Share and Share alike!

The phrase "Share and Share alike" refers to the equal division of a benefit from an estate, trust, or gift, which includes the right of the survivors to divide the portion of any beneficiary who dies before receiving the gift.

Due to the volatility of the current share market; arriving at a comparable value seems almost impossible. The inability for society to evenly share also impacts upon the common good.

In our current crisis, corporate irresponsibility and the and individual foolhardiness of those in control has not equated with the their duty of care for those they serve. The drive to meet targets and cut corners in order to obtain the all important bonus is not reflected in their responsibility to those whose lives are impacted by their actions.

It was Aristotle (384-322 BC) who said, "If liberty and equality, as is thought by some are chiefly to be found in democracy, they will be best attained when all persons alike share in the government to the utmost."

But what does it mean to share in government?

If we take the concept of Share and Share alike to its end conclusion, then surely it implies that I must share my neighbours poverty and she my wealth. Was this what Jesus was getting at when he said to the rich young ruler, go and sell what you have and give.......?

The Cost of Everything and the Value of Nothing!

I wonder what Bonhoeffer, the Lutheran Pastor and theologian, would make of today's obsession with personal value. It is interesting to note the current silence in staffroom and works cafeteria regarding the value of property.

Bonhoeffer, in his book, the Cost of Discipleship, writes of Cheap and Costly Grace. One has to question whether there is anything but Costly Grace with its uneasy bedfellow, nothing but a counterfeit, a fraud, a sham.

He wrote. "Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ."

With more loss than profit in the news perhaps we need to answer the leading question Jesus posed when he asked. "What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you? What could you ever trade your soul for?" Mark 8:36

Writing in the margins

How would you define marginisation? It could be described as the process of pushing non-mainstream people toward the edges of society so as to prevent their access to power. Or the social process of becoming or being made marginal, especially as a group within the larger society.

Jesus seemed to have the nack of placing central parties on the edge of society and including at the heart of his fellowship those who others pushed to the margins.

Take the case of Samaritan Woman

The Samaritan woman possibly experienced every form of marginalisation, and in many ways she embodied marginalization.

• Marginalised on the ground of Race/Ethnicity,(she was a Samaritan considered as impure race by the Jews)
• Marginalised on the ground of Gender (she was a woman)
• Marginalised on the ground of Lifestyle (she had many husbands)
• Marginalised to the point of loosing Self Respect/Dignity (fetching water in the noon when there was no one else)

With Regards to Jesus (The Barriers Jesus crossed)

• The Barrier of Race and Ethnicity (Jesus was Jew)
• The Barrier of Gender ( Jesus was male)
• The Barrier of Being Misunderstood ( Jesus talking to a woman, that too in solitude)
• The Barrier of Respectability (Jesus talking to a Samaritan woman and asking for water to drink)

Who defines the margins and who maintains them?

A Fresh look at Commonwealth

The English noun commonwealth dates from the fifteenth century. The original phrase "common wealth" or "the common weal" comes from the old meaning of "wealth" which is "well-being". The term literally meant "common well-being".

Dating from the reformation, it is interesting how the notion of commonwealth is now seen in terms of nation to nation trade whilst within those states, the notion of common well-being for all is often overshadowed. The interrelation between micro and macro economics seems broken, forgotten and even shunned.

Someone has said that perhaps we need to reinterpret what we mean by the kingdom of God as the commonwealth of God. This is an interesting notion placing the Gospel at its heart as a subversive political message to be fully heard and heeded. Whilst not an exact translation of the word kingdom (Basileia) used of in the New Testament to refer to the reign of the Messiah, it is worth exploting. Jesus’ picture of this Kingdom of God is a call to all of us to look at the world from the underside, to suspend our conventional ideas of authority and advantage, and to live our lives seeking impartiality with integrity in everything we do.

Perhaps the best definition of Commonwealth is found in acts 4:6 The community of believers was of one heart and mind, and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they had everything in common. What is the theological impact of this 1st century image on or contemporary situation.

Gustavo Gutierrez, the great liberation theologian, defines theology as "critical reflection on historical praxis." Doing theology requires the theologian to be immersed in his or her own intellectual and sociopolitical history. Theology is not a system of timeless truths, engaging the theologian in the repetitious process of systematization and apologetic argumentation. Theology is a dynamic, ongoing exercise involving contemporary insights into knowledge (epistemology), man (anthropology), and history (social analysis). "Praxis" means more than the application of theological truth to a given situation. It means the discovery and the formation of theological truth out of a given historical situation through personal participation in the struggle for a commonwealth of God.

Is the Lord among us or not? Lectionary Leanings 28 September

Preaching a sermon about water after a summer where everyone seems to have had more than their fill of what I've told my students is really liquid sunshine, may seem like overkill. However, I think that the lectionary readings for this coming Sunday can perhaps give some theological context to the contemporary downpours.

Exodua 17:1-7 and Matthew 21:23-32

The Exodus reading has Prime Minister Moses trying to deal with a disgruntled representative cabinet questioning his leadership and asking what he was going to do about their current lack of liquid assets. Sounds rather familiar. Things are not going right for anyone and someone must be to blame! Its an everyone-but-me-situation.

The Gospel reading has another encounter with political overtones over the question of baptism and who has the right to exercise authority.

