Widow's Might

Widow’s Might      

Psalm 146; Mark 12: 38-44

Jesus is in Jerusalem, the center of the chosen people’s power and faith. His own faith. And is he rejoicing? No. He is in agony over the way the people have been manipulated by religious and political leaders throwing around the name of God and administering worship only to gain wealth and power for themselves.

Jesus will soon tell everyone who will listen that the impressively beautiful Temple will be destroyed. Then he will repeat again to those who love him that he will be sacrificed in order to shut him up, he has been rocking the boat of those in power.

And sitting outside the Temple he sees the televangelist pull up in his limo, the Christian network owners flying in on their corporate and private jets, tailor-made suits, imported shoes, sitting at the head table with the rich and famous; asked to offer the opening prayer that goes on too long, displaying his vast theological vocabulary. And how did he get here? By foreclosing on the widow’s property and reselling it. Jesus watches as the rich pour in large sums of money, a public display.

Then Jesus sees the widow, unnoticed among the finery and flourishes, pushing her way to deposit her meager copper coins beside the gold and silver.

Where does the widow find her strength of faith? Not from the imagined trickle down of wealth from those who sit in seats of religious and political power. No. Jesus states clearly what their relationship is to the people like the widow. They exploit the vulnerable to gain more power.

         But, you might say, these people speak for God and say they know God’s will for God’s people. Look how successful they are. Count their many barns. See how comfortably they live. God must favor them. Not so, says Jesus. They will receive not commendation but condemnation from God.

         So why does the widow still bring her all to the Temple? Why does Jesus take note of her? Because she is not giving out of love for the Temple and those who rule within it. She is not giving to keep the Temple building maintained. The widow is giving her all out of love for God.

         What God? Which God? The God of the privileged? No, the God of the Psalm. I believe the widow could have written Psalm 146. For in its verses is where the widow sees God’s presence.

         Whenever and wherever the oppressed see justice, whenever and wherever the hungry are fed, the unjustly imprisoned are set free, the blind see again, the bowed down are lifted up, the stranger knows s/he is protected, the widow and orphan are supported; there she sees God’s presence. It is to this God that the widow gives her all.

         Why do we give? To keep our established pews warm, to have the largest church in the area, to keep our beloved choir meeting and singing, to support our school, our farmers’ market, the building, the staff to serve our needs? No. We give out of love for God. We return God’s gifts to us so that others may be comforted by the words of Christ and the supportive presence of the Holy Spirit.

This is the widow’s faith, the widow’s might, the widow’s God….and ours.

A Meaningless Election?

I try to bite my tongue when I hear the conversation going to politics. It seems we have lost our ability to debate and discuss, and I see more tweets from twits than actual ideological exchange.
Indeed, the prevailing emotion surrounding this election is fear. (I am siding with those in emotion theory that say anger is only an expression of fear.) Emotion is the post-modern language of sincerity. To be intellectual and logical is under suspicion. To speak passionately carries more weight than speaking logically and fear motivates movement, more so than sadness or joy. If I decided to not vote for any candidate that used fear as a ploy to get my vote, I could stay home on Election Day.

There are some reasons why the post-modern political fear-mongering works:
First, no one knows how the government works anymore anyway. Civics classes and serious government classes are now moving aside to allow for more science, math, and technology. Ethics classes are no longer core curriculum. Philosophy classes are electives if they exist at all. The goal of education is only to get a good job defined as making a lot of money. The humanities – a radical segment of academia that has been vilified in that they often ask the question “What if?” – has to fight to keep on par with sports programs. Actually, I show my age there. Sports won that game a long time ago.
More importantly, the closer we get to actually voting, we as a culture realize we have no idea what is really going on in government or what is hidden within the party platforms and our fear rises. The spin doctors then gather this fear and shape it into campaign slogans, one-liners, and visual images hoping to herd us with these political cattle prods into the voting shoots, booths.

Second, have you ever tried to read a congressional bill? Don’t worry if you haven’t. It seems many of our legislators don’t read them either. (At least their aids got a few civics courses.) But if you did, it seems that none of the authors ever had an English class with any of my English teachers who constantly demanded clarity. (I’m on a rant now so I am excused from clarity in that I’m being sincere.) I hate to say this but if either party wants to develop a learned citizenry to maximize the benefits of a true representative democracy, you are going to have to dumb down your plans. We don’t read well enough or long enough to understand. Then when you add on some last minute, self-serving item that has nothing to do with the intent or focus of the original bill we just slogged through, well, forget it all. We’ll just wait for someone to tell us what it says and how we are supposed to feel about it.

Third, and most frightful of all, words used in a political race no longer have meaning. They are only intended to create a mood. Hints: Socialism and communism are not the same thing, neither do capitalism and democracy mean the same thing; patriotism is not owned by any political party no matter what historical event they pretend to emulate by co-opting the name; saying the other party has no program doesn't mean you do; no presidential candidate can promise anything without a majority of congress.
If you plan to watch the conventions in order to decide who to vote for in the upcoming election, I've read that folks already have their minds made up. If this is true for you, don't watch the conventions. All they will do is add to the meaningless list of slogans, put-downs, and sly innuendo. It might be more fun to watch the WWF. At least there we all know its mostly for show, the emotions, and the money. And people get to hit each other!!!

I've also been told that this situation has always been true. What do you think?
Also, do you think that even if one party proposes a plan that the other party realizes would be good for the country, the responding party will still sabotage the plan because it might weaken their political party's power?