheless, it is a prayer full of meaning. I have bolded the words that have become full of meaning for me: “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Please notice what we are praying whenever we pray this prayer. We are praying that the ways of God will come into our world, displacing the ways of the world. This is what Christianity is all about — transforming the world into the “kingdom of God.”
A great dis-service has been done to Christianity somewhere along the way. Most people who say they are Christians seem to have this idea that the point of being a Christian is to get themselves to heaven. They run up to you and ask if you are “saved,” meaning if you die are you going to heaven. They approach Christianity as this sort of one-on-one personal relationship with God that has nothing to do with the rest of us, or with the rest of Creation. They are of a pre-Christian mindset in that they want to climb aboard an ark, shut the doors and windows, and let the rest of the world self-destruct. All is okay with these people, as long as they “get themselves to heaven.” In fact, they can be quite selfish in their quest for heaven, and don’t mind seeing others left out. I have met so-called Christians who act quite eager for what they call the Rapture, so they can get out of here, join Jesus, and then watch the rest of humanity suffer. They are eager for the “Wrath of God.” They are eager to see certain people thrown into hell. This illustrates how far they are from Christ, and how little they know God.
Christ comes bringing a message of love, forgiveness, reconciliation, and acceptance, leading to a peace that the violent ways of the world can never bring. Those who follow Christ are peacemakers. You see, the “Kingdom of God” is not something we are waiting for. It is here now. All the Gospels agree on this point. The theme of the preaching of Jesus was the coming of the kingdom of God through and in him. He constantly tells us to reform our lives, because the kingdom of God is at hand. The kingdom of God is both available now, and imminent. It is here, and it is coming. It is here now, but it is not fulfilled. The seed has been planted, but the plant is not fully grown. How we Christians live our daily lives matters because we are either bringing the kingdom of God to earth, or we are participating in the ways of the world.
The kingdom of God is not merely heaven. When Jesus speaks of the kingdom of God he is not speaking about dying and getting to heaven. The kingdom of God is better expressed as God’s way of doing things. The kingdom of God is not a place, but a way to be in the world, and the way things already are in heaven. The kingdom of God exists wherever people are doing things in God’s way. And we know what God’s way is like in and through the way of Jesus. It is a way of love, hope, peace, patience, kindness, joy, gentleness, generosity, self-control, acceptance, forgiveness, reconciliation, healing, etc.
For those who love God, getting to heaven is the least of their concerns. Those who believe in the love of God are able to let go of their concern over what happens after death. The love of God truly casts out fear. Concentrate instead on bringing the kingdom of God to earth, and heaven will take care of itself. This is the Christian mission and ministry.
So, what are we waiting for? We are waiting for Christians to wake up; to stop following other people, and start following the ways of God as revealed in and through Jesus. This is the call of Jesus: Follow me. Leave the old life behind. Be as it were dead to that life. A disciple is not someone who says “Lord, Lord” and then goes off and does his or her own thing. A disciple follows Jesus and walks humbly with God, doing things in God’s way, even when God’s way seems foolish, or too idealistic. If you want to know how God judges our behavior in this world, check out Matthew 25, and remember that whatever you do to the least one among us, you do to Christ.
Health Care Reform is in the news again. President Obama spoke in his weekly address on how he plans to pay for health care reform. He went to speak to the American Medical Association (AMA) today. See an article on this speech, and a YouTube video of the speech here. The Los Angeles Times says:
There is perhaps no more contentious domestic issue on Obama’s plate than revamping the health care system. It is so complicated a problem that the various parties can’t even agree on which approach is best. Political ideologies have colored everyone’s positions. To find a path through the maze, do what every lobbyist on this issue will do: Follow the money.
This reminded me of watching a CNN news program one night (can’t remember when exactly) and the talking heads were making a list of who would be the winners, and who would be the losers if we had a single payer system. Do you know that no where on that list were the Insurance Companies? It was as if the Insurance Companies and their investors had no interest in Health Care. What???? We all know that the only real losers in a single payer system, or in a reform of our present system that would include a public option are the Insurance Companies and their investors. Doctors and hospitals would continue to get paid, and the rest of us would have access to health care — ALL OF US. But, Insurance Companies would lose money, lots of money. They don’t want to lose the money that they make from our need for health care. They insist on staying between us and our doctors, and our medical care, and getting that money. So, because of their constant lobbying of our representatives, we have to accept that any reform is going to include a provision that allows these insurance companies to keep getting good profits from our need. Follow the money.
