"A rising tide..."

“A rising tide floats all boats.”

…if you have a boat. 

I’m told that Jack Kennedy said, “A rising tide floats all boats,” in reference to the nation’s economy, and at the time I took it as a wise and pithy saying.  But no more… 

Jack, good as he was, was a rich man.  No matter how charitable a person is, there can be no genuine understanding between the rich and the poor.  I’m sure that Jack had a boat, a big boat.  His big boat probably even had a little boat of its own.  It was past his comprehension that someone might not have a boat of any kind, and that the rising tide could cause that person to struggle to keep from drowning. 

Have we forgotten what Jesus said?  In one of those rare texts present in all three of the synoptic gospels, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, it will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven.  Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”  (Matthew 19:23-24, Mark 10:23-25, Luke 18:25)  Three times.  Three biblical authors thought this saying of Jesus sufficiently important to include it in their writing.  Three nails in the coffin of the Prosperity Gospel. 

And no, the verses that follow are not an invitation to a cop-out.  In them, Jesus said that, with God, all things are possible.  He did not mean that those privileged one-percent can cop out, pervert spirituality, by joining a church and playing religion.  God isn’t stupid. 

Jesus meant, I believe, that rich people are people too and have the capacity for the Spirit of God to lead them to repentance.  Repentance is a change in the way we think. 

Having great wealth puts a person in a corrupt system.  It’s addictive.  It’s destructive.  It divides society with impassable barriers.  On one side there is this powerful urge to protect one’s wealth against any perceived threat, and on the other side there’s just despair and fear that resistance will only cause the loss of what little one has now. Both attitudes prevent change.  

It’s sad for both sides.  My generation has seen the evils of fascism and communism.  And yet, both of those systems have some things to commend such as individual accountability in fascism and the call to work in community in communism.  But out of control, both turned evil. 

Now it’s the turn of capitalism.  Competitiveness, out of control, has morphed into a form of warfare that’s destroying economies, peoples, and the planet.  Human institutions and systems just don’t cut it, and never will, even if they are ours. 

There’s still time to repent.  If the rich can’t understand, they can still give to the community.  The act of giving, even with reservations, changes people.  If the poor can’t hope, they can still bless.  And both can gain that greatest of values, love.  It’s sugary but it’s true.  Love does conquer all, and this greatest gift of God can make us all see that we’re in the same boat, even if some of us have to be pulled out of the water. 

True or False

True or False:  

1.)      “Other people need to hear my loud music.”

2.)      “God helps those who help themselves.”

3.)      “Duct tape can fix anything.” 

4.)      “My cigarette makes me somebody.” 

5.)      “Women are emotional.” 

6.)      “Men don’t care.”  

1.)      False.  There’s always the stupid/criminal answer to this kind of behavior, but surely some of these folks have real reasons for doing this, reasons I myself might be demonstrating in my behaviors. 

2.)      False.  It does not say this directly in the Bible.  However, there are texts that state that obedience to the Law will be rewarded – and this is also most certainly untrue. 

3.)      True.  I could swear that a few years ago I saw an old Ford pickup in our neighborhood painted a shiny silver color…  until one looked at it closely and saw the hundreds of fine lines.  It was completely covered with duct tape and it really looked good! 

4.)      True. 

5.)      True.  Everybody is emotional.  Two drunken rednecks duking it out in the middle of the road are being emotional. 

6.)      True, if you believe what they say. 

We have a lot in common, more than we care to admit.  And we don’t want to admit it to those who make us uncomfortable.  Once we see, or are forced to see, that God puts things together we will all be happier.  Until then it’s going to be a little bumpy in life to put it mildly. 

Is the Bible true?

The world-view of the Bible is not factual.  The earth is not flat and supported by pillars as described, for example, in the book of Job.  Heaven is not a barrier above us, with closed windows preventing the water above it from inundating the earth.  This view was perfectly logical, given what people knew then, but we know much more now. 

So, if the Bible isn’t “true,” then how can I believe in God? 

My response is that belief is not fact.  Belief is metaphor, simile, analogy.  Belief gives value to a fact.  Belief is the music that takes us past the words of factuality.  Belief is the unseen, unconfirmed “what if,” of the cosmos. 

I’m not ashamed of, nor do I have to defend my belief in a God of love, a cosmic force of intelligence.  The shape this God takes in my mind changes daily as the world around me changes and no one, single shape is adequate. 

I think it’s idolatrous and dishonest to demand that the words (in English!) written in a collection of documents bound in a single volume, the Bible, are to be described with the absolute terms inerrant and infallible. 

For my own spiritual health, I must not equate facts with faith when I don’t

even have the ability to see facts clearly.  I color facts with my faith, but I 

also color them with my sinfulness and twist and distort and deny them.  In 

my life there’s only one solid anchor and it’s the principle of love, 

oneness.  It keeps my head above water in a sea of uncertainty.  I am loved, 

and I know that best when I do love.  Jesus said so - and so often he said it 

best. 

Give Me A Leaky Roof...

I really hate people who have their act together. 
The confidence, the self-assurance, the certainty, the direction, the decision-making, the money, the intelligence…  and to make things ten times worse, they’re so like-able.
They’re in my space.  I have no room to breathe around them.  I’m pushed outside. When I go into a church with its “act together” I can’t get back out that door quick enough…  the false certainties, the formulas for salvation, the moral standards, the superiority.  It’s so not me.  I’m a broken person in so many ways and I’m not looking to cover up my condition with success or religion. I want honesty.  It’s so much easier to listen to someone who is also struggling – the wounded healer.  I don’t want answers so much as grace. God sent ugly, broken, out-of-place people to speak the words that needed to be spoken.  Our human inclination is to focus on the messenger more than the message, so God often eliminated this distraction and people howled with indignation, saying, “How can this woman/child/incompetent person be speaking for God?”  Yet it’s their words that stand the test of time because their words are God’s words. We should follow the Muslim tradition and not allow the romantic, stylized, treacle we see in fanciful pictures of Jesus while ignoring his fiercely challenging words to love our enemies. I want a church with a leaky roof and people who have histories.  

That’s where I belong because that’s where I hear the real gospel. 

And I don’t really hate anybody.