WHAT IF ...
Walter
Brueggemann writes:
Persons living in a
system of anxiety and fear and consequently GREED have no time nor energy for
the common good. Defining anxiety focuses total attention on the self at the
expense of the common good.
As
Canadians we pride ourselves on the provision and maintenance of the common
good. We look back on the work of Tommy Douglas and medicare and pat ourselves
on the back and say – “we’re good at providing for the common good … we’re all
about the common good …”
But are
we?
Four men
have died homeless on the streets of Toronto this winter, and one in Brandon
and no doubt others in other cities and communities … unemployment and
precarious employment abound … the economics are not helping the majority of
our fellow citizens … and all around us the common good is not what we think it
is … it is fading and eroding and is less than good and less than common …
Yet the
myth persists … even though we are living in a belief structure that emphasizes
paucity rather than abundance. We live on a planet that is overwhelming in its
resources and in what it offers us in our lives – yet we have come to believe
that we live in a world that lacks much …
To
return for a moment to Brueggemann – he writes of this:
Our immediate experience of the
kingdom of paucity is our entitled consumerism in which there is always a HOPE
for more in which we imagine that something more will make us more comfortable,
safer and happier.
Brueggemann
goes on to describe the tools by which a complacency is imposed and as a
society, we buy into a myth that we live in a time and place of paucity, and we
are to work harder and harder for more and more, when in fact we have enough …
maybe even more than enough … but we have been convinced otherwise by political
and business leaders, we are bombarded by the media constantly that we need the
newer, bigger, latest more flashy gadget and gizmo, and we’re told over and
over that our common good is under attack, not from OUR greedy and selfish
choices but by external threats like immigrants, aliens, or today’s latest
villain – terrorists …
We are
immersed in a message that the common good is under threat, but we are never
encouraged to look at where that threat comes from …
Perhaps
though, like young Samuel lying in the dark of the temple compound waiting for
a return of that whisper calling to him – perhaps we too are waiting for that
call … or perhaps we need to heed it individually, and collectively.
What if
… what if, we are being challenged and called as a people to step up and act to
preserve, reinforce and expand the Common Good by remaining grounded in our
scriptures, our traditions and in who we are?
What if
we are called to MORE?
Reflecting
on the butterfly effect where a tiny action has enormous repercussions a
Buddhist writer observes:
We can never know how our actions
will ripple out and affect others. We may, though force of habit, disparage
ourselves, considering an action to be inadequate, or resign ourselves to its
certain mediocrity, but we can’t possibly know the ultimate result of anything
we do. TS Elliot wrote “For us there is only the trying. The is not our
business.” Sharon Salzberg goes on to observe: “Life can’t be explained by a perfectly
linear predictability – “I thought this, so he felt that …” It is a LOT
MESSIER, and more outrageous, and more mysterious. However, this remarkable
‘coincidence’ can still illustrate the point: Even though the woman didn’t
perform a concrete physical or verbal action, her commitment to positive
intention apparently had an effect. When our intention is to do good for
others, and we nurture that intention, we can have faith that in the same way,
often unknown to us, it ripples out …
What if
the messiness we are called to face is having the courage to revision the world
around us, and to return ourselves and our society to the Common Good we not
only believe is there despite all the evidence to the contrary, but that we
also need and value. This Common Good needs us to take responsibility for its
preservation and continuance, it needs us to act in its defense, and it needs
us to speak up and speak out when we see it under attack – that attack could be
cuts to medicare, cuts to welfare, cuts to education – even here in our
community incremental cuts to programmes at the local high school are an
example of the erosion of the common good we ASSUME is here and intact.
Periodically, we are called to look around and consider what we are being
called to be about …
And as people
of faith – this shift from paucity and scarcity to abundance and blessing is
not only central to our understanding of the world – it begins here (communion
table) and ripples outward in many messy and unexpected ways.
Instead
of speaking from a perspective of scarcity, we need (WE MUST) chose to speak
with words of blessing and abundance – afterall, we are called by God to more …
Brueggemann
contends we are speak using “verbs of
abundance”
He
writes:
It is our propensity in
society and in church, to trust the narrative of scarcity. That is what makes
us greedy and exclusive, and selfish, and coercive. Even the Eucharist can be
made into an occasion of scarcity, as though there were not enough for all. Such
scarcity leads to exclusion at the table, even as scarcity leads to exclusion
from economic life … but the narrative of abundance persists among us. Those
who sign on and depart the system of anxious scarcity become the history makers
in the neighbourhood. These are the ones not exhausted by Sabbath-less production
who have enough energy to dream and hope. From dreams and hopes come
neighbourly miracles as good health care, good schools, good housing and good
care for the earth. These dreams subvert the nightmare of the world’s pharaohs …
(Journey to the Common Good. Pg 34 – 35)
It calls
us – it challenges us beyond ourselves.
We – you
and I are called to act … to allow this transformation to overwhelm us and call
us to a commitment to what Brueggemann
calls “the practice of neighbourhood”.
The
practice of neighbourhood is about being commitment to the radical idea that we
live in a world that has more than enough for everyone. We have a world of
abundance … the practice of neighbourhood is about being committed to the
common good.
Imagine
that … a people of faith motivated to be an engaged and involved citizen beyond
our cheque book charity … instead of just writing a cheque or saying a prayer
for a cause like homelessness, what if we engaged in addressing it?
Writing
letters, picking up the phone and asking our politicians and leaders why
temporary food banks and shelters opened in the 1990’s are not only still open
but being expanded and joined by more and more … what if, we dared to ask WHY?
Why are we neglecting the most vulnerable and marginalized?
The
verbs of abundance are part of our calling … a calling that echoes the calling
of Samuel and Nathan and Phillip and all the others … a calling that moves us
from a notion of “everyone for themselves” back to a place where we remember
our neighbours …
We are
called to remember that as individuals we are called to be energized by an
awareness of the possibilities based on our beliefs, and to commit to the
effects of those beliefs that provide hope for improving the society around us
… we are called to enact, embrace and BE CHANGE … instead of crying out “someone
needs to do something” perhaps our calling is telling us that WE are those who
are to do something … it’s not about the latest hot button cause or what
special interest groups are about – it is about being called by faith, to
preserve, commit and live the common good that is based in an understanding of
abundance and generosity.
Our God
is generous and our world teems with abundance … why do we fail so miserably to
act accordingly?
Why have we fallen into a belief of
paucity and scarcity?
Why do
we not heed our call?
The
common good is calling … for the sake of our neighbours, do we dare over look
and ignore it?
What if …?
Let us
pray …
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