Why God Isn't a Capitalist

God's resources of love and grace don't run out, even though most of us function in a world system called capitalism, of supply and demand over limited, precious resources. God's economy of grace works differently.  Our economic system is based on scarce resources driving up the cost of those who can pay for them. 

About this time of year, thousands of churches hold financial stewardship campaigns often using the parable of the talents from Matthew 25: 14-30:  

Are we givers- or takers?

"The kingdom of heaven is like a man who was leaving on a trip. He called his servants and handed his possessions over to them. To one he gave five valuable coins, and to another he gave two, and to another he gave one. He gave to each servant according to that servant’s ability. Then he left on his journey. After the man left, the servant who had five valuable coins took them and went to work doing business with them. He gained five more. In the same way, the one who had two valuable coins gained two more. But the servant who had received the one valuable coin dug a hole in the ground and buried his master’s money."

But this is a parable about God's kingdom and grace, not about economic systems or which bank offers a better interest rate. All things, even what we call "our" talents, belong to God, so all three servants are given- given- the coins to begin with. Thus, the act of letting go is an act of faith and an acknowledgement that, whatever resource given belongs, first and last, to God.  In God's economy of grace, whatever we have to offer is multiplied, not by investing it a bank, but by giving it away. By burying the gift and keeping it, white-knuckled, to ourselves, we lose it.

The hinge of the story is also the tragedy of  investing in the bank of fear and scarcity, and refusing to invest in God's reign and rule: "Master, I knew that you are a hard man. You harvest grain where you haven’t sown. You gather crops where you haven’t spread seed. So I was afraid. And I hid my valuable coin in the ground. Here, you have what’s yours."

I rarely hear this parable as one of toxic God- image, but that's what fuels the third servant's troubles. Because the parable seems to end with describing the servant as "evil," "lazy," and "worthless," we take that he didn't want to work, to achieve. Again, this is only lazy and worthless as it happens in relationship to God's rule and realm. As we are loved, forgiven, and blessed, when we refuse to forgive, to love, to bless, we lose the blessing. Matt. 6: 14-15

This is much more about my relationship to God and God's realm than I thought. It's not about my relationship to money per se, or even the right kinds of financial investment. It's whether or not I choose to trust that God's love and mercy are more than enough to equip me to share any and all blessings God has given me. 

Mask- Dropping and Our Spiritual Self

What a wonder that God knows us- and loves us!

Jesus seemed to know what motivates human beings. His insights are all over the four Gospels: "Be careful that you don’t practice your religion in front of people to draw their attention...don’t blow your trumpet as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets so that they may get praise from people. I assure you, that’s the only reward they’ll get...Your Father who sees what you do in secret will reward you." from Matt. 6:1-5 (CEB) 

The Father's reward is more life, love, light. Clergy of all kinds are at risk of gaining the recognition, praise, adulation, "to be seen" in our nice garb, by many thousands, on cable, on the networks, at the cost of what we need most: seeking and receiving God's presence in the secret place.

Part of what draws me to Matthew is the sense of caution and warning it contains from Jesus for those who want to be right, mainline, conformist, and those who want to be considered properly religious. These are things that are important for those who want to be seen, to be praised. After all, how can Levi, the tax collector, really be a follower of Jesus? What right does he have to have a Gospel named after him? 


Nowhere does Jesus indicate that numbers, huge or otherwise, is a way to evaluate his mission, his work, or his person. Nor yours or mine. We confuse and distract when we replace dashboards of results with the cause of movement and transformation.  Instead, following Jesus begins and ends with what moves us. And what empowers us first works in us because of the life, love, light that the Father gives! 

That gift is found in the secret place, not with any words spoken in public- in the spotlights of arenas and sanctuaries. Unlike your latest shred of favorable data for corporate success, it's treasure that cannot decay, nor be stolen. (Matt. 6:21) 

Had Enough "Rewards?"

What ever happened to customer loyalty?

Maybe rewarding customers can yield some return business, because most companies have an incentive program. It doesn't matter that you just spent all you wanted to spend. They want your bucks next time.

The more bothersome type of "rewards" plans are the kind that send you countless emails and texts for you to sort out. To them, your email, not serving you, is gold.

Have you noticed that everyone providing a service wants you to tell them how great their service was? Go to our website, we're told, from there you can access a freebee if you complete another survey. Churches too, can fall into this trap. It's important to know how people regard you, it's just changing a negative or even lukewarm first impression that's so difficult.  

Rewards in and of themselves do not necessarily build any kind of brand loyalty, nor can they motivate any recipient to evangelize other potential customers about your product or service. The guru of brand loyalty says that satisfaction is nothing; loyalty is the one and only gold standard. 

But loyalty, dedication, and commitment is more internal than external. You come back for more of  what you liked- without any added perk drawing you back. You cannot buy loyalty. You build it by setting no limits on what can be done for those you serve.

The goal is to impress on the first try, not to pester people by asking for more information- or asking customers to log on to your lame website.

Had Enough of Bucket Lists?

Bucket lists often lead to more, not less, self absorption

Pay attention, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such-and-such a town. We will stay there a year, buying and selling, and making a profit.” You don’t really know about tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for only a short while before it vanishes. Here’s what you ought to say: “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” But now you boast and brag, and all such boasting is evil. James 4:13-16 (CEB)

Your bucket list is probably better than mine. I don't have one. I don't think I ever had one. It's not that I object to beholding the grandeur of the Grand Canyon, for example. It's just that I don't have "those places" as need to do-s. 

For a long time, I felt it was my job as a parent to make good and lasting memories with my children, and some of this involves going to see the wonders of the world. Making memories is a great thing to do with your kids, however old they are.  

But now I have an aversion to self- declared lists, posted for the world to see, of all the stuff I gotta do and see before the bucket is kicked. The competition for the best bucket list, like the largest Twitter following, can be a race to the most self absorbed and narcissistic tendencies. And, then it's all about who's bucket list is the most amazing. 

Jesus didn't have a bucket list except to do the work Father gave him to do. It was one and only one thing: to do what he was born to do. The one and only item on his bucket list remained this: to be able to say "It is finished," his last words, according to John 19: 30. But his whole life was filled with this most wonderful purpose, to be what he was born to be.

To be able to say, "I'm doing what I'm born to do " is a most beautiful response to the life God in all love and grace has given us.  The good news is that we need neither a bucket list nor to be close to the end in order to affirm our meaning and purpose each new day.

Grandiosity

"The denial

Denial can hinder any progress in good self care 

or minimizing of our depression is sustained... by the grandiose myths parishioners tend to whisper in our ear, such as, "You are so strong and confident"; "You work so hard and do so much"; "You possess such remarkable faith." 

We either buy into these myths and thus disavow our depression, or else we are reluctant to ruin the image others have of us. 

Consequently we experience fatigue, irritation, and the erosion of our spirit, but rationalize that we are too strong, too smart, or too successful to be afflicted with real depression."  

Robert Randall