follow the money

Whoever…does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that is in accordance with godliness is conceited, understanding nothing, and has a morbid craving for controversy and for disputes about words. From these come envy, dissension, slander, base suspicions, and wrangling among those who are depraved in mind and bereft of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain. Of course, there is great gain in godliness combined with contentment, for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it, but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.

1 Timothy 6:3-10; NRSVue

The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Some have wandered away from the faith and have impaled themselves with a lot of pain because they made money their goal.

1 Timothy 6:10; CEB

Money itself is not evil, but when you consider history as well as what is going on today, and then think about how money can affect us in our personal lives, it won’t take long to see just how money can be and is the root of all kinds of evil. Is it wrong for someone to go to college and get a degree for a job in which they can make all kinds of money? Not necessarily. But if one’s goal in life is just to make a lot of money, even giving a tithe to God or a portion to charitable organizations, it begs the question just what one is living for.

The rich can do all kinds of good, and some have with foundations made for the good of humanity. One of the obvious problems in practically every society and definitely in the world at large is the striking and in recent decades growing disparity between the rich and the poor. Those on the high end are making more and more while those on the lower end are not even keeping up with the cost of living. And there are the rich nations and the pitiably poor nations. When you look especially at Jesus and the prophets and not a few psalms, you see that God takes seriously both the plight of the poor and what ends up in God’s eyes being the plunder of the rich. It’s not like to be materially wealthy in itself is wrong, whatever precisely that means, speaking in relative terms. But what one’s life is about is the question. If it’s about getting richer and richer, hoarding, and for many doing so fraudently, all such lives are poor in God’s eyes.

Money talks. It may not be the only thing, but it often is what makes the difference for good or for ill. Not wrong in itself, but according to the Bible, the love of money another matter. I wouldn’t counsel young people to despise money. That’s not what Scripture tells us and is not common sense. Fair wages and affordable living do matter. And we ought to be advocates for all such. But when it’s nothing more than the bottom line, then what really matters will at best be only a means to that end and at worst will be all but lost in the shuffle. The love of neighbor as oneself, which means everyone is the end-all, what finally matters.

“worldliness” according to the Bible

Praise the LORD!
Happy are those who fear the LORD,
who greatly delight in his commandments.
Their descendants will be mighty in the land;
the generation of the upright will be blessed.
Wealth and riches are in their houses,
and their righteousness endures forever.
They rise in the darkness as a light for the upright;
they are gracious, merciful, and righteous.
It is well with those who deal generously and lend,
who conduct their affairs with justice.
For the righteous will never be moved;
they will be remembered forever.
They are not afraid of evil tidings;
their hearts are firm, secure in the LORD.
Their hearts are steady; they will not be afraid;
in the end they will look in triumph on their foes.
They have distributed freely; they have given to the poor;
their righteousness endures forever;
their horn is exalted in honor.
The wicked see it and are angry;
they gnash their teeth and melt away;
the desire of the wicked comes to nothing.

Psalm 112; NRSVue

Do not love the world or the things in the world. The love of the Father is not in those who love the world, for all that is in the world—the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, the pride in riches—comes not from the Father but from the world. And the world and its desire are passing away, but those who do the will of God abide forever.

1 John 2:15-17; NRSVue

In my lifetime right up to the present day, “worldliness” in Christian circles is equated to loose sexual morals or sexual mores different than the traditional in Christian history. While the Bible does deal with that subject, and it’s no doubt important, the main throughline of what we call “worldliness” in Scripture is markedly different. But not to brush the other aside, we see this worldliness in places over and over again with Christian men leaders, so-called pastors molesting women and some men, and even children along the way. We see what really amounts to the failure of the “purity culture,” in the conservative, fundamentalist circles, the rates of promiscuity being the same as the culture at large. And actually, the teaching, as we’ve seen with big names held to be eikons of evangelicalism, ends up excusing males who “can’t help themselves,” all the blame cast on women who supposedly did not abide by the strict, even harsh standards placed on them in how they dress, etc. Let’s not forget the disqualifying hypocrisy of “leaders” (even prominent) who don’t deal with leaders (mostly always men) in their churches who molest women. It is remarkable how those who cry out about the sexual revolution of the 1960s often seem to fail to see the hypocrisy in their own camp. Their focus is on the LGBTQ+ community when they need to be looking in the mirror. “You shall know them by their fruits.”

