Myth busters

Posted by admin on Oct 21, 2008 in Issues & Ideas | 0 comments

“When I hear the stock market has fallen, I say, ‘Long live gravity! Long live stupidity, error and greed in the palaces of fantasy capitalism!’” I read these words in a Wendell Berry poem one evening here in Uganda, only to find out that the American financial markets had crashed that very day, with banks closing, markets failing and from what little I heard, Americans panicking.

At a little Pentecostal church in Mukono that Sunday, the pastor brought up the economic crisis in his sermon. He explained that the reason for American economic crisis was simple: the economy failed because of America’s moral decline. The solution? Bringing the Ten Commandments and prayer back in schools.

This sentiment was echoed in an article in that Sunday’s newspaper, stating that America was falling from power because Americans had abandoned the moral principles that made them a world power in the first place.

At first I reacted strongly to these statements, if only because I think America’s power had much more to do with the lack of feeling or consideration towards most of the world’s people, and a consumerist system made possible by a self-absorbed population. Later, I realized that the economic crisis is indeed caused by immorality, though a different kind: unchecked greed, lack of care for and unfaithfulness to others. It has never been a secret that our level of affluence and industry is unsustainable on many levels, and I think it is clear that neither the American national economy nor the global economy are actually the gods that we have treated them as.

Perhaps there is more wisdom that these Ugandans have spoken that we have forgotten how to hear; perhaps the solution to economic turmoil may actually lie in turning to God. I am not talking about trying to bring church back into state, or trying to save dying companies and markets, but something altogether more personal and difficult – actually placing our trust in God, the kingdom and economy of Jesus. Another Ugandan pastor said, “We tell people to put their trust in God, not money. Money changes, but Jesus never changes.”

This economic crisis should not move Christians to fear, but to generosity. As unemployment and homelessness rise and the things we have trusted to meet needs fail, it is time for the church to practice loving, to sow what we have and expect to reap, to consider that any blessing we have is not our own, and to live in trust of God’s provision. For many Ugandans, praying “give us this day our daily bread” has real meaning, because here there is no illusion that the economy and government will meet every need. As this myth falls in the West, perhaps we too will learn to pray and live this prayer for God’s kingdom to come.

One experience of this past summer has left me with no doubt that God’s economy is real and tangible. I was busing and hitchhiking from Langley down to Burlington, Washington. With no food or money along with me, I had no way to eat lunch. I told God that if He wanted me to eat, He would have to provide the food. To my surprise an old lady I met on the bus, oblivious to my meal situation, invited me to her house for lunch. Jesus meant it when he said: “Do not worry, saying ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’… But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”