29 December 2004

We'll ride William Sloane Coffin in "A Passion for the Possible" right to the end of 2004.



One of the attributes of power is that it gives those who have it the ability to define reality and the power to make others believe in their definition. Thus it is that private property in America had come to be considered all but sacred. Obviously this makes its redistribution difficult, even through taxation.



I'll continue with the rest of this quote tomorrow. What really grabbed me here is that Coffin is grabbing me here...and maybe all of us. We may all have our issues that take top priority in our lives. We may even be willing to fight for them or at least raise a voice here and there. But don't mess with my property! All of the sudden, lines are not merely drawn in the sand, they are drawn with walls, and lawyers, and fences, and security systems, and...and...yes, military might. We may find many people against the war in Iraq, but let someone try to take my property and I'm ready for war to start...right here. We may be people who want to serve others and try to eliminate injustice in our own country but just try and raise taxes....that's my money...that's my property. It is embarrassing to me to face up to the fact that I want to be on the side that is able to do some of the defining of the way things are to be. For when that is the case, I can at least feel as though I'm able to keep a bit of what is "mine." But that is such a business of idolatry that it can only spin us deeper and deeper into division, isolation, and yes, a hatred of anyone who may appear to be after my goods. It is no wonder the Jubilee year and redistribution of property probably never took place. Good idea...until we have something and we think it is our to keep and the more we have gives us the right to keep even more.



Connection: How in the world - I mean that quite literally - do we help one another become free of the illusion that the more we can claim to have the more power we have and the safer we will be? It is a demonic force that haunts us and yet, there is that promise that says it cannot defeat us. It's worth talking about some day soon.



Lord of the Day, all that is comes from you and yet I continue to try and claim it as my own. Heal me from such a lust for power and bring me into fellowship with those around me who may be just as stuck as me and yet yearn for a time of healing and wholeness. Amen.