I can’t believe that people listen to the ads that warn — “you don’t want government bureaucracy standing between you and your doctor.” Well, duh! That’s what I have now! I have an insurance company standing between me and my medical care — and that insurance company does NOT want to provide that medical care if they can avoid it. They just want to collect money, and make a profit for their investors. They give me a list of “approved doctors” so I can’t go to the doctor of my choice, but must use their doctors. My doctor has to write letters of appeal to get treatment before I can go for any medical procedures. So what in the world are these people who write these ads talking about? At least a government bureaucracy would NOT have a profit motive rigged to deny me care, as do the Insurance Companies, who must please their investors.
The other threat is that you will have to wait in long lines for health care. Well, if you have no health care now, waiting and finally getting health care is not such a bad deal. Think about it — no health care, or wait for health care — which would you prefer? What is better for the poor? If you have money, of course, you will always be able to get whatever health care you want — no waiting, no change for the rich — so why be against health care for everyone else? Unless you are hearkening back to the days of Oliver Twist, when only the wealthy were “privileged” with things like education, art, books, health care, good food, transportation, etc.
Evidently the thought of anyone LOSING MONEY is a horrible, frightening and despicable thing to many people in our country. It seems that the primary value for so many of our people is money, at least if we look at how decisions are made in this country by our representatives. Obama can’t just rely on talking about everyone having the right to good health care, he has to stress on how this would be good for THE ECONOMY, our new god. He has to present a case that says providing a better health care system would be cost effective. It is not enough in our country to do what is good for the people — for their life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. It has to be good for the bottom line, for our money. Well, not “our” money really — but the money of the investor class, and the wealthy elite class. As we have seen over the past couple of decades, the decisions about money have not been favorable to the middle class, or the poor. It is the rich who have gotten richer, and the gap between rich and poor has grown and keeps growing. The transfer of wealth from the middle classes and the poor to the wealthy has been staggering.
How did we become a country that worships THE ECONOMY as we do these days? I don’t think we were always that kind of country. We didn’t struggle and die for a country that gives value only to the constant pursuit of wealth — the very definition of greed. (And the root of evil according to scripture) It is as if the wealthy elite are so jealous of the old aristocracies that they yearn to recreate them here. We are still a country divided between “royalists” and the “common” people, and there has been an ongoing class war against the common people, (and the common people are losing that war) and equally against the common good. In fact, I think there are too many people in our country who don’t understand the meaning of the common good any more. We have become “individualists” and “nuclear families” (a recent phenomenon of society), and proudly proclaim our independence. However, this is not the Christian way.
As a Christian I am obligated to think first of the common good. This isn’t just a nice liberal or progressive way to think, it is the Christian way to think. Anyone who thinks that Christianity is this one-on-one thing with God — a private, individual relationship with God for the purpose of getting yourself to heaven — is not understanding Christ. Christians are called to lay down their lives for others, in the pattern of Christ — not to build towers of Babel on the backs of others. In the Christian way of life, no one will have too much, and no one will have too little.
Like the Good Samaritan we are to ask: what will happen to this person if I don’t help? As Christians we are not to turn inward and whenever we see a need, ask instead: what will happen to me if I help? For more on Christianity and health care I refer you to a Previous article that I wrote.
There is also this cloud of selective ignorance that blows through this country. I keep hearing that we have the “best health care system in the world” — and this is NOT true! We are doing very poorly in regard to health care. We die sooner than in other countries. Our infant mortality rates are higher. We are a sicker and unhealthier people. And we pay much more for health care. You can look all this kind of stuff up at the World Health Organization. Of course, maybe if you are rich and can pay for the best medical care, the system is working for you. And maybe you don’t understand that the system is not working for most of the rest of us. If you are a member of the wealthy elite, then health care is no concern to you, but that is a very small percentage of people.
I would like it if those who do not believe in health care for all would stop referring to themselves as Christians. It would really help people understand that following the Christian Way is not the usual way of doing business.
Often I write about following Christ, but what does this mean? Not long ago I leafed through the New Testament, making notes on just what was it Christ said we were to do. This exercise doesn’t take that long, and you may want to give it a try. Here is a summary of what I came up with, putting things in my own words:
- Let your light shine; let your goodness be seen. Who is it that is blessed and happy from God’s point of view? The poor, the suffering, those who hunger and thirst for holiness, those who show mercy, the single-hearted, the peacemakers, those who are persecuted, those who are insulted for God’s sake. The way God sees things can seem foolish to people.
