How do I Think I Think? Practical Reconciliation 5

How do I Think I Think?

Practical Reconciliation 5

 

A review:

1.      Our worldview influences how we approach events, people, ideas: binary, unitary or spectrum, for example.

2.      The church’s role in reconciliation begins with reconciling to ourselves as individuals and as a congregation.

3.      A peaceable kingdom vision includes many skills and talents plus the courage to offer our careers and occupations as a gift to the coming of the kingdom.

4.      Because of the significance of our conversation with others, continuing education in becoming fluent readers, writers and conversationalists is essential.

5.      Recognizing that we carry unconscious biases and that discrimination can be the result, is important. 

You may well have sensed that, so far, I’ve talked almost exclusively about self-awareness and self-improvement. Obviously, there's an inward-looking and and an outward-looking aspect to Kingdom-building participation. 

I like the story of the widow’s mite; in it a very poor woman gives toward the Kingdom just a few pennies she could have used to buy much needed food.  A wealthy donor, meanwhile, makes a show of donating as much as would probably buy the woman, her house and all her furnishings ten times over. The principle Jesus is making is, of course, that our contribution to the Peaceable Kingdom is better judged on the basis of the size of the sacrifice than on how much is put into the offering plate. 

From him to whom much has been given, much is to be expected. 

The widow gave much more, by this standard, than did the wealthy donor. It makes no sense to the church treasurer, who needs money to pay the insurance and can’t do much with a few pennies. 

So how do we think of ourselves as participants in this world where much reconciliation is needed—this “Black Lives Matter,” George Floyd, police brutality, Truth and Reconciliation, divisive politics and internet-tribalism world?  I’d like to get on a podium, call all the people in the world together, and harangue them until they all walk away with their biases, prejudices and discrimination washed away in rivers of repentance and Christmases of forgiveness. But COVID-19 makes that impossible, unfortunately. 

The widow in the parable could easily have said, “What possible difference can my two pennies make to the coming of the Kingdom? I may as well not bother!” I can easily come to the conclusion that what I’m capable of doing for the reconciliation effort is so little that doing nothing amounts to the same thing as doing something. 

Very few of us will ever be the rich man ostentatiously making massive contributions: we are more likely to be widows by the millions who will get nowhere in this quest unless we all pitch in our two cents. 

When it comes to the reconciliation about which we’re talking here, “Think globally, act locally” is probably a wise beginning point. The second wise move is to hook up with others to make the pennies add up: join organizations engaged in reconciliation like food banks, thrift stores, camps and schools and in the broader world, MCC, Doctors Without Borders, Amnesty International, Mennonite Disaster Service, MEDA, Canadian Food Grains Bank, etc. For most of us, this means picking one or two or three and regularly throwing our efforts and contributions into their programs. 

We’re living in a pandemic that will change the world massively-- despite the wishful thinking of governments, citizens and institutions that we will get back to the “normal” that existed before January, 2020. What will this devastating, global experience have taught us about ourselves and how we need to be going forward? That is, if we want to approach our lives as kingdom builders and not as consumers first and foremost. More and more, we’re being shown that the maxim, “we’re all in this together,” has taken on a global dimension, and bias, discrimination, prejudices are hindering us from wrapping our heads around what this will mean in the future . . . if we’re granted a future, that is.

🔑🔑 

Next week’s subject may be touchy. Rosthern’s motto is “Where Lifestyle Counts,” a motto that makes me cringe. Most of the world’s people live lives devoid of “style;” they simply can’t afford that which makes for “style.” The urge to acquire more and more of what is wanted, but not needed, fits well with consumer economies, but there’s no getting away from the effect conspicuous spending and “having” does to the morale of those who are able only to obtain basic needs. Most of us would rather have our financial dealings remain secret but in a Christian community, the avoidance of stewardship, ownership and life “style” issues betrays a sensibility that is more broader-culture than Anabaptist in its conception.