Someone else’s belonging does not require my exile.
Scot Loyd
What is the opposite of abundance? It's not scarcity. It's greed. Greed is the belief that there is not enough for everyone, so you'd better grab yours now. What is the opposite of love? It's not hate. It's fear. Fear is the belief that someone or something can hurt you.
Robert G. Allen
________________________________________________
Most politicians make promises.
In 1920, Warren G. Harding promised a “Return to Normalcy”
In 1928, Herbert Hoover promised “A Chicken in Every Pot and a Car in Every Garage”
In 1956, Dwight Eisenhower offered “Peace and Prosperity”
In 1988, George Bush offered a “Kinder, Gentler Nation”
Barack Obama offered “Hope,” and Trump said he would “Make America Great Again”
Promises, promises
And now we have a President promising that if we let him stay in power
He will give every American adult $5000
The check is in the mail!
If you think about it, what most politicians do is appeal to our sense of scarcity.
They promise us what we think we don’t have
Wealth. Power. Safety. Hope.
A chicken in the pot.
To put it another way, they often appeal to fear (or create it)
Trump spoke to those people spooked by the emergence of a “new America” that had dared to elect a black person to the Presidency. To a nation of people suddenly realizing that white, Christian, heterosexual, and culturally conservative was not the definitive identity of the “true American.”
Trump promised to take us “back”
Make us “backward” is more like it
He has succeeded in some horrible ways
We are such malleable people.
So easily influenced, swayed, so easily controlled.
We are afraid of “not enough”
Not enough money, food, water, housing
Not enough health care
And every leader ever (with a notable exception)
Preys on that mentality
And promises to give us what we are afraid of losing, or what we think we don’t have.
Obama promised more equality and equity to a nation controlled by white conservatives for years.
Trump promised white evangelical Christians that they would regain control of American culture.
Biden promised less Trump.
Trump promised cheaper gas and more affordable groceries (and underneath it all, white supremacy)
We truly believe, I think, that if others gain, we will lose
We have been taught that there is not enough to go around
This, by the 10% who have (and are hoarding), who control 68% of America’s wealth
By the 1% who control more than 30% of America’s resources
Someone once said (often attributed to Mahatma Gandhi), "The [Earth/world] provides enough to satisfy every man's needs, but not every man's greed."
What do we do with the fact that our fear, our sense of scarcity,
gives people like Donald Trump so much power?
Maybe we listen to the one guy who didn’t buy into the scarcity model
And who defined an abundant life in a far different way
Blessed are the poor
Blessed are those who mourn
The first shall be last and the last first
Sell all you have and give to the poor (are you listening, Elon?)
Jesus did not sell wealth.
Jesus sold abundance
He promised that if we could learn to trust in God
(remember the lilies of the field)
We would be set free from the scarcity mindset
And we would be able to be
Welcoming
Accepting
Generous
Forgiving
And we would be satisfied.
Remember Isaiah?
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread and your earnings for that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. (55:2)
Why do we keep listening to Donald Trump
And not to Jesus?
Seems like a valid question
And I believe Walter Brueggemann was right.
The power of the future lies not in the hands of those who believe in scarcity but of those who trust God's abundance.
Lord, help us trust
No comments:
Post a Comment