The Station
October 30 , 2005
Luke 18:18-27
James 5:1-6
The gospel of Luke cries, “What do we have to relinquish for the Kindom of God to appear here?”
And James reminds when we abuse the law: Love Your Neighbor as Yourself just as God loves you, when we abuse that law we become destroyers of the Covenant. And, James ties the covenant as does Jesus in the Gospel of Luke to issues surrounding the wages workers make, the managers and bosses who hire workers, and the environment in which the work happens. Neither James nor Luke are against the rich, however, they both come to warn us of operating out of a Theology of Scarcity instead of a Covenant of Love. For when we function from a place of scarcity we function out of our own brokenness: hoarding resources, violating and plundering the earth carelessly and greedily. When we take more than we need at the expense of others, it violates God’s intention for the human community. It breaks the gospel covenant of loving our neighbors to create stations in life. What station do we have to relinquish for the Kindom of God to appear here?
Does this sound like an ancient issue or a modern issue? It’s both. This issue of being paid for the work we do, of our work being honored as a blessing and a gift, of those who offer work being as important but no more important than those who do the work, has been an issue since the beginning of civilization. However, with the introduction of the internet, of air travel, of television and digital imaging we are more closely connected as a global village. And, this global village can reflect a new way of working and living together at our best or at our worst. I can not read these passages from Luke or James without taking on economic globalization today. It is true we have always had issues surrounding economics; however, with the addition of the rules governed by institutions like the WTO: World Trade Organization, the IMF: International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank, entire spectrums of distance are appearing between the rich and the poor. These institutions are backed by international treaties on international trade and investment like NAFTA: North American Free Trade Agreement and FTAA: Free Trade Area of the Americas, which are affecting the lives of millions of people and thousands of communities.
Consider this example: In 1994, General Motors decided to expand its production of the Suburban Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV). (This vehicle, by the way, is among the worst producers of polluting emissions.) But instead of expanding its Wisconsin plant, it built a plant in Silao, Mexico. As of 1996, they paid an average worker in Wisconsin $18.96/hour. They paid a worker in their Silao plant $1.54/hour. Did this result in lower consumer prices for the vehicle? No, as a matter of fact, the price jumped in 1996 to $2,500. So who benefitted from this dramatic decrease in labor costs?
Consider this example: In Mexico farmers have been growing corn for millennia. Corn is a staple of the diet and at the heart of Mexican culture. In the U.S. corn is often grown on large factory farms that receive billions of dollars in subsidies each year. The subsidies and mechanization allow U.S. exporters to sell corn in Mexico more cheaply than local farmers can produce it. Already thousands of farmers have lost their livelihoods and their land.
Consider this example: The spread of new products and technology has been accompanied by increased attention to patents and copyrights. Patents prohibit any firm other than the one holding the patent from producing a product. This ensures that the company developing a new product will be able to recover the costs of research and development. But this patent also enables the sole supplier of the product to set a high price for it, often pricing it beyond the reach of many of the world’s consumers. This is problematic in relation to life-saving meds. That patent prohibits production of a much less expensive generic version of the drug. In the U.S. these high prices give the pharmaceutical industry the highest rate of any industry.
Due to unequal economic power relationships, the power of the rich greatly exceeds that of the poor. The economic needs and desires of people in the first world are more likely to be met than are those of people in the third. Likewise within each country the needs of the rich are more likely to be met than the needs of the poor. NAFTA provides extensively detailed protections for money flows, but protection of the environment and works has been given secondary status and has been relegated to side agreements.
Globalization has brought greater familiarity and understanding of foreign cultures and people, thereby lessening international tensions. The reverse is also occurring. Some people fear a homogenization of cultures and the loss of their unique national and ethnic culture and norms. They see globalization as another word for Americanization, and anti-American sentiment is growing around the world.
Our faith asserts that the purpose of all economic activity is not an ever expanding economy and the greater availability of goods and services. Rather our faith points us toward wholeness for all God’s creation, including the people, animals, plants, and the environment in which God intends for all to flourish. Economist David Korten observes, nothing in the natural world seeks to grow indefinitely. The sole exception is cancer, and it inevitably consumes and destroys its host. The same reality holds true for the economic order.
On this Sunday when we begin naming how it is we are stewards of our time, talents and tithes, it seems Spirit led that we have a dialogue about the rich, the oppressors, the poor and our conscious or oblivious participation in the systems that support this system. God has ordained all of creation as good, and appointed humanity as the careful stewards of this creation. As careful stewards we must hear the cries of the poor and the marginalized, looking at how it is they become both marginalized and poor. And, if we are going to ask this question from a Christian framework we must consider James’ advice to heed the covenant of love that God upholds with all of creation.
- We must acknowledge the complicity and guilt of those who consciously or unconsciously benefit from the current economic global system; we recognize that this includes both churches and members of our own family and therefore we call for confession of sin.
- We acknowledge that we have become captivated by the culture of consumerism, and the competitive greed and selfishness of the current economic system. This has all too often permeated our very spirituality.
- We confess our sin in misusing creation and failing to play our role as stewards and companions of nature.
- We confess our sin that our disunity within the family has impaired our ability to serve God's mission in fullness.
And, we must do everything in our power to support a group like the national United Church of Christ. An organization that is rooted in our theological norms and values operating out of a theology of hope. An organization that will work on a global level to fight for a just globalization. For globalization is here to stay. But, as John Thomas states, “It is our work to help shape its character and impact. Chief among our concerns ought to be the impact of globalization on the poor, protection of the environment and the preservation of cultural and religious diversity.” As we consider what it is we are doing and how much it is we will be sharing, let us remember our economic lessons from James and Luke today. Let us give that we might ensure that our excess doesn’t prevent the access of the rest of the world to a sustainable, life-giving existence. Let us begin changing globalization by sharing mutually with our commitment to this community of faith, our outreach into the community, the nation and our world, mutually and justly. Let it be so today. Let us pray.