Assignment | Lesson Two | Classism
September 14, 2026 9:55 PM
Part One:
Post and submit a reflection at least 200 words using the following prompts:
- Some Christians embrace a theology that God materially blesses believers. The readings dispute such a claim. Where do you stand on the issue and why? How would you lead a congregation which through their prayers seem to subconsciously also embrace a God who materially blesses believers by the way they constantly thank God for what they have.
- After the Kingdom of God, Jesus mentions money and wealth more than any other topic. How should this impact what congregations should hear on Sunday mornings? What should the message be to the church whose members are poor? What should the message be to the church that is wealth?
- How should we understand Jesus’ teaching about the difficulty of a rich person entering Heaven is greater than a camel going through the eye of a needle.
This part is due Saturday, October 17.
Part Two:
Respond to the contributions of at least two other class members. Your responses to others may include acknowledgment of helpful insights gained by a fellow student's entry, further questions raised by another's comments, or a respectful critique of another's argument. Each of these response posts should be at least 150 words in length but no more than 350 words.
This part is due Sunday, October 18.
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Discussion (23)
DSF SEJ Wk2
Erin Aylor
10-16-26
Before answering the prompts, I wanted to note that there was quite a bit in the reading that is not able to be directly addressed here in one of these 3 prompts.
As a Career Coach at a 1200+ student body of 10th-12th graders, it does pain me to see less minority students aiming for either college or specific high-wage high-demand skilled labor training after high school than their Caucasian counterparts. In Arkansas, the opportunities for support are abundant for high school SRs with state grants, federal grants, institutional scholarships, and more! There are so many factors, but some of them include family influence, seeing the value of education, and having a higher percentage of students coming from single-parent homes with no father.
Research shows that that if high school SRs will follow these 3 things in this order, their likelihood of being in the government’s definition of poverty decreases over 70%: graduate high school, get married, then begin a family (aka have a baby). [Future of Families and Child Well-Being Study] These moms experience poverty at only a 9% rate vs 78% of those who do not graduate and/or have a baby out of wedlock. We cannot as a society separate out single-parent minority mommas and the cascade of other negative outcomes that follow.
I personally disagree vehemently that rioting, looting, destruction, burning buildings and cars and property is an acceptable form of protests. Protesting? Acceptable and encouraged? Everything else? Destructive. Destroying folks’ neighborhoods where there is already poverty or solid sources of jobs and income does nothing but hurt a community. Burning a single mom’s car when it is her only mode of transportation helps no one. Blocking off streets where paramedics cannot reach the home of someone’s granny who is having a heart attack helps no one. None of my thoughts here support injustice done to others or that folks should just turn a blind eye. The gist of the article I read was the emphasis that violence may be the solution or impetus that is needed in order to get enough attention to the issue. I do not agree with that.
I agree that the working conditions for those making Apple products is inhumane. I read about the suicide nets a few years back and thought, “If ever there were a red flag at a company workplace this is it,” yet here we are. On the flip side, the US wants to hold all countries to its same standards of employment. That is not possible or probable in many ways. Nevertheless, suicidal workers who are at the brink due to inhumane working conditions is something that any country’s economic and workforce leaders should respond to remedy.
I grew up with a phrase, “Not equal giving but equal sacrifice.” Everyone is not going to give the same amount, but everyone should give the same percentage of what they have. I believe this was probably rooted in the 10% tithing thoughts. Even reading the thoughts of scriptures preceding and following the widow’s mite donation (which combining those was new knowledge to me and appreciated), I do not see where giving is dismissed in the Bible for those who are poorer. Folks can give of time, money, prayer, works (helping or mowing or serving). Giving to the church provides a sense of collaborative mission and ownership of the cause of Christ. To have someone miss out on that would be sad.