- Don’t let your anger grow toward other people, or use abusive language toward them, or hold them in contempt. It is okay to feel angry. Feeling angry is neither right nor wrong, but we are not to feed our anger and therefore let it grown. Don’t channel your anger into violence, either physical or mental. Road rage is not of God. Domestic violence is not of God. Rushing to war is not of God. Torture is not of God. Any kind of abuse is not of God.
- Do not do to others what you would not have done to yourself. This prescription sums up how we are to relate to other people. We also can hear this prescription in these words: Do to others what you would have done to yourself.
- Go first and be reconciled with people, and then go to Church. Lose no time in making up with your opponents. Go quickly to the negotiation table. It is more important to seek reconciliation than it is to go to Church. Going to Church cannot make up for being an unforgiving, unaccepting or mean-spirited person. Reconciliation is more important than worship.
- Do not look lustfully on other people, as if they were simply objects for your lust. People are to always be subjects, not objects in the way we relate to them. We are not to “use” other people. We are not to use other people sexually, we are not to use or exploit other people to get ahead, we are not to use other people to make ourselves feel good, and we are not to use other people for “cannon fodder.”
- Do not divorce. You must not separate what God has joined together. Marriage in God is a communion of persons, a mutual partnership for the whole of life. Marriage in God is not just a civil contract concerning an exchange of goods or services, but is the place we learn to love. Therefore it is the place of mutuality lived in forgiveness, reconciliation and acceptance. (Note: not every marriage is ”in God.” Many people get together in spite of God; God has not joined them — it is not God’s fault!)
- You should not have to swear an oath in order to be trusted that you are telling the truth. Be truthful at all times, saying “yes” when you mean yes, and “no” when you mean no. Be an honest person. We are not to be deceitful or tricky in any way. In other words that warning “buyer beware” should not be needed when people deal with us. A disciple of Christ cannot be less than honest in business deals, in relationships, or in politics!
- Offer no resistance to injury. When a person strikes you on the right cheek, turn and offer him or her the other. Do not seek vengeance to get even. Let the violence stop with you. Choose the cross and not the sword. Choose Jesus and not Barabbas.
- If anyone wants your shirt, offer them your coat, too. If pressed into service for another, do more than asked of you. Give to anyone who begs from you, and don’t turn your back on the borrower. Lend to everyone who asks. Lend without expecting any repayment. Forgive debts, as you are forgiven your debts to God.
- You have heard “Love your countrymen and hate your enemies.” God says: “Love your enemies, pray for your persecutors, and that’s how you show you are the children of God. Do good to your enemies; bless those who curse you. Give good things to others, especially your enemies. Overcome evil with good. I find it helps to remember that your enemies are God’s children, too. They are our brothers and sisters. They just don’t know it — yet.
- Be compassionate as God is compassionate. Do not judge; do not condemn. Pardon others. Be compassionate to all people, and to all of Creation, not only to those you judge to be “deserving.”
- Don’t perform religious acts in order to be noticed. Pray in private, not making a show of prayer. When you give, don’t have someone put up a plaque or name a building after you. When you give, give anonymously if possible. Don’t make a show of your giving. Don’t act more pious than others around you — putting on a show.
- Forgive the faults of others in the same way you want to be forgiven by God. Forgive the debts of others, as God forgives the debts you owe.
- Do not lay up for yourself earthly treasures, for then your heart will be taken up with money. Do not be over concerned for “The Economy.” You can’t give yourself to two masters, God and money. The root of evil is the constant pursuit of wealth. Do not be greedy. Be content with enough. Do not pile up more than you need. As the old saying goes, if you have two of something and your neighbor has none, you have stolen your neighbors. Do not worry about your livelihood, or worry about tomorrow — trust God.
- Stop passing judgment on people. The way you judge people is the way God will judge you. Stop putting labels on people, putting them in boxes that define them and keep them bound. Stop calling other people names.
- Treat others in the way you would like to be treated. You will be known by your deeds, so bear good fruit. Since all people are created in the image of God, each and every person needs to be treated with dignity and respect. Remembering to treat people with dignity and respect is especially important when they are most vulnerable.
