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Metanoia:
Christians as Change-Agents
Excerpted from a sermon by Mary Cosby in the early 2000's (As printed in the Ministry of Money newsletter)
The Biblical faith has been distorted. Human beings create religious and political systems that protect them and their advantage, at the expense of others. Since all human beings do this, every existing system must be suspect. Some systems are better than others, much better. That is to be recognized and appreciated. But the genuine biblical person must be alerted to the selfishness of even the best of existing systems and must constantly be asking how even the best of these systems can be changed and made fairer.
Every system and every organization and entity within the systems must be looked at and judged against the plumb lines of the biblical order or system which Jesus calls the kingdom of God. What is the existing world doing to enable every person on earth to love, to come into his or her own full potential, to know deep security and hope? Is any segment of the human family finding it difficult or impossible to find ennobling work? To eat in a nourishing way today? Is there anyone anywhere on our planet without shelter or warmth? Is anyone being abused or tortured? Are there people living in fear? Are there health needs unmet?
If any answer to the above is "yes," then the system by which we are ordered must surely be questioned. The questioning of our system is one of the first graces of the biblical person.
Although we might want to try to separate God from these things, that would distort biblical faith and create a religious system which God himself would destroy. The bible clearly reveals that God cares about all these circumstances and intends that all people come to care about those who suffer most from the oppressive, unjust arrangements in our world. The bible does not understand reality as unchangeable but as a process in advancement (evolution). "Metanoia" is the only Greek word I know, and it is powerful. It means change. That is the word for today. Shouldn't Christians be agents of that change? We can be a part of the march of the whole global community in clearing up injustice and inequities.
Surely we have responded to several poor people, have several prisoners on our visit list, or have dropped off unneeded clothing at Goodwill - receiving a receipt of course for tax purposes. These things are a beginning and they need to be done. But unless there is a passionate protest against the national and global system that makes these handouts chronically necessary, it may be useless. Are we aware that the era of servant-acts is over? Thanksgiving baskets, or canned goods at Christmas for the less fortunate -- that's over. There is a seething bitterness abroad in the earth among the poor that they are no more responsible for their poverty than I am for my wealth. No, Jesus did not engage in servant acts, he became a servant. And he called us to be a servant people.
Surely what our Lord longs for -- and calls us to -- is for the churches to take the initiative in dreaming of ways to make our system fair for all people. Doesn't this mean for Christians a voluntary redistribution of our resources? How could it mean otherwise? The biblical assumption is that we are our brothers' and sisters' keepers. If even one person ends his or her sojourn in life not having fully fulfilled his (continued on page 4)
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