I do believe God blesses believers, but that is not always monetarily and/or here on earth. It can be, and I believe when He does it is to be used for God’s glory and not our own. An example? The hundreds of thousands of spare bedrooms across the United States that could easily house children in foster care, young adults aging out of foster care, teen moms in crisis, on and on. But our mentality seems to be “My 4 and no more” to the detriment of our society. Truly, my home that I own with my husband is God’s home. We’ve had foster children, an international student from Uganda at ATU stay with us for almost 2 months when the university shut down due to Covid-19 and all the airports in Uganda were already shut down. We’ve had friends use our entire home while we were in ND, etc. We are not something exceptional. There is no gold star for us in that. I would be ashamed if we did NOT use and share God’s blessing that we are allowed to steward. Are we stewarding what we have well? That’s a question we need to ask ourselves as individuals, communities, churches, and our nation. To me, it’s not about other folks being richer, it’s about are we being good stewards.
It does make my blood boil continuing to read about CEOs making mega-millions while healthcare premiums and insulin I need to literally survive the day are unattainable for many.
The phrase “not equal giving but equal sacrifice” is new to me, and it sums up what I’ve been thinking about with the readings this week. We are all tasks with Justice and the Kingdom of God- regardless of our bank account. I’ve been thinking about what it is that I can do specifically with what I have been given.
The readings were overwhelming in terms of greed and self-centeredness. I was disgusted. I keep thinking about that passage mentioning that if the ten wealthiest men gave away 99.999% of their wealth, “they would still be richer than 99 percent of all the world’s inhabitants” (Ahmed et al. 2022, 7–8, 19–21). How did we get here, and what can we, as Christ followers, do to change this?
Many years ago, I overheard a conversation between a young mother and a pastor. The young woman was trying to figure out the best way to tithe what she gets with her food stamps. That was sacrifice, from my point of view- especially in light of the great wealth discrepancy mentioned above. Her point of view, from what she said, was giving and being a part of the community. From being a fly on the wall, I learned much from this young woman.
Working with high school students must be interesting! You really seem to know what you're talking about in terms of outcomes for people who take different paths. I wonder, though - what if a young person didn't do those three items in order - graduate, marry, become a parent - but our whole society was better situated to offer them support and community care? I can imagine several things that, if different, would take the burden off of individuals that follow a 'less traditional' path. For example - universal healthcare and childcare policies would make sure that people (regardless of marital or relationship status) had the opportunity to receive affordable health care and quality child care without needing a spouse in the work place. Instituting a universal basic income would make sure that nobody dropped far below the poverty line and that people had a minimum source of income to meet basic needs like housing or food.
I agree that in our current system the odds are stacked against young parents with limited education and without the support of a partner. However, I do think that there is a lot more society could do to ensure that opportunities are better available for people in a wider range of circumstances. I wish more people were willing to apply the christian values of care and provision to those in need across society - we could eliminate a lot of hardship if people were willing to see the value in lifting one another up with ongoing support simply because humans are worthy of dignity and respect.
Erin, I appreciate all your thoughts on this subject. Real world experience certainly makes a difference. I do want to talk about your fourth paragraph. The thought that the US wants other countries to apply the same standard of employment struck me two ways: first, that the US would like for all countries to care about their employees and give them legally allowed breaks and meal times. That sounds great! But secondly, it also occurred to me that the US actually treats their employees like other countries do because our minimum wage is still only $7.25. Also, if the US wants other countries to uphold our standard, they could absolutely do that. Write it into the contract or something. I believe there are ways for us as the Christian Nation we claim to be to take care of the people we employ around the world.
In your second-to-last paragraph you give personal examples of being a good steward. That’s the way we should do it! When we see a need, we should fill it if we can. I’m so glad you’re doing your part. If we all do our parts, the world would be a much better place.
My older brother, gifted beyond anyone’s understanding with spiritual wisdom, put his hand on my shoulder and told eight-year-old me that all we should want when we die is for God to say “Well done, my good and faithful servant”.
Each one of us has been blessed by God in some way. Consequently, we are responsible to use those blessings with the focus on the needs of others. Much is expected of all of us regardless of the blessings received. The faithful, then, are trusted with more- as the parable of the talents demonstrates.