- Only those who follow the ways of God as revealed in Christ can enter the kingdom of God. It is not through prophesy, preaching, healing, the multiplication of prayers, the casting out of demons, or even through miracles that you prove you know Christ, but only if you are following the compassionate ways of God. Entering the kingdom of God is the same thing as doing things in God’s way.
- Wisdom is proved in hearing and putting into practice the words of Jesus. Only God’s way of doing things will prove to be the correct pathway to peace. Doing things in God’s way is like building a house on a firm foundation. Any other way to peace will stand for a moment, but will soon collapse and fall apart, like a house built on sand.
- Do not be attached to anything that keeps you from following Christ. Even you family should not prevent you from following Christ, and doing things in God’s way. Do not put off to tomorrow entering God’s kingdom. Seek first the kingdom of God.
- Go and learn the meaning of the words, “It is mercy I desire, and not sacrifice.” No amount of sacrifice makes up for failing to follow Christ and doing things in God’s way. God cannot be bought with sacrifices of money, lots of prayers, fasting, flagellation, etc.
- The gifts you have received from God, give to others as gift. All good things come to us from God. We are the stewards of God’s gifts to us. We are the servants who will one day say, we have done no more than our duty. It is our obligation to give to others in their need, not simply our choice.
- Don’t plan ahead what you are going to say, but be guided by the Spirit of God in the moment. Do not go to a meeting having plotted ahead of time in order to get your way. Be a true listener of the Spirit. Seek not your way, but God’s way.
- Do not fear those who can kill your body, for they cannot kill your spirit. Do not be afraid. Do not deny Christ like Peter, but endure unto the end.
- Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Christ. Whoever will save his or her life will lose it; whoever loses his or her life for God’s sake will find it.
- Unless you change and become like little children, making yourself lowly, you will not enter the kingdom of God. The greatest among you will be the one who serves the rest. There is to be no status seeking, no dominating of others, no putting people into classes, no dominating hierarchy. In Christ there is no racial divide, no gender divide, and no economic divide. All people are to be treated equally in Christ, with equal dignity and respect.
- Not all people enter this world equal in ability, in fortune or in opportunities. These are the little ones who will always be with each generation. We are to accept them as we accept Christ. We are to have a preferential option for their care. The good news of God’s kingdom is meant especially for them.
- Forgive others seventy times seven times. Those who follow Christ become experts in the forgiveness business.
- Go and sell what you have and give it to the poor, and follow Jesus. Avoid greed in all its forms. When you have lunch or dinner, don’t invite those who can repay you, but invite “beggars” and those living with disabilities. Be free of your stuff; don’t be possessed by your possessions. In every community of Christ there should be no one with too much, and no one with too little. Each person with more than enough is obligated to give to those in need. It is nearly impossible for the rich person to do things in God’s way; it is nearly impossible for a rich person to enter God’s kingdom.
- What people think is important, God holds in contempt. The ways of God are not the ways of most human beings.
- You know how those who exercise authority lord it over others, and make their greatness to be felt? It is not to be like that with you. Those who exercise authority are to be like children, as if they had no power over others except the power to persuade, exhort, encourage and lead by example.
- Who is it that inherits eternal life? Those who feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the imprisoned, welcome in the homeless, give drink to the thirsty. Every nation will be judged by whether or not they cared for the poor, the widowed, and all the little ones in their midst. Only those nations that truly care for the little ones are “under God.” For God the only greatness of a nation is the care and compassion that nation shows to people. God cares nothing for the wealth, power or prestige of a nation.
And God says: anyone who desires to come to me will hear my words and put them into practice.
Throughout our written texts, both Hebrew and Christian, we find a God who tells us to “choose life.” However, it seems that people don’t know what that means, or how to go about it. People can end up with futile and pointless lives, that are in fact “life less.”
Every day we are faced with the choice to choose life. God sends many gifts into creation for the sake of life. It turns out that these gifts can be used for good, or for evil; for life or for death; to create heaven or to create hell on earth. The gift of freedom makes it possible for people to corrupt anything, no matter how strong its basic goodness. We know this as one of those deep truths: there is that place within each one of us of ultimate freedom, that even God will not violate, even though allowing that freedom allows for the failure of God’s plan for creation. There is something within us that is delicately balanced and can be easily tipped one way or the other.
Sadly we don’t always recognize which way to go. We think something is a good choice, but it turns out wrong; we intend goodness but discover that we have taken another wrong turn. We can blindly follow others and let them take us where we would not go, if we were paying attention. What is even more frustrating is that we can know the right path, know the way to life, and we go toward death anyway. The way toward death seems easier somehow. We need inner strength, power and courage to stay true to the narrow path of light and life.
