In
Deuteronomy, Moses has been assuring the people that God will soon bring them into
the land of milk and honey. Today, he warns them:
"When you eat and are satisfied, build pleasant houses and settle in, see your herds and flocks flourish and more and more money come in, watch your standard of living going up and up-- make sure you don't become so full of yourself and your things that you forget GOD... If you start thinking to yourselves, 'I did all this. And all by myself. I'm rich. It's all mine!'-- well, think again."
Paul
often refers to the principalities and powers of the world. In our world, oil companies and tobacco
companies seem to fit that bill. Intent
on profits first, they wield their lobbying power over both the government and consumers, despite the
fact - and I do believe this is a fact - that their products do not contribute
to the common welfare and good of all. We know tobacco
addicts and kills people. We know that
we are addicted to fossil fuels, even thought they are of limited
supply and are leading to environmental ruin. These industries throw into our faces that the dominant and most powerful
operating principle of our society is Profits First.
"I did all this. And all by myself. I'm rich. It's all mine!"
Over 40,000
protesters gathered in Washington yesterday, raising their voices against oil company
greed. It seems like a lot of people, and it is!
However it is just a tiny voice compared to the principalities and
powers of the oil industry. It's at
times like these that I need to remember that with God's help, little David
slew a giant, and a stuttering shepherd named Moses was able to convince a
powerful Pharaoh to let his people go.
And I need to remember that even plain old water can become the finest wine whenever Jesus is among us. God often has
surprises up God's sleeve. And with
God's help, our nation could 'come to itself,' like the prodigal son did that day in the pigsty, and
turn away from our addiction to profits and return home to the true abundance
of God.
Today's readings: Deut 8:11-20, Hebrews 2:11-18, John 2:1-12
On the topic of the XL Pipeline and one faithful reaction to it, I also highly recommend reading this article about a little Baptist church in TX.
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