Because Jesus speaks so often about money and riches, this should also be a focus in our congregations. Congregations with limited monetary resources are still able to contribute to the kingdom of God, same as those with abundant resources. Often those with limited resources are the ones doing and giving the most in terms of heart and percentages. This is telling.
The readings gave example after example of the wealthy using corruption, abuse of power, and lack of consideration for others in the pursuit of personal gain and profit. This blind eye toward the needs of others and lack of human decency contradicts the teachings of Jesus. This makes it difficult if not impossible for the rich to enter into the kingdom of heaven. Just like the virtuous young ruler, the wealthy of today are turning their backs on salvation…literally, for nothing of importance.
“Well done, my good and faithful servant” is motivation for all of us, regardless of riches or status, to use all that we have been given for the betterment of our communities and the world.
Your comments on the sickness of the most wealthy among us neglecting to share their wealth with those in need reminded me of another recent article I read. I won't get too far into the details, but it was about this enormous (like the size of multiple football fields) swimming pool near the ocean in San Francisco that was filled by pumping in seawater and could accommodate up to 10,000 swimmers! It was built as a gift to the community by a wealthy patron, Mr. Fleischhacker. The land for the pool and also the nearby zoo were gifts to the city.
A swimming pool and a zoo are fantastic recreation and learning institutions, yet they didn't feed or house anyone. BUT - they were given in the spirit of sharing with the wider community out of the abundance that an individual had received. They provided joy and exercise and wonder to anyone who wanted to attend. This is a kind of generosity that I don't often see anymore.
I agree that turning a blind eye to basic human needs when (especially Billionaires!) could take steps that would lift people out of destitution is not in alignment with the teachings of Jesus. I would maybe take it a step or two further and call it unconscionable! Systems that allow for these discrepencies are not serving humanity well.
I also appreciate you mentioning that a church or person need not be relatively wealthy to be committed to doing good. As a share of one's time and funds, I also agree that it's often not the most wealthy who are geared for service or devoting themselves to helping others. They certainly can be helpers, but the skills and society built for modern day wealth don't usually leave much room for it.
I'll also note I like your mention of the parable of the talents. Recognizing what talents we've even actually been afforded is an exercise that itself realizes faith. Through our application of what's at hand to help and love others, we figure out all our talents’ scope and natures. We, like those who were entrusted with talents, aren't faithful to begin with and afforded accordingly, but realize faith by our fulfillment of that trust to serve and dedicate whatever we received.
Years ago when I taught Sunday school, I realized that the children in our church didn’t have the opportunity to fill out prayer cards like everyone else did in the sanctuary. I decided that I would create my own version of our church prayer cards and give them to the class to fill out each week and turn in to me so that I could pass them along to the prayer group. Before we did this, we spent some time talking about prayer and what we felt was important to pray for. We talked about the difference between prayer requests and prayers of gratitude versus a Christmas wish list. I told them that while I couldn’t tell them how to pray, that the prayer requests that they wrote down each week in my class couldn’t be for video games, toys, or anything like that. I wanted them to consider the people in their lives and their emotional selves. It was a wonderful exercise that over time, grew into some deep prayers for gratitude and care. Every Sunday after class, I would take the cards and put them in the prayer box in the sanctuary for our prayer group to pray over them that week. After a few months, one of the women from the prayer group started coming to my class as it ended to collect them herself. She said that these prayer cards were the joy of the prayer group each week and they looked forward to reading them every Monday morning together.
I can’t say how God blesses people. I don’t think that it’s right for me to determine that because God is all knowing and can see needs for all. I do think that what we perceive to be blessings shapes our mindset of what we value in life which in turn shapes how we care for one another. I would rather focus on that than the materials I have. That is the culture that I would rather grow and build in my faith community.
I often struggle with the way that we talk about wealth and money in church. I wish we framed it more on Jesus’s teachings rather than focusing on our needs. Once we realize that we are called to be temporary stewards of our wealth it changes the conversation as to how we steward that money and allows us to focus on what we actually need and not what we want. The older I get, the less I want anything to do with money. Wealth is not a measure of success in my life.
