We are sacrificial lambs offering ourselves to a false god
Hafiz
______________________________
The voices are out there
those that reduce our planet to
something to be used, and abused
Some see a forest and think of board feet
some look at water and imagine it bottled and sold
some look at the forested shore of a lake
and see a condo
whatever they see, they see money
everything is transformed
“Midas-like, into profit”
and in their eyes
“profit means progress, and progress means leisure,
pleasure, power, safety and fun” (Brian McLaren, Life
after Doom p.91)
The Gross National Product has become
our standard for measuring what is good
and what is bad
who has value, and who does not
whether we are succeeding, or failing
politicians promise not that our nation will be kinder
but more powerful
not that it will be more just
but richer
and so the planet, and the people on it
are sacrificed
the planet may burn
the poor may find themselves homeless
but the Dow is up
and all is right with the world
The God of Economy
is placated by sacrifice
The air, the land the ocean
those vulnerable souls who are too old
too ill
too poor
all are sacrificed
on the altar of the GNP
Jesus talked about sacrifice.
What did he have in mind?
He talked about
being willing to be last (rather than first)
about leaving one’s family behind
and selling all that we have so we can give to the poor
he talked about dying
And he talked about the cost
of offering ourselves to false gods
“For what will it profit them if they gain the whole
world but forfeit their soul?
Or what will they give in return for their soul?”
The message is consistent
What is important is people
Not the stock market
Not the corporations (although we insist they are
“people” too)
Not a political party
Not power
Not wealth
But people
All people
Even the old
Even those we deem “unproductive”
Even that person sleeping on the street
or struggling with addiction
What good is it if the stock market rises,
and the people die?
What good is it if we have “the best economy”,
if love and compassion die?
What good is holding tenuously on to ego and power,
if justice dies?
Following the way of Jesus
the way of love
does indeed call for sacrifice
we may be called to let go of some of our wealth
some of our comforts
some of our control
But destroying the planet for profit?
Sacrificing people for the economy?
Handing over the vulnerable for the sake of our 401k
or our stock portfolio?
Just NO!
"The test of our progress is not whether we add more
to the abundance
of those who have much;
it is whether we provide enough for those who
have too little."
(FDR, Inaugural Address, January 20, 1937)
The criteria Sacred is looking at, when our success
as human creatures, as children of God is measured
have nothing to do with riches
but with our ability to see, and love
the “other”
“I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you
gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was
naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in
prison and you visited me.’
It is as easy
and as difficult
as that
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