Who's Got the Power?
He who dies with the most toys wins. Money talks. Believe it? I don’t.
I grew up in Westwood, a homogenous, well-off town. My mother was a single parent of three, supporting the family on a teacher’s salary. We were at the bottom of the totem pole when it came to income. Yet every student who went through the Westwood elementary schools passed through my mother’s classroom, where they learned the language of music. She also became what we lovingly refer to as “famous in Westwood”. Everyone knew her, and consequently everyone knew me. I couldn’t get away with a thing for fear that she would know about it before I arrived home! She didn’t have a lot of money, but that was power. Her parenting was truly a gift from God, and thus her power came from God.
True power – the kind that can light up the world – is found in God.
But wait, Russell Conwell from Temple University said “Money is power and you ought to be reasonably ambitious to have it.” And we all know other sayings about money that shows the power that capital can have. (sing) Money makes the world go around.
Yet I say to you that true power – the kind that can light up the world - is found in God.
Where do we assume the power is today?
Media: Television, radio, and print media put ideas out into the universe that shape our perception of the world. They tell us we must have this kind of car, that type of house, this kind of floor, this kind of relationship with our partner, that shaped body, this color hair. What they say uses its power over us to change the lens through which we see the world. And that vision shapes, directs, and orders how we behave in the world. Like it or not. The barrage of information and alleged “experts” is difficult to ignore or escape. It is surrounding us as we go about our daily lives in the world with billboards, advertisements on the sides of buses, taxis, piped in to the stores where we shop for the stuff we need to have to live the media’s perception of our best life. It is in our homes, in our living rooms, kitchens, and bedrooms through television, radio, and print media.
Why is that? Money. Those advertisers are exerting their power over us using their dollars to influence our behavior. And like it or not, it works. Ask a non-reading kid to identify the big yellow arch and they will immediately be able to do so. How many of us know the ingredients in a Big Mac? Say it with me. Advertising is powerful. And it is designed for those businesses to gather more of your dollars so that they will have them. And when they get more dollars, they use them for more advertising, or even worse, to influence our political system.
Does God have more power over our behavior than media? Consider how we respond to that media. Are we conscious of the influences? We can be. We can look through the lens of faith at each of these bombardments and assess them. Do I let media show me the way, or do I let God’s way of love show me the way?
That brings us to a second powerful group in our society: Politicians. Politicians control our public policy. First of all, how do they get there? Campaign dollars. Lots of ‘em! More and more it seems the ones who are elected are the ones who put the most money into their campaign chest. And the more of their own money they have, the more they can spend because of the legal limits that have been placed on donations from outside sources. By the way, why are those limits there? To limit the power that any one person can have over the political system. I heard an interview recently on WBZ radio in which the reporter was listing each of the mayoral candidates and how much money they had spent and how much they had left. Not surprisingly, the ones who had the most money were the candidates that I, as a non-resident and virtually uninterested person, had heard of. So right there money influences who gets the power.
Politicians are the public servants; the public is us, by the way, and we elect them to use their power for the better good, which sometimes is for us and other times is for societal good. Lawmakers influence who and what receives the dollars that they gather from us. They determine if our dollars are going to be used for things such as education for the least powerful, those with no money, our children. Or if the money will go to supporting public safety like police or fire protection. Or if the money will go to supporting the downtrodden, those without jobs or education, who are struggling to keep a roof over their heads. That’s power! Yet, if it’s misused, it is spent in someplace other than where Jesus might recommend it get spent on the least of these – and is used for something else – the famous bridge to nowhere, or subsidies for farmers who grow dangerous tobacco products, or bailouts for bigwig executives who screwed up in the first place. During the Age of Reason, Francis Bacon wrote "Above all things good policy is to be used that the treasures and monies in a state be not gathered into a few hands... Money is like muck, not good except it be spread.” I pray that our politicians spread it evenly so that all may grow from the fertilizer of finances.
Does God have more power over our behavior than the politicians? Do I cast my ballot based on superficial information through advertising, or do I investigate that individual and determine if that person operates in God’s way of love?
Now we arrive at what I see was the most powerful – those who can influence the media and politicians – us! We are the ones who respond to that media. We have the power to turn it off. We have the power to vote with our dollars. We can choose to support those companies that do the most good for the world. The Better World Shopping Guide is one tool for that. This guide rates companies based on their social, economic, and environmental policies, and ranks and compares them with others. It shows us how our spending dollars can be used to care for our fellow human beings and God’s creation. Feel free to look at it after worship in Bruce Hall. Those with any amount of money have influence by casting their ballot in our political system. Our spending is a form of voting with our dollars, and I would say that if you have no dollars to spend, that’s a vote too. And the decisions we make in the voting booth and the check out booth allow us to respond to life through the lens of God’s way of love.
Because true power – the kind that can light up the world – is found in God.
Where is our power then? It is in our ability to love and care for one another. Have you seen the “free hugs” video on Youtube? I will have it running in Bruce Hall in case you haven’t. A man stands in a busy location holding a sign that says “FREE HUGS” and we viewers get the chance to see the change in the hugger and huggees as the video unfolds. It is a beautiful thing! Loving others is a transfer of energy that can sustain others, giving them more power. And it doesn’t cost a thing.
Jesus knew that – he redefined power by teaching the Gospel of Love. Jesus accepted all those who were seen as powerless, and drew attention to their humanity. A Gospel “free hug” if you will. He called the pharisees on their abuse of power, reminding us that they love to have the place of honor at the banquets.
Jesus also knew that we cannot put our faith in those things that don’t last. The Matthew scripture reads:
30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
Wealth is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire – just see the recent stock market mess – we cannot give power to cash. We must empower the commodity of love. Love has lasting effects – we all know that. Now, I realize that the need for food, clothing, and shelter is a basic need. And here’s where the power of wealth can support the commodity of love. Consider this: in 2001 10% of the population owned 71% of the nation’s wealth. The bottom 40% only owned 1% of the US wealth. If we’re at the top, or closer to the top, what can we do? Should we feel badly that we are living comfortably? Nope. Live out of God’s way of love. Honestly, truly, selflessly determine what is the least we need to live – the least money, least clothing, least food, least everything. Then share the rest with those who have less wealth, less food, less clothing, less faith, less community, no home, no power. In doing that, the Kingdom of God will be glimpsed once again. In a kingdom, the ruler has the ultimate power, and in our Kingdom of God, true power - the kind that can light up the world – is found in God.
Our actions of love, compassion, goodness, and kindness create eternal energy and thus eternal life. God set that desire and need aflame in our hearts long ago. Ecclesiastes says that God set eternity in the hearts of men. Eternity can be viewed as the infinite longing for God. When we use that eternal energy (love) as the power source for our longing for God, we will get closer and closer. Jesus came that we could see God; he showed the way through teachings and actions. All we have to do is use the eternal energy that flows in and out and around us as the power for bringing the Kingdom of God here again and again until it stays eternally.
True power – the kind that can light up the world – is found in God. And God’s power is in each one of us. Good news indeed.