I also want to say, that the readings really just saddened me about the global market. It was all stuff I knew but at the same time, I think I have chosen to remain unaware in a sense for my own comfort and I need to do better with this. It’s not something that I am proud of, but I know now that I can no longer ignore this.
Hi Erin- I too was saddened (but mostly angered) at the readings this week. The corruption, deception, greed, and general self-absorption left me feeling so hopeless… and helpless. I struggle with anger around injustice and was sickened when I read that approximately one person dies per second because of concentration of wealth for a few.(Ahmed et al. 2002, 12–13). I’m hoping that the anger can become a motivating factor instead of a sit-on-the-couch-in-my-pajamas-and-stew factor. If I only knew what to do.
It would be nice to change the societal definition of success as we’ve practically turned it upside down- wealth is the indication of salvation. I do think that the Church can be a factor in this change. We seem, as Christians, to have gotten so far from Jesus’s teachings in general that it’s going to take some work. I was in the praise band at a Congregational Church where they didn’t mention Jesus at all because they didn’t want to offend anyone. That was hard for me to wrap my head around. The recent campaign of the Sin of Empathy must break God’s heart. We are so far away (especially as a nation) from spreading the love of God, that Jesus’s message seems to no longer be a factor.
I am still learning to listen to the wisdom in Matthew 6:25-36, and that seeking God's kingdom is the first and foremost, and the rest will work itself out. And as angry as I can get about the billionaires in the world who steal wealth from others, I am a benefactor of this economic system in my own ways, and perhaps being a little more introspective on my own involvement in the "system".
I’m not sure that thanking God for what we have is necessarily embracing a theology that God materially blesses believers. However, I can see how for many it would work that way. I have known many who link prosperity and health and advantage in life with the strength of their own faith. But, I see that as a misinterpretation of how God’s blessings work in the world. So much that we experience is by chance - what we receive genetically from our ancestors, what side of the border we were born on, how much opportunity we have in our own surroundings…having gratitude for one’s own place in the world is not the same as thinking that God provided those things for you on purpose over others. There are many parts of life that count as blessings and most are not material - many are relational, spiritual, or communal. In my own congregation I hope we are working to recognize that privilege is not part of God’s hierarchy of blessings and that whatever advantages some may have, they are best used in pursuit of equity and thriving for all creation.
Discussing money and politics in church is often seen as impolite or even anathema. Yet it would be difficult to find a page in the Bible that you couldn’t relate to either in one way or another! Even the ‘boring’ parts like census materials or long ‘begat’ passages can reveal how people relate to one another and the values that frame those relationships. So, I don’t see a problem with talking about money or politics in church! Perhaps if we did, we'd have better ways to relate to one another in the wider world. For those who are poor, there are messages of solidarity and reassurance that God’s love and care for them is unceasing, even when the world is harsh. Their worth is not in their pocketbooks. A similar message could be important for the wealthy church - that their worth is not in their pocketbooks! Or 401ks! A message for everyone is that systems that allow a few to rise to the top while most suffer toward the bottom are worthy of destruction. Those systems exist to keep empires afloat and always continue at the expense of people who are valuable and worthy even when they are poor. Those who are wealthy may need to wrestle with their role in the systems at play and take steps to make change in their lives and in their communities. This is really challenging as it’s also related to the ‘chance’ that exists (see previous paragraph). Individual people don’t have a lot of power to make the kinds of changes that would turn things around, but the gospel does call for that kind of revolution if you take it seriously. Beginning to think beyond individualism and shifting toward movement work and solidarity is a beginning.
