As economic and environmental matters dominate the headlines, we are being made aware of our passion to possess and the false standard of a good life based on accumulation. The Gospel of Matthew says that “No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” (6:24) How can we embrace an authentic response to the gospel? Maybe this prayer by Joyce M. Shutt gives some direction.
Consumers’ Prayer*
throwaway bottles
throwaway cans
throwaway friendships
throwaway fans
disposable diapers
disposable plates
disposable people
disposable wastes
instant puddings
instant rice
instant intimacy
instant ice
plastic dishes
plastic laces
plastic flowers
plastic faces
Lord of the living
transcending our lies
infuse us with meaning
recycle our lives
*Living More with Less by Doris Janzen Longacre (Scottdadale, Pa.: Herald Press, 1980), 14.
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Recycled Musings Of God And Mammon
Tom Mc Thursday 4/3/08
Lord of the living,
Lord of the Dead,
Which omnipresence
Supplies us with bread?
Whose metal monster
Smoking and loud
Rips up the earth
And makes us so proud?
Who are we praising
When pay dirt we hit
And claw out our fortunes
Leaving dark in the pit?
Who is the Lord
Of minimum wage
And Sabbath hard labor
And desperate old age?
Who is the Lord
Of the harvest of greed
When naught is organic
Not plant milk or seed?
With Whom is our covenant
Of Recycling and thrift
When lies of conservation
Cause an energy rift?
Equal and opposite,
Cause and effect,
Action reaction,
It's time to reflect.
What can sustain us
Through all this travail
corporate takeover
Or a glimpse of the Grail?
Thanks for the poetic thoughts. Helps prepare me for my weekend experience at Lake Junaluska. See 4-4-08 blog.
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