Prophet or Profit?

There is an overwhelming shared common assumption that asks our faith leaders not to be political.  Words matter.  We try so hard under this pressure to parse our words carefully with the sensitivity that our community be welcome to all—including Republicans and Democrats.  We painstakingly enter into our sermon writing in prayer asking that God be our guide so the outcome of our preaching is faithful.  In a perfect world, I would live up to the ideals set here: Dear Pastors: Tell Us the Truth.  But we are a complex people, faithful and broken, assured and sensitive.  So we preach texts such as this last weekend about the story of “The rich man and Lazarus.”  (Rich Man and Lazarus) This text is apropos as are all of the prophets, the Pentateuch, the four gospels—heck, the entirety of our Scripture speaks volumes to where we find ourselves this week in government shutdown.  As faith leaders, how can we remain quiet and be faithful?  For at the center of this crisis something much greater than anything political—at the heart of this is a spiritual crisis. 

This spiritual crisis is best shared from the words of Mother Theresa who says, If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.  Our emphasis on individualism, exceptionalism, prosperity—feel good gospel has forgotten our individual place within the common good.  In all of our Abrahamic traditions, our care for our neighbor is right alongside loving God.  So while a minority of extremist ideologues who paint an oversimplified picture in black and white, we find ourselves in a grey world that forgets in the retreat of fear that we are trying to walk this journey together.  So in our disagreement, we shut it all down—and when we are honest about it, over what?  There is enough animosity to what breaks down to a battle over power (a spiritual crisis in and of itself) that family systems theory understands as the Hatfields and the McCoys.  Sadly, our founders understood protecting the individual while upholding the collective.  Benjamin Franklin understood in recognizing the increasing disparity of wealth and responded with public hospitals that provided care based upon ability to pay.  Recognizing the disparity, he also saw education as an opportunity to help the collective in establishing a library system that was good for the whole.   

Whether Christian, Muslim, Jew, Humanitarian, we share an interest in standing with our neighbor —poor neighbor included…even preferred.  From my tradition, poverty and justice is addressed on every single page.(I think this is important).  In standing with our marginalized neighbor, we can get to know them.  By getting to know them, we can know them as children of God, created in God’s image, and come to realize how no one chooses poverty.  Yet, when we forget that we belong to each other—our nature is to protect ourself.  In protecting ourself, we isolate poverty, we move to suburbs, we stack the deck to provide for our own—and our primate instincts become a Darwinian game of survival of the fittest. 

Together, there are large problems that need to be solved.  But as we learn from as early as I can remember, together is the best way to solve a problem.  No one person or party has a monopoly on the best ideas.  And because our collective is made up of differing ideas, we may find ourselves at times in the minority.  When we are at our best, in a system of checks and balances, how are we to respond? 

In our spiritual crisis, real people have been made invisible.  As I am continually returning this week to the parable of the rich-man--thousands of Americans are now laying at the rich man’s gate hoping for a scrap of food. Invisible–as the rich man mockingly is playing a strategic game of chess,  real people hunger, real children need head start, real people on the margins who are the most vulnerable lie at the gates our rich people are adorning themselves in their purple linens. 

As faith leaders, we too hold diverse political ideologies.  Yet one thing we can (should) all agree on, is our faith calls us to stand with those who cannot stand for themselves, to provide for those that hunger, to love our neighbor (even our Democrat or Republican neighbor), and to live caring for one another recognizing we belong together.  This is not political.  This is spiritual, and this is our call.  This shut-down is hurting our most vulnerable.   Please—share your voice, pray, care for one another, and lead.