Strength, power and courage are such wonderful gifts, given to us for the sake of life, but these gifts are so easily corrupted to serve death. I think most of us are familiar with the Star Wars movies. What I loved about these movies was the way they illustrated so clearly how the same “Force” could be on the side of life, or on the side of death and evil. The story of Darth Vader is quite illuminating. He doesn’t begin his life as an evil personality, fighting for the “dark side.” He is a man who loved others and wanted to do what was right, but he wouldn’t listen to his mentors, and was tempted to the “dark side.” He becomes the mere tool of an even darker personality who gains power over him, and by using him, and others like him, seeks power over the whole universe.
The human solution to the problem of evil is to fight back, and conquer it, using force against force; violence against violence, until people become the very thing they fight. And so people have created a cycle of violence that seems impossible to stop. Thinking to choose life, people find themselves choosing an ever increasing cycle of death and destruction.
There is a prevalent myth that the good guys win because God is on their side. However, too often the good guys lose in real life. Innocent people are abused, tortured, enslaved, and killed. Whole nations are conquered and the people enslaved, and nearly wiped out. If the Holocaust teaches us anything it teaches us that the good guys can and do lose. The question that arises out of the Holocaust is this one: where was God? Why didn’t God come to the rescue? This is also the ongoing question of children who are being abused, of women who are being stoned or beaten, of refugees fleeing for their lives, of victims of war, of all who suffer and die at the hands of others.
Where is God? Why didn’t God come to the rescue? Can these horrible things be God’s will? The answer is this: God is in us, and we are the ones God chooses to do the work of salvation. We are the ones who are to run to the rescue when horrible things happen. If we fail to act, then God’s plans for salvation fail, too. God’s will that all should have life, and life abundantly fails because we fail to do the work God gives us. Why didn’t God come to the rescue? Because we didn’t come to the rescue.
Here and there throughout our history there have been people who understood and grasped the truth, whether or not they knew God. The experience of the Holocaust is also an experience of people who, even at great risk to themselves, stepped forward to save others. But most people shut their eyes, plugged their ears, sat on their hands, and looked away. Or they may have prayed and then waited for God to send some superhero to the rescue, not even considering that they might have a part to play.
In order for great evil to exist in our world it is enough for good people to just do nothing; to look the other way.
Sometimes I think God is crazy. God has chosen to bring the good news to the poor through us, and to rescue those who are abused, oppressed, and suffering — through us. God calls us to choose life, not just for ourselves but for all of creation. I am amazed that God would have this kind of faith in us, when we can be so faithless to God.
It can readily be acknowledged that God’s way of doing things is not the common way that people do things. As scripture puts it: “My ways are not your ways, says God.” God’s wisdom is not our wisdom. Much is made of a “natural law” as if there is such a thing, but our “human nature” is what we are given to rise above through Christ. It is through Jesus, the incarnation of Christ, and the revelation of God, that we learn how God does things. The way God does things is not the way people generally do things. By studying and following Christ we learn the ways of God.
Repentance means to turn around and go in another way, and is the call of Jesus as he begins his ministry. Stop doing things in ways that lead to disaster, violence and death, and choose the way that leads to life and peace. God offers us a life of abundant joy, filled with all good things, but people constantly choose to follow the ways that lead to disaster. All through the scriptures God tells us to “choose life!” People keep showing through their choices that they prefer the ways of death. History is filled up with stories of disaster and death, and we still do not learn. Instead people tend to repeat violent patterns over and over again.
When Christ became incarnate in Jesus so we could see clearly the ways of God, what did we choose? We chose Barabbas, and his ways. We understand Barabbas, who is like us. We do not understand this Jesus, who is like God. Barabbas is a good metaphor or symbol for the ways of the world God strives to change. Barabbas was in prison for insurrection and murder. He represents those who choose to use force to accomplish what seems a good goal. Barabbas is fighting for freedom, for justice, for independence, for security, for his nation, for his country, for his people, “for his flag,” even for his “God.” He is willing to die, and, more to the point, he is willing to kill for what he believes in. To the Romans, he is a terrorist, an insurgent, and to his people he is a freedom fighter, a hero. He could be compared to some of the heroic figures in the book of Judges. If we did a movie about Barabbas, we could cast a young John Wayne to portray him. He is sincere in his beliefs. He intends to set the captives free. He intends to right wrongs. He is usually quite charismatic and attractive to those around him. He is certain of the rightness of his cause. He would like to enforce “right” with “might.”
