Week 2

Read: 1 Corinthians 1:26-29

Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God.

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Reflect

As we come to grips with the manifold issues of a consumerist society, it is tempting to be overly selfconscious and even smugly “guilty” in pondering our role in perpetuating what may appear to be a completely broken system. So again, the author Joerg Rieger suggests that “a deep logic of the Judeo-Christian traditions is anchored in such passages as 1 Corinthians.

Rieger writes in his book, No Rising Tide: Theology, Economics, and the Future:

The ancient confession that Jesus Christ is both fully divine and fully human, which unites most Christian denominations, adds another wrinkle to this logic that is hardly considered by most contemporary Christians. In Jesus Christ, Godself not only takes the side of construction workers, but becomes a construction worker; this is the reality to which the often mystified term kenosis (God’s self-emptying in the incarnation) refers…Christ became flesh in a particular body, in a particular place and time, and in a particular social location…

Mainline Christian theology has had a hard time admitting to the particularity of the person of Jesus throughout its two-thousand year history…[B]oth Jesus’ humanity and his divinity were asserted in general terms, without reference to the kind of person Jesus was. The result of this oversight was not the affirmation of generic humanity, as is often believed; the result was the affirmation of dominant humanity at the time and of dominant humanity ever since…

For Christianity, it is the incarnation of God in the construction worker Jesus Christ, born in a stable rather than a palace, in the company of service workers who tended other people’s sheep (Luke 2:1-20), which turns things upside down. The typical religiosity which goes from the greatest to the least comes to a halt here and is turned around.

Pray

Grant, O God, that your holy and life-giving Spirit may so move every human heart, that barriers which divide us may crumble, suspicions disappear, and hatreds cease; that our divisions being healed, we may live in justice and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

(The Book of Common Prayer, p. 823)

Author

Joe Burnett served as bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Nebraska and as an assistant bishop in the Diocese  of Maryland.

Read:  Exodus 16:9-12

Then Moses said to Aaron, “Say to the whole congregation of the Israelites, ‘Draw near to the LORD, for he has heard your complaining.’“ And as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the Israelites, they looked toward the wilderness, and the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud. The LORD spoke to Moses and said, “I have heard the complaining of the Israelites; say to them, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread; then you shall know that I am the LORD your God.’”

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Reflect

Consumerism, at its heart, is simply the consumption of goods. It is not intrinsically evil, although certainly there is much talk about the morality of overconsumption. This is especially by those in developed countries like the United States, where we consume far more than a fair share of natural and manufactured resources. But author Joerg Rieger posits an interesting perspective on consumerism in his book, No Rising Tide: Theology, Economics, and the Future.

When religious people discuss economic matters, one of the problems that is identified immediately is consumerism. People are too consumeristic, the charge goes. They identify their value by what they buy and how much they can buy, or so it is assumed. The related charge is materialism. People supposedly care about material things more than about spiritual things.

These charges overlook at least two basic problems and share one major blind spot. Even in a so-called consumer society, the will to consume more and more cannot necessarily be taken for granted. This may come as a surprise to many because it is commonly assumed that people always want more. Yet we shall see that the will to consume more needs to be produced, nurtured, and constantly revitalized if the economy is to grow.

Those who run the advertising agencies know this best; the will to consume and the desire that drives it cannot be taken for granted, and this is what keeps them in business. Second, this so-called materialism is really a misnomer because it is not ultimately about material things. The things that we buy promise us much more: advertising thus directs us not towards materialism but towards fulfillment. The major blind spot that will need to be addressed in this connection—a blind spot perpetuated both by mainline economists and theologians—has to do with the role of production. There is no consumption without production…

What drives consumption, therefore, is not primarily consumerism but the economic imperative of the production of goods, ideas, and services. Yet this engine is usually hidden from view, especially when consumerism is lamented as the problem.

As we begin to understand the link between production and consumption, consumerism and the problem of wants are no longer seen as a problem of individual ethics and cannot be solved, therefore, by moral appeals to individuals.

Pray

Almighty and everlasting God, you are always more  ready to hear than we to pray, and to give more than we either desire or deserve: Pour upon us the abundance of your mercy, forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid, and giving us those good things for which we are not worthy to ask, except through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ our Savior, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God,  for ever and ever. Amen.

(The Book of Common Prayer, p. 234)

Author

Joe Burnett served as bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Nebraska and as an assistant bishop in the Diocese  of Maryland.

Read:  Luke 12:15-21

And he [Jesus] said to them, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.”  Then he told them a parable: “The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, ‘What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’  Then he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink,  be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.”

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Reflect

Today’s rapid rate of consumption undermines environmental resources. In the liturgy for Ash Wednesday in The Book of Common Prayer, we are invited “in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God’s holy Word.” In what ways might our lives be changed if we were to engage in new ways of fulfilling these disciplines?

