Give us the bread we need for today!

Give us the bread we need for today. 

Matthew 6:11 CEB

Such a short verse, but so much to think about!  This verse is nestled in the middle of The Lord’s Prayer.  I too often have quickly moved past this verse, having food security, having much more than I need.

This takes on new meaning, new emphasis today as people are literally starving to death in Gaza due to man made and man sustained famine.

How does this verse, this prayer, work?  Elsewhere, Jesus teaches that if we pray with faith, all things are possible.  Are the people starving in Gaza not praying with enough faith?  If, you think, they are praying amiss because the pray to another God, what about us who are Christians, and are praying for them?  

Are we lacking faith?

Just prior to this verse, we are to pray for God’s kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven.  Starvation is certainly not part of God’s kingdom plan.  Again, are we praying amiss?  Are we lacking faith?  What is this prayer about?

I am guilty of complacency, having never worried about if I would have a meal.  I have been “wise” according to my culture, and am fortunate to have an ample retirement income.  I wrestle with the question of where my faith is placed.  Do I have confidence in what I have “earned” more than confidence in God who has provided generously for me?  Why me?  Why not people living in poverty?  At least partly, maybe mostly, I was born in the “right” country at the “right” time with the “right” color of skin and the “right” gender.  I did work, but do I take too much credit for myself?  What would I do if I lost it all, like Job?

So back to Gaza.  Is God failing?  Is he not responding to prayer, as he said he would?  

His kingdom has not come, yet!  Why not?  

Is God’s body failing? (The Church! Us!) Is God’s body not prevailing against the Gates of Hell?

The world has the resources, the daily bread, sufficient for everyone to have enough.  The “haves” are not sharing with the “have nots”!  Some “haves” are even forcefully resisting the distribution to those in need even as many who have excess seek to provide what is needed.

What can be done?

Pray?  I am, as, I am sure, are many others.  Yet…

Give? To whom?  It seems that many have given, and the delivery is blocked?

Go?  This is not an option for me currently, but many are going and sharing their valuable stories and eyewitness accounts.

Political activism?  Vote?  Contact our government authorities?  Protest (peacefully)?  

With the psalmists and prophets, I cry out, “Why, oh Lord, are the poor suffering injustice?”  Why do the wealthy sit back in their ease and fail to lift their fingers to stop the injustice?

Why?  

Fall Colors (10/7/2009)

As I enjoyed the beauty of the fall colors in Athens from my porch, I couldn’t help but wonder why the reds, oranges and yellows were so beautifully dispersed in a visually pleasing mosaic?  There were interestingly, patches of green pines that broke the pattern and grew instead in clusters.

I suspect that the biologists could give me some mechanistic explanation of how the pines change their environment so that only other pines can survive in their proximity, and that the oaks, maples and dogwoods coexist in a form of symbiotic relationship.

 

I wonder if this is how God specifically designed it, so that we could enjoy seeing the mosaic of color in the fall, and enjoy walking on a carpet of needles beneath a pine grove. 

 

Maybe God also intended to give us an illustration of humanity.  There are some who co-mingle, enhancing their environment with diversity.  Is this not what God has designed for his body, made of many members, but united in one purpose?  Yet there are those as well who promote uniformity, discouraging that which is different, like the pines.

 

Which am I?

Monuments (May 7, 2009)

Man universally has a desire to be significant, to leave a legacy, to make monuments.  I see this in myself, and in others; a drive to do something enduring, to make a mark on the world, to make my life count for something bigger than life itself.   Is this a God given desire, or a result of pride due to the Fall?  Or has the Fall distorted what God created? 

I suspect that God has implanted into us, maybe as part of his image, the desire to do something of significance.  There is a satisfaction we derive from a job well done, a new thing created, or something restored or improved upon.  Pride certainly can take this and cause self elevation, rather than a healthy sense of contributing to community, of being a member of a body or organization where its members working together are productive.

 

As we think of judgment, and of the eternal state, what if (as suggested by Neo in A New Kind of Christian) judgment was the erasing of everything sinful, evil, wrong in our lives, these things being forgotten by God, and separated from us, as far as the east is from the west, leaving us only with the things that are good, right, pure, loving, etc. that we did in our life.  These things are the gold, silver and precious stones with which we enter eternity, stored up in heaven for us to rely upon when the earth is restored and united with heaven.  Our worthless thoughts and deeds, the wood hay and stubble, will be eliminated, as if by fire.  We will stand before God with our legacy, our monuments, our significant accomplishments.  These will be the things we carry with us into the eternal state.

 

During my younger years, my evangelical background taught me that the only thing we could take into eternity with us is people, those we helped “save” from hell, by contributing somehow to their salvation experince.

 

 

Ps 85:7-86:1

7 Show us your unfailing love, O LORD,

and grant us your salvation. 