Barabbas stands for those who seek justice, freedom and peace through brute force and violence. Barabbas is the symbol of all who believe that “might makes right” and who believe “the end justifies the means.” The way of Barabbas does not work in the long run, but people keep trying this way of violence over and over again. God knows peace cannot be established through violence. Violence begets violence. Violence may “win,” violence may bring compliance, violence may get its way, but it does not bring true peace.
Barabbas does not understand the peace that God brings. For God brings a peace that the world cannot bring; God brings a peace the world cannot understand. Oppression and repression of opposing forces is not peace. Holding people down through acts of violence and force is not peace. The same forces that Barabbas opposes in his age believe they are creating peace with their violent oppression – the “Pax Romana.” We all have seen time and again that once the coercive force, that has been holding things down in an artificial peace, is removed, anarchy and chaos return. There is a veritable explosion of violence when people who have been suppressed through violence have that violent force removed.
Christ came into the world in a quiet and unassuming way, promising peace and proclaiming liberty to the captives, saying: “It is the great and glorious day of our God.” Jesus came to bring freedom, justice, and security for all people, not through violence, but through reconciliation. Christ comes proclaiming freedom through forgiveness, acceptance and reconciliation, and promising a peace that the world can never give. I suspect the world does not even want this kind of peace. The price seems too high; the way too foolish.
There is a prevalent myth in Christian circles of this Wrathful God that must be appeased by sacrifice. I am guessing that this myth is a holdover from pre-Christian ideas about the gods, when people killed all sorts of things and offered them as sacrifices to a god, or to multiple gods. There was a time when people believed that gods could be spiteful, cruel and malevolent if not treated properly. They also believed that gods could be quite useful in getting what you need, if kept happy with sacrifices. People in ancient times were ever watchful for a new god that might be stronger, better and more powerful than the god they were worshipping already. They were especially watchful for a god that might prove more helpful in overcoming their enemies. Hey, the only reason that the emperor Constantine embraced the Christian God was that he thought that “in this sign you will conquer” as he held up the cross. He wanted a warrior God who would lead him to victory! (Not the God of peace.)
People were sure that disaster could follow the incorrect performance of rituals, sacrifices and offerings, because the gods were seen as so wrathful. Down through the ages people used sacrifices to bribe, appease, and bargain with the gods. People were evey fearful of the wrath of gods.
In the older Hebrew texts, or scriptures, God is seen too often as a violent warrior God who takes sides and has favorites. God uses violent means to punish and destroy people. This view of God has Him yearning to kill off all the enemies of His people, and create a people who are completely obedient and subservient to Him. What we read in these texts is the interpretation real people made about real events in their lives, projecting on these stories their narrow ideas about God. They record their testaments of faith, as they see it from their point of view in history. It is very difficult for God to crack through these persistent pre-Christian ideas. No matter how often God says, “What I want is mercy, and not sacrifice,” the people don’t seem to hear.
I have come to believe that God came into our world, became Incarnate in our world as a human being, to correct all our wrong ideas. God in Jesus does not come to punish us, or to turn us into passive and subservient servants. God surprisingly came in the person of Jesus to correct us in another way, through example. God comes to show us the partnership way of life. If not for the Incarnation of God into our world we could remain ignorant and continue to get things wrong. God came into our world and lived among us as a human being named Jesus. Jesus the Christ says: “When you see me you see what God is like.” You also see what it means to live a fully human life. What Jesus says time and again is this simple prescription for life: “Follow me.”
Now theologians will go on and on about a Trinitarian understanding of God, but for simplicity’s sake sometimes it is easier to just realize that all the persons of God — Creator, Redeemer and Spirit — are God. So it is God that becomes a human being, lives among us, and shows us what God is like. Now we know, and what we know clearly is that God is NOT a wrathful God. In Jesus, who is Christ, we do not meet an angry and judgmental God, or one who needs to be bribed in order to respond. We encounter the God of Compassion. We encounter the embodiment of a God who says, “What I want is mercy.” We encounter a God who accepts people right where they are, with forgiveness and mercy.