But what is the concern of Scripture? What is real worldliness according to it? While it certainly includes self-control and faithfulness in sexual matters, the largest body by far, far and away is the concern found in the Bible over riches, greed and power most often at the expense of others, of the poor and needy. If you doubt that, please read through the Bible again. You will find that priority everywhere. It is remarkable how the health and wealth gospel has infiltrated a good portion of the church, so that people think nothing at all of living in luxury with far more than enough money. But look especially at what Jesus taught, what the prophets (Old Testament) said. And other churches who pointedly reject the health and wealth teaching nevertheless say little about greed and think nothing of people pursuing a life of making a lot of money while making much of the supposed sin of the LGBTQ+ community. 

Go to Scripture. Above is a good sampling. It is about love of neighbor. If that is not the mark and passion of faith, then it’s not true religion (see the end of James 1), it’s not the faith of the Bible. It’s about taking care of the needy, helping the stranger, the alien, the immigrant, the refugee, anyone in need or who is marginalized. If that doesn’t mark one’s faith, then they don’t have the faith found in the Bible. It is either a pseudo faith or lacking. 

There are many humble churches which try to be faithful, and I think in the eyes of the Lord are surely appreciated for the faithfulness by God’s grace which is present, no doubt. But their teaching and understanding of Scripture is not marked with the understanding, at least not sufficiently enough of God’s concern about those who hoard riches due to not trusting in God, who boast about such, and all of this often whether they realize it or not at the expense of the poor. And power goes along with greed. Those who love money want the power so that they can have more and more while they continue to look down and marginalize those who are trying to survive. The humble churches I’m referring to are likely not at all into that, but their teaching fails to expose it sufficiently, at least the way Scripture does.

Worldliness properly understood should be a concern. If life is not about love of neighbor as one loves themselves, then it’s a miss. The main and largely missing element in much teaching that makes up what worldliness actually is, according to the Bible.

 

telling it like it is (not like people want it to be)

Then Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent to King Jeroboam of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you in the very center of the house of Israel; the land is not able to bear all his words. For thus Amos has said,

‘Jeroboam shall die by the sword,
and Israel must go into exile
away from his land.’ ”

And Amaziah said to Amos, “O seer, go, flee away to the land of Judah, earn your bread there, and prophesy there, but never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is a temple of the kingdom.”

Then Amos answered Amaziah, “I am no prophet nor a prophet’s son, but I am a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore trees, and the Lord took me from following the flock, and the LORD said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’

“Now therefore hear the word of the LORD.
You say, ‘Do not prophesy against Israel,
and do not preach against the house of Isaac.’
Therefore thus says the LORD:
Your wife shall become a prostitute in the city,
and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword,
and your land shall be parceled out by line;
you yourself shall die in an unclean land,
and Israel shall surely go into exile away from its land.”

Amos 7:10-17; NRSVue

If I can say I have a favorite prophet, Amos might be it, or high on the list. His humility, honesty, and not flinching from speaking God’s word is so much needed at every time, certainly today. Not the babbling of the many false prophets who are speaking what “the king,” what those in power, even what the people might want to hear. No. But telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

Amos says the most difficult things. We do no one any favor by sugar coating what needs to be said, so that the hard truth is possibly lost. No. We need to say it plainly, clearly like Amos. Only when the truth of God’s needed judgment is absorbed and accepted can the truth of God’s forgiveness and restoration come forth and be received.

what is life? and the American dream (part two)

He said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to your span of life? If then you are not able to do so small a thing as that, why do you worry about the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, you of little faith! And do not keep seeking what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not keep worrying. For it is the nations of the world that seek all these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.

“Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Luke 12:22-34; NRSVue

Yesterday we considered Jesus’s parable of the rich fool, which precedes this passage. It’s good, even important to consider that with what follows. Hoarding in significant part is tied to a sense of insecurity. It seems natural to do so when one sees the possibility of economic fallout up ahead or has experienced that. Probably many of those who came out of the Great Depression here in the US were known for their thrift and conservative spending, not bad things in themselves, along with hoarding for not a few. That might merely be a part of one’s post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), certainly nothing to condemn anyone over.

At the same time, all of us must be wary of just where we put our confidence. If it’s in the capitalist free market, then there can never be full assurance that all will be well. A good community in the heart of love for one’s neighbor as oneself, will at least see to it that all are taken care of, that no one is left behind. Ultimately Christ-followers believe one’s trust should be in God. But that does not at all alleviate the necessity of peoples doing what they can to help each other.

