Greetings this Advent season! I have just returned from the Ecumenical Stewardship Center's annual Leadership Seminar held in New Orleans. Our theme this year was: "Where Your Treasure Is: Christians and Wealth in North America." Our plenary speakers were Kelly Johnson, Associate Professor at the University of Dayton, and Shane Claiborne, Founder and board member of The Simple Way, a faith community in inner-city Philadelphia.
We were challenged to consider the dynamics of power and wealth in North America as seen through the lens of Christ's message of justice and equality. By 2020, it is estimated that the richest 1% of the world's population will control 54% of the world's wealth. Or another way to put it, the world's richest people--85 of them--own the same amount as 3 billion people or the combined economies of 48 countries. And to note, as Christians, we tend to share less than 2% of our resources in charitable giving.
Both Johnson and Claiborne reflected on how easy it is to "forget" reality and carry on in spite of the social and economic injustice rampant across the globe. What does it mean to follow Christ in such a world? What does it require of us to be a part of God's redemptive work in such a world?
These are our Advent questions.
Meister Eckhart, the 12th century mystic wrote,"This birth is always happening. But if it does not happen to me, what does it profit me? What matters is that it shall happen to me...this birth takes place in us, as God speaks the Word to the very center of the world." And 700 years later, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote from prison, "We have become so accustomed to the idea of divine love and God's coming at Christmas that we no longer feel the shiver of fear that God's coming should arouse in us. We are indifferent to the message, taking only the pleasant and agreeable out of it and forgetting the serious aspect, that the God of the world draws near to the people of our little earth and lays claim to us. The coming of God is truly not only glad tidings, but first of all frightening news for everyone who has a conscience."
This Advent, may the Good News of the Incarnation be more than a wish but made very real near and far through Jesus's followers seeking to be a generous part of God's redemptive work in the world.
And may God's Light scatter the darkness on your path and through you bless the world in Christ's name,
