You are currently browsing the monthly archive for February 2012.
There was a time when the church was very powerful–in the time when the early Christians rejoiced at being deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society.
Things are different now. So often the contemporary church is a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. So often it is an archdefender of the status quo. Far from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the church’s silent–and often even vocal–sanction of things as they are…
But the judgment of God is upon the church as never before. If today’s church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century. Every day I meet young people whose disappointment with the church has turned into outright disgust…
—Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Letter from a Birmingham Jail
FIRST READING
Genesis: The Abrahamic Covenant. Last week we read the Noahic covenant. This week we hear God’s covenant with Abram now Abraham, age 99: You shall be the father of a multitude of nations. Sarai/Sarah also receives a promise, that she will bear a son and give rise to nations. Kings shall come from her. Like the covenant with Noah last week, this covenant also has a sign: Circumcision. Throughout all generations, on the eighth day, all children shall be circumcised, even your slaves, both those born in the house and those purchased. The covenant is good for the offspring as well. It is an “everlasting” covenant.
Romans: Righteousness by faith has been God’s plan all along. Paul puts forth his classic argument, that God’s promises (salvation) came to Abraham and his offspring, because he believed and trusted God, not because he kept the law. The Mosaic Law would not come around for another half a millennium. Hoping against hope, Abram trusted God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness (Genesis 15:6). Paul wants the Romans to understand that justification by grace through faith has been God’s modus operandi all along. The law, Paul says in Galatians, was our babysitter until Christ came.
Mark: Passion Prediction. This text has parallels in Matthew (16) and Luke (9), but Luke does not report Peter’s rebuke. Some early writers suggest that it was precisely because of Peter’s confession (which takes place prior to this in all three synoptics) that Jesus can now reveal the mystery of the cross. The Son of Man must undergo “great suffering,” then be rejected by the elders, chief priests and the scribes, and be killed and after three days rise. Peter is shocked, and begins to rebuke Jesus (ἐπιτιμaν, epiteeman, to chide severely). Bede says Peter speaks with the voice of a man who loves… We can understand his reluctance to accept this jarring new information.
Jesus rebukes back. “Get behind me Satan.” Jesus senses that his life and calling are hurling inexorably in this direction. He would probably love to hear nothing more than a word absolving him of this destiny. “Remove this cup from me,” will be his prayer in Mark 14. But he is staying focused on divine things, not human things.
What Jesus says next must be of great importance, because it’s the same, word-for-word in all three synoptic gospels, with just a couple of unimportant variants:
‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves [Luke adds "daily"] and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.
Matthew and Luke omit “and for the sake of the gospel” which Mark has in some early copies like p45. Matthew likes “will find it” over “will save it.” Matthew likes “find,” as in “seek and you shall find” and stories like finding a coin, or a treasure in a field. For Mark, nothing less than salvation is at stake.
PASTORAL REFLECTION
Faith is not assent to an intellectual proposition. It is trusting God, in life and in death. For Abraham, faith means trusting in God’s promises enough to leave home and family and kindred and go wandering about to a place he does not know. It means trusting that his descendants will number like the stars, even when all hope seems lost. Faith is not theoretical, it calls us to act. It calls us to put our lives on the line. Paul understands that faith gives life, and brings us into relationship with the living God in a way that the law can never do. For Paul, Abraham is the model for faith.
Faith may even call us to put our lives on the line. If the highest good is saving my skin, then my life is self-centered rather than God-centered, other-centered. If saving his own skin was the highest good, Bonhoeffer could have stayed in New York at the behest of his American colleagues, and not risked his neck returning to Nazi Germany to witness to the light. It is to have our minds set on divine things, and not just human things. It means trusting God enough to do the hard thing, and not always the easy thing.
This text drives us to the ask the question of the congregation: Upon what are our minds set? Truth be told we have to admit that our minds are set on acquisition of wealth. We want money, comfort, privilege. In short, we must confess in this season of Lent, our minds are set on the earthly things. What would it look like to set our minds on the things of God? What are the things of God? What are the things of the Spirit?
He has shown you, O mortal, what is good and what the Lord requires of you, but to do justice, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. (Micah 6:8)
For Paul, the things of the Spirit are spiritual fruits: “… the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control…” (Galatians 5:22)
The good news sounds like bad news. In order to find our lives we must lose them. In order to save them, we must give them away. It’s a counterintuitive gospel. God saves us, from our self-consuming gluttony. Life is found in self-denial that can only come through trusting God’s promises.