None of that is diminished in the least in what Jesus says above, yet it was in a setting in which Rome’s rule was galling, debilitating for the average person and family living in Judea and Gallilee. The vision of God’s rule/kingdom that Jesus brought in harmony with the Old Testament prophets cast a vision in which all are taken care of, no one is left behind. In the meantime, while that vision is beginning to be seen and realized, Jesus’s disciples are to totally trust God, that God as their Father(/Mother) will take care of them, will meet all of their needs. That indeed, even “the kingdom” is theirs. And that they’re to be generous in the very same way that God is generous to them.

God’s goodness is everywhere. And we are recipients of that. We’re to seek that first, a goodness that is for all. Where our heart as followers of Jesus is supposed to be.

war no more

The word that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

In days to come
the mountain of the LORD’s house
shall be established as the highest of the mountains
and shall be raised above the hills;
all the nations shall stream to it.
Many peoples shall come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,
to the house of the God of Jacob,
that he may teach us his ways
and that we may walk in his paths.”
For out of Zion shall go forth instruction
and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
He shall judge between the nations
and shall arbitrate for many peoples;
they shall beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation;
neither shall they learn war any more.
O house of Jacob,
come, let us walk
in the light of the LORD!

Isaiah 2:1-5; NRSVue

There seems little I can turn to as far as Christian resources, particularly from the community and tradition I was a part of for many years, in the way of advocating for the cessation of war and armed conflict, and a just peace. In the tradition I left we live in a time pressing closer to Jesus’s return in which they’ll only be an increase in wars and rumors of wars. And that tradition more than any other in the US is in favor of war and military buildup. So I certainly can’t expect much help from them.

We have to turn to early church fathers before Augustine and Constantine to begin to get help from the church. And we also turn to pacifist movements within the church like the Franciscans along with the Peace Church movements in the Anabaptists along with the Quakers. All others seem not only steeped in the idea of the inevitability of war, but historically right up to the present day, very much a part of it.

But what does Jesus say? What does Scripture say? Jesus was steeped in the prophets and the word from Isaiah quoted above along with a host of other passages advocates for the end of bloodshed and war. Yes, there’s no doubt we live in an evil time, but what if we Christians were focused and committed to “the things that make for peace,” (Jesus’s words: Luke 19:42) instead of given to the idea that the present order needs to be maintained at all costs? What if violence and war were considered a very last resort and there would be a commitment to a society and world in which those bent on violence and advocating war were more and more marginalized?

Yes, I realize that the tradition I came out of can never receive this. That’s why in part I left it and am now back to the tradition I was raised in. But those of us in the so-called Christian Peace Church tradition need to raise our voices and do what we can to stem the tide of violence. Only then through Christ will we be a needed light in the darkness, calling the nations and peoples to work on better solutions in solving problems, with the sense that we are inescapably in this together.

for pietism or a pietistic faith

If any think they are religious and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

James 1:26-27; NRSVue

At least one of the Christian writers and leaders whom I respect much has had harsh things to write and say against pietism. Pietism is a historical term which in the beginning had a positive as in good meaning. Historically there was a breakaway from scholastic Lutheranism and whatever else to emphasize a warm, experiential faith in Christ devoted to good works. Over time, pietism came to mean any number of things, often the idea amounting to navel gazing, being all concerned for one’s own life in God and mostly oblivious to anything else. Or maybe following human rules and mostly stopping at that.

But take the entire book of James, and specifically the quote above, and you’ll find something quite different. There is indeed an emphasis on how we live in community and individually which has strong ties to the Old Testament/ Hebrew prophets. In James and I would argue in Scripture as a whole, it’s not as much a matter of what we believe as how we live. Yes, as followers of Christ, we believe that he is the source of it all. But what is this life in Christ all about? What we think we know?

James would tell us not mincing words that none of that at all matters if our lives don’t line up with whatever actually is true in what we might believe or profess. That is largely what the entire book of James is about along with the rest of Scripture. Either it’s becoming more and more a part of who we actually are from head to toe, or we’re deceived.

dump it and do better

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. As for the things that you have learned and received and heard and noticed in me, do them, and the God of peace will be with you.

