Warning! The current way of things in the world is changing. There is a crisis underway. It's serious, a life or death crisis. Some, those who are most comfortable with the way things are, will object, deny, and resist what is coming. They will shout, curse, fight, argue, and do whatever they can to keep things the way they have been. They are nostalgic traditionalists, who claim that their values and way of life are being stolen from them. They detest foreigners and have a clear perspective of insiders and outsiders, good guys and bad guys, the blessed and the cursed. They use religion, even the bible, to support their mastery, their supremacy, their self-righteousness. Wealth is viewed as a sign of greatness, success, security, and divine blessing. Poverty, the opposite. There is much anxiety and worry spent over who is right and who is wrong, over the need to acquire and possess. There is a lot of fear and anxiety. The daily news is driven by it.
Adapting to massive cultural shifts, such as the one that took place during the 1st century world of Israel/Palestine, the high Roman imperial period, is challenging. Jesus was born into a time of disruption, inequality, suffering, and division. We are currently living in such a time. The ecological crisis, the crisis of growing economic inequality, the religious crises (extremism, fundamentalism, and the decline of religion in the west) are threatening life on the planet. Divisive politics are both a response to and an instrument of this crisis moment in history. Current global politics seems to be exacerbating the massive challenges we face as humans. Massive displacement of peoples due to war, poverty, and climate disruption has created border and refugee crises. Rather than address them with compassion, we see mass incarceration and deportation and violence. Rising nativism and demonization of refugees denies human rights and basic dignity--even in the U.S., a nation founded on liberty and justice for all, a place of welcome for the persecuted and the displaced. Here we see a growing ambivalence or even rejection of non-white, non-native born citizens. Election politics demonstrates this ambivalence.
There is much in this chapter from Luke worth hearing: From an indictment on wealth and self-sufficiency that says, "You fool, this very night your soul is being demanded from you, and all these things whose will they be?" To a rejoinder not to worry or fret or fear in the midst of reactionary, petty, inhumane treatment given and received by those threatened by changes they cannot control. We ought to anticipate generational division as part of this cultural shift. It's always true that those who have benefited from the current way of things the longest are most invested in it. It may be that the idealism of youth is a perspective worth keeping.
We do hear promises of protection and provision here as well. And this is good news when the crisis is real and vulnerability is high. Living in troubled times, times of social change, can be difficult. To whom or what do we cling? How do we survive, cope, hold on?
People of faith are invited to let go and cling to God with hope and anticipation that ultimately God is the force of life working everything toward goodness and life.
Jesus and the prophets have always warned the world: If you put your faith in yourself, other people, wealth, governments, or ones social status, you will be disappointed and you may even suffer. But trust God and you will have life. Yes, we face real crises. Climate change threatens everything. But, "It is the Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." That's Jesus way of saying, God is good and generous and actually loves us. We have life right now. We ought not to hoard it, or hide from it. We are invited to share, to give, to live into this vulnerability and receive the gifts that abound in God's economy. For in it there is enough for all.
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