When I hear this scripture, this Isaiah verse echoed again in
the Gospel of Mark, there is only one thing I can think of. Well, hear,
really. There’s only one thing I hear…it’s the only thing I can hear…. Godspell.
<singing>. Religious
musicals and grade-school cantatas have ruined me forever.
Speaking of musicals; last night, First Congregational United
Church of Christ had the great honor to debut the first ‘read-theater’
performance of On a Midwinter’s Night, the Musical, written by our very own Stuart
Kenny. The lights brought the mood, the
music was beautiful, the actors were talented, and the accompaniment and
composition were excellent. I wasn’t very sure what to expect, although I had
heard the rehearsals several times through my office door and knew the music
was good. But the story was pretty
inspiring.
It was an old Russian Folktale that Stuart’s mother used to tell
him of a Babushka, which is a generally a grandmother figure, who is invited to
go on a journey with the 3 Magi, (or Kings of the Orient, or Wise Men, depending
on which gospel you are reading), but turns it down. Although the Magi describe a bright star that
has interrupted their lives and their plans and their routine, Babushka is
reluctant to take any risks, saying she is too old, and too afraid of the rumors
she has heard about what is outside her village, and must stay behind. But!
Upon waking the next morning, she decides she missed her opportunity and
will take the chance to follow the Magi… and in the process, comes into contact with
every scary and unknown individual that underlie the rumors she’s heard. And in the process, our Babushka makes a
relationship, in fact a friendship, with each of these real life manifestations
of her imagined fears. Although she has
complained that she has nothing worth giving, each time she is able to share
one gift that is more meaningful to recipient than it was to the Babushka. And she begins to recognize not only that she
has gifts to give, but that by reaching out and creating new friendships, each
gift given leads to more and easier gift-giving – each of which make her feel
more loved in return.
Not only was it a creative and intriguingly modern twist on an
age-old tale, but I was taken with theology.
God appears in powerful ways unexpected, like the northern star. God
calls you to do things you never expected.
God wants you to take chances on Him, and gives second chances. God puts people in your path that you need to
learn from. God shows up in the faces of
all kinds of people we meet, even when we think we are looking for something
different. When we share our God-given gifts, God gives us more to share. I
found myself admiring the theology behind this, and how it resembled so many
other Christmas favorites.
A few days ago this was posted facebook page of one of the
ministers I met from the Nebraska Conference:
“Business!”
cried the Ghost of Jacob Marley to Ebenezer Scrooge, wringing his hands again.
“Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy,
forbearance, and benevolence were all my business. The dealings of my trade
were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!”
Or, like in It’s a Wonderful Life, in my
best Jimmy Stewart impression,
George Bailey: Just
a minute... just a minute. Now, hold on, Mr. Potter. You're right when you say
my father was no businessman. I know that. Why he ever started this cheap,
penny-ante Building and Loan, I'll never know. But neither you nor anyone else
can say anything against his character, because his whole life was... why, in
the 25 years since he and his brother, Uncle Billy, started this thing, he
never once thought of himself. Isn't that right, Uncle Billy? He didn't save
enough money to send Harry away to college, let alone me. But he did help a few
people get out of your slums, Mr. Potter, and what's wrong with that? Why...
here, you're all businessmen here. Doesn't it make them better citizens?
Doesn't it make them better customers? You... you said... what'd you say a
minute ago? They had to wait and save their money before they even ought to
think of a decent home. Wait? Wait for what? Until their children grow up and
leave them? Until they're so old and broken down that they... Do you know how
long it takes a working man to save $5,000? Just remember this, Mr. Potter,
that this rabble you're talking about... they do most of the working and paying
and living and dying in this community. Well, is it too much to have them work
and pay and live and die in a couple of decent rooms and a bath? Anyway, my
father didn't think so. People were human beings to him. But to you, a warped,
frustrated old man, they're cattle. Well in my book, my father died a much
richer man than you'll ever be!
How come all of our most beloved – and new –
Christmas stories all reject the idea that money is central?
How come we keep watching them and loving
them if we don’t listen?
Last weekend, late in the dead of night, the
Senate passed a Tax Reform Bill that, contrary to all our favorite Christmas
stories, would make it seem that money is the most important thing in life.
In order to move the corporate tax rate from
35 percent to 20 percent – permanently – this tax bill it raises taxes in all
sorts of strange ways to pay for that extremely large give away to
profit-makers. For instance, the 10 biggest pharmaceutical companies stand to
gain $80 billion in taxes they will no longer have to pay if this proposal
becomes law. That
amount of money would pay for a year-and-a-half of Medicaid drug spending or
five years of healthcare for 9 million kids under the Children’s Health
Insurance Program.
