The Trinity: Authentic Life, Authentic Community

There are a lot of thoughts today about how to live a good life.  Book stores are packed with stuff on how to be a better person or how to create a holistic society.  Good stuff but did you ever wonder if it was just rehashed garbage that really didn’t make a difference other than providing someone with a paycheck.  Not that we shouldn’t be concerned about improving our lives and bettering the planet.  I’m all for improving the environment and helping people overcome the problems of life.  It’s just that I’m wondering if we’re going about it by accepting insanity as a substitution for truly trans-formative actions. 

What does it mean to live in community with one another anyway?  How do we know we’re bettering our lives when it seems like we’re constantly having to run after the latest fad in order to live in an increasingly dysfunctional world that appears to be teetering on the verge of annihilation (overstatement perhaps but you get the point).  Perhaps we need to start with a bigger picture of reality that allows us to go deeper than the consumer rehash of burned out ideas.

There’s a story of Jesus relating to a blind man who sat by the side of the road.  This blind man had no access to health care or medical treatment.  Being blind he was unprofitable to the society at large and totally dependent upon the compassion of strangers, family, and friends for support.  His world was one of poverty and oppression by foreign rulers so the support that came was minimal.  The man’s existence was marginal and dehumanizing, he didn’t have a meaningful connection to society and was treated with disrespect.  A person to be ignored like all the others that have slipped through the cracks.

Now Jesus is walking along with a crowd of people and this blind man hears whose approaching and starts to call out Jesus’ name.  The people around him tell him to shut up thinking that he’s not worth much and shouldn’t be acting this way.  But, the man is stubborn and refuses to listen to their voices.  Jesus comes to him and asks him what he can do for him to which the man replies that he wants to see.  So Jesus heals him right there on the spot.  Jesus humanizes someone who has been rejected by giving him time, listening to him, and meeting his needs with respect and dignity.

What we need isn’t another self help idea or some new model for community.  What we need is the willingness on the part of average everyday people like you and me to step out of our comfort zones, leave behind what is normal, right, and safe for us and find ways to humanize, love, listen to and positively interact with the other, the stranger, the enemy.  We need to stretch out our hands and touch the sick and stop waiting for some government agency to do it for us.  It’s time to get off the couch with it’s mind numbing control of programs and methods that don’t change hearts and only provide a band aid and start loving the other and humanizing the stranger.  Then true community will be created and experienced.

Palestinians and Jews: both are human beings

With the current hostilities raging in the Middle East with no end in sight many scrambling for ways to bring the two sides to the table and talk.  But, neither side seems willing to stop the bloodshed till their demands for a ceasefire are met.  This is not a spontaneous display of anger though it is a show of power; the power of destruction that transforms the human being into a cog of destruction that grinds the innocent into dust as if they were lifeless objects.  It’s not till enemies can see the other as a human being and have love in their hearts that they will be willing to take the risk of peace. 

Hammas and Israel have calculated the cost of their furious attacks on each other in a gamble to gain leverage in the Palestinian/Jewish dilemma.  Who gets to dictate the terms of peace and how it affects the people is the ongoing question.  The one who has the power, not necessarily military power, but more importantly political power, world clout, the backing of the people will be the one to dictate the terms of peace.  But, if one side doesn’t have the power to dictate peace they’re capable of using terrorism or overwhelming military might to delay peace till they win a more favorable position.  Otherwise, all this fighting and bloodshed is for a war that fighting will never win and in the end it’s the people who suffer as two powers duke it out.

True peace, however, isn’t going to come thru any kind of negotiated terms.  Neither will lasting peace that brings justice and harmony in the region be won by building walls, arming checkpoints, or rockets.  Peace is only possible when both sides are willing to accept the other as a legitimate human being who has just as much a right to justice, land, and all the blessings life has to give as they do.  It’s only when enemies lay down their weapons and seek each other’s well being that they’re is true peace. 

The conditions for true peace to become reality require seeing the world thru different eyes.  Instead of using power and might to achieve an agenda (and this would include the military underdog using terror) both sides need to put aside the agenda itself.  An offer of forgiveness needs to be given to the victimizer.  A table of food set in the midst of the wasteland that invites everyone to come and eat together so that everyone can step into the other person’s shoes and see the world from their perspective.  Till Israelis are willing to see the world from the perspective of the Palestinians and Palestinians see the world from the perspective of the Israelis it’s difficult if not impossible for either side to understand why their fighting and find a solution to the hostilities. 

God stepped into our world in Christ and took on a human perspective of life.  The result was death, not one that is meaningless leading to nihilism, but a death filled with meaning because Christ laid down power in order to bring life.  Instead using whatever power Jesus had as the Son of God (remember he was doing all these miracles including raising the dead like Lazarus) he lets go of his power and becomes weak.  This weakness shows the way to true forgiveness just as Christ forgave his killers while hanging on the cross.  Enemies in any conflict need to lay down their power and forgive even if it means death otherwise they really have no desire for true peace.  The result of Christ’s death and forgiveness was life, the resurrection, which was only possible by dieing first.     

Peace in the Middle East will only come when all sides lay down their arms, thier power, and take the vulnerable act of stepping into each other’s shoes; even if this cost them their life.  It’s the only way to bring a lasting change.

You’ve Got to be Kidding! Commercials

Has anyone noticed the new Americentralism?  How American corporations seem to think that there products are so awesome that the world should sit at their feet and consume them.  The arrogance to think that a whopper brings enlightenment to the uncivilized.  Or that a cup of Folger’s coffee will light up the face of the poor.  These commercials highlight the colonial attitude American corporations have towards those who don’t share American values; in particular consume American products.  This is about spreading American idealism, that consumption brings fulfillment. 

