Most of us pedal pretty hard to avoid going in the
direction of Jesus’ Beatitudes. We read books that promise to enrich our
spirits. We find all kinds of ways to sedate our mournfulness.
Barbara
Brown Taylor
We often imagine billionaires as winners in the grand
game of life. But what if they are the most starved among us? What if
accumulating unimaginable wealth is not a sign of success at all, but a symptom
of profound inner emptiness? An addiction that has no endpoint?
Christy
Lubbers Berghoef
__________________________________
I am
I admit it
An emotional eater
When sadness drains me of joy
When anxiety robs me of peace
When fear hovers over me with dark wings
I want to consume
Food yes
But more
I want to fill my mind with more information.
I want to fill my time with busyness,
My stomach with food and drink,
My nights with entertainment.
I want to fill my emptiness
Sedate my feelings
So I strive
I want to be a winner, a success
I want to be respected and valued
I want comfort and wealth, influence and power
Maybe if I have enough money and power
I will feel contentment, peace, and even joy
Maybe
But in my better moments
When I let the wind of the Spirit blow and the fire of
God’s love burn
I know this is NOT the way taught and lived by Jesus,
Who said, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds
of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”
Who said “The first shall be last and the last first” and
taught that true power lies not in domination, but in giving up self-interest
to serve others (kenosis)
The reality is that I can have it all
And still be empty
Afflicted with an insatiable hunger
That can never, ever be satisfied
I know this
I feel this
I live this
And I am not alone
I see this hunger that cannot be satisfied everywhere.
I look at the addiction to wealth, the desperate need for
power.
I watch as beautiful simplicity is torn down
And replaced with gilded, bloated extravagance
I watch while my government actually
Appeals a court order to feed the hungry
So that the unsatiable rich might become even richer
When people are addicted to wealth and power
There is no endpoint
They are consumed by a need that will eventually devour
them
When a country is led by such people
This insatiable hunger destroys that nation
As surely as addiction to alcohol, drugs, or sex
Destroys a family
Donald Trump, Stephen Miller, Michael Johnson
Bezos, Musk
All of them
Are starving
I get it. Because
I sometimes, all too often, I am where they are
We cannot survive the terrible choice to try and fill
emptiness
With that which does not satisfy (thank you, Isaiah)
The outcome of this addiction
Is inequity, oppression, injustice, and cruelty
We build banquet halls rather than feed children
We grind justice into the pavement
We kill people for political talking points
Khalil Gibran once wrote,
“Pity the nation that is full of beliefs and empty of
religion…
Pity the nation
that acclaims the bully as hero, and that deems the glittering conqueror
bountiful…
Pity the nation whose statesman is a fox, whose
philosopher is a juggler, and whose art is the art of patching and mimicking…
Pity the nation divided into fragments, each fragment
deeming itself a nation.”
I do not want to be that person
Always hungry, always grasping, always focused on myself
I need to be willing to be hungry
I believe that God does God’s best work when we are empty
But we must let God bring us what we need
Let the Spirit fill us with all good things
When God fills us
We may not end up wealthy, and we may not have earthly
power
The world may not even value us
And may see us as fools
But when we are filled with Sacred Presence
When we are filled with the overflowing, everflowing love
of God
And have some of God’s compassion, kindness, generosity,
hope, and love
We might well have peace
And be people who can pass that peace along
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