This comes to us courtesy of Andrea Myers, former Gulf Coast intern at Grace, Conroe.
“If you want to enjoy a good steak, don’t visit the slaughterhouse.”
—American proverb
I admit it. I’m a smartphone junkie. Worse, an iPhone junkie. Being a pastor is not a desk job. The laptop meant I was no longer chained to a desk. The smart phone meant I was no longer tied to a laptop. 95% of my correspondence is now handled by smart phone. Twitter and Facebook have connected people over social and geographical boundaries. Women tweeting photos fueled the Arab Spring. People under repressive regimes now have contact with the outside world. A revolution before our eyes.
But there is a dark side.
Apple and other companies are outsourcing product assembly to companies like Foxconn in Taiwan, that have labor conditions that every American would find horrific. Explosions, hazardous materials, toxic chemicals, long hours, short pay, and so on, have caused an astronomical suicide rate so high the company has actually installed nets to prevent people from jumping to their death. Hardly the American dream. We would never tolerate such conditions in the U.S. but we’ll gladly fund the practice in other countries by purchasing products made there, if it means we can have our phones for a few bucks less.
All this amidst Apple’s largest earnings ever. Prior to the last quarter, their largest quarterly earnings were $30 billion. Last quarter? $46 billion. There is a ton of money being made. Apple has $100 billion in cash. But is this capital being built upon the backs of the poor? And am I complicit with my iPhone 4?
Other companies are no better. Foxconn also builds products for Sony, Panasonic, Samsung, Sharp, Asus, Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Intel, I.B.M., Lenovo, Microsoft, Motorola, Netgear, Nintendo, Nokia and Vizio. Nobody has clean hands in this globalized economy. And lest you think you can achieve some nirvana of moral purity through purchasing the right products, even the money you have invested in the bank is being used for nefarious purposes. And don’t get me started on how they’re using our taxes.
So we’re left with three options.
1. We can give up. Oh well, the world is a very complex place. Little old me? What can I do? We can look the other way and say, “Too bad for those folks. So sad.”
2. We can take the Amish route and live in a self-imposed rejection of all technology. “No phones, no boats, no motor cars, not a single luxury, like Robinson Crusoe, as primitive as can be…” We can’t escape from taxes, but this route is a simpler lifestyle, less engaged with the evil world. But then we forfeit the opportunity to be a blessing to the world as well. It’s like hiding in a world of imaginary righteousness, while invisibly benefitting from the platform of safety and technology the outside world provides.
3. We can engage the powers that be, with a loud, prophetic voice. We can relentlessly turn the spotlight on the darkness. Don’t disengage. Engage. Demand justice. Warning: This will make you very unpopular. You better look good on wood.
After years of pressure, Nike started pushing its suppliers. The much maligned media showed us children forced to work in sweat shops. People were outraged. The reality is corporations are soulless entities. Yes, they’re made up of people, but time and time again corporations have shown that they will do horrific things to make a profit. (Remember when GM calculated the cost of lawsuits by survivors of fiery truck deaths would amount to less than changing the side saddle gas tank design that gave them the competitive edge? http://www.autosafety.org/history-gm-side-saddle-gas-tank-defect) Thomas Jefferson believed unregulated, large corporations were the biggest threat to a democratic society.
The media is a gift. A free press is an absolutely essential component to democracy. After much media scrutiny and social pressure Nike made changes. It’s time for Apple to do the same, if they want to be the bright shining company we all think they are.
I’m not advocating ditching your iPhone. At least not yet. There are no ethical smart phone options. No not one. I’m also not advocating doing away with all smart phones. Let’s not bury our heads in the sand. One sin-prone corporation will just be replaced by another. Instead, let’s put the pressure on these companies to do the right thing. I believe in five years or so Apple could make significant changes like Nike if they perceive consumers prefer ethical companies.
What to do?
1. Pray about it. What is the right thing to do?
2. Think about it. Wrestle with it yourself. Read up. Be a smart consumer.
3. Talk about it. Tell your friends. Blog it. Reason together.
4. Write a letter to Apple or other companies: http://sacom.hk/archives/925
Above all, let’s stand for justice, especially when our money is being used for good or ill.
http://www.salon.com/2012/02/23/there_is_no_ethical_smartphone/singleton/?mobile.html
