Revolutionary Heart

gleaning the cube...er I mean the fields

I’ve been thinking a lot about the idea of simplicity and what that could/should look like in the life of this follower of Christ (me). I can honestly say that for the first five years of my faith journey (I did not grow up “in the church” - Christ called me to His service in adulthood), I never really thought about the “christian life” as being anything other than a quest for personal piety.

To me Christianity was like so many of the other aspects of my life - something to be controlled and/or conquered. I viewed my faith pretty much like my career - work hard, impress the boss, and get ahead. The best part about it was that I could find passages of scripture that seemed to back up my “rugged individualist” mindset (think of a “corporate-america” reading of Matthew 25:14 - the parable of the talents. SIDE NOTE: Working in the banking industry, I especially liked this parable because in verse 27 Jesus rebukes the “lazy servant” for not putting the money in the bank and gaining interest - go bankers, go bankers, go bankers - by the way I was doing the truffle-shuffle as I said that).

This individualistic mindset was great for a while, because it offered my surety (I didn’t have to live with doubt) and I could follow Christ without making any real changes in my life. I mean sure I drank a little less (or at least not in front of my “church friends” who also wouldn’t drink in front of me), stopped cussing, railed against the gay agenda, looked for the next “most important witnessing opportunity of our time,” and started listening to really crappy music, but other than that there was not much difference. The other areas of my life were completely untouched -- I was still focused on making as much money as I could, so I could buy a better vehicle, a bigger house, and better/cooler stuff to put into my bigger house. That seemed to work for a while, but the problem was I enjoyed reading scripture.

During my forays into scripture I kept running across verses that were very troubling to my status quo way of living. A couple of those passages that I recently ran across again are:

Leviticus 19:9-10 “‘When you gather in the harvest of your land, you must not completely harvest the corner of your field, and you must not gather up the gleanings of your harvest. You must not pick your vineyard bare, and you must not gather up the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You must leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the Lord your God.”

and it’s exposition in Deuteronomy (Side Note: the reason I say the verses in Deuteronomy is an exposition of the Leviticus verse is, because the guys who spend their lives studying this stuff “aka scholars” - that I have read believe that the Deuteronomy was Moses final sermon to the nation of Israel prior to their entrance into the Promised Land. Moses knew he was not going with them, so he tried to expand on the Law that had already been given - what we now call Leviticus. Bottom line, Deuteronomy is basically Leviticus in further detail.)

Deuteronomy 24:19-22 “Whenever you reap your harvest in your field and leave some unraked grain there, you must not return to get it; it should go to the resident foreigner, orphan, and widow so that the Lord your God may bless all the work you do. When you beat your olive tree you must not repeat the procedure; the remaining olives belong to the resident foreigner, orphan, and widow. When you gather the grapes of your vineyard you must not do so a second time; they should go to the resident foreigner, orphan, and widow. Remember that you were slaves in the land of Egypt; therefore, I am commanding you to do all this.”

Now on to the disturbing part (I find that the Old Testament often disturbs me, maybe that’s why I like it so much). In this passage I read a command from God regarding how we are to use our paycheck. What? Well if we consider that at this time, Israel had an agrarian based economy and their wealth was tied up in the land and what it produced, there is a very clear implication from these verses of how we should use our funds.

These passages disturbed me, because there is a very clear implication that the people of God should not only live within their means, but they are called to an even higher standard of taking what they do not use and helping the poor, immigrant, orphan, and widow. This really shook my tree because- not only do I harvest to the ends of my field (leaving nothing for the poor and the immigrant) - but I harvest into the next field through the power of credit (Viva Visa y MasterCard!). I have operated this way for so much of my adult life that when I was called to follow Christ, I never even considered that this (how much money I use on my - self/family) would be an area that I also needed to place under the “Lordship of Christ.”

Which brings me back to simplicity and social justice: Day by day, I am awakening to the realization that - the further away from the edges of my field I harvest the more I can give to help the poor and the immigrant. This is NOT just a good idea or a nice thing to do, but I am truly beginning to believe that this is the way to imitate Christ. Further, I would say that there is a direct relationship between the amount of “gleanings” I leave around the edges of my field and the quality of the reflection of Christ in my life. In other words, the less resources I use on myself, the more I can give to the poor and the immigrant and the closer I am to being the “imitator of Christ” that Paul exhorts us to be in so much of the NT.

As I sit here today, a large part of me wants to write all of this off. I mean, I’ve been to enough sermons at church to know that as long as “I have Jesus in my heart and know that my treasures are really in heaven,” it’s okay to be in debt up to my eyeballs in order to drive a BMW/Lexus/Cadillac/Benz and have a 3000 sq foot house that is full of the latest furniture and gadgets. Unfortunately, Jesus won’t let me off the hook.