In Jesus we encounter a God who turns everything upside down. There is sacrifice, but it is not on the part of humanity, but on the part of God. God sacrifices for our sake; in fact we may even say that God sacrifices to us. It turns out that we are the ones who demand sacrifice, not God. In a sense we humans set up the rules for God. We demand sacrifice, and God gives us one. This is the One Sacrifice, the One Offering made on our behalf, and now God waits for us to understand, and to awaken to who we are in Christ, and in God. This is the only sacrifice that matters. Christ makes the one and only sacrifice; the sacrifice to end all sacrifices.
Christ (God) came into our world and became a fully human, human being. This emptying of divinity in order to experience fully the human condition is God’s sacrifice. God forfeits divinity out of love for us, and takes on life with us. In a sense we can say that God lays down “God life” for us. God so loves the world that God enters it, takes on the limited embodiment of being human, and relinquishes the unlimited, cosmic, infinite existence and power of divinity. God offers this sacrifice for us, and even to us, resisting every temptation to put aside the human condition and avoid suffering. If Jesus had died of old age, accident or disease, his death would have been no less significant, and the sacrifice no less great.
Remember the old Superman movie, the one where Superman, out of love for Lois Lane, relinquishes his super powers and becomes a normal human being? He is no longer able to leap over tall buildings in a single bound, but is constrained to walk the earth like everyone else. He is barely getting used to his new condition when he encounters a bully who beats him up. Superman doesn’t like being an ordinary human being and he cannot resist the temptation to get back his super powers so he can “save” the world. He sees no hope of winning by staying only human. Superman gives up love for the sake of power. Giving up love for the sake of power is a common temptation.
Jesus, unlike Superman, stays true to love, stays true to the human condition, even when it means great suffering and death. No matter how much he is tempted he does not give in, or give up. He stays true to his course. Only in this way can God show us the Way to life. We cannot follow a Superman, but we can follow Jesus, who is like us. Like Jesus we can give up notions of having power over others, and let go for the sake of compassionate love. We can lay down our lives for others. We can join with the sacrifice of God and give up having power over others, and seek instead to share our power with others.
God will not send a Superman to save us, even though we may prefer a Superman and yearn for a Superman. Under a Superman all we can become is dependent. Christ comes to show us the way to live as who we are, human beings. Christ comes not only to show us what God is like, but to call us to participate with God in changing our world. This is how salvation comes into the world — through the Spirit of Christ alive in us, following the ways of compassion and peace.
You can choose to follow God through this Christ, or you can follow the ways of the world. You can choose Jesus, or you can choose Barabbas. The choice is before you every day.
First, since torture is so much in the news, I refer you back to the article I wrote not that long ago on torture. I believe what I wrote then is still relevant today. I am especially concerned about the torture issue because of what came out in the news recently — that Christians are more likely than non-believers to think torture is okay. That Evangelical Christians and Catholics are even more likely to think torture is okay than any other groups. This is horrifying to me. What are people being taught in their Churches that brings them to this conclusion? Priests and ministers need to examine their homilies and sermons and see where they are going wrong.
One reason I started writing this blog is that as I believe that in so very many ways people who call themselves Christians have gone so very wrong. They are so off track from what Jesus reveals to us about God, about who were are in God, and about how we are to act in this world. The results of this survey on torture only go to show me once again how poorly informed Christians are about the ways of Christ. They may plaster their cars with bumper stickers, and go to Church every Sunday — but wow, they are not very Christ-like.
All Creation waits for Christians, and others, too, to wake up and get it right! It matters; it matters deeply that Christians get it right. Only when Christians wake up and begin to follow Christ, and the ways of Christ, will the rest of the world believe that Christ comes from God, and is God. As long as Christians fall back on old pre-Christian ideas, and fail to live out the Gospel, Creation will be waiting. To be a Christian is to be Christ-like, and to bear the fruit of the Spirit of God: love, hope, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, generosity, self-control. And Christians are to continue the mission of Christ for reconciliation through forgiveness and acceptance. How well is that going???
God plants the law of love in every human heart, and this law is expressed as compassion. Not everyone allows this love to grow. Why is it that non-believers, and those who don’t go to Church at all are growing the plant of love in their hearts, ahead of Christians, and knowing that torture is wrong? What is going on in our Churches that instead of nurturing the love of God within us, the Churches are instead somehow stunting God’s love, and distorting it, until Christians come out thinking that doing to others the same thing that was done to Jesus is okay???? How is it that Christians prefer to create a hell on earth for others, when they pray — thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven???? It makes me crazy to think about the ways Christians are failing God, and failing Christ. I wish they would stop calling themselves Christians!
