“U.S. inequality is at its highest point for nearly a
century. Those at the top – no matter how you slice it – are enjoying a larger
share of the national pie; the number below the poverty level is growing. The
gap between those with the median income and those at the top is growing, too.
…We are paying a high price for inequality: it contributes to social, economic
and political instability, and to lower growth.”
These are the words of Nobel laureate and economist
Joseph Stiglitz writing in the prestigious Financial Times. As a
diverse congregation, we may have different political reactions to his
statement, but as Christians we should all be equally troubled by the growing
inequality in our society.
Have we forgotten what God teaches us about our
responsibilities to the poor, the hungry, and the homeless? Has our obsession
with the marketplace, celebrity, and wealth caused us to forget that it will be
the humble who will inherit the earth, not the rich and famous?
The second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles tells us
how the earliest followers of Christ lived: “All who believed were together
and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and
distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need.” (Acts 2:45) We may not be
called to this same communal life, but we are called to assure that those who
need food, shelter, clothing, or health care never go without, especially when
there are those who have more than enough. John the Baptizer put it very
simply, “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and
whoever has food must do likewise.” (Luke 3:11)
Michael Sandel, a professor at Harvard University, asks
in his most recent book, “What Money Can’t Buy” whether we are creating
a “skybox” society, where we each live in our exclusive, protected skyboxes,
where we need not be concerned with or for others. As long as we have what we
need for a comfortable life in our skybox, we can live detached from even
thinking about those out of sight. He expresses his concern that we have let
the marketplace triumph and push out communal concerns in favor of letting our
dollars decide how our community lives and who are the haves and have-nots.
Paul echoes James’s warning to the rich with his words, “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.” (1 Timothy
6:9). We cannot forget that even as we are a community of faith, we live our
faith in community and that means we have responsibilities for one another,
friend and stranger alike.
We are called by Jesus to be to be Kingdom builders, not
empire builders. Those who have had material success are called to a higher
level of responsibility within the community: they are “to do good, to be
rich in good works, generous and ready to share.” (1 Timothy 6:18) For as
our Lord Jesus has taught us, “from everyone to whom much as been given,
much will be required; and from the one to whom much has been entrusted, even
more will be demanded.” (Luke 12:48)
Grace & peace,
Pastor Skip