The verse that drove the stake into the heart of my American dream is found immediately following my “pro-bankers verse” above.

Matthew 25:31-46 "When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be assembled before him, and he will separate people one from another like a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.' Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?' And the king will answer them, 'I tell you the truth, just as you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of mine, you did it for me.'

"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire that has been prepared for the devil and his angels! For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink. I was a stranger and you did not receive me as a guest, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' Then they too will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not give you whatever you needed?' Then he will answer them, 'I tell you the truth, just as you did not do it for one of the least of these, you did not do it for me.' And these will depart into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

What the caca?

Notice what Jesus says separates the sheep and goats. It is my treatment of the poor and the immigrant that determine which group (sheep or goats) I am placed into. Before you start quoting Ephesians at me, consider this -- I’m not the one saying it, Jesus did. You can do theological backflips to figure out a loophole, “but as for me and my house we will serve (literally) the Lord.”

Creador,
You created the heavens and the earth and what you made is good. I confess my sins of greed and hoarding. Forgive me for taking more than my share. Teach me to live a simple life. Give me the strength to leave an ever widening edge around my field. Teach me to serve the poor and the immigrant. Forgive me when I don’t, but do not let my spirit rest until I do. En el nombre de su hijo Jesus Christo, amen.

and we aint leavin till six in the monin

Meep, meep, meep...

The faint sound of the alarm clock going off, grew louder and louder with the recognition that comes from a mind being jarred out of blissful sleep into woeful consciousness. I got up to turn off the alarm (a way that I trick myself into getting out of bed and not going back to sleep) and looked at the time -- five in the morning. It was way too early for a Saturday, but I had a mission to accomplish and, like the Dunkin’ Donuts guy, nothing, not even the desire for sleep, was going to stand in my way. Especially since it wasn’t time to make the donuts, it was -- time to get the TAMALES.

Yes, tamales. God’s most perfect food, and one of the things that makes Christmas in SA-Town, Christmas. I knew that I had to get to the Tamale place early, because the lines start forming at around six at Delicious Tamales (some places have people in line as early as three or four am). When I pulled into the parking lot, I was happy to see there were only about 15 people ahead of me. Since the tamales are fist come first serve, the only way to guarantee that you can get the flavors you want is to be towards the head of the line.

The line stood in silent vigil waiting for a turn to make their request at the counter. As the doors opened and the air was filled with the unmistakable smell of steamed masa and shredded pork, the line surged forward and snaked into the front door. By this time about twenty more people had shown up and taken their place behind me. Slowly one by one the orders where filled. Ten dozen bean here and fifteen dozen pork there, one by one each person made their petition, was served and then walked out with armfuls of grease stained brown paper bags.

I finally reached the counter and only two people stood between me and my booty, when it happened. The counter lady said, “we only have pork left.” Curses -- I had planned on getting a dozen chicken, a dozen bean (for my vegetarian friend), a dozen jalapeno, and two dozen pork. I overheard the customer ahead of me ask, “are you sure you don’t have anything else?” The clerk moved her head in recognition of the question and then swiftly walked over to the piles of tamale packages stacked on stainless steel tables behind the counter. It an instant she was back and told the customer, “We have five [dozen] chicken left.”

My glimmer of hope at partially filling my desired order was dashed by my fellow patron as she said under her breath (I think she was scared of the reaction of the other customers), “I’ll take all five dozen chicken and ten dozen pork.” I looked at this woman in horror and disbelief of her avarice. She took all five dozen of the chicken and didn’t even consider leaving some for the others in line. The greedy woman snatched up her hoard and quickly high-stepped out the door.

After I filled my order [I ended up getting three dozen pork, one dozen bean (they had some frozen in the back), and one dozen jalapeno (another restaurant in the same shopping strip was selling tamales -- although they were not as good as delicious)]...I pondered the actions of this mysterious female tamale hoarder who had single handedly wiped out the entire chicken supply.

The more I think about her actions the more I believe that this attitude (‘I have to get mine first and to heck with everyone else’ -- as exhibited by the female tamale hoarder and the rest of America, myself included) is the cause of poverty around the world.

In the book God’s Politics Jim Wallis does a great job of reminding those who seek God, that the economically poor are our responsibility. The economically poor ARE OUR responsibility, because God loves them AND because we [those of us who are not poor] are the ones responsible for creating poverty in the first place.

[Read the 15th chapter of Deuteronomy , paying particular attention to verses 4-27 for an example of how poverty is created by greed in an abundant nation -- isn’t interesting that so many who draw a correlation between the ancient nation of Israel and the US in regards to the state of being “blessed” to not speak as passionately about using those blessings to bless others?]

