I sat riveted to the television, radio, newspaper, etc. this past week following the economic crisis.  To tell the truth, it’s making me a little crazy - both the crisis and the media coverage of it!  The anxiety running rampant through Wall St. and down Main St. all across the USA makes it hard to think clearly - at least it does for me.  So, I’m wondering, how we can respond to difficult economic realities in a way that is consistent with Christian faith. 

Jesus in the gospels talked a lot about money especially in terms of the reality of his own time and culture.  He criticized the complicity of religious leaders with the political power structure.  He challenged the way the Temple was being used to oppress the poor and to ostracize marginalized people.   Finally, he challenged the ways individual people valued their possessions often more than the welfare of other people or their dedication to God.  Jesus spoke most directly to our economic situation today, however, when he said, "I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly." (John 10:10)

I confess that I am feeling afraid because of the current economic crisis.  It is fear that there won’t be enough money to meet my obligations in the future or help provide for my family.  Even to the extent this fear is irrational, it hangs around.  Scarcity promotes anxiety.  A sense of scarcity can also promote greed.  People with lots of money can also be haunted by a sense of scarcity that can lead them greedily to pursue more and more.  While it is not my ambition to be a person without a lot of money, I do want to be a person who is filled with a sense of abundance.  It takes faith to trust in that abundance.

A friend of mine recently sent me the link to Fr. Richard Rohr’s daily meditations online.  Fr. Rohr wrote,

Forgiveness and inclusion are Jesus' "great themes".  They are the practical name of love, and without forgiveness and inclusivity love is largely a sentimental valentine. They are also the two practices that most undercut human violence. (cac@cacradicalgrace.org)

Embracing forgiveness and inclusion are marks of abundant living.   To embrace being forgiven, to accept it fully, is to be filled with a sense of our intrinsic worth as human beings.  Even when we transgress, we are also worthy of being forgiven and of being in intimate relationship with God and others.  To accept forgiveness from another is to respond to their gift of restored relationship.  It is to give you that same gift out of the abundance of the grace I have received from you.  To be inclusive is to live in the strength that we are not diminished in the act of embracing the full equality of another person.

Our churches have something of tremendous value to offer American culture.  This really good news is that we do not need to achieve and succeed in order to be worthwhile as persons and as a society.  We are intrinsically valuable and valued as a gift of God.  We, then, can give our efforts fully to work that is worthy of our investment and in sync with our authentic nature in the Spirit.  This is the issue of our lives - how our deepest faith will inform all the choices of our lives.  This may be the greatest challenge we face on the journey.  Do we really want to be called to life in all its abundance?

Thanks for continuing to bless me as we journey together.

--Jack Price