What I really want to talk about today, however, is the way more and more Christian Churches make lots of room for the very rich in their Churches, and the way the very rich are quite comfortable in these Churches. There are preachers on TV and radio that even preach that somehow being rich and prospering is a sign of God’s favor. What gives? This is certainly not the way the rich reacted to Jesus when he talked with them.
Christianity no longer troubles the rich, as did Jesus, and this is symptomatic of the failure of Christianity. There are more and more wealthy Christians who feel quite untroubled in our Churches, even while more and more people are homeless and going hungry. Rather than making sure no one has too much, and no one goes without, the people in churches have instead become comfortable with an ever growing gap between rich and poor. While the rich person in the Gospel stories goes away sad, having heard Jesus clearly, and having understood the implications of the gospel, rich people in our Churches stay, and are quite comfortable, happy and untroubled. Therefore, they cannot be hearing the word of God properly. If the rich hear God clearly, they will either be converted, or they will go away sad.
It is common practice for the rich to use money to influence preachers, so nothing is preached that offends or troubles them. Rich people threaten to do exactly what the rich man in the Gospel stories did – to walk away, taking their money with them. Unlike Jesus, too many preachers do not want to let the rich, or their money, go. And so their preaching becomes “harmless and safe.”
In Luke chapter 21, rich people make contributions out of their surplus, at no real cost to themselves. Their giving is without merit, and misses the mark. In other words, there is nothing to celebrate in their giving. It would be better for them, and more meaningful, to give in secret. It is the poor who give from their substance that should be celebrated.
Pre-Christians had mistaken ideas about the meaning of wealth as a sign of God’s favor, and poverty as a sign of God’s just punishment. Like the nations around them, Judaism struggled with the idea that, if God is just, than it should be the good who prosper, and the wicked who suffer. This concept of blessings for the good and suffering for the wicked seemed reasonable, especially when there was no concept of an afterlife. The authors of the Hebrew, or so called Old Testament scriptures, often wrestled with the dilemma of good people suffering, while the wicked were obviously prospering. The book of Job is a classic study on this dilemma. Like many good Christians today, Job asks: “Why me? What did I ever do? Why is God punishing me?” Some good people turn against God in their sorrow, thinking God has willed them poverty, disability and/or the death of their loved ones, or caused their plight, whatever it is. Preachers too often proclaim disasters as the work of a punishing God, reinforcing these pre-Christian ideas.
In scripture we learn the rain falls on the just and the unjust alike. God does not send suffering on anyone. Rather, God sends blessings on all of Creation. Suffering happens because chaos is a natural part of the creative process. The chaos of suffering can strike anyone who happens to be in its path; anyone. Being good; being Christian is no safeguard against suffering. Suffering can especially happen if you are poor, and have no safety nets. Suffering as punishment is an ancient, pre-Christian idea. However, suffering is not sent by God either as punishment or as a tool to make you a better person. Suffering is one of those mysteries of life. It seems we just cannot have life in abundant diversity, with room for ongoing creativity, without the disruption of chaos that can take the form of suffering. The poor are more vulnerable to suffering than the rich. Suffering may be thought of as flowing around the world in a sort of hit and miss fashion, and you happen to walk into it, or it catches up with you. Suffering is a mysterious part of life and it just happens. What we do in the face of suffering is what matters. The meaning of suffering is found in our response to it.
Have you ever seen candy thrown from a float at a parade? The candy is thrown for all the children, but too often some bullies will push the little ones down and grab up all the candy for themselves. Some bullies will even take candy away from those smaller than themselves. These bullies are not acting in justice, but in greed. It is not much different in the adult world. There are lions who prey on the little ones. God pours blessings upon all of Creation, meant for all living beings, and bullies push down the little ones, and grab what they can for themselves, even taking stuff away from those who cannot fight back. Justice is ensuring that each living being receives the blessings of God – the good things of this earth, in an evenhanded way.
Love is not a warm fuzzy feeling toward someone. It is not fondness or even passion for another. Rather love is a commitment of compassion, and is expressed in patience, kindness, trust, hope, endurance, forgiveness, honesty, faithfulness, mutuality, respect, self-sacrifice and humility. Mostly, love is taking up the cross for the sake of others. The two wings of compassion, justice and love, must be held together. We may have a preference for one or the other, but both must be held together. A bird with one wing will not fly.
