We have protests going on on Wall Street even as we speak. People are camping out in a nearby park, the police are thickly patrolling and the signs abound. The signs speak eloquently sometimes of greed and ask how long the merchants of wealth will forget the people who are without jobs and enough money to pay their mortgages.
There certainly is a profound worship of money in this country. It is almost as if some of the lawmakers and the corporate giants are lusting after the nineteenth and early twentieth century, when greed abounded. When the poor were forgotten in an era of absolutely unchecked corporate avarice. There is a shamelessness about it. Many of the commentators seem to be afraid to call this avarice for what it is as they kowtow to the CEOs. There are many others who seem to be enamored of those who create wealth for the few at the expense of the many.
The excesses of the past were dealt with by creating government regulations that reined in the greed and established in the New Deal years of the Roosevelt administration programs such as Social Security for those of retirement age and jobs through the Works Progress Administration and the Civilian Conservation Corps for those who were hopelessly out of work in the throes of the Great Depression. In the Sixties, under the Great Society, Medicare was established for the elderly who are in need of health care.
That was a more compassionate time. Our hearts were more open to care for those in need and we weren't so afraid of our own welfare. It seems in our time, we have lost our focus on the poor and the outcast, and our economy is in despair that consumes our political parties in endless confrontation and debate. We have skyrocketing unemployment and jobs being exported overseas at an alarming rate. When was the last time that you called on the phone for help and didn't get someone from Mumbai to answer your questions?
When Moses went up on Mount Sinai to receive the Tablets of the Law from God, his brother Aaron was left in charge of the Hebrews at the foot of the mountain. Aaron told the people to bring their rings and their ear bobs and other gold to him. He melted it all down and created a golden calf which was erected before the people. "Here is our god," said the people as they worshiped the calf.
Up on the mountain, Moses was told by God that his people were behaving shamelessly and that He was about to destroy them for their disobedience. Moses pleaded with God to withhold his wrath from the people. He then went down the mountain and confronted the Hebrews with their insubordination and their flaunting of Moses' rules. Moses had after all told the people that it was the Lord God who had brought them out of Egypt, and the people had seen the might of God in the destruction of the Egyptian army at the Red Sea and the parting of the waters to allow the tribes to cross over on dry land. There had also been manna provided for the people to eat when they were hungry and water from the rock for them when they were thirsty. Now, when Moses was away, they created and worshiped a false god with impunity.
If all of this sounds quaint and strange to you, look at our own behavior. The reason that people are protesting on Wall Street is because of the same worship of gold that infected the Hebrew people in the absence of Moses. We have created a new god to worship who is more tangible than the Holy God who brought us all out of misery and gave us this bright new land. We even want to restrict immigration because we are afraid of dark skinned people taking over our jobs in this difficult economic time. We are not a bit different from the Hebrews at the foot of Mount Sinai. We love our wealth and we are afraid of those who have a lot of it.
The Wall Street bankers made a lot of mistakes when the various bubbles burst, but they were bailed out by the government. Now many people are making noises about taxing the rich. Those who oppose this call them "job creators" although there is little evidence that any jobs have been created. They want the government to reduce spending by cutting programs, even Social Security and Medicare, which makes people very nervous. They even want regulations that restrict corporations reduced or eliminated so that the lust for wealth can continue unchecked.
We live in a frightening time. What needs to be the response of Christianity to this mess? I would suggest that remembering Jesus' command to us to care for the poor and the outcast is primary to our lives and to the worship of the God whom we all profess to love. Keeping the rich happy is not a part of God's agenda, nor should it be a part of ours. Giving of a part of ourselves and what we have to help our neighbors is God's command to us. Above all other considerations, we need to take that seriously. Political considerations are not at all a part of God's plan. We have been told what to do. The agenda is clear. We simply need to be about this critical work.
There certainly is a profound worship of money in this country. It is almost as if some of the lawmakers and the corporate giants are lusting after the nineteenth and early twentieth century, when greed abounded. When the poor were forgotten in an era of absolutely unchecked corporate avarice. There is a shamelessness about it. Many of the commentators seem to be afraid to call this avarice for what it is as they kowtow to the CEOs. There are many others who seem to be enamored of those who create wealth for the few at the expense of the many.
The excesses of the past were dealt with by creating government regulations that reined in the greed and established in the New Deal years of the Roosevelt administration programs such as Social Security for those of retirement age and jobs through the Works Progress Administration and the Civilian Conservation Corps for those who were hopelessly out of work in the throes of the Great Depression. In the Sixties, under the Great Society, Medicare was established for the elderly who are in need of health care.
That was a more compassionate time. Our hearts were more open to care for those in need and we weren't so afraid of our own welfare. It seems in our time, we have lost our focus on the poor and the outcast, and our economy is in despair that consumes our political parties in endless confrontation and debate. We have skyrocketing unemployment and jobs being exported overseas at an alarming rate. When was the last time that you called on the phone for help and didn't get someone from Mumbai to answer your questions?
When Moses went up on Mount Sinai to receive the Tablets of the Law from God, his brother Aaron was left in charge of the Hebrews at the foot of the mountain. Aaron told the people to bring their rings and their ear bobs and other gold to him. He melted it all down and created a golden calf which was erected before the people. "Here is our god," said the people as they worshiped the calf.
Up on the mountain, Moses was told by God that his people were behaving shamelessly and that He was about to destroy them for their disobedience. Moses pleaded with God to withhold his wrath from the people. He then went down the mountain and confronted the Hebrews with their insubordination and their flaunting of Moses' rules. Moses had after all told the people that it was the Lord God who had brought them out of Egypt, and the people had seen the might of God in the destruction of the Egyptian army at the Red Sea and the parting of the waters to allow the tribes to cross over on dry land. There had also been manna provided for the people to eat when they were hungry and water from the rock for them when they were thirsty. Now, when Moses was away, they created and worshiped a false god with impunity.
If all of this sounds quaint and strange to you, look at our own behavior. The reason that people are protesting on Wall Street is because of the same worship of gold that infected the Hebrew people in the absence of Moses. We have created a new god to worship who is more tangible than the Holy God who brought us all out of misery and gave us this bright new land. We even want to restrict immigration because we are afraid of dark skinned people taking over our jobs in this difficult economic time. We are not a bit different from the Hebrews at the foot of Mount Sinai. We love our wealth and we are afraid of those who have a lot of it.
The Wall Street bankers made a lot of mistakes when the various bubbles burst, but they were bailed out by the government. Now many people are making noises about taxing the rich. Those who oppose this call them "job creators" although there is little evidence that any jobs have been created. They want the government to reduce spending by cutting programs, even Social Security and Medicare, which makes people very nervous. They even want regulations that restrict corporations reduced or eliminated so that the lust for wealth can continue unchecked.
We live in a frightening time. What needs to be the response of Christianity to this mess? I would suggest that remembering Jesus' command to us to care for the poor and the outcast is primary to our lives and to the worship of the God whom we all profess to love. Keeping the rich happy is not a part of God's agenda, nor should it be a part of ours. Giving of a part of ourselves and what we have to help our neighbors is God's command to us. Above all other considerations, we need to take that seriously. Political considerations are not at all a part of God's plan. We have been told what to do. The agenda is clear. We simply need to be about this critical work.
Great blog post, Dad! Occupy Pittsburgh is planning a march and rally on Oct. 15. Here's a link to their website: http://www.occupypittsburgh.org/content/welcome-occupypittsburghorg.
ReplyDeleteThey're on FaceBook, too.
Love, Jennie