 

8 I will listen to what God the LORD will say;

he promises peace to his people, his saints — 

but let them not return to folly. 

9 Surely his salvation is near those who fear him,

that his glory may dwell in our land. 

 

10 Love and faithfulness meet together;

righteousness and peace kiss each other. 

11 Faithfulness springs forth from the earth,

and righteousness looks down from heaven. 

12 The LORD will indeed give what is good,

and our land will yield its harvest. 

13 Righteousness goes before him

and prepares the way for his steps. 

 

NIV

Is Capitalism Christian? (2/21/09)

This question first brings to mind the ongoing debate in our family over whether “Christian” can be correctly used as an adjective.  Apart from that debate, can we ask if Christianity is compatible with (or some may even feel essentially linked with) capitalism?  Can we join the two as compatible, or even allies in philosophy and practice, or are they apples and oranges that simply happen to coexist?

What is capitalism?  It is a system of economics that thrives on competition, and “survival of the fittest”.  The concept “survival of the fittest” may invoke anti-Christian, pro-evolutionary sentiments in some, but some with a Christian heritage would see the concept of the “survival of the fittest” in the context of the created order of nature that serves a worthy purpose in the grand scheme of things (the purpose being most favorable if one happened to be among the “fittest”!).

 

Capitalism does favor “the fittest”; those with the best or most resources; capital, innovation, endurance, intelligence, education, experience, “savvy”, “luck of the draw”, etc.  Capitalism creates hierarchy; the winners and the losers, the richer and the poorer, the haves and the have nots. 

 

The underlying mechanisms that drive capitalism at their core values are individualism, desire, (greed?) and pride.  

 

To be fair, since the picture so far looks pretty negative, capitalism does promote hard work, usually tying the amount of work to the amount of success expected.  The Bible itself promotes work and effort with the anticipation of rewards based on the proportion of effort invested.  But what about the motivation for worthy work in the Bible?  Is this the same as the reason “capitalists” work?  

 

Another way to look at this is to ask, “What will the economy of the Kingdom look like?” We can get an idea of this from the Sermon on the Mount, and other passages of Scripture. 

 

Will there be competition in the Kingdom?  Will there be “survival of the fittest”?  Will there be marketing and advertising to promote one product over another?  

 

(This brings up another point about capitalism: the purpose of advertising seems to be not so much presenting a new product that might be of actual benefit, but more an attempt to produce discontent and desire, so that one might develop a sense of need of something that in reality, they are doing quite well without!)

 

It is difficult to fit these concepts into the eternal state where there is plenty for all, lack of need, promotion of community, not competition one against another for some personal or corporate advantage.  All will focus on the King.  

 

One might argue, “That’s fine for the future, but right now, capitalism seems like a pretty good system for Christianity to align with and collaborate with.  It does produce wealth that can be used to build churches, and send to missionaries (after we pay for our vacation condo, boat, cruise, etc.)”  That argument arises from the point of view of “the fittest”.  For the “fittest” to succeed, there are those who are at the other end of the spectrum.  There is some “trickle down” via the generosity of the “fittest” or via the opportunism of “the fittest” looking for a more efficient or cost effective work force.

 

From the point of view of the “unfit”, capitalism is pretty cruel, benefiting those who least need it, and who are least likely to share its benefits.

 

If as Christians …

You always have the poor with you! (7/17/25)

(Our men’s group is going through Shane Claiborne’s Irresistible Revolution, which has spurred quite a bit of discussion and thought!)

Growing up in my conservative fundamentalist Baptist church, I remember hearing this verse quoted, usually in support of capitalism and against socialism / communism.  It was thrown around as proof that poverty would never be eliminated, so why try?  If poor people were too lazy to work, why should others support them?  

How contrary that take on this phrase is with the broader teaching and context of Jesus! Look at the extended passage:

Jesus was at Bethany visiting the house of Simon, who had a skin disease. During dinner, a woman came in with a vase made of alabaster and containing very expensive perfume of pure nard. She broke open the vase and poured the perfume on his head. ⁴ Some grew angry. They said to each other, “Why waste the perfume? ⁵ This perfume could have been sold for almost a year’s pay and the money given to the poor.” And they scolded her.

⁶ Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why do you make trouble for her? She has done a good thing for me.⁷ You always have the poor with you; and whenever you want, you can do something good for them. But you won’t always have me. ⁸ She has done what she could. She has anointed my body ahead of time for burial. ⁹ I tell you the truth that, wherever in the whole world the good news is announced, what she’s done will also be told in memory of her.” (Mark 14: 3-9, CEB)

 

Did you notice the context?  Did you notice what else Jesus said?

 

“You always have the poor with you; and whenever you want, you can do something good for them.”