Philippians 4:8-9; NRSVue

There’s no end to the problems that at times even seem threatening in this world. No end. Those of us who live in a privileged existence compared to the rest of the world shouldn’t complain. But just the same, we’re not immune to danger and death. On top of that, we have the unending feed of bad news, and the politics of the day are divisive at best. If you turn on the 7-day, 24-hour newsfeed, you are often deluged with something other than actual news which isn’t good. Not to mention again the news itself, which is reserved for the troubles and worse that are happening. I actually do want to keep up on these things. I want to be informed and aware so that hopefully I can be an advocate for better outcomes, for a better world. And more important, I want to be a part of a faith community that is passionate for the same, and we’re fortunately blessed to be a part of a church that is.

All of that said, we need to feed our minds, our hearts, our souls with all the great, good, and beautiful that God has for us. We see it in nature, in the simple things of life, in good books, in music, in the beauty all around us. Instead of dwelling on all the bad and what might happen, we need to be thankful for all the good and what hasn’t happened as well as all the good that has.

This is something that we have to do. It doesn’t just happen to us, not even as followers of Christ. God will help us if we deliberately fill our thoughts and lives with good things. Some of that should be just how there might be better outcomes in the most difficult places. What better thoughts are there than that? To read about those who are advocating and working for such. To join in through prayer and giving as well as working at developing a better imagination for better life everywhere.

This is not just some mindset, heart attitude, but ought to be part and parcel of who we are. We know in this life that there won’t be any utopia, nor any place on earth immune to difficulty of some sort or another both physically and socially. The promise in Christ called “hope” of a better world, indeed the new creation mentioned by the Hebrew/ Old Testament prophets, another good thought for us to engage, will not envelop the earth now. But that still ought to be the vision we’re working on better seeing and understanding, that we should carry and hold on to even for this life, for a better world in war torn places like the Middle East, Africa, and an eye for a merciful justice everywhere.

This is not talking about an escapism in which we can hide our heads in the sand and live in some sort of personal or communal ideal kind of existence. But it’s about living in the midst of trouble and yet longing for God’s good judgment and salvation in the midst of it all.

needed perspective: God’s sovereignty means God is working and has the last word

Habakkuk is a prophet and book which I think especially resonates today. Israel of old was guilty and so were the Babylonians and Assyrians which were used by God to bring judgment. Habakkuk saw wrong on every side and was bewildered. It’s not like he hid and lived in a monastic kind of existence oblivious to “the news.” And he asked the hard questions to God.

This is not a read to give one answers so they can become settled in a day when locally, in states, in the nation, in other nations, in international affairs there is such turmoil and upheaval. Instead it’s a word to help us lift our perspective beyond the muddle and mess of the present to a higher hand which will prevail. And our response to that.

The oracle that the prophet Habakkuk saw.

O LORD, how long shall I cry for help,
and you will not listen?
Or cry to you “Violence!”
and you will not save?
Why do you make me see wrongdoing
and look at trouble?
Destruction and violence are before me;
strife and contention arise.
So the law becomes slack,
and justice never prevails.
The wicked surround the righteous;
therefore judgment comes forth perverted.

Look at the nations and see!
Be astonished! Be astounded!
For a work is being done in your days
that you would not believe if you were told.
For I am rousing the Chaldeans,
that fierce and impetuous nation,
who march through the breadth of the earth
to seize dwellings not their own.
Dread and fearsome are they;
their justice and dignity proceed from themselves.
Their horses are swifter than leopards,
more menacing than wolves at dusk;
their horses charge.
Their horsemen come from far away;
they fly like an eagle swift to devour.
They all come for violence,
with faces pressing forward;
they gather captives like sand.
At kings they scoff,
and of rulers they make sport.
They laugh at every fortress
and heap up earth to take it.
Then they sweep by like the wind;
they transgress and become guilty;
their own might is their god!

Are you not from of old,
O LORD my God, my Holy One?
You shall not die.
O LORD, you have marked them for judgment,
and you, O Rock, have established them for punishment.
Your eyes are too pure to behold evil,
and you cannot look on wrongdoing;
why do you look on the treacherous
and are silent when the wicked swallow
those more righteous than they?
You have made people like the fish of the sea,
like crawling things that have no ruler.

He brings all of them up with a hook;
he drags them out with his net;
he gathers them in his seine,
so he rejoices and exults.
Therefore he sacrifices to his net
and makes offerings to his seine,
for by them his portion is lavish,
and his food is rich.
Is he then to keep on emptying his net
and destroying nations without mercy?