Brian P. Stoffregen wonders if it is God who comes in these situations and does things that threaten and shatter our understandings of God; and that it is the demonic who wants us to maintain the status quo about God -- which will normally be too narrow an understanding of the God whose ways are far beyond our own.









The thing I find significant within these readings is what I would call the hidden intervention of God. The people of Israel where aware of the results of the desert miracle, refreshing water, but not of the one who supplied their need. The elite in the temple where conscious of the religious principles but not of their theological significance or spiritual implications.

The cry of the Israelites was, "Is the Lord among us or not" and the Pharisees saw but did not believe. For the Desert community we read that God said to Moses I will be standing there in front of you on the rock and still they didn't see. For the temple groupies; the word made flesh was their teacher yet they failed to see or understand him.

Is it still a question of water, water all around and not a drop to drink?

Brueggemann makes an interesting observation in that there is a problem presented, God intervenes to solve the problem and they no longer are thirsty. In our advertising it is the "commodity" that becomes the substitute for God and provides the answer, whether it is the answer to loneliness, depression, popularity, joy well being etc. (Brueggemann: 818)

Wesleyian Economics 21st Century Update

I wonder if a fresh reading of John Wesley's sermon; 'the use of money' can add anything to the current fiscal debate amongst world leaders in New York. In my minds eye I have a a whimsical vision of this 18th century Anglican cleric in cassock and cloak alongside president, prime minster and parliamentarian calling them back to basics.

Mind you, his basics are no simple formula or easy recipe. His sermon is complex and perhaps corresponds to the nature of the current crisis. The full text is available at http://new.gbgm-umc.org/umhistory/wesley/sermons/50/.

In this sermon Wesley advocates three equally important 'rules'; Gain all you can, Save all you can, Give all you can.

Wesley based his sermon on the text found in Luke 16:9 "I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings." (NIV)

The simplicity of Wesley's Gain, Save, Give philosophy becomes distorted when this economic flow is stalled, diverted or high jacked. Does that sound familiar? In the Biblical Theology Bulletin, Fall, 2004, Douglas E. Oakman helps us understand that,

What was originally a radical social critique by Jesus and his
followers of the violent and oppressive political-economic order in
the countryside under the early empire becomes in Luke's conception
a rather innocuous sharing-ethic ambiguous in its import
for rural dwellers.... For Jesus, the kingdom of God was world
reconstruction, especially beneficial for a rural populace
oppressed by debt and without secure subsistence. For Luke,
political expediency demands that the world restructuring be limited
to alleviating the harshest aspects of political economy within
the local Christian community by benefaction and generalized
reciprocity [Oakman 1991 : 177].

Perhaps the issue is that within the 21st context we are obsessed with individual wealth and possessions, rather than contributors to a commonwealth for all. Perhaps it is this word "all" in Wesley's fiscal trilogy that needs additional consideration.

Economy

The Eastern Orthodox and Greek-Catholic Churches hold a theology of economy or oeconomy (Greek: οικονόμια, economia) that basically means the good "handling" or disposition" or "management" of a thing. Originally this meant the management and regulation of the resources of the household and included the immediate family with its slaves and dependents. So what of the current economic plight of the household of humanity?

Bishops Williams, Sentamu and Wright have all joined the recent economic crisis debate with the Archbishop of Canterbury stating much as Marx suggested that the financial crisis is based upon - "a kind of mythology" in which people invested their faith, wrongly assuming it would work for the common good.

Neil Crowther of 'Nothing without us or nothing about us', reveals that when we realise that 40% of all those out of work are disabled, then we recognize that disability disadvantage severely undermines economic growth of the world's household. The old testament constantly reminds us of our need to include the widows, orphans and the poor. Now that's economy!

It makes one think as to how far my decisions includes or excludes another and has an economic affect.

Cover-up

I once heard of a minister who had a notice beside the coat stand in the hallway of his house that read. 'hang up your coat and your mask'. Today, I've pondered how many images I project to others? How many of these are masks that are of my own making and which ones are imposed upon me by others?

James Arthur Baldwin, the American essayist remarked “Love takes off masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within.” he also wrote “Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it is faced.”

Taking off my mask in the presence of a loving one who shares my vulnerability means coming face to face with my true image, warts and all and sharing the beauty of that encounter. My unmasking surely has something to do with what St Paul meant when he talked about the glory of Christ as the one who is the exact likeness of God and I can share that likeness. Now that's an astounding image to comprehend.

Turris fortissima est nomen Jehova "The name of Jehova is the strongest tower"

What's in a name? I've always been fascinated by the meaning behind names.

An educational psychologist friend commented that he had noticed how people seem to take on the persona expressed by their names. In my case he could be right. Paul means little and those who know me would endorse that I am vertically challenge. My second, is a family inheritance handed down from a previous generation, Alfred. Yes you've got it the one who burnt the cakes and this name has two meanings. The first is elf-like, adequately describing my love of humour and practical jokes, whilst the second, wise counsel, denotes continuing counselling ministry. Collings, a channel name, comes from an old french connection indicating a gentle nature indicative of a cooing dove.

Put all this together and you get the gentle little elf-like wise counsellor, a tough name to live up to.

As a Plymouth boy I have also taken for myself the motto of my home town. Turris fortissima est nomen Jehova "The name of Jehovah is the strongest tower" Whilst I often struggle to live up to my name, I have always found God to be my anchor point, my rock, regardless of the severity of the storm I face.