RIGHTEOUSLY THINKING

THE MEETING MINUTES WERE SENT OUT TO PARTICIPANTS to review for accuracy. The minutes reported at length on an exploratory discussion about the proper conduct of stewardship in the business of the church. In one section, following an assertion of the need for a renewed praxis of property, there appeared an editorial phrase, actually two commonly used words that are the death to all Christian vision and mission. The words were"realistically however . . ."

Oprah tells her followers "When a person shows you who he really is, believe him!" Language in action has the power to reveal how a person truly views the world and therefore defines himself and others in relation to his personal world view. The language of religion is especially revealing in this regard if for no other reason than religion is all about ultimate meaning and purpose in life, the very stuff of a world view.

Imagine then sitting through a church meeting where others in the room are secretly thinking not in terms of what God wills but of what the traffic will bear in this world. It used to be asked, "When is a businessman not a businessman?" The Episcopalian humor answered, "When he is a vestryman!" This humor though is lost in the increasingly secular culture of today's church membership. Today in the church money is the secret prime mover and not the Holy Spirit, especially in decision-making that concerns the programs of the church. "What's the bottom-line here?" Results-oriented decision-making is all about the money, the "real" bottom-line, and not the process of the conversion of souls ("world views") and the transformation of lives.

It's maddening, these conversations about ministry and stewardship and the business of the church, how these conversations get turned away from a discernment of God's will and made instead a practicum in capitalism. How did we get into this spiritual mess? It's like the proverbial bull in a china shop. Any appeal in the instance to goodness, truth and beauty or transcendent glory as a motivation and justification for taking a path of action that is counter-intuitive is contextually nonsensical, incomprehensible to the contemporary church business mindset. Once the business bull’s let in, it’s all about the business plan, brand name, marketing, accountability, regulations, strategy, results, the bottom line, profit and as much of this as possible: as if what (who) makes money is real and what (who) doesn’t isn’t.

Such “realistically however” thinking is unfaithful to a greater ultimate realism, in a word Christian realism and the belief that God’s hand is at work in the world around us and not just in a fantasy of wishful-thinking. Such "realistically however" thinking is patronizing of Christians who for centuries have sacrificed time, talent and treasure into the vision of God’s kingdom without ever worrying about results or profitability according to the standards of this world, trusting instead that God will bless their faith and trust and confidence in God. These often very "unrealistic" sacrifices are what have made possible the very culture in which the extraordinary benefits and opportunities of capitalism now exist.

The term “realistically however” is revealing of a world view that is entirely on this side of things, as if the speaker has the only true and final knowledge of what is ultimate meaning and purpose in life, and this knowledge is all and only about this world. We must challenge this attitude for what it is, nothing other than the siren song of Judas. We must renounce the weight of such worldly wisdom as nothing more in substance than Judas’ bag of gold, and every bit as a dangerous and deadly to our soul.

The biblical tradition speaks about the sin of the love of money. Many would argue that they do not love money. Do not be deceived. They love instead the things that money can do. They have become masters in the manipulation of the principles of money, of the bottom line and of profit. They take for themselves what is not theirs to take and give out to others what is not theirs to sacrifice. They talk about reality as if they are the masters of reality, as if they alone know what's what, and there is nothing that matters to them other than the illusion of their own reality.

Again, whose "reality" are we talking about here, anyway? Look back at an instructive engagement in recent history between the reality of God's kingdom and the illusory "reality" of this world namely, the engagement of Gandhi's rule of God against Rule Britannia in the 1930s. Look at the lesson of that outcome: dynasties and empires come and go in this world, but God's kingdom is forever. Again, do not be deceived. There is only one reality for the soul who has the vision of the kingdom of God before all else. All we have is - and all I understand is - the one Body, one Spirit, one Hope, one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of all. Nowhere in this baptismal proclamation do I see a declaration that there is another greater determining reality.

To allow unchallenged the use of the term “realistically however . . .” in the context of our conversations means that we would be submitting to a model of church which sees the church as a firm, the structures of the church conceived only as in a marketplace, and all actions of the church based upon utility or said in words paraphrasing biblical language, in the image and likeness of capitalism. It is true there are churches today thriving in our culture precisely on these terms. Yet they are sacrificing their mission and vision on the altar of the capitalist marketplace, a lesser dominant altar in our time and not the true vision or dare I say reality of God's kingdom. Beware the success of a church that models the world.

Such "bottom line" thinking is what has gotten us into many of our messes - the "realistic" attitude of money determining what we will or will not undertake as Christians in our call to be the passionate presence of Christ for one another and the world we are called to serve. This attitude is what got Judas confused. This attitude led to his betrayal of Jesus. This attitude is what has made the church blind to the legacy of creation and supported results-oriented accountability above process-oriented faithfulness. It is what has left the rest of the world cold to Americans in our obsessive pragmatism and practicality, compromise and calculating plays of power. We are in the wake now of our own success in worldly wisdom and practices. The tide is turning around the world and we're about to be overcome by our own backwash!

The measure of faithlessness in our times is Christians speaking more as capitalists than as Christians: as if the conversion of money and capital assets to profit is more the matter of our faith than the conversion of our checkbooks to Christ’s kingdom. We cannot discern God's will, much less fulfill God's will until we step back and have a long talk with Jesus (you might start by reading the gospels and looking for every reference to money). We need to clear our heads and get a renewed focus and discipline on what it means to be a Christian steward and business person working for the Company of God.

Jesus wants us to return thanks to the Father in heaven. This return of thanks includes time, talent and treasure, for all are gifts from God. Jesus wants us to incorporate best business practices into our church ethos; it's a simple matter of good stewardship. We know Jesus admired a good return on investments (cf. Matthew 25). Indeed capitalism has a lot to offer that is good and productive or rather potentially productive of much that is good. Capitalism however and free market economics are not in and of themselves, the ultimate good. For Christians the highest determining good is the Kingdom of God.

In a word, do you "realistically" think Jesus intended his kingdom to be premised in the model of a contemporary multi-national corporation? Come on! Jesus exhorts Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Why not then say more commonly and faithfully this, namely - "righteously" thinking!