I will stand at my watchpost
and station myself on the rampart;
I will keep watch to see what he will say to me
and what he will answer concerning my complaint.
Then the LORD answered me and said:
Write the vision;
make it plain on tablets,
so that a runner may read it.
For there is still a vision for the appointed time;
it speaks of the end and does not lie.
If it seems to tarry, wait for it;
it will surely come; it will not delay.
Look at the proud!
Their spirit is not right in them,
but the righteous live by their faithfulness.
Moreover, wealth is treacherous;
the arrogant do not endure.
They open their throats wide as Sheol;
like Death they never have enough.
They gather all nations for themselves
and collect all peoples as their own.

Shall not everyone taunt such people and, with mocking riddles, say about them,

“Alas for you who heap up what is not your own!”
How long will you load yourselves with goods taken in pledge?
Will not your own creditors suddenly rise
and those who make you tremble wake up?
Then you will be plunder for them.
Because you have plundered many nations,
all who survive of the peoples shall plunder you—
because of human bloodshed and violence to the earth,
to cities and all who live in them.

“Alas for you who get evil gain for your house,
setting your nest on high
to be safe from the reach of harm!”
You have devised shame for your house
by cutting off many peoples;
you have forfeited your life.
The very stones will cry out from the wall,
and the rafter will respond from the woodwork.

“Alas for you who build a town by bloodshed
and found a city on iniquity!”
Is it not from the LORD of hosts
that peoples labor only to feed the flames
and nations weary themselves for nothing?
But the earth will be filled
with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD,
as the waters cover the sea.

“Alas for you who make your neighbors drink,
pouring out your wrath until they are drunk,
in order to gaze on their nakedness!”
You will be sated with contempt instead of glory.
Drink, you yourself, and stagger!
The cup in the LORD’s right hand
will come around to you,
and shame will come upon your glory!
For the violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you;
the destruction of the animals will terrify you—
because of human bloodshed and violence to the earth,
to cities and all who live in them.

What use is an idol
once its maker has shaped it—
a cast image, a teacher of lies?
For its maker trusts in what has been made,
though the product is only an idol that cannot speak!
Alas for you who say to the wood, “Wake up!”
to silent stone, “Rouse yourself!”
Can it teach?
See, it is gold and silver plated,
and there is no breath in it at all.

But the LORD is in his holy temple;
let all the earth keep silence before him!

A prayer of the prophet Habakkuk according to Shigionoth.

O LORD, I have heard of your renown,
and I stand in awe, O LORD, of your work.
In our own time revive it;
in our own time make it known;
in wrath may you remember mercy.
God came from Teman,
the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah
His glory covered the heavens,
and the earth was full of his praise.
The brightness was like the sun;
rays came forth from his hand,
where his power lay hidden.
Before him went pestilence,
and plague followed close behind.
He stopped and shook the earth;
he looked and made the nations tremble.
The eternal mountains were shattered;
along his ancient pathways
the everlasting hills sank low.
I saw the tents of Cushan under affliction;
the tent curtains of the land of Midian trembled.
Was your wrath against the rivers, O LORD,
or your anger against the rivers
or your rage against the sea,
when you drove your horses,
your chariots to victory?
You brandished your naked bow;
sated were the arrows at your command. Selah
You split the earth with rivers.
The mountains saw you and writhed;
a torrent of water swept by;
the deep gave forth its voice.
The sun raised high its hands;
the moon stood still in its exalted place,
at the light of your arrows speeding by,
at the gleam of your flashing spear.
In fury you marched on the earth;
in anger you trampled nations.
You came forth to save your people,
to save your anointed.
You crushed the head of the wicked house,
laying it bare from foundation to roof. Selah
You pierced with their own arrows the head of his warriors,
who came like a whirlwind to scatter us,
gloating as if ready to devour the poor who were in hiding.
You trampled the sea with your horses,
churning the mighty waters.

I hear, and I tremble within;
my lips quiver at the sound.
Rottenness enters into my bones,
and my steps tremble beneath me.
I wait quietly for the day of calamity
to come upon the people who attack us.

Though the fig tree does not blossom
and no fruit is on the vines;
though the produce of the olive fails
and the fields yield no food;
though the flock is cut off from the fold
and there is no herd in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the LORD;
I will exult in the God of my salvation.
GOD, the Lord, is my strength;
he makes my feet like the feet of a deer
and makes me tread upon the heights.

To the leader: with stringed instruments.

Habakkuk; NRSVue

what does it mean to know God according to Hebrew/Christian Old Testament prophets?

Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness
and his upper rooms by injustice,
who makes his neighbors work for nothing
and does not give them their wages,
who says, “I will build myself a spacious house
with large upper rooms,”
and who cuts out windows for it,
paneling it with cedar
and painting it with vermilion.
Are you a king
because you compete in cedar?
Did not your father eat and drink
and do justice and righteousness?
Then it was well with him.
He judged the cause of the poor and needy;
then it was well.
Is not this to know me?
says the Lord.
But your eyes and heartJe
are only on your dishonest gain,
for shedding innocent blood,
and for practicing oppression and violence.

Jeremiah 22:13-17; NRSVue

I’m not sure what Christian messages and so many churches are getting at these days because when I read or catch something of it, it seems to have little or nothing to do with what we see is the concern and passion of the Hebrew/Christian Old Testament prophets. The important work of the Hebrew/Christian Old Testament prophets goes on today: To call sin by its real name in violation of love for neighbor which is violation of love for God with the judgment and calls for justice which come with that, and to cast a vision of hope in God’s ultimate promise for all creation in new creation. If a Christian message has little to no concern for that, then we should have no interest in that message.

Jeremiah explains what it means in significant part to know God: To look after the needs of the poor and oppressed, and to see to it that justice is done on their behalf. Read in context, that’s exactly what the above passage is saying. And such a concern does not just dwell on one issue. During decades of my life, “pro-life” has meant opposition to abortion, but little if anything else, at least for the very most part. That gives the lie right away to any pro-life profession. You either consider the whole and every aspect of it, or you might as well consider none of it at all. In the first place, when it comes to the issue of abortion, scripturally, theologically, scientifically, etc., the beliefs of “pro-life” advocates are called into question in a number of ways. But let’s say for the sake of argument that they are entirely correct in their stand against abortion. And while I question much of the talk around abortion, I do want to say here that the goal in part should be to make any late term abortions rare and preferably non-existent. But that said, again, if any group is really pro-life, then that group will be concerned for the health of all from cradle to grave. Otherwise, they’re only pro-life in name.

Another thing in our nation’s politics. The lie of trickle-down economics. So many struggle to make ends meet, don’t have a living wage, and inadequate healthcare at best, but others are rich at their expense. Nothing new, but very present with us, and in the past several decades has become a thing, and is getting worse. Yes, some will say that it’s better here than in certain food-deprived, war-torn nations. Point taken. But don’t pretend to be pro-life if you don’t care about the health outcomes and life situations of all. Beginning in your own nation, just as many of these pro-life people say. Of course there are pro-life people who do try to care for all in this way. But look at the politics of most of the pro-life movement. It is aligned with the trickle down economic theory, and with more of an “everyone is responsible for themselves” mantra which ends up losing many -and think of the children- to poorer outcomes. And I would like to say what to me trickle down really means metaphorically, but I will hold my peace.

Every violation of love for neighbor is violation of love for God. We have to be willing to say the hard things if we’re really followers of Jesus and the prophets. We have to be willing to challenge what’s wrong, and for most of us simply live in a completely different way, with totally other priorities. That is if we’re to really know God according to what Jeremiah is telling us here.

is the word in us?

The prophets are nothing but wind,
for the word is not in them.

Jeremiah 5:13a

The words from Jeremiah refer to a specific time and place. Just echoing them does not mean that the word is in us. But often in our thinking, we equate words from the Bible as God’s word. Often the sacred text of scripture is called God’s Word. But Christ is the Word, and through scripture I take it that we can receive God’s word for us.

God’s word can come to us in different ways. There was a long period of time when God’s people were illiterate, when Bibles were chained to a church wall or whatever, because it took so long for scribes to hand copy a Bible. But God’s word was still alive and active among God’s people. Often in more mystical ways, which I think we find precedent of in scripture.

But the words here in Jeremiah is a searching question for me. I don’t care what I think I know, I don’t even care if I would have the entire Bible memorized, and believe you me, I don’t really have all that much word for word memorized, relatively little at all. That’s not the point. Is God’s word coming through me when need be? And from that, hopefully there can be a contagion of God’s word coming through others or vice versa, God’s word coming to me through witnessing it coming through others in the community of God.

The prophets reproved in Jeremiah were windbags, quite noisy, had plenty to say, and were evidently getting a good hearing. But though they purported to be speaking God’s word, the fact of the matter was that God’s word was not in them at all.

That’s the important thing: Is God’s word in us either when we’re going about our lives, or speaking? Something to pray about and ponder.