Wednesday, November 28, 2012

IN SEARCH OF THE COMMON GOOD - III

Out of the grace of God, we create the COMMON GOOD by DOING GOOD.  Certainly, our attempts are fraught with sin, twisted motives, and outcomes that are mixed at best.  Yet, they are faithful efforts, and as Christians we are bound to try, called to try.  Faith without works is dead.  Faith active in love.  Not as we ought but as we are able.

Part III of the SEARCH will explore Matthew 6.  Within are Jesus' words for creating the COMMON GOOD by DOING GOOD. 

MATTHEW 6

GIVE ALMS: We choose to give generously to the poor, not to be recognized or to earn an award, but because the poor have need of it for living.  We love concretely without gathering attention for ourselves.  Alms giving is not about us, but about the other in need.  Indeed, God's reward, God's blessing of the giver seems contingent upon the quietness, the secretiveness behind the giving.  Pride and publicity in giving darkens the giving.  Blessings arrive through the back door.  Giving begets giving.  The COMMON GOOD is GIVING.

PRAYER: We pray not to be seen, but to address God.  Prayer is an intimacy, a privacy, an intense focus on our relationship with God.  It is this intensity that engenders trust.  Out of trust comes God's action in response to our going to God.  Yet, prayer also stirs our response to God's beckonings.  Prayer excites action in both directions.

The Lord's Prayer is Jesus' ultimate prayer.  Other than Jesus' prayers from the cross, the Lord's Prayer is the only noted prayer in the Gospels.  The COMMON GOOD happens as we live out the petitions of the Lord's Prayer.  Significantly, the Lord's Prayer can be prayed individually AND corporatively. Its scope is broad, beyond "me and Jesus" to "all and Jesus."  The pronouns are plural, meaning we pray with the entire family of God.  We pray not just for ourselves and the faith community, but for the world. Intercession is part of its plea.  We yield to God's will and not to the doing of our own.  We ask for daily bread, not for poison; for that which gives life, not destruction.  We ask for forgiveness and humbly forgive others, refusing to hold grudges nor the facts of a blighted history halt reconciliation.  We ask deliverance from that which would deter us from doing God's will.  Doing the COMMON GOOD is DOING the Lord's Prayer in real time through words and deeds.

FASTING:  I am not a good "faster" in the traditional sense!  I love to eat!  Yet, I can say that I "fast" by denying my body too much junk!  I used to regularly eat Frito's and potato chips and  drink Mountain Dew and Pepsi by the quarts as a chaser, then top it off with a hamburger and fries. I stopped when I realized this regimen was negatively affecting my health.  Now, I eat salads regularly, enjoy soups, avoid gravies and fried foods, and drink ample glasses of water.  I do, however, indulge in a morning cappuccino or occasional Starbucks, Dunn Brothers, or Caribou mocha lattes!  Is this fasting?  I think it is showing a greater respect for God's gift of our bodies.  I had to learn to say "No" to certain in-takes and "Yes" to others.  I am not a purist nor a "vegan", but I am better.  We must take care of our bodies because they are not our own plaything.  God's body gift works best when we learn its rhythms and honor the proper fuels it needs to function as God would will.  Doing the COMMON GOOD means doing what is best for our bodies.

STUFF:  The NRSV uses the word "treasure." The admonition is to realize that people and things of this world may hinder our relationship with God and our ability to do the COMMON GOOD.  Asceticism is not the goal, but awareness of how our choices in gathering people and goods within our personal sphere affect our discipleship, and are therefore matters of concern to God.  Consumption may be the engine of our economic growth and satisfy personal longings, but it may also lead to an addiction of hoarding and obsession with possession, for our sakes alone.  "Stuff" may be a symptom of our narcissism, blocking our ability to care for the COMMON GOOD.  We become collectors and not protectors.  Compassion is sacrificed on the altar of consumption.  Christ calls us to weigh the cost of our possessions.  Do our possessions hinder our love for the other?  Do my "toys" shield me from generosity?  Doing the COMMON GOOD means shedding whatever stifles our doing justice.

THE SOUND EYE: What do we look at?  When we enter the Internet world, what sites do we visit?  When we go to a book store, what books do we lift to look?  As we walk through a mall, what stores do we enter?  When we watch television, what programs grab our attention?  How well could we do our jobs if our sight was impaired?  Most of what we learn happens through our eyes.  Our eyes are our life receptors.  Our eyes can nurture or poison our spirit.  We can choose what we look at.  Will we look at the hungry, the poor, the persecuted?  Will we look at the realities of life rather than be obsessed by entertainment visuals?  What is our visual balance?  Do we see the cross of Jesus in daily life?  Do we see the joys of life that beckon us to participate?  How we use our eyes reflects the COMMON GOOD.

