The growing disparity of wealth in our own country (think New Orleans), to say nothing of the relative gap of possessions between the U.S. and the third world (think parts of Africa - or Central America at left), has occupied a lot of my recent thinking.The reason is simple and obvious: how can I as a follower of Christ continue to live in the spoils of relative luxury, when there are those both domestically and elsewhere who have virtually nothing?
Last November my son Gregg preached a sermon in his church that helped to shape my contemplation of this issue. One of Gregg’s sermon points was that it’s not difficult to understand the Bible’s teaching; our challenge lies in doing something in light of the enormity of the need.
One of the ironies for me personally is that my “bent” in life has been very entrepreneurial. I always believed, and still do for the most part, that “he who takes the risks and endures the pain, deserves the reward”. If we didn’t have the Hewletts, the Packards, the Gateses, and many others like them, we wouldn’t have what we have as Americans – the most successful economic system in the world.
No, the problem is not in the achievement. What is coming into focus for me, however, is the misbehavior of excessive accumulation and self-indulgence as a result of our relatively huge affluence (does Enron or World Com come to mind?).
Rather than considering the apportioning of at least some fraction of our gross prosperity to those in desperate need, we sooner acquiesce to our selfish human instincts to continue hoarding. Of course these considerations are all arbitrary, but at the same time, it’s an unsettling dilemma for a discerning Christian.
All my life I worked hard (some of my close friends might question that :-) so that at some point in life I wouldn’t have to worry about an ongoing need for a paycheck. I even had my own small ad agency for a decade, but mostly my working life was spent as an employee of one company or another – even a very large evangelical church (did I think this would score brownie points with God?). What I had anticipated sort of came to pass but not in the way I had imagined.
A few years ago as I was beginning to approach “retirement” age, my wife and I were very fortunate to receive some estate proceeds from my dad and stepmom’s holdings as well as from my wife’s parents’ properties. O, we didn’t become rich by any means, but it did put us in the position from which, with social security and other small earnings infusions, if we managed the resources well, we could get by without either of us “having to have a job”.
When the full realization of all of that hit me, I felt (and still feel) extremely grateful. We had finally “arrived” at what I had been working for all those years. But I am never forgetful that it took estate proceeds from thoughtful loved ones before us to actually bring it to pass. Since that time we have invested fairly well, and now we are able to focus on enjoying our married sons’ families and our three granddaughters.
That should be the happy ending to a nice story, right? Wrong.
My wife and I are now increasingly aware of the fact that our good fortune has placed us in a relatively privileged group of “haves”, and we cannot put out of our minds the vastly larger number of those who “have not”. Why should we be so blessed just for being born in this country and to our particular parents?
I must admit that the realization of arriving at a certain point caused us to relax for a short time. I even had the thought that it was good to live in this country and not have to worry much anymore about the pressures and drudgery of a day-to-day job or about struggling to keep our heads above water financially. In my twisted appraisal of things, I felt a degree of relief; now it was “other people” that would have the worries – not me or my family.
What sheer nonsense and condescendance on my part – to even go near the arrogance of contemplating distance between one’s self and others who might be relegated to the tedium of earning a living – just because I now didn’t have similar anxieties. I am ashamed of that.
But, on the other hand, don’t most Americans, including Christians, think that a degree of financial independence is what we all work so hard for? And shouldn’t we feel good about it? Possibly.
But wait! Get a glimpse. Have I already forgotten that Christ, as God’s son, emptied himself of everything – unfathomable wealth, power and majesty – and gave it all up with his life on a cross so I, in turn, could live forever and ultimately share in that glory? And didn’t he do that compassionately and willfully, while I (along with all of humanity) was incapable of self help?
I am becoming persuaded that what Christ voluntarily did on the cross for me, for you, and for all of humankind, we who have the means must now do for the victimized and desperately needy of whom we become aware in one way or another.
You can let your mind wander as to how that might be accomplished. The point is we need to be about “building the Kingdom” with what we have instead of focusing even more on accumulation.
Henri Nouwen, in his book, Compassion, points out that Jesus “requires us to unmask the illusion of our competitive selfhood, to give up clinging to our imaginary distinctions as sources of identity, and to be taken up into the same intimacy with God which he himself knows.”
Nouwen continues, “This is the mystery of the Christian life: to receive a new self, a new identity, which depends not on what we can achieve, but on what we are willing to receive” (and by extension, also give).
This is the kind of thinking – and living – I want to imitate as part of my rejuvenated spiritual formation. Compassionate action is a worthy consideration for me and for every follower of Christ, even though the challenge is daunting. I need to get busy and find a way to lay a brick in the Kingdom.
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