When we look at the economic system around us, it clearly favors the haves. Tax rates favor the rich. The government is set up to fund large corporations through financial incentives and regulatory concessions. Government contracts of all kinds pad the pockets of those who are rich.
And the poor are sent empty away. Loss of all kinds of benefits. Lack of access to food for children. Loss of access to needed healthcare and healthcare supplies. Lack of funding for schools and libraries and programs that enhance life for so many. But then when does a rich person ever visit a library or swim in a neighborhood pool?
I know Christians who believe that God wants everyone to be rich. They see no problem with the biased economic system because they believe God wants to favor them through this system. Never mind that it never actually happens. . .
And when they read or sing something like the Magnificat this time of year:
God has pulled the mighty down from their thrones,
and exalted the lowly;
God has filled the hungry with good things
and sent the rich away empty,
they say, that was for those people in those times. God did that for them back then. That is not for us today.
But, ‘a man shall not lie with a man,’ they sure think that’s for today.
The thing is, the Bible is rife with verses about God’s concern and favoritism, even, for the poor and the oppressed. It’s practically on every page of the Bible. That is a message from God for all time. Justice for the poor.
The verses about same sex behavior are few and are clearly bound to the time and cultural setting in which they were written.
Prayer: Help us to know that as long as there are poor people, God will favor them, will have compassion upon them, will chastise those who make them poor. That is who God is. That is who we meet in Jesus and in his mother before him. May we prepare for Jesus’ coming with joy! Amen.
This devotion was prepared by Rev. Kim P. Wells, pastor of Lakewood United Church of Christ in St. Petersburg, FL.
Lakewood United Church of Christ 