Sunday, January 03, 2016
Faith amongst Plenty
In the picture above, I'm carrying the Christmas ham (not, as might appear by the size and shape of the bag and the fact his name is written on it, the severed head of my father). It was a big ham for a lot of people, and it was delicious, as was everything else we ate that day. Talented hands worked hard to make it happen.
My parents aren't particularly well-off, and many nights they eat lentil soup. Still, relative to most of the people on this planet, we are awash in comfort and riches.
Does relative wealth affect faith?
Well, sure it does. Christ made that pretty clear, several times-- that it is harder for the wealthy to realize the riches of faith. Why, though? I have several ideas on that:
1) At every turn, Jesus urged humility, and humility does not come easily to the advantaged.
2) The wealthy tend to see their status as earned-- as reflecting their moral standing. This is often quite explicit. Jesus taught the opposite.
3) Sometimes you will hear people say that well-off people don't "need" God. It's a confusing phrase, though, since God does not (at least according to Jesus) provide earthly wealth.
Comments:
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Of course, it should be. But, it won't. Churches and parishioners are comfortable with the status quo. No one wants to say he or she is wrong.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6YuOCM2V-Uk
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6YuOCM2V-Uk
# posted by 
: 12:34 AM
: 12:34 AM
If I were a church goer I believe this would be a welcome part of the message but I'm not sure that is what many churches are really about. And perhaps tithing to the needy of their immediate community as opposed to the church would be a good place to start.
I read about a lot of kids taking church mission trips to other parts of the US (away from their immediate communities) when there is need right where they live. I have never understood the need to go elsewhere. Perhaps because it is too hard to stay home and do their good works?
That aside, your parents are rich in love and the knowledge that they have raised three wonderful loving, caring, intelligent children who in turn are raising loving, caring, intelligent children. You have it in spades.
I read about a lot of kids taking church mission trips to other parts of the US (away from their immediate communities) when there is need right where they live. I have never understood the need to go elsewhere. Perhaps because it is too hard to stay home and do their good works?
That aside, your parents are rich in love and the knowledge that they have raised three wonderful loving, caring, intelligent children who in turn are raising loving, caring, intelligent children. You have it in spades.
Beautifully said, Christine!
Did anyone besides me see the Paul Krugman New Year's Day column in the NY Times? It starts like this: "Wealth can be bad for your soul." It goes on like this:
"That's not a hoary piece of folk wisdom; it's a conclusion from serious social science, confirmed by statistical analysis and experiment. The affluent are, on average, less likely to exhibit empathy, less likely to respect norms and even laws, more likely to cheat, than those occupying lower rungs on the economic ladder.
"And it's obvious, even if we don't have statistical confirmation, that extreme wealth can do extreme spiritual damage. Take someone whose personality might have been merely disagreeable under normal circumstances, and give him the kind of wealth that lets him surround himself with sycophants and usually gets whatever he wants. It's not hard to see how he could become almost pathalogically self-regarding and unconcerned with others."
I live in a modest part of a very affluent town and have encountered the type of person Klugman describes. But many of the very rich people I know are deeply giving and kind. I thought about how I know them, and realized they have this in common: I met them at church. People like my friend Elizabeth, the former hedge fund manager whose astonishingly generous donations have funded meals for the homeless, support for children in underserved communities, health care initiatives, arts programs, and on and on. Or Debbie, a wealthy woman whom I usually see with a slumbering infant strapped to her chest in a Baby Bjorn. She does the hands-on work of taking in and caring for infants who have been removed from abusive or neglectful parents until they can be placed in a safe home. Vern, a modest, friendly man who ushers at church; as I go around the city, I keep discovering his name on the list of donors to some of my favorite not-for-profits.
I'm not sure if it was a sermon that prompted them to give (though, if the longtime former pastor's messages could be summed up in one sentence, it would be this: "Give your life away." He would tell us that in giving our lives, we would find them). But I am guessing that the same thing that fuels their giving is the same thing that draws them to a community of faith: meaning, purpose, love--all of which always pull us outside of ourselves.
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Did anyone besides me see the Paul Krugman New Year's Day column in the NY Times? It starts like this: "Wealth can be bad for your soul." It goes on like this:
"That's not a hoary piece of folk wisdom; it's a conclusion from serious social science, confirmed by statistical analysis and experiment. The affluent are, on average, less likely to exhibit empathy, less likely to respect norms and even laws, more likely to cheat, than those occupying lower rungs on the economic ladder.
"And it's obvious, even if we don't have statistical confirmation, that extreme wealth can do extreme spiritual damage. Take someone whose personality might have been merely disagreeable under normal circumstances, and give him the kind of wealth that lets him surround himself with sycophants and usually gets whatever he wants. It's not hard to see how he could become almost pathalogically self-regarding and unconcerned with others."
I live in a modest part of a very affluent town and have encountered the type of person Klugman describes. But many of the very rich people I know are deeply giving and kind. I thought about how I know them, and realized they have this in common: I met them at church. People like my friend Elizabeth, the former hedge fund manager whose astonishingly generous donations have funded meals for the homeless, support for children in underserved communities, health care initiatives, arts programs, and on and on. Or Debbie, a wealthy woman whom I usually see with a slumbering infant strapped to her chest in a Baby Bjorn. She does the hands-on work of taking in and caring for infants who have been removed from abusive or neglectful parents until they can be placed in a safe home. Vern, a modest, friendly man who ushers at church; as I go around the city, I keep discovering his name on the list of donors to some of my favorite not-for-profits.
I'm not sure if it was a sermon that prompted them to give (though, if the longtime former pastor's messages could be summed up in one sentence, it would be this: "Give your life away." He would tell us that in giving our lives, we would find them). But I am guessing that the same thing that fuels their giving is the same thing that draws them to a community of faith: meaning, purpose, love--all of which always pull us outside of ourselves.
# posted by : 6:38 PM
: 6:38 PM << Home