If you have a lot, it’s tempting to believe that you deserve it. Or that you can do better things with it than somebody else could. It’s easy to become attached to the comforts it provides or the status it gives or the security offered. I struggle with this. And, this attachment to the things that relative wealth provides is a big part of the problem, I think. We’d rather imagine how to create a really big needle so we could ride a camel through the eye instead of figuring out how to hold wealth loosely enough that all could share in the same benefits of ‘abundance’. Focusing on the ‘bottom line’ to maximize profits at the expense of human dignity is a sickness that has spread and infected us deeply. Over the last several decades, as the reading emphasized, the human cost has spiked at the same alarming rates as corporate bonuses. It’s a camel-through-a-needle-sized problem that many don’t even recognize as such.
1. Some Christians embrace a theology that God materially blesses believers. The readings dispute such a claim. Where do you stand on the issue and why? How would you lead a congregation which through their prayers seem to subconsciously also embrace a God who materially blesses believers by the way they constantly thank God for what they have?
I do believe that God can bless us materially but I haven’t been able to figure out his rhyme or reason. And rather than expect the material blessing, I prefer to pray that I learn to rely on God while I practice patience and self control. But even though I believe he can bless us that way, how do I explain to people who are in need that God doesn’t always physically provide for his children? That sometimes he just blesses you with the home you already have and the groceries you bought with your food stamps. I mean, after all, the Bible says, “And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus. (Phil 4:19, NIV)” If the materially wealthy go around saying that God has blessed them with their riches because they worked hard or “put their mind to use,” then why wouldn’t God bless the materially poor the same way? Where’s the line between “God blesses me because he loves me” and “the world isn’t fair even if we believe in God”? Why aren’t they passing on those blessings to those beneath them so they’ll be blessed too? Do the rich think they have no responsibility to those in the lower ranks of society?
I don’t know how I would lead a congregation to change the way they pray and believe. If I tell them to stop expecting material blessings from God, if he does materially bless them, will the congregation know it’s from him or will it be a case of “I must’ve worked hard enough and the world recognized it.”?
2. After the Kingdom of God, Jesus mentions money and wealth more than any other topic. How should this impact what congregations should hear on Sunday mornings? What should the message be to the church whose members are poor? What should the message be to the church that is wealthy?
Jesus talks about money because he knows how dangerous it is. In Matthew 7:24, he says, “No one can serve two masters. … You cannot serve both God and money.” Greed is a crazy thing. Not only can you be greedy for money and all that it brings, but you can also be greedy for the attention you could gain from giving it away. In Matthew 6, Jesus talks about getting rewards for doing the right thing. If we advertise that we’re being generous and people notice, that’s all the reward we get. But if we do the right thing the way God tells us to - in secret - he will give us rewards. It’s all about where we want our treasure to be: here or in heaven. Right now or for eternity. So when we talk about money in church, we need to talk about all the ramifications of the way we treat it. 1Timothy says the love of money is the root of all evil. But where does the love of money meet the need of money?
3. How should we understand Jesus’ teaching about the difficulty of a rich person entering Heaven is greater than a camel going through the eye of a needle?
I think he’s going back to the part about working in secret. Giving away money is hard to do in secret. Almost as hard as a camel going through the eye of a needle. We need to make sure our hearts are right before we try to act right on the outside.
I also appreciate your thoughts on the desire to have money and be seen having (or giving away) money. Reading back through Matthew 6 answers your concern with the conflict between loving & needing money I think. “[D]o not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat? … indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.” Whether it's for status or survival, here it's saying our material concerns can become a master of its own, especially if we only ever see those needs on an individualized basis and not collectively. Letting those fears totally capture and organize our lives abandons the heavenly possibilities inherent in mutual care and love.
To begin in response to the prayers of those in a congregation to give thanks for their material receipts from God, I would ask if God ever gave anything to those who didn't deserve it. And if so, why then would he necessarily also give according to what's deserved to reward belief? If such a reward were meant to be instructive, then how would we learn what belief or action deserved praise, to be worthy of reward? Aren't there also very materially wealthy people who have no express commitment to God (or who demonstrate a clear lack of commitment to moral action or consideration)?
