Economic
Christians in the world. T ose who are poor don’t need pity, our guilt and certainly not disdain or blame. T ey need respect and job opportunities. T is is really about our belief systems, about how we regard our neighbor. What is our theology of “worth”? Our theology of greed? Our theology of fear? T rough reading Scripture together we are freed from greed and fear to hear what Christ is calling us to do. Each time we say the Nicene and Apostles’ creeds, we confess to God and to one another our beliefs:
I
’m wearing a pair of brown corduroy jeans. I sew, so I realize the labor it took to make them. Purchased four years ago, these jeans were a “good” buy. But good for
whom? Me? T e woman in Bangladesh who made them? I give thanks for her labor. For her. What was her labor worth? What is she worth? We are connected, she and I, through this brown pair of jeans. T e gap between the world’s wealthy and poor nations
is huge. People in the U.S. also experience great inequality of economic opportunities and income. Commenting on the seventh commandment, “You
shall not steal,” Martin Luther says God wants our tempo- ral property protected, but we also shouldn’t take advan- tage of our neighbor (Large Catechism). “If we look at humankind in all its conditions, it is
nothing but a vast, wide stable full of great thieves,” Luther wrote. “T ese people are called gentleman swindlers or big operators. Far from being picklocks and sneak-thieves who loot a cash box, they sit in offi ce chairs and are called great lords and honorable, good citizens, and yet with a great show of legality they rob and steal. ... Daily the poor are defrauded. New burdens and high prices are imposed. ... “Beware how you deal with the poor of whom there
are many now. If, when you meet the poor who must live from hand to mouth, you arrogantly turn them away ... they will cry to heaven. Such people’s cries will be no jok- ing matter.” T is was written some 500 years ago, but the issues
continue through the centuries, no less so today. As Christians we care and together give to help “the poor.” Income inequality is about vocation, our calling as
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www.thelutheran.org
• First article: Creation. “We believe in one God ....” People created in God’s image can’t be named—or forgot- ten or dismissed—as “worthless.” Yet we hear today about the “makers” and the “takers,” a belief system that a small class of people is worth more than all the rest. For example, the rhetoric goes that people of wealth
work harder than the poor. But God creates all people for vocation, and in ELCA congregations in wealthy and poor communities people are working hard, whatever their station in life. T e rhetoric goes that some children are worth
more than others. Millions of children globally have no opportunity for education. But education for all would benefi t their futures and the global economy. In the U.S. some say children from poor families ought to clean their school buildings to earn their lunch. All children need to be free from hunger in order to learn. We need to strengthen community schools as places for all children to learn together whatever their abilities, disabilities, and social-economic, racial or ethnic backgrounds. As economic inequality grows, instead of loving our
neighbor, we become more isolated, more armed and more in fear of our neighbor. Yet we believe God created the world and its people
for interdependence. “And God saw everything that God had made and indeed it was very good” (Genesis 1).
• Second article: Cross and resurrection. “We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ ....” It’s tempting to pass by and not notice people in need, thereby denying deep and growing economic inequality. We so oſt en feel overwhelmed. But the greed that sustains income inequality won’t cure itself. When we are assured
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MICHAEL D. WATSON
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