We create poverty through the economic theory of supply and demand (the less there is the more it costs and vice versa). In free market countries, shortages are often artificially created in order to drive up prices so that those who have the supply make more money. Christmas is a great example of the application of artificial shortage as companies jockey to create the ‘must have item’ of the holiday so that parents will shell out wads of cash for their already spoiled children. This year the XBox 360 seemed to be the must have item since they were selling for as much as $1,000 (MSRP - $300 to $600) on Ebay once other stores had run out.

Which brings me back to the MFTH and the five dozen chicken tamales. As consumers we have bought into the lie. We have been conditioned to believe that there really isn’t enough to go around, so we better get what we can while we can or else we will have to go without and God forbid that we should have to go without anything. That is why people are willing to pay hundareds of dollars more than the MSRP of a product or take all five dozen chicken tamales when they could have done just as well with one dozen. This is also why, in a country that throws away enough food to feed the world, there are people starving.

I am praying that my family and I can break the cycle. There is plenty to go around and if there isn’t, I would rather someone else get it. If you pray, I would ask that you pray for my family and me as we attempt to de-program our minds no longer buy into (pun intended) the lies of scarcity, and greed.

the reason for the season

I am somewhat ashamed to admit that only four years ago, I was a card carrying (at least I would have carried the card if they really issued one) member of the “religious right” and Republian denomination. [DEFINITION ALERT: Republian - n. an american divergence of the Christian faith where Republican political agendas replace the gospel as the preeminent belief and source of faith.]

During this dark time in my life, I felt that this strong “christian nation” was under attack by “liberal agendas” and it was the churches’ responsibility to protect our nation from moral decay. So like a good soldier of Christ I subscribed to all the email alerts that would let me know which store/product I should boycott and which public official was my sworn enemy.

I have not completely de-subscribed form all the email lists. So unfortunately, I still get many emails like this one:

*** [REPRINT OF AN AFA EMAIL:

Target Doesn't Respond, Refuses To Include "Christmas"
AFA asks for boycott because of Target's anti-Christmas stance

In an effort to get Target to include "Christmas" in their in-store promotions and retail advertising for next year's (2006) season, we wrote Chairman Robert Ulrich. We told Chairman Ulrich that we knew it was too late to change his in-store promotions and retail advertising for this year. We asked him if Target would assure us that the company would make Christmas an integral part of their promotions and advertising next year. 

We told Chairman Ulrich that if Target would honor our request, we would encourage our supporters and others to shop at Target. But we also said that if he refused, or did not respond, we would ask our supporters to boycott Target. 

How did Chairman Ulrich respond to our request? He did not respond at all! Chairman Ulrich sent a clear message—Target will continue to ban "Christmas." 

Would you join us in a boycott of Target, and forward this to friends and family asking them to do the same? Yes, there are other companies which refuse to use Christmas. But if Target gets the message and their sales go down—every other national retailer will also get the message! Then we can expect some big changes in their promotion and advertising next year. 

Target doesn't want to offend a small minority who oppose Christmas. But they don't mind offending Christians who celebrate the birth of Christ, the Reason for the season. 

It is very important that you sign our pledge to boycott Target. Nearly 600,000 have already done so.
Our goal is 1,000,000. We need your help. END OF QUOTED TEXT]****

What? Maybe I’m missing something, but according to this article the burning spiritual issue -- the attack on our morality and faith -- these pagan corporate types at Target are leveling against us is using the word Holiday instead of Christmas in their sale ads! (Collective gasp from the reading audience)

Holy Moley -- if Target refuses to use the word Christmas in their sale ads this country really is on the fast track to H-E-double hockey-sticks!

WHAT THE HECK -- Talk about missing the point!

I would like to circulate a petition for the opposite purpose. My petition will call for the removal of the word Christmas from ALL SALE ADS -- because the birth of Christ has nothing to do with getting a George Forman Grill for $14.99 instead of $29.99 (a 50% savings!).

To me this is yet another symptom of how sick American Christianity has become. No wonder Christians have become a joke in the marketplace of ideas. I can understand why people would not want to have anything to do with a religion where their most important issue is being pissed off because their Savior is not getting top billing over a Baby Wetsalot in the Target sale ad.

Meanwhile there are children starving to death around the world, homeless people sleeping in the streets, and thousands of people who are lonely and cannot find true community.

Christmas is about HOPE! Hope for the long awaited presence of our King. Our King who: came as a baby, was (literally) born in a barn, slept in an animal’s food dish, and had a dirt poor Jewish family with (according to all the neighbors) a scandalous reputation. Let the retailers and marketers have their Holiday Sales; Christmas will have nothing to do with the conspicuous consumerism that is thrust upon us and has mutated a holy-time of expectation into an orgy of covetousness.