TWO MASTERS: "You cannot serve God and wealth."  Serving the COMMON GOOD means putting wealth towards serving people's well-being.  Too often the focus is on profit before people.  People are the means for profit.  Profit means another home in the Hampton's, or southern France or Aspen, Colorado. It means a car elevator.  Focus on wealth creates them and us, I have and you don't. Focus on wealth creates power in the hands of the few, leading to oligarchy, plutocracy, and fascism, all which lead to despotism and oppression, poverty and injustice.  Wealth is created for everyone, to be shared, to provide enough for all, to lift-up equality and opportunity, to ensure quality health care, to educate, to nurture joyous living.  To serve God is to share the wealth.  Sharing the wealth is serving the COMMON GOOD.

WORRY NOT: If I am hungry, I will worry.  If I am about to lose my home, I will worry.  If my country is invaded, I will worry.  If I have cancer, I will worry.  We are human, we will worry.  The worry that Jesus is talking about is worry that crushes our faith, crushes our worship, crushes our efforts to make real the Kingdom of God, crushes our compassion, crushes our quest for justice and peace, crushes our engaging the challenges of today, crushes our hope, crushes our love.  It is Christ that gives us the grace to live each day to the fullest, in the midst of the shadows, among the cries of life, doing what we can because we know we are loved.  The act of pressing on gives witness to the COMMON GOOD, because we never give up, we are persistent, we have an audacity for life, today.  Out of the grace of God, we create the COMMON GOOD by our commitment to living fully for others, now.

Peace!

 



Monday, November 19, 2012

IN SEARCH OF THE COMMON GOOD - II

What is the COMMON GOOD? Last week the focus was on Genesis 1-11.  This week the focus is on Jesus' SERMON ON THE MOUNT in Matthew 5.

It is right to focus on the COMMON GOOD as God-Jesus' foundational ethic because the Divine is about ALL.  Justice - peace - nonviolence are for ALL. As we are created for God-Jesus, so are we created to be brothers and sisters for each other, for ALL.  Faithfulness to God-Jesus means peace-justice-nonviolence towards ALL.  What does this mean concretely?  How can the quest for doing the COMMON GOOD become real? 

Jesus' Sermon on the Mount

1.  Jesus takes the INITIATIVE to speak to the people.  Do we take the initiative to speak a word of hope and love? 

2.  Jesus begins with a word of grace: BLESSED.  Some say HAPPY, but BLESSED has more depth. BLESSED is God's goodness, God's character given to us at the beginning.  Why at the beginning?  Because we can now start the journey of discipleship fresh, forgiven, and free!  BLESSED is God giving the initial push, providing the initeria for continual movement of PJNV (peace-justice-nonviolence).  A basic law of physics says that a body in motion tends to stay in motion.  God-Jesus desires us to stay in motion for PJNV.

3.  We are BLESSED to provide for the COMMON GOOD.  We provide when we MOURN, are MEEK, HUNGER AND THIRST FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS, show MERCY, are PURE IN HEART, make for PEACE, accept PERSECUTION for God's sake.  To mourn is to show empathy.  To be meek is to be obedient to God's will and to listen to the other side.  To be passionate for righteousness is to seek to live rightly in our relationship with God and value relationship with each other.  To show mercy is to be kind and forgiving.  To be pure in heart is to love God, love each other, and love ourselves. To accept persecution is to give all for God and others in the pursuit of PJNV.

4.  Christ says: "You are the salt of the earth."  Salt gives flavor and provides taste to make eating more delightful.  Salt also preserves.  We are to preserve God's creation, all of life.  We are created to bring delight to life, not to destroy.  We cannot escape responsibility for life!  We are told: "We are...."  It is not a matter of us choosing to be responsible, WE ARE....  So, BE the LIGHT!

5.  Jesus says: "You are the light of the world."  God wills that we see the world, see each other.  To see is to understand, to acknowledge the value of the world, to bring PJNV.  "The people who lived in darkness have seen a great light."  The Light is Christ.  We are created to be the presence of Christ, to reflect Christ's Light.  We reflect Christ's Light as we be who we are created to be, as we use our talents for Christ's sake.  As a colleague once said: "Things left in the dark get worse."

6.  We are graced and called to FULFILL THE LAW.  God-Jesus give us guides, parameters for living, for discipleship.  The Ten Commandments are a piece of the Law.  We are to honor them, look to them, make them real in our daily living.  Yet Christ gives us the Greatest Commandment to guide us: love God, love each other, love ourselves.  

7.  We are given the gifts of FORGIVENESS and RECONCILIATION.  Christ came to mend our brokenness, and we are graced and called to be "menders" of personal and global relationships.  PJNV have their roots in forgiveness and reconciliation.  Indeed, there can be no PJNV apart from their reality.

8.  We are given the gift of HONORING MARRIAGE, respecting the commitments we make to our spouse, working to enhance the quality of the marriage relationship, being generous in forgiveness, honest in feelings, open in truthfulness, being willing to repent and change.