More important than these questions, I'd ask whether they felt poor parents are any worse at loving or showing care for their kids because they lack material goods or property to reward their kids with? Whether it was due to a kid's actions or not. Is our God necessarily one of wealth, that in their splendor doles out the material effortlessly at their disposal? Or might they be like a poor parent too - creative, exhausted, worried, hopeful, and committed? If our God were poor, what other than material blessings would they provide? A song? A joke? Some quality time? Food made with love? A promise to make due when they can? Soon and very soon?
Why was Jesus poor if God is rich? Why did he join the world in a barn and have to flee violence? Why wasn't he installed immune to those unpleasantries and set up for a high-ranking job? Why would he ask the disciples to give up everything to follow him if all they had accrued were just rewards?
I'd seek to get the habit going to not simply thank God for what we have, but to thank God for having us. To ask God what of our personal havings makes our connection with them closer or more remote. And to be empowered to dismantle political and legal systems that structurally perpetuate inequality of economic welfare and capacity. To advocate for complete economic justice for every person and for the chance to realize dignity in one's work and conditions.
And moreover, I'd urge friends to not simply think of God as a trading partner or patron, but as the Creator of our family, as whose table we eat not as a treat but because we're kin. And whatever we receive perhaps too we're learning not just how to be a good worker to receive a day's wage (no complaints), but to learn to be a fair and generous vineyard owner in our own right too. That with whatever we feel grateful to thank God for having received, we know it's no more ours to claim uniquely as would be any meal or lesson provided by a loving parent to their child they're preparing to inherit their family business of love.
To #2:
Money is ever present in our lives, from the gas it takes to drive us to church to the cost of the electricity to turn on the sanctuary AC. No one hears about God but through the terms of scarcity. Even those of us learning about grace, love, charity, and Jesus Christ, from our families and friends, we do so over meals and in clothing provided via effort and interaction with material conditions. Providence is always an uplifting prospect and moreover we generally translate in terms of our own budgets.
However, I don't believe God runs a lottery, that only the few or the best will win. Jesus knew as did generations of a striving Hebrew people that the currency required to see to one's survival would always orient people's attention and endeavors. This however was the field against which social & economic inequality was not merely understood, but out from which our rudimentary understandings of each other's loss and gain could spring an imagination to redress them each as well. Namely, Biblical voices discuss wealth and money so often not just because we all so greatly care about them, but because our knowledge and experience in the systems and routines governing them are just what uniquely enable us to work to see all each other's needs met and bid forth Heaven on Earth against whatever material limits we encounter.
We should talk about why we labor, spend, share, and covet, all as much as we do - to what end and by what means. On Sunday mornings we should hear often about the dollars and cents required by our local schools, our poorest friends, our pastor's family, our ailing neighbors, our roads and busses - all folks are willing to share about the ways and means of our community's pursuit of living. All this too with a particular emphasis on hearing from and joining meaningfully with marginalized folks from within and without our congregation.
My church the last few summers have hosted "crucial conversations" where we've invited local organizations and leaders to share about transportation policy, eviction courts, childhood hunger, neurodiversity, and generative AI. All these with a particular view into their effects on all our lives, how the social realities they correspond to show up in our city, and what knowing those involved in administering and those subject to those systems entails in our moral consideration and action.
I'm also our church's former stewardship elder and continue on my church's and presbytery's budget and stewardship committees. Poor churches house God just as much (if not more so) as wealthy churches do. Poor folks often know how failed systems really are than wealthy folks (who don't have to interact with them) do, whether in terms of health insurance, childcare costs, or SNAP funds. Wealthy congregations often sustain a need to remain a wealthy congregation, which has great need to be disrupted. It serves no purpose to talk about how Jesus talked with and helped the unhoused and suffering, if we don't leave our air conditioning to do the same. In asking folks for their money often to help pay our bills and fund staff, I'm aware how money's use in the church must not require extraction from our members, but a responsible, effective coordination of a joint pool of money to the operation of a community of Jesus followers. Jesus may not have had friends and followers Zelle him to rent a space for worship, but he was plain in acknowledging that to feed the hungry required collecting food, that for every evangelist Mary we also need a deacon Martha, and that sharing and giving is a material power we each have at our disposal to use and enjoy wisely. (And not instead fund building ourselves a private airport like my parents' nearby neighbor Kenneth Copland opted to do "in the name of the Lord".)
