Matthew 6:24-34

Epiphany 8 - Year A

Matthew 6:24-34

In today’s world we might translate, “You cannot serve God and Corporations.”

If that is not self-evident, I’m not sure what can be done to help focus this. The issue of wealth or money is built on a zero-sum principle of competition to get your piece of the pie. And, since it is a competition, there is no end to the size of the piece that one needs. The operative word is a drivenness of “more”. There is no sense of a joy of “enough”.

Today’s inward/outward quote is pertinent here:

The Spiral of Materialism
Matthew Fox
The spiral of materialism is eternal and never ends.... The materialist is never satisfied. For the heart is not made full or satisfied by any, or even all, of the things that the religion of materialism and its preachers of advertising want so desperately to sell us. "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be," warned Jesus. And the treasures that lead to compassionate living are not buyable because they are less objects than they are experiences.... Greed never asks when is enough, enough? It knows nothing of limits. Therefore, it knows nothing of the true pleasures that life is about. It is utterly ignorant of celebration.

If you value relationship, growth, and celebration more than accumulating resources, you might be interested in a new opportunity to band together to return corporations to their functional state and remove them from competition with people’s well-being. Russ Feingold and many others have begun an attempt at challenging the current and growing power of corporations. You join me in signing on at: http://www.progressivesunited.org/ .

This is larger than Russ, though he is a face for it. It is larger than you, though your action is as crucial as anyones. This is for all those who are tired of striving’s vanity. This is for those who understand the freedom of G*D and healthy relationships are the starting points for knowing how to live with enough today that more will have enough tomorrow.

Here is a key question: What is more about? Is it about food, clothing, security, happiness, satisfaction? What do you need more of? Is it assurance of blessedness? Is it trust in meaning beyond that which passes too quickly away? Is it simple beauty, a graceful movement through the opportunities and challenges of any ordinary day? What do you need more of?