9.  We are given the reality of COSTLY PRICE.  There is a price to pay, a painful cost when relationships are broken.  Relationships are not to be taken lightly.  Share the suffering.  Risk sharing the price of brokenness.  When one suffers, all suffer.  Recognizing there is a costly price in relationships makes us more cognizant of commitment, and a willingness to try and work out differences.  Yet, when the flames of love are out and the reality of the end is clear, let us realize that we have injured each other and kneel for mercy from God and each other.  There is no room for pride and satisfaction, but a painful good-bye in hope of new life for each other.

10.  We are called to be TRUTHFUL and CLEAR.  Resolution to conflict necessitates clarity of motive, expression of grievance and of desired ends.  Put all on the table.  Be honest.

11.  Reject RETALIATION.  Retaliation brings only retaliation brings only retaliation brings only retaliation.  To paraphrase Gandhi: "An eye for an eye leaves everyone blind."  Instead of retaliation, RESPOND with a call for conversation, a coming together to eat and drink, tell our stories, share our grievances.  A Native American colleague says: "Transformation comes through sharing our stories."  Take violence off the table.  Make the other person feel the guilt and bear the sorrow of violence. 

12.  We are graced and called to LOVE THE ENEMY.  The enemy is the one who believes differently than us and acts counter to our beliefs and values.  Spend time with the enemy, try to become friends.  As Lincoln said to his Secretary of War who wanted to punish the South: "Do we not destroy our enemies by becoming their friends?"

Making REAL the COMMON GOOD is living in the grace of God.  The grace of God empowers us, calls us, and opens us to DO the COMMON GOOD.  In Matthew 5, Jesus gets specific about how to make the common good come alive.

And there is more....

Peace!

Ron

Sunday, November 11, 2012

IN SEARCH OF THE COMMON GOOD

Much has been said and written about the COMMON GOOD.  I have been having a FACEBOOK conversation with friends about the COMMON GOOD.  What is the COMMON GOOD?  For me, the wide-ranging answer begins with the Holy Bible. Future blogs will focus on a Biblical revelation of the COMMON GOOD. I invite your comments to the conversation.

GENESIS 1-11
The COMMON GOOD is about God creating the world and being very pleased with the result. Chaos ruled before creation.  God created order to tame chaos.  Out of creative order evolved light, sun, moon, plants, water, animals, land, and human beings in the Image of God, male and female.
"And God saw that it was good."

The Biblical word for the place of creation, Eden, was SHALOM, meaning harmony and balance.  Eden and creation were not about war or competition, but living together, co-existing in a oneness of relationship.  Creation is described as being a GARDEN.  Gardens are places of sowing, growing, and harvesting.  Gardens are quiet places which teach patience and need tending.  People are to do the tending.  Hence, within this Eden, human beings were to have "dominion" over everything.  To have dominion is to be "care-givers," not exploiters for our pleasure or progress.    

Human beings were to live in relationship.  We were created for each other so each person would not be alone.  The Image of God is characterized by people living for the other in a relationship of naked trust, meaning no secrets, but transparency.

But we are not to simply do what we want to satisfy our curiosity or feed our appetites.  We are accountable to God.  We are to listen to God and obey God's Word to us.  We have a will, but it is a will bound to obedience which we all too frequently violate.  We tempt each other to violate God's will for us.

The story of Cain and Abel teaches us that we murder or snuff-out life because of jealousy or for what seems reasonable and right at the moment.  We learn that "Yes, we are our brothers and sisters keepers."  We learn that families are indeed imperfect, even families growing up within God's Voice.

Noah teaches us to obey God's Word if we want to survive.  Noah didn't take life, but protected life to insure its longevity. God is pro-life!  Animals are precious gifts.  God wants us to insure the natural world against extinction.  Again, we are the caretakers.  We are accountable to God, to the preservation of life.  Noah also teaches the universality of God's world.  Noah's off-spring populated the world.  We are all related!  All brothers and sisters!  No one is a stranger.

The Tower of Babel teaches us that God's Truth is global in purpose and understanding.  The Tower  teaches us that building towers in commemoration of our egos are gravestones.  The Tower teaches that pride divides and scatters, and is anathema to community.

So what is the COMMON GOOD according to Genesis 1-11? Harmony and balance, living together, caring for creation, valuing relationship, trust and transparency, recognizing that yes we are each others' brothers and sisters keepers, killing is counter to God's will, all the diverse cultures make-up our global family, each equal, welcome all people, celebrate all languages, learn from each other, live for the life of the other.  The COMMON GOOD is trusting that God's grace leads us into the future and we are called to obedience.

The validity of the COMMON GOOD as revealed in the first eleven chapters of Genesis is not lessened by the critical argument that these chapters are only literary creations, borrowed from other traditions.  They reveal THEOLOGICAL TRUTHS validated by God's grace and received in faith. 
Similarly, the COMMON GOOD is given by God's grace which we receive through faith.  Grace and faith define the character and reality of the COMMON GOOD.

Peace!
Ron