If you want to boycott Target -- boycott Target -- but do it because they are a box store (like Walmart) that drives the mom-and-pop shops out of business and doesn’t pay their workers a living wage. In fact boycott EVERY store this Christmas -- but boycott them BECAUSE you do not want to participate in the crass consumerism that has marred our national psyche NOT BECAUSE they used the word Holiday instead of Christmas.

Padre en cielo, forgive my family and me for buying when we don’t need -- and not giving to those that do. Help us to live the way of Your Son our King. Thank You for the ultimate gift of Jesus the Christ and the Kingdom. I pray that we will humbly accept the gift and never stop praying THY KINGDOM COME. En el nombre de su hijo Jesus Cristo, amen.

what would Jesus charge?

If you are like me (enslaved in debt for the next 30 years to a bank by way of a mortgage) then you probably receive an inordinate amount of ‘junk mail’ in the form of credit card offers. (Sweet, more opportunities for debt!) I usually just throw the demon offers in the shredder with out reading them (no reason to tempt the consumer beast that dwells within me), but one recently caught my eye. In fact when I saw it, I was brought to tears from laughter (not the kind of laughter from something that is ‘funny ha ha,’ but the kind of laughter that you bellow just on the brink of depression, because what you have just encountered is so utterly, unbearably and overwhelmingly ridiculous).

Here is the image I saw:

Now I have encountered a lot of ‘jesus junk’ in my life time, but this one sent me over the edge.

[DEFINITION ALERT] jesus junk - n. name given to useless crap that is sold to American christians by slapping a christian image, symbol or slogan on it - i.e. “Testa-mints” or polyester ties with a pattern of crosses that are said to make great ‘clergy appreciation month’ gifts

I can just imagine the savvy marketing pitch, “Let that tattooed and pierced cashier with the purple hair at your local Walmart know the truth of the gospel every time you charge your purchase with your Master’s MasterCard!”

Get it? Master’s MasterCard, because Jesus is our master and we are using a MasterCard with crosses on it. (Of course the crosses are empty, because we are good evangelicals and don’t like to see our risen lord still hanging on the cross.)

The fact that this thing exists is a sure sign that American Christendom is sick and in need of reformation. (Perhaps I should nail my credit card offers to the door of my local Conservative Evangelical Church?) We continue to give in to the consumerism and mass marketing of our culture and even worse, we continue to justify our sins by incorporating the ‘American Dream’ into our gospel.

Maybe it’s just me, but considering that our Savior was born in an animal trough, rode on a borrowed donkey, spoke from a borrowed boat, and did not own a place to lay his head; I find it hard to believe that He would use His name to sell an instrument of financial enslavement. (Look up the O.T. commands against usury - profiteering by way of interest.)

“Nuestro Padre, forgive us for our idolatry of mammon. Teach us to live in simple contentment with the daily bread and shelter that You provide for us. I confess my sins of desire for material gain and covetousness, and repent in utter brokenness. Forgive me Lord for adding to the problem and not trusting in You and Your Kingdom. En el nombre de Su hijo Jesus Cristo, amen.”

Jesus vs capitalism

Here is a draft of the paper that I have been promising since early September. For all you seminarians out there, keep in mind that this is undergraduate work and that it was completed in under 9 weeks. There are a few points that I would like to develop more. When I do, I will post an update.

Shalom Homies,

m_dizzle

Download position_paper_christianity_in_tension_with_capitalism.pdf

coming soon

I am currently working on a paper that looks at whether or not capitalism is compatible (in it’s current form) with the message of Jesus as contained in the Gospels. Not that anyone is reading this blog yet, but if you stumble across this site, bookmark it. More to come as I develop it.

uncomfortable with comfort

For those who do not know me, you are not aware that I have been wrestling with economic issues as they pertain to my faith. The biggest issue is how the prototypical American Dream (high paying job, big house, nice cars, trophy wife) runs counter (in my understanding) to what the scriptures teach. I have been looking diligently and I have yet to find 'the pursuit of happiness' as the goal of the narrow path. I think the primary issue that defines the difference between what Jesus lived and taught and what we practice in American Christianity is that of comfort.

There are several occasions when Jesus calls us to a life of self-sacrifice (Mark 8:35). Unfortunately, every other message that I receive on a daily basis is the opposite of self-sacrifice. I am bombarded by media messages, assuring me that I am the center of the universe and that I deserve to drive an H3. Slowly lulling that nagging voice in the back of my heart (the one that keeps asking hard questions about how I am using God’s money) to sleep.

My prayer is that the voice will not stop nagging and that I will continue to chafe against my comfortable life. Soon the discomfort with comfort may even grow to a point when I will do something about it. More on this subject soon.