Meditation for Today:
Now I’m just another traveller
On another winding road
I’m trying to walk some kind of line
I’m trying to pull some kind of load
Now sometimes I move real easy
Sometimes I can’t catch my breath
Sometimes I see my father’s footsteps
And man it scares me half to death
But one dayOne day
There’s love for the lonely
One day
We walk in the sun
One day
Rest for the weary
Rest for the weary ones– Marc Cohn, Rest For The Weary
(c) Museum Steps Music, ASCAP
Yesterday I wrote about Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and suggested that we use it as a tool to survey our churches’ missions. In that post I suggested that much of what we do is geared to Level Five: Self-Actualization. Well, today I read about a Level One mission, along with a Level One approach. Rev. David Duncombe, a 79-yr old retired minister, has nearly completed a 40-day fast while walking the halls of Congress, encouraging our Senators and Representatives to support the Jubilee Act (H.R.2634), a bill that would will cancel the debt of approximately 67 impoverished countries.
According to Jubilee USA, the bill “cancels impoverished country debt; removes economic conditionalities from the cancellation process; mandates transparency and accountability from governments and international financial institutions; and moves forward with more responsible lending practices.” A more detailed summary can be found here.
What’s the big deal with debt cancellation, and why is this a First Level (physiological) issue? In an article for Sojourners Magazine, Christina Cobourn Herman writes:
In Kenya, 1.3 million people are living with HIV/AIDS, and many lack essential medicine and food. Half the population lives in poverty; 40 percent are unemployed. Yet, in recent years, the Kenyan government has had to pay as much in debt payments to foreign creditors—hundreds of millions a year just in interest—as it has for water, health, agriculture, roads, transport, and the finance ministry combined! With this budget, Kenya attempts to fund HIV/AIDS treatment, meager agricultural extension services for poor farmers, and a deteriorated road network that needs an estimated $1 billion in repairs.
The IMF (International Monetary Fund) and the World Bank, which are controlled by the U.S. and other wealthy countries, has allegedly continued to lend impoverished nations money that they cannot repay; some allege that this is even an intentional means to keep these countries “in our debt,” literally. In Kenya’s case (as the article goes on to say):
As Wangari Maathai, Kenyan environmental activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner, puts it, “The people who are really being punished [for Kenya’s debt] are the poor people who never received that money to begin with. … Those who did business with our leaders knew they were corrupt, that they were not delivering services, that the money was quite often stolen and stashed away. Yet when you request cancellation [of debts], people want to pretend that you got that money.”
The current situation of 3rd world debt is similar to those in America who were suckered into negative amortization mortgages, and now find themselves “upside down,” where they can’t even afford to make the interest payments. So, 3rd World debt increases without any further benefit to the suffering populations. It has been estimated that these impoverished nations pay collectively $100 million in interest a day. And, as a result the basic needs of the people – food, medical care, and so on – are no where to be found.
What I found striking was that Reverend Duncombe has taken a Level One approach to a Level One problem. While I proudly attached my electronic signature to a letter to my congressman in support of the act, he has put his life on the line by giving up one of his most basic needs – food – to make his point that this is indeed a crisis of Level One proportions. Did I mention that he’s 79 years old?
I’m not, by they way, suffering under a load of misdirected guilt or trying to lay a trip on anyone else. I am not even suggesting 40-day fasts are for everyone. I am, however, challenged to think about real needs, and what I can do about them (besides sit here and blog while I sip a cup of Starbucks coffee). I do suggest, however, that you start here, at the One Campaign. Sign up and send a message to congress. It may be, quite literally, the very least we can do.
Ever since I first learned of it in the early 80’s, I’ve been fascinated by what is known as Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. In 1943, Abraham Maslow published his paper, A Theory of Human Motivation, in which he proposed that as humans resolved certain basic, universal needs, they went on to try to satisfy other, higher-level needs. In other words, some needs, such as position or the need to express oneself artistically, were not important until the more basic needs of food and shelter were addressed.
While there are studies that would show Maslow’s hierarchy to be incorrect (and perhaps not be a hierarchy at all), Maslow’s pyramid-shaped chart (like the “food group” chart) is encountered, it seems, in every field of study from the obvious psychology to education to marketing. It is certainly an interesting approach to look at how humans behave. I also wonder if Maslow’s theory shouldn’t be at least considered by churches in evaluating their philosophy of ministry and overall theology.
Before I develop this further, let’s take a look at Maslow’s hierarchy itself. The chart (I didn’t want to rip off anyone’s copyrighted chart… but it can be found here) starts with level one, the most basic, broad level, as physiological needs: food, water, sleep, and so on. This makes sense; if you don’t have access to enough food to survive the next week, why worry about that promotion? Level two is Safety, which is pretty self-explanatory; it does include safety of your stuff as well as personal safety.
Once these needs are met (or mostly met), we can move on to Love and Belonging, which includes family, friends, and community. Level Four is Esteem; while not having any value without any community to be esteemed by, once your belonging needs are met, esteem becomes (or can become) important. Finally, at the top of the pyramid we have Level Five, Self-Actualization. Here we have various forms of self-expression, including creative expression and having fun.
