For years it has been a personal practice that the majority of my entertainment dollars have been spent on fund raisers for non-profit, charitable organizations. It is just one of my many social justice habits that also includes being a pacifist, quite anti-war. In recent times much has changed in my life, including my opinions on organized efforts in social justice, I have become skeptical of institutional answers to institutional problems. It is mindful of a very old joke “marriage is an institution, yeah, but who wants to live in an institution.” There were times in the last couple of years when my experience of groups working for social change bordered on criminal to laughable. Thats when I realized that I was taking myself and the world too seriously.
One case in point was a peaceful protest in Seattle, where the majority of protesters were minorities of one particular race being challenged by the government. As a pastor I showed up in an effort to add to the numbers showing support for the cause. Standing with colleagues from my denomination they start talking about the “other” denominations there…this one had bigger signs, that one had minorities (not the correct ones for the cause, but they were brown), but we had robes. The discussion of the issue at hand was not mentioned, it was more like staging a commercial for our flavor of religion. Then there was the low income housing group that met with the candidates for mayor for a “discussion with the candidates” with what seemed to be a ransom list of demands for money in a year of economic downturn, this would not have been so bad, but they did not have any questions that would invite the candidates to offer opinions, and the group itself did not raise the issue of what funding cuts were going to do to the organizations that provided low income housing, and the results to the poor if they went away… but they were very concerned about city money for advocate groups, such as themselves. Finally was the game of one institution to brand itself a place for the poor, align itself with other agencies and receive a whopping $1million in funds from the city and county, only to cut out the majority of their partners, those actually providing services to the poor.
After a time of being profoundly jaded by many institutions in the social justice realm, I found myself thinking of the old saying, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” So what is a person of faith and conscience to do, I turn to the bible. My favorite sermon series before leaving denominational ministry life was on the poetry of the Bible and focused on one of my favorite books which is Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes is home to so many, many wonderful quotes used in literature that we are familiar with: to everything there is a season, vanity vanity all is vanity, there is nothing new under the sun, they eye is not satisfied with seeing, a good name is more precious than ointment, and let your words be few…. But the two biggies for me from this book are: “that in life is there is no better thing than to eat, drink and be merry”, and “it is better to have only a little, with peace of mind, than be busy all the time with both hands, trying to catch the wind.”
It has come to me that those who take life so seriously, often become as laughably problematic as the problem themselves, and that we suffer from not enjoying life enough that we WANT to give thanks to God for each day of life we have been given. The reoccurring theme in Ecclesiastes is that life is short, it is full already and we are to live life fully in the grace of God. It acknowledges the suffering, it acknowledges the folly of seeking after wealth, intelligence and other worldly matters and invites us to live simply with one another and be thankful.
It was with this attitude that I went to my first fund raiser here in Italy, for a soft air club named for a Quentin Tarantino movie “Inglorious Bastards”… It is a bunch of grown men playing children’s war games, and may I add when my friend Roberta, a woman asked if she could join, no one flinched, they said yes. It is about play, about fun, about a group who goes out once a month to enjoy the countryside. It was funny to hear one side a phone call “ah, you are dead now, does that mean you come back home?” It was also fun to note that after camping in the rain, one of the sergeants snuck into town for caffe in the morning.
The beauty of the fundraiser to me was the support of so many in the town. It was a 5 course meal, where we would have paid more for the meal at a restaurant, and where the moms of the men prepared the food. The dining room was crowded, the soft air team was having fun serving, and a good time was had by all, (well almost all – please keep in prayer the mother of a dear friend Omar, who had her hand get caught in a pasta machine with damage to 2 fingers and lucky not to lose her hand). It was also a good place to talk about social issues/values such as the cost of “progress” of plastic bottles vs. the hand crafted glass and the environmental costs of soda pop vs. wine… and laughed how the bottles looked like an old married couple. This fundraiser was a heart of community, where we talked, laughed, ate and shared with one another, a special place to give thanks to God for this life and places of joy found in it – as well as people to pray for.
How can we find meaning in the seemingly silly, and recognize the vanity in misuse of worthy causes?
How can we hear God’s voice through both?
How do we honor that God will touch our heart in all matters in life?
Within the 40 days of contemplation of Lent can you make time to name your favorite book of the bible, and explore why it touches your heart in this place and time in your life?
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