Imagine That: Faith in the Midst of Financial Crisis!

Philippians 4:1, 4-9 Marianne Niesen October 9, 2011

A reading from Philippians, as found in The Message.

My dear, dear friends! I love you so much. I do want the very best for you. You make me feel such joy, fill me with such pride. Don't waver. Stay on track, steady in God.

Celebrate God all day, every day. I mean, revel in God! Make it as clear as you can to all you meet that you're on their side, working with them and not against them. Help them see that the Master is about to arrive (and) could show up any minute! Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life. Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious - the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into (a) most excellent harmon(y).

The words are lovely. The sentiment, touching. But the challenge in these words of Paul is hardly an easy one to achieve. Most of us are OK with ‘celebrating’ God and ‘not wavering’ and even with being ‘advocates’ for people. But . . . did you hear that part where Paul said ‘don’t fret or worry’? What’s with that? How is that possible? Paul clearly did not understand the difficulties that modern life would bring. Those people, the Philippians, are just too far removed from knowing about Wall Street and recessions and making ends meet and life in a partisan political climate that seems unable to do anything but hurt the other guy. These are nice words, alright. Great for a poster but not so great as a guide for navigating the financial turmoil we experience today. Let’s face it: “meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious - the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse,” nice idea, but not very practical.

Would it help with the ‘practicality meter’ if I reminded us that Paul wrote these words about not worrying and holding the hope that ‘all things would work together for good’ from prison, where he was being held on a capital charge? “Moreover,” as the New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary tells us, “the people to whom he was writing were unlikely to be living comfortable lives. Most of them were poor, many were slaves and few would have known the meaning of security.”[1] Sound familiar – at least a little? Paul didn’t know anything about the American Dream or Wall Street but he knew the human tendency to forget what is really important at the very moment when it is really needed. He knew that working for the common good is most at risk during the hard times, when it is most needed.

We live in a hard time, in a frightening time, especially for our economy. And, the current economic crisis is, in many ways, also a crisis of faith. When we can’t trust our financial institutions, the stock market, our banks, or our government, we find ourselves afraid, anxious, worrying, and that fear leads to cynicism or panic or hopeless resignation. We begin to hoard what we have and lament our losses and our inability to have more. This may be the most potent enemy we face today – that fear-based worry that turns us inward, away from one another. In fact, such worry robs us of what may be the best opportunity we have to examine what really makes us secure. Such worry blinds us to the chance to experience the kind of harmony that only comes from realizing we’re all in this together and that it is only in community that we will discover what is really important after all. We are far richer than we sometimes realize.

From prison, Paul wrote to the Christians of his day, who were experiencing their own kind of financial crisis . . . “Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down.” Another translation reads ‘with thanksgiving let your needs be known to God.’ That word ‘thanksgiving’ is key. You see, unfettered worry – about ourselves, our rights, our needs, our stuff – robs us too often of the ability to be thankful. It is only when we can take the time to realize what we already have that we can relax into a life free from destructive worry. This kind of worry is always about what we don’t have or might not have or might have missed or might not get or about what could happen or won’t happen. And if we start there we are doomed – doomed to be victims of our own anxiety. But, when we start with thanksgiving, we can begin to see possibilities and take responsibility for making changes or doing new things.

The fact is, we do live in a difficult time. Things are tight. People are afraid but I think Paul was on to something. If our faith does not help us now, when can it help? This is above all the time to claim the power of hope even in the prisons of our own lives, even amidst our personal anxieties. This is the time for new vision in life. And it all starts, I believe, with acquiring new eyes, new hearts, new spirits. Consider this story about a young man with a most unusual name – Energy.

Show the video clip about Energy Maburutse. [2]

I give full credit for finding this story to Matt Dale who sent me a September 26 New York Times article by Frank Bruni about Energy. This clip was recorded just 4 months ago. The more recent article tells us that some new things have happened for Energy. He is now enrolled in school at Lynn University where his penchant for new-found food like frozen yogurt has caused him to gain 15 pounds – he now weighs 80. He loves his new electric wheelchair. “I can’t stop smiling – I’m free,” he proclaimed. Free! Most of us wouldn’t count that as freedom. He is just 21 years old and has known more hardship than most of us can fathom.

Frank Bruni writes . . . “He studies hard and frets all the time. He can’t fail, not if he wants to realize his goal of a job as a human rights advocate – maybe with the United Nations. ‘Americans are so relaxed,’ (Energy) says, ‘so rich.’ He pointed to a mop leaning against his room wall. Like most mops in this country, it can be wrung by a sliding mechanism on the handle. He thinks that’s hysterical – absurd. In Zimbabwe everyone wrings mops with their hands. I asked him if anything about his new life disappointed him. He stared blankly at me. To him the question made no sense whatsoever.”[3]

And so, as we begin our yearly Stewardship emphasis - considering what we have and what we’ll share - take some time this week to notice your blessings. A mop with a sliding wring mechanism, for example. A flush toilet. Running water. The promise of heat in the building next door, even if we don’t have it yet. Sometimes our worries overwhelm us and blind us to the simple fact that we have much for which to be grateful. It seems to me that Energy helps us all understand just what Paul meant when he wrote . . . Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious - the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. We are indeed far richer than we sometimes think. Even in hard economic times, it is good to consider our blessings and ponder what we might share for the common good.

[2] Simply enter this address in your browser: http://vimeo.com/24901735

[3] Doors Swinging Open by Frank Bruni, 9/27/2011, NY Times opinion page; access at: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/27/opinion/bruni-for-a-disabled-african-doors-swinging-open.html?_r=1&emc=eta1