I’m not against good and creative commercials with the intent of selling a product.  However, there needs to be a recognition that commercials are not neutral visuals and stories but an influential form of art designed to motivate and manipulate a person into accepting a particular idea that is connected to the product being sold.  For example, the whopper idepict what Americans perceive to be distant and remote locations in the world, places where there are no Burger Kings, where there are virgin whopper eaters.  These places are then introduced the whopper with the result that people enthusiastically endorse the product.  The message is that even people who’ve never been “tainted” by fast food will choose the whopper over their own food.  It’s an ideal of fast, cheap food being promoted as tasting better than even the poor food of “far away” people so that it must taste better than the food of those of us who are watching the commercial. 

Folgers is not much better showing a Romanian family where a humanitarian volunteer is giving his time receiving a care package that contains a jug of Folger’s coffee.  The message is that the packaged, mass produced coffee is better than the lifestyle and culture of the poor family who find themselves overjoyed by the coffee in spite of the fact that their economic situation has not changed. 

In a global economy the culture of the powerful, the dominant overthrows the culture of the weaker.  This happened in the Roman Empire two thousand years ago when the expansion of the empire meant the Romanization of others whose cultures suddenly became irrelevant.  What’s ironic about the current “romanization” is that it’s being done by a nation who believes in freedom and choice.  While we don’t use military force (or do we) to impose our ideals thru our products we use advertising and economic dominance to manipulate and cajole. 

A true global world is one where each and every culture and language is legitimate because all of humanity is significant.  Thru the Virgin Mary God took on flesh and dwelt among us giving significance to humanity regardless of culture and language.  In other words, in Christ one culture or society is not better than another but all of humanity and it’s diversity is recognized as being good and part of the world God has created (something the church has not always recognized). 

This isn’t to say that people’s lifestyles and cultures are always just or good.  Obviously the current American culture needs to be challenged with it’s dominance but there are good aspects of American culture; I’m happy to be an American and live in a free nation.  But, respecting and cherishing this freedom should not cause us to turn a blind eye to our sins. 

It’s time for corporations to be held responsible for the messages they send and to promote a global diversity that respects all of humanity and provides holistic opportunities for all of humanity without forcing them to become like us.

the crashing retail economy

On January 2nd, of this new year, 2009, AOL posted an article from CNNMoney.com titled “14,000 Retail Stores Could Close This Year”.  A dismal picture is painted of the economy that will result in the horror of consumers, that would be people like you and me, will have fewer choices for stores to shop in or products to by, oh my.  There is the threat of a landscape of strip malls sitting empty because stores can no longer survive in this scaled down economy.  People will no longer be buying stacks of t-shirts and dozens of pairs of shoes now that they have, or think they have less money.  People must ask the ultimate question, the one that creeps upon them like the truth from out of the shadows that nobody wants to face, and that question is “do we really need all this stuff?”

It’s ironic that the wholesale conversion of land into strip malls and shopping developments was overdone with it’s foundation upon a short sighted view of the future that depended upon greed; the consumer greed to buy, buy, buy till you go broke and then buy some more with credit.  Now stores sit empty on land that once consisted of forests and wetlands that helped to control flooding and keep the air clean.  Land that once grew food which by the way has increased in cost as agriculture is no longer a local thing but tied into this global economy that depends upon greed. 

We are faced with a serious dilemma regarding the closing of stores which will result in the loss of jobs which, in a recession, are not easily replaced.  How our society responds in helping the less fortune is a test of what kind of heart we have; whether it’s a heart of greed or one of compassion.  But, this new economy also provides our nation, the world, with an opportunity to create an economy that’s not based upon greed, consumption, and exploitation but one that’s based upon environmental sustainability, justice, and peace. 

Empty strip malls are an icon of greed that consumes and abuses the person transforming them from being human into a cog in a merciless system of consumption; into being a consumer that is soulless.  People are not consumers but living beings whose significance depends, not on what they can buy, but in the quality of life they live within the context of human relationships.  To base the self-worth upon purchasing power creates an injustice and fuels greed to acquire more stuff whose significance is shallow and thrill quickly fades leading the person to purchase more.  While this cycle of purchasing makes some wealthy it leaves the average person empty because they don’t attain fulfillment or significance but simply a garage filled with more stuff.  So the solution in a greed based economy is to buy more stuff as if it were a drug and the consumer a junky needing a better fix. 

Jesus said where our heart is there will be our treasure.  This doesn’t mean we should live without anything like hermits in the wilderness.  There are too many people for the human population to live that kind of lifestyle and those that do have a special calling in life.  But, for the rest of humanity Jesus raises the question about what we find ourselves attached to, what is the god we serve.  If our god is consumerism then that is where our treasure is; with stuff and stuff and stuff that leaves us seeking more stuff that we don’t need and an economy that collapses. 

Instead we need an economy that provides for the basic needs of people while freeing humanity to contribute to society in ways that are meaningful thru service to the poor and meaningful community interaction.  We can’t live without an economy but an economy should not rule our lives.  Life’s worth is born out of human interaction and contributions to society that create healthier and more holistic ways of living.  It’s a life that is devoted to love, the love of God and the love of all humanity regardless how much they can buy.  But, this kind of economy will only come if people are willing to let go of greed and change.