To #3:
I've never personally seen an attempt to get a camel through the eye of a needle, but I understand at least it seems preposterous precisely because neither thing seems to have been meant for the other. A needle wasn't made for a camel to be sent through the eye, nor was a camel seemingly with any need to fit through a needle. Their fruitful interaction or repurposing for each other's intention is quite difficult and absurd-seemimg, but then Jesus says "for God all things are possible."
I reckon this turn of phrase (or at least the kernel of the idea here) is not necessarily to admonish one having become rich or being rich at some point, but is an imaginative provocation to consider how might such a bizarre potential be realized from the seemingly antithetical beginnings. Jesus doesn't outright rebuke the rich young man in Matthew 19, but replies to his sincere interest to understand his way to eternal life. Instead of subscribing to his personal agenda of justification, Jesus resets the frame for this man by focusing instead on the fate of the poor he should endeavor to know and with whom to share out his surplus.
It's not what he alone has or hasn't done that reaches Heaven, but what in concert with all people who hear and know each other's needs that such a destination may be arrived upon. This grieves the young man as it's reorients the meaning of his wealth and the means he's likely forged for attaining (or more likely retaining) his possessions. His camel-ness has just been reformed to be shaped instead to that of the eye of a needle. Not being quite shrunk or expanded, per se, but transformed wholly to make possible a relation where none before could be known.
I went to grad school for applied statistics to make money and find work more easily than other professions I could have pursued. A number of years of doing this work has surely earned me wealth, but has certainly also not allowed me comfort either that earning savings is an end unto itself. A younger version of me may have felt ethics was a luxury only one's stability or sound finances could afford, but I see that now as a camel's trap to perhaps keep us all enslaved to such a premise.
Getting stuff to do good defies itself if, by striving to get that stuff, one intrinsically does harm. Saying "it's what the wealth does, not the fact of the wealth" is ignoring what wealth and its preservation systems do. By organizing stores of value only for the purpose of exchange, to build value as belonging in design for the marketplace only, we perpetuate a hierarchy of the value of people and things that continues to neglect their sanctity, place, and beauty, in favor of their instrumentality, fungibility, and visibility.
I grew up in a church that was upper middle class for the most part, and I saw this prosperity gospel on display in sometimes subconscious ways, most of the people in that congregation would thank God for the blessings that they had in life, like their jobs, their homes, and their comfort, but there were a few families that everybody knew did struggle economically, and sometimes they would project this idea that their suffering brings them closer to their faith and closer to God. As I got older, I started to feel uncomfortable with these ideas because you look at people who live in poverty in America or even extreme poverty in other parts of the world where they don’t have access to even clean running water or adequate food, and I don’t think that it’s appropriate to blame them and say that God just hasn’t shown them enough favor or that they haven’t believed enough. Now, in my current congregation, we spend part of the service praying for the joys and concerns that we have, and I think it’s natural for some of those joys to be things like an accomplishment at work or an easing of some economic barrier or struggle, but this week’s readings did make me think about what are we expressing the joy for? Are we expressing the joy because we got something that we wanted or needed, or are we expressing the joy because God sometimes allows for the good of what we need to accomplish or survive? Having grown up in a wealthier congregation, I think what I would like to tell those folks now is that their wealth is separate from their identity in Christ, and that we should acknowledge the economic systems that allow for some people to have more than they need and other people to have not enough, and that it should be our responsibility as people who have more than they need to both assist with charity and to help consider the systems that uphold that inequality. I personally think that the passage about the camel in the eye of the needle is more about attitude and posture than a hard-line rule about who can and cannot get into the kingdom of heaven. And I think that we should have a posture of gratitude without connecting it to an entitlement based on our faith.