Consuming our Neighbors

The following story is inspired by Tim Vivian’s translation of an ancient story from the desert wisdom.

A widow had a son who she could not keep fed. The son would eat pounds of bread each day. He hunger was so insatiable that the son would even turn to his excrement. She was fearful that her son would eat through all that she was left with but also was fearful that if she did not feed her son he would die. The widow took the boy to a holy man, Abba Macarius, who, it was said, could heal the boy. When Macarius heard how much the boy was fed each day, he grew angry.

He said, “Do you know why your son was so hungry? When his father died you were left with a large inheritance, more than you needed to live your days. You have not shared your abundance with those in need. Scripture teaches that we will be judged and treated the way we judge and treat others. Your son’s hunger is the result of your stinginess towards others. Cut in half what you feed him and then give the other half to the poor, powerless and infirm who live near you. Only then will your son’s hunger will subside.”

The widow had more than she new what to do with so she gave it to her son in excess. In doing so, her son was eating more than the bread but eating away at the lifeline that the poor and powerless could have for survival. Macarius’ teaching is as old as wisdom: when we practice generosity we discover that we have more than we need and stinginess corrodes the community. When we are generous we do not “run out”. However, if we remain stingy and focus only on our own desires then we will in fact consume all that we have, including our neighbors.

In the debates of what should or what should we not give to people who are un/under-employed, this story rings in my ears. If we believe that our abundance cannot be given away to others in need, because we will run out of the abundance we have inherited or that our gift will be squandered, then we will in fact run out of our inheritance. However, if we were generous with our inheritance with those in need we may discover that there will be more than enough.

How You Know Someone Does Not Trust You

Trust is the lifeblood of relationships. This is obvious in personal relationships but there are many types of relationships. When you pass someone on a two way road, there is trust that each will stay in their lane. Without trust in the other then there can be great damage and hurt. Again, I say, trust is the lifeblood of relationships. 

We know when we don't trust another person. You can try to put it into words and sometimes you can articulate why you don't trust someone. Maybe they wronged you in some way and broke trust. Maybe they just look like someone you don't trust (this is sometimes the implicit bias that leads to misjudgments and prejudice). But for many of us, we know when we don't trust another person. 

The question is how do we know someone does not trust you? We can all put on a nice face and be pleasant with one another, so it is easy to miss that someone does not trust you. However, here is one way to discover someone does not trust you: The other person does not give the most generous interpretation of your actions. 

If you find yourself in a conversation and the other person is not giving you the most generous interpretation of your actions and words, then maybe the conversation needs to stop being about the issue but pivot to trust. Talk about how to rebuild trust between yourselves. The conversation about trust is paramount because even if you resolve the specific issue, unless trust is present, there will be another issue in the near future. 

The "thing" is rarely the "thing". More often there is a "Thing" behind the "thing." Many of the conflicts in the world come from a trust vacuum. Broken relationships, broken churches, broken nations and broken systems result a hemoraging of the lifebloood of trust. 

What An Abundance Is Not

As we gather together and ask the Lord's blessing this Thanksgiving Day we might use the word abundance to describe our sense of gratitude. Many will have an abundance of food around the table while others will not have an abundance. We may talk about the abundance of freedom's shared by Americans or, if you are at a table that values deep discussion, you may talk about freedoms denied to people.

Abundance is a fine word to use, but sometimes we stretch the word abundance to embrace more than what it really is. To put it another way, we sometimes think that abundance as unlimited when in fact abundance is not unlimited. 

In a recent TEDRadio Hour one of the speakers shared the example that when we go into the supermarket and see tomatoes for sale everyday of the year, then we begin to believe the abundance of food provided in winter is unlimited. Nature provides an abundance in each season, but the reality is it is not unlimited. You can get all the root veggies you can imagine in winter, but no strawberries. Summer has a load of berries but can't get a pumpkin.

For the most part, nature provides an oxymoron: a limited abundance.

This Thanksgiving may you come to see the limited abundance of nature so that we may give thanks for the deep abundance of creation.

Your Practice is not Limited to You

Someone practice baking and gave me the possibility of experience these divine pies.

It is unlikely that a person can deliver a brilliant sermon without practice, but practice does not guarantee a brilliant sermon. Practice does not make perfect but practice does make possible. 

In preaching, sports, music entertainment, parenting or any other field we practice, we think about the possibility that practice can offer. We might think about the glory we may gain if we practice and 'nail it' when it comes time to deliver. We think of the personal sanctification we might get if we get the results we worked hard to obtain. However, we may forget that our practice may lead to another's possibility.

Each week, choirs around the church world practice singing their praise songs and hymns. When it comes time to offer those songs in worship, the practice of the choir offers a possibility for the choir to have a level of fulfillment to be sure. However their practice also offers a possibility to those in the congregation: the possibility of being reconnected to the transcendence of God and that which is beyond. 

Your spiritual practices also make it possible that you may encounter the divine, but more often than not, your spiritual practice creates the possibility of others to encounter the divine through you. 

The possibilities of practice do not end with you.