Now, with these categories in mind, take a look at yourself, your church, and your church’s ministries. Where do they fall in the pyramid? Personally, I’d have to say that most of our lives are spent in the penthouse, Level Five, as are the lives of the churches I’ve been involved in. Most of us don’t worry about having enough to eat. Jesus’ advice, “Do not be anxious…” has little meaning to us if we’re thinking about tomorrow’s lunch menu. Most of us know where we’ll be sleeping, which is not only climate-controlled, but relatively secure as well. We may become anxious about our retirement, but we’re not that concerned about tomorrow. We’re also not necessarily that lonely. If anything, many of us would give nearly anything for some simple peace and quiet, which is why we put away money so we can spend a week or two at “the cabin” away from everyone else.
Basically, America is a Level Five country. There are homeless, of course, but usually it’s their own fault (right?). The poor are often overweight, and many who live below poverty levels do so with a large screen TV in their living rooms. At least, this is our Level Five perception. Our churches do have programs for the needy (which I am not criticizing), and there are some individuals who put me to shame for their willingness to put their body where their mouth is (in America, money comes too cheap). However, when you look at American and American Christianity, we’re at Level Five.
Just take a walk into any Christian bookstore, and look at the largest sections. Missions, right? Discipleship? Mercy ministries? I am willing to bet that these are all fairly small, compact sections. The larger sections are for Christian Fiction (I keep thinking that should be an oxymoron…) and what is often called the “Christian Living” sections. Christian Living is a nice term for “how to live a more fulfilling life as a Level Five Christian.” We have books on money management, love & romance, and all kinds of “how to be happy” books. Happiness, by the way, seems largely to be a Level Five commodity. I’ve often said that those starving people in [insert 3rd world country here] probably aren’t thinking about how they weren’t affirmed by their fathers.
In Luke Chapter 8 Jesus tells the story of a man planting seeds. Some seed fell on good soil, some on bad. About the seed that fell among the thorns, he explained, “The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature.” I find it interesting that one of the “advantages” of a Level Five Christianity is that we have the ability to choose our own thorns. And, it appears that much of the American Church is enabling this behavior. Are we pulling thorns, or planting them?
Jesus could have very well said, “It is harder for someone on the Self-Actualization level to enter the Kingdom of Heaven than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle.” But, today we should be thankful, as we have 12-step groups, counselors and inner healing teams to help us deal with it.
Maslow’s Hierarchy may be incorrect, and I’m sure that reality is much more blended than the parfait-looking structure Maslow envisioned. However, I still think it’s an interesting tool to analyze our lives, and our ministry focus. Which brings me back to my post title: What’s your problem?
A few weeks ago I posted concerning Ben Witherington’s article about John Chrysostom and how to read the Old Testament. Today I’ll highlight yesterday’s post from Witherington entitled SACRED TEXTS IN AN ORAL CULTURE—How Did They Function?
I believe that the best way to understand the Bible is to first try to understand the culture of that period and try to understand what the author was trying to say, and what his audience would have understood him to say. After that, we can talk about whatever personal revelation you may have had about the verse and whether it fits within your personal theology. Mr. Witherington seems to agree, and has some interesting things to say about First Century culture and how it relates to understanding the New Testament. He points out that the First Century culture was primarily geared toward oral rather than written communication, rhetorical rather than literal:
So far as we can tell, no documents in antiquity were intended for ‘silent’ reading, and only a few were intended for private individuals to read. They were always meant to be read out loud and usually read out loud to a group of people. For the most part they were simply necessary surrogates for oral communication. This was particularly true of ancient letters.
He then comments about what the written New Testament tells us about the First Century Church:
What do texts in an oral culture tell us about their authors? It is too seldom taken into account that the 27 books of the NT reflect a remarkable level of literacy, and indeed of rhetorical skill amongst the inner circle of leaders of the early Christian movement. Early Christianity was not, by and large, a movement led by illiterate peasants or the socially deprived. The leaders of the movement mostly produced the texts of the movement, and the texts of the NT reflect a considerable knowledge of Greek, of rhetoric, and indeed of general Greco-Roman culture.
As his blog post is actually a transcript of a recent lecture, it is longer than the average blog post, and he discusses in some depth how written texts were used in that culture, and gives suggestions concerning their interpretation from a first century rhetorical point of view. For example, it is important to realize that ancient rhetorical devices differed from ours today, and certainly differed from both ancient and modern literary devices. To analyze the New Testament from purely a literary point of view, he suggests, leads to misunderstanding, as does misunderstanding which style of rhetoric is being used. For example, Ephesians is an epideictic homily, which does not contain a thesis statement. Romans, on the other hand, is “a masterpiece of deliberative rhetoric:”
Understanding the rhetorical signals helps with difficult passages such as Rom. 7.7-25, which as it turns out is a tour de force use of the rhetorical device called ‘impersonation’ where Adam and his kin are allowed to speak of their plight in the first person.
Witherington’s approach is fascinating, to say the least. He sums up:
It is no mere rhetoric, full of sound and fury but signifying little, to say that analyzing the NT orally, and rhetorically gets us back in touch with the original ethos and character of these oral texts.
It is one thing to pick the Bible apart, as some have done, to build various cases or to simply tear down cases. It’s quite another to get a fresh viewpoint which releases even more life from the Scriptures.