In a time when states are slashing left and
right and giving less and less to state institutions like primary, secondary
and higher education, the bill penalizes residents in states that levy property
taxes by eliminating the federal deduction for taxes paid above $10,000. This makes it harder to states to levy taxes to
fund programs for citizens.
And in a time when low-wage workers can barely exist on the
wage they make and the wealth gap is the largest it’s been in 100 years, this
bill increases it by fully repealing an Estate Tax that currently only impacts
the top 10% of earners in the country.
This bill also repeats an old fairy tale;
that giving more money to the wealthy will somehow help out everyone. That has been proven to be false, both in
history, and more recently in Kansas, and by current economists. Rather, this bill would, in the end, add $1.5
trillion to the national debt over the next 10 years. An amount so great that it will trigger
mandatory cuts to Medicare under the Pay-Go law, which requires cuts whenever
spending is passed without sufficient income.
In order to balance the $1.5 trillion, the government would have to cut
$150 million every year for 10 years, according to AARP.
“Business!”
cried the Ghost of Jacob Marley to Ebenezer Scrooge, wringing his hands again.
“Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy,
forbearance, and benevolence were all my business. The dealings of my trade
were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!”
Friends, budgets are moral documents. Tax
policy is a moral decision that should reflect our values. While we spend our holidays cherishing old
movies that talk about valuing people above money, our laws are being written
saying the opposite.
Today’s
scripture begins with a boldly political proclamation. In ancient Rome, Euangelion, the word we
translate as Evangelical, or Gospel, or good news, was used to make
announcements by the Roman Empire. “Good
News! We’ve triumphed in war! Good
News! We’ve beaten the Jews and sacked
Jerusalem! Good News! We’ve passed a tax bill to give more money to
business at your expense!”
And
Mark takes this proclamation, this Good News, and turns it on its head.
The disciple Mark
says, I tell you, “THIS is the beginning of a Euangelian….
About Jesus Christ, God’s son… who brings good news to the poor, freedom
for the prisoners, recovery of sight for the blind, and sets the oppressed free.
This is the true good news!”
Today’s scripture is about preparation;
evaluating our lives, repenting for our sins, and generally clearing a way to
meet Jesus. But are we prepared for the
Jesus we might meet?
This Jesus
we are waiting for during this Advent season just might not be the one we are
willing to receive. Often we settle for the holiday caricature of an infant and
avoid contact with the real Jesus. We like the beautiful baby boy, but forget
the radical nature of the good news of this baby boy. The infant caricature of Jesus changes nothing.
The real Jesus changes everything. The
baby requires nothing of us. The real
Jesus requires everything of us. It requires a change in our hearts, our minds,
and our souls… and yes, in our money. Consider the words of Oscar Romero, Latin
American Catholic Priest: “Advent should admonish us to discover in each
brother or sister that we greet, in each friend whose hand we shake, in each
beggar who asks for bread, in each worker who wants to use the right to join a
union, in each peasant who looks for work in the coffee groves, the face of
Christ. Then it would not be possible to rob them, to cheat them, to deny them
their rights. They are Christ, and whatever is done to them Christ will take as
done to him. This is what Advent is: Christ living among us.”
The Good
News of Christ prepares us to live as God would have us live. The Good News of Christ turns the world
upside down, challenging us to let go of things of value, and value things that
we did not expect. The Good News of
Christ requires us to change our values.
Because we know, as all the Christmas movies suggest, our success isn’t
measured by the size of your bank account nor by the accumulation of influence
and wealth. Success, and real value, is
deeper. It’s more about living with arms wide open and hearts extended. It’s
more about giving, because each gift brings another, and even deeper
value. It’s more about fighting on
behalf of others than it is fighting to keep our earthly riches to ourselves.
As Jimmy Stewart reminds us,
"No
man is poor who has one friend. Three friends, and you're filthy
rich!"
Instead of trying to make the rich richer, we
should be remembering and preparing our riches in the Kingdom of God. For in the Kingdom of God, when we meet Jesus,
it won’t be to talk about profit but to talk about how we helped bring good
news to the poor, food to the hungry, sight to the blind, freedom to prisoners,
and how we helped set the oppressed free.
It will be about how we prepared ourselves for the coming of the Lord,
once we heard the Good News.
Amen
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