COMMENTARY: A test of faith for Jesus, and for us

LAKE GEORGE, N.Y. (RNS) It’s a long journey from The Sagamore, the one-time clubhouse to the fabulously wealthy who summered here in the Adirondacks, to next Sunday’s stint in the pulpit of a middle-class congregation in New Mexico. It is more than a journey along the westward migration, railroads and mineral riches that built the […]

LAKE GEORGE, N.Y. (RNS) It’s a long journey from The Sagamore, the one-time clubhouse to the fabulously wealthy who summered here in the Adirondacks, to next Sunday’s stint in the pulpit of a middle-class congregation in New Mexico.

It is more than a journey along the westward migration, railroads and mineral riches that built the Gilded Age mansions of Millionaires Row along this narrow 32-mile lake.

It is more than a journey into the irony that those mansions were demolished when mega-wealth sought new playgrounds, and now it’s the high desert of New Mexico that thrives, thanks to technology.


No, the journey that will compel my preaching is more fundamental. Last weekend, I witnessed a nephew getting married here. Three months ago, it was my oldest son. Next August, it will be my middle son’s turn.

Boomer babies are starting their families, and their eyes are wide open.

They know better than to seek life’s meaning in careers. They know the delusion of lavish living fueled by debt. They don’t buy the mock sincerity of today’s politicians. They know firsthand that many institutions are led by the weak, fearful and unimaginative.

It isn’t their generation that is fuming with anger and threatening to jettison democracy and civility. That’s my generation: the jobless boomers who wonder if they will ever work again, the boomers who face bleak retirements despite years of hard work, and the boomers who struck gold and are determined not to share another dime with the less fortunate.

It is my generation who is shouting betrayal, drifting back into racial and ethnic bigotry, and throwing millions at weak-willed politicians.

Yes, a “generation” is a lot of people, and us boomers have always been far more diverse than any stereotypes could encompass. My generation also contains many who are trying hard to correct the leadership vacuums and moral swamps, who are winning their battle over Mammon and preparing to stand tall against the forces of rage and bigotry.

I would like to believe — and this is where I will point the good folks at Rio Rancho Presbyterian Church — that churches can stand in the gap that threatens to drown us in vitriol. That they can put aside lesser concerns and business as usual, and overcome their fears of offending.


With the political class intent on dividing us, faith communities can seek common ground. With well-orchestrated power grabs afoot and the stakes higher than ever, this hardy band on the outskirts of Albuquerque can address the parable that Jesus told about a rich man and a poor man.

The gap that could squander our democracy isn’t the gap between liberal and conservative, or labor and management, or progressive and fundamentalist, or Christianity and Islam. It is the gap that troubled Jesus: the gap between a rich man who lived fabulously and a poor man who was “covered with sores” and desperately hungry.

Today, a tiny fraction control vast pools of wealth and seem determined to grab even more. Our political class does their bidding and turns everyone else to snarling over scraps.

We must see this gap as Jesus saw it: as a test of our faith. To be sure, faith doesn’t dictate a single understanding of causes and remedies. But in faith, we must see that the world’s future is being decided by a small cadre of rich people.

This victory of wealth isn’t what God has ever wanted. And it shouldn’t be what we allow.

(Tom Ehrich is a writer, church consultant and Episcopal priest based in New York. He is the author of “Just Wondering, Jesus” and founder of the Church Wellness Project. His website is http://www.morningwalkmedia.com. Follow Tom on Twitter (at)tomehrich.)


Donate to Support Independent Journalism!

Donate Now!