Monthly Archives: October 2011

I am the 99%

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Matthew 21:12 Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves.

If we were to transform our world as we see it today back into the time of the life of Jesus, what would we see? I imagine the poverty stricken would be the blind and the lepers. I imagine the widows of Jesus day may now be the single mothers. I think there are far too many who would fit the category of Pharisees. But what would represent the temple, and who would be the money changers?

I’m drawn to the Occupy movement. I am the 99%. I pray for those people standing up for those of us who have for far too long become a comatose society caught up in consumerism, keeping up with the Jones’, and falling short every time. I read this passage today and felt blown away by the thought of where Jesus might be if He were here today. I think he would be with the 99%. I think he would be fighting Wall Street. I think He would be angry.

I never really realized how little faith I have in my government. I never really realized how fearful I am of voicing that. I have fell for the public relation campaigns that drive our nation. I am a consumer. I turn away from the things I know are happening, because I feel too small to help.

I think it’s time to get angry. Jesus showed us that there is a time for anger. This nation has long since left behind far too many for us to continue to ignore it. The problem is, it seems too big a task to take on. It seems the ones working against us have far too much power and far too much money to make a difference. I don’t know the answer here. I do know I am proud that there are Christ-like figures out in my state turning over the tables of the money changers, shouting to whoever will listen that it has gone on long enough.

Making small changes, and telling people about the small changes you are making is the best place to start. Stop shopping at Target, and start shopping at thrift stores. Start buying whole foods, and stop feeding your children the unknown. Be more generous. Be less wasteful. Then share what you are doing. Share how it is helping your life, and the life of your family.

Even writing this I still feel helpless, fearful, silly – but I’m going to do it anyway. Maybe my small contribution is telling people my feelings, and hoping it resonates with others.

Grace and Peace

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If I could grant the readers of my words two gifts they would be grace and they would be peace.

I long for everyone to know the grace that God has gifted us. That gift we can’t earn, even if we try. And to feel the grace given to them by a loved one, or better yet … an enemy. I want the world to emanate this type of grace. To see it through our eye of intuition, flowing from one person to another. And how about even more? What if we were to bestow that grace onto ourselves? To forgive your past, to understand that who you were does not define who you are today. That what you’ve done before cannot hold you down. But if you allow yourself that grace? It just might just mold you into the person you were born to become.

And peace … the kind of peace that surpasses all understanding. That peace that flows through the deepest parts of who we are and overflows onto those around us. Not just that type of peace though … also, the peace that we are searching for within our lives. The peace from anxiety. The peace from pain. The peace we long for in relationships and within our toils and our looks and finances and possessions and knowledge and shortcomings. That kind of peace. And what about the peace for the world around us. For peace with those worlds always at war. Peace for the poor, for the widowed, and the hungry. For those that are thirsty, lonely, diseased, and addicted. Peace for all of them.

So grace and peace. My simply blessing. My covering prayer. For my readers. For you.