Perspective, Process, Prosperity

An advantage of being in a denomination that follows a liturgical calendar is that, on any given day, just about every Episcopalian (and Methodists, and I think many Lutherans) is hearing the exact same passages from the Bible. Generally the sermon is then always on the same passage from the New Testament. This makes it easy for me to keep up with what certain priests make of the text. Thanks to the internet, the rector’s and asst. rector’s sermons from All Saints’ Episcopal in Mobile are available to me. Then I get to hear one or two different interpretations from priests here in Arizona depending on what services I go to throughout the week. Sometimes it ends up being a variation of a theme and sometimes the sermons diverge in subject. Most of the time I end up admiring the priest for what I see as radical statements usually in total opposition to what I heard in the Southern Baptist church in which I grew up. The first instinct is “heresy!” giving way to agreement that the radical interpretation makes more sense. I am finding myself growing in appreciation for theologies of process, liberation, and universalism as I learn more about them; they were what drew me back to the church in the first place. Here is another example of universalism from Mobile.

In light of our nation's turn to corporate socialism (a decent idea, but the wrong freaking beneficiaries) and a topic of conversation at St. A's, it seems like a good idea to talk about prosperity. Time magazine has published a column about the prosperity gospel and it's possible relation to the current financial brouhaha.

Has the so-called Prosperity gospel turned its followers into some of the most willing participants — and hence, victims — of the current financial crisis? That's what a scholar of the fast-growing brand of Pentecostal Christianity believes. While researching a book on black televangelism, says Jonathan Walton, a religion professor at the University of California at Riverside, he realized that Prosperity's central promise — that God will "make a way" for poor people to enjoy the better things in life — had developed an additional, dangerous expression during the subprime-lending boom. Walton says that this encouraged congregants who got dicey mortgages to believe "God caused the bank to ignore my credit score and blessed me with my first house." The results, he says, "were disastrous, because they pretty much turned parishioners into prey for greedy brokers."

One verse that the proclaimers of the prosperity gospel use is in Mark 10:29. They say God guarantees a "one hundredfold return" on what they give to the mission/church/ministry/pastor's pocket. I call bullshit; and once evangelicals quit talking about the issues of the pelvis that seem to preoccupy them, we tend to agree on a strong disdain for the prosperity gospel. Even most fundamentalists with a propensity for plucking bible verses without a care as to context agree that it is an aberration. The prosperity preachers tend to leave out the part that says a hundredfold persecutions come with the territory and that "many who are first will be last, and the last will be first." The guilt for such a message typically lies with the pastor espousing the gospel and I'm torn on what to make of those who follow it. While a better life materially is never guaranteed on this Earth (and this gives good ammunition to critics), I find it hard to fault people for trying to have some hope of a better life this side of heaven.

This brings us to the point of the story. What is also left out of the telling of hundred-fold myth is what happens right before (Mark 10:17-27). Long story short, a man refuses to sell his possessions and give to the poor. I have witnessed this story go over poorly with some congregations. Sometimes it goes over poorly because there is a sense of entitlement to the wealth a congregant has amassed, sometimes it is because of a sense of impotence in the face of a world with so much suffering. Still, that does not absolve us from a Christian responsibility to help the least of these, and not necessarily ourselves. Listen, a huge mistake that Christians make now is to get saved and sit back to wait for the rapture. We should be more concerned about what is going on in this world. We do no good waiting for the same thing Christians have been expecting since the generation after Christ or voting solely on abortion when we supposedly follow a man that was always at his most explicit when he was a social activist.

If you have not been to Global rich list, go and take a look at where you are in the world. It is a way of seeing how much work we have to do, Christian or not. My wife and I are in the top 5% and we are sometimes paycheck to paycheck but we still do what we can. Give locally or globally.

Here is something simple, it only takes five minutes or so. Compose an e-mail to the people most likely to give you something on your birthday and holiday. Ask/tell them to use the money that they would spend on you on a charity instead. Pick a few charities or causes that you like and provide links to that organization. You can even give to Heifer International in someone else's name, for instance. If you know all of your needs are met, then let that money go elsewhere.