 

Whenever we want, we can do good for the poor?  Do we want?  Do we ever want to do good to the poor?  Maybe during Christmas, and after a disaster!  But certainly not all the time!

How does our attitude square with the way Jesus taught and acted?  How does it square with Matthew 25: 31-46?  Read the whole section.  Let me point out that Jesus said:

 

I was hungry and you didn’t give me food to eat. I was thirsty and you didn’t give me anything to drink. ⁴³ I was a stranger, and you didn’t welcome me. I was naked and you didn’t give me clothes to wear. I was sick and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’

 

Yes, we will always have the poor with us, because we always have Jesus with us!  

 

Eschatology and Evangelism (2/3/09)

Today (1/27/09) I have begun reading Jürgen Moltmann’s Theology of Hope.  Already it has awakened a thought, answered a nagging question, and brought into focus a gap in my theology.

As I struggle through my “post-Evangelical” wanderings, I have wondered at the role of evangelism in my faith.  Moltmann points out that eschatology is not a disconnected future account but is a living motivation for the present.  The future hope is our present purpose.

We shall not usher in a time of utopia with our own efforts.  It shall not arrive until Christ returns.

My question and discontent, sowed from my fundamentalist, dispensational past, was, “Why all the fuss over the present which will be done away with anyway?” All we need to do is to secure the soul through a decision for Christ, obtained via presentations of “the gospel”.  All the efforts to change the world, to make a better place, would be wasted anyway, since it would all come to naught in the “great tribulation”.

This morning, though, the light dawned!  What more powerful evangelistic tool is there than to give someone a glimpse of the future here in the present?  What better motivation is there for someone to seek the Kingdom of Christ than to see and feel the effect of the Kingdom here and now in a world setting that conflicts with the Kingdom?  “A taste of heaven” on earth would only whet one’s appetite for more!

Thus, I am thinking, real evangelism, recruitment into the Kingdom, must involve living out the teaching of Jesus in the present in such a manner that we are salt that causes a thirst and a light that reveals the path to the future, and this involves action that creates communities of “heaven on earth”, outposts of the future that are tangible and desirable.

2/3/09

As I continue to read Moltmann, I try to formulate my thoughts:

It appears, according to Moltmann, that there are two errors commonly made concerning eschatology.

1) Man “presumes” that he can create his own utopia, bringing in the kingdom by his own efforts.  All attempts have so far miserably failed, because they are centered on man and his ability and effort.  2) It is thought that the eternal state is something unrelated to the present state.  That the eternal state is transcendent and therefore beyond our understanding.  This has origins in Greek philosophy where the material is considered sinful, inferior and only the spiritual is perfect.  Erroneous thinking says that we shouldn’t spend too much effort on trying to understand it, since it is beyond our ability to understand anyway.  We just need to get the motivation for living for eternity in the present.

My analysis on this is that the eternal state is what Israel was looking for; a literal, physical Kingdom made of literal, physical land, with a literal, physical King on this (restored) earth.  To this, man can relate and find motivation.  Toward this we can work, not in that we will complete the job, but in that we can set up “recruitment stations” where we live out the principles of the coming Kingdom in contrast to the principles of the present kingdom.  The people around us will then be able to see the difference, and make their choice, join the Kingdom to come (that is already with us, yet not complete), or live for the present.

Creation as Theophany (1/10/09)

In reading the chapter entitled Eschatology and Christology, Moltmann and the Greek Fathers, by Nicholas Constas in God’s Life in Trinity, I was introduced to an interesting concept that I would like to meditate on and record my thoughts.  The chapter draws heavily on Basil of Caesarea’s work, the Hexaemeron, a series of homilies concerning creation.

The chapter suggests that we should think of creation as a form of theophany, even parallel to the incarnation, an embodiment of the Spirit in material form.  We are not to see the creation as God, but a revelation of the transcendent God.  We are not to worship creation as an idol, but to see in it characteristics of the eternal transcendent God. (Note from 2025: this sounds like panentheism, as promoted by Richard Rohr.)

When God declared creation “beautiful” (they refer to Gen 1:8 in the LXX, which doesn’t correlate with Gen 1:8 in my Bible.  I assume they refer to God’s declaration that creation is “very good”) it refers not to the aesthetic beauty, but to the completeness and perfection of purpose in creation; creation will serve its purpose “beautifully” as it has been ordered and put together.

This is correlated with Ecclesiastes, and Solomon’s initial statement that “life is meaningless”.  If one looks at the order of creation superficially, without a regard for its transcendent revelation of God, one only sees futility in its cycles of life and death, of struggle and suffering juxtaposed to times of happiness and ease.  But when one sees its purpose, understands it as a revelation, an embodiment of God’s purpose, a manifestation of his Spirit, creation then takes on meaning, pointing us toward a future of hope, rather than a cycle of futility