For example, what would happen in our lives if we took an inventory of our real needs rather than of our insatiable desires? What if we were to make it part and parcel of our Lenten practice to reflect on how the things we want, buy, and own are potentially forms of addiction to a lifestyle that undermines genuine economic and environmental health? What if we were to come to terms with the motivations or compulsions that drive our purchasing decisions? Might not a deeper understanding of these forces lead us to more redemptive choices in our daily lives? And in so doing, might this lead us, as the Ash Wednesday invitation puts it, “to make a right beginning of repentance”?

Excessive consumption exacerbates inequalities between the rich and poor. And if trends continue, today’s problems of consumption and inequality will worsen. We must look at redistributing from high-income to low-income consumers, moving from polluting to cleaner goods and production technologies, promoting goods that empower poor producers, and shifting priority from consumption for conspicuous display to meeting basic needs.

This Lenten season calls us to pause periodically to reflect on what our real needs are and how our relationships to others in our community—and in  the world around us—might become sources of lifegiving power.

Pray

Almighty and eternal God, so draw our hearts to you, so guide our minds, so fill our imaginations, so control our wills, that we may be wholly yours, utterly dedicated to you; and then use us, we pray, as you will, and always to your glory and the welfare of your people; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

(The Book of Common Prayer, p. 833)

Author

Joe Burnett served as bishop of the Episcopal Diocese  of Nebraska and as an assistant bishop in the Diocese  of Maryland.

Read: Matthew 6:31-32

Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’  or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For  it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.

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Reflect

In this portion of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus reminds us that God knows what we need. It is more difficult for us to know what we need. On the one hand, our language around “need” is quite elastic. Much in our culture is designed to blur the lines between needs, wants, and mere caprices. The more these lines are blurred, the easier it is to get us to consume as if all wants and whims are needs.

On the other hand, if we are extremely rigorous, we can probably reduce our basic needs to those that differ little from the needs of a houseplant: food, water, some sort of shelter. We are not houseplants, however. If you dress people in a burlap sack and sandals and plunk them down in the middle of any American city, you have not met their needs; you have simply turned them into a sort of joke. People dressed in such minimalist garb could not function in our world. They could not enter most workplaces; they could not order a meal; no one would rent them housing.

Because we live in communities and play particular roles in the world, our needs cannot be reduced to those of a houseplant. Perhaps our true needs are better articulated in questions about what we need in order to occupy our place in a community with dignity. This approach makes answers to questions about our needs both more significant and more difficult to attain. Answering questions about what we need in order to live with dignity in our context becomes tied up with questions about the nature of our communities, our roles in those communities, and how a community establishes notions of dignity and worth. It is only in the light of addressing these questions, which will require a comprehensive and forthright examination of our lives in community, can we faithfully address the question of what we truly need.

Pray

Lord, you know our needs even before we ask. Give us grace and a Spirit of truthfulness so that we each might come to understand anew ourselves, and our place in the world, and in so doing, live beyond our own needs and seek wholeheartedly to serve the needs of others. Amen.

Author

Joe Burnett served as bishop of the Episcopal Diocese  of Nebraska and as an assistant bishop in the Diocese  of Maryland.

Read:  2 Corinthians 8:1-7

We want you to know, brothers and sisters, about the grace of God that has been granted to the churches of Macedonia; for during a severe ordeal of affliction, their abundant joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For, as I can testify, they voluntarily gave according to their means, and even beyond their means, begging us earnestly for the privilege of sharing in this ministry to the saints—and this, not merely as we expected; they gave themselves first to the Lord and, by the will of God, to us, so that we might urge Titus that, as he had already made a beginning, so he should also complete this generous undertaking among you. Now as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in utmost eagerness, and in our love for you—so we want you to excel also in this generous undertaking.

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Reflect

Our current economy depends on high and ever-increasing levels of consumption. This type of consumption invites us to view the things we buy with a significant level of detachment, so that we can discard them and purchase new and improved items. We even bring that level of detachment into our monetary transactions. For example, if you buy a cup of coffee at the same place on a regular basis, do you know the name of the person who serves you? Of course, we are even more detached from those who grew and roasted the coffee beans. Global consumerism cultivates and thrives on such detachment.

Paul recognizes that money and other material goods connect his churches to each other and to the church in Jerusalem. Rather than being opposed to material goods and to money in principle, Paul wants believers to understand that money and the things we use it for can connect us to others, forming bonds that would not otherwise exist. We need to attend to the nature of those bonds so that they can be mutually supportive and life-giving. Otherwise the connections forged by money can become distorted and oppressive. We can use money and the things it can purchase as a way to separate ourselves from others—or money and things we purchase with it can open opportunities for relationship and ultimately friendship with others. What will you choose?

Pray

O God, you made us in your own image and redeemed us through Jesus your Son: Look with compassion on the whole human family; take away the arrogance and hatred which infect our hearts; break down the walls that separate us; unite us in bonds of love; and work through our struggle and confusion to accomplish your purposes on earth; that, in your good time, all nations and races may serve you in harmony around your heavenly throne; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

(The Book of Common Prayer, p. 815)

Author

Joe Burnett served as bishop of the Episcopal Diocese  of Nebraska and as an assistant bishop in the Diocese  of Maryland.