2 weeks Ago
You may have been in groups like this over the past two months. In our adult Sunday school class, exploring the Christmas hymn, “E’en So, Lord Jesus, Quickly Come,” we learned how those words had been composed by Ruth Manz with the music written by her husband as their 3-year-old son lay deadly ill in the hospital. Our conversation turned to our own yearning to see signs of hope and life amid what seems to be an ever-darkening world.
A couple of members noted that the tradition in their neighborhood of beautiful Christmas lights has greatly diminished this year, while scary Halloween decorations seem to have exploded. Others talked about anxiety and worry about increased polarization, violence and prevalence of wars of many kinds, both in America and abroad. One father spoke with great eloquence about the despair of his adult daughter who had done volunteer work in the West Bank and her outrage over the silence of American voices about Gaza.
Lighting the second Advent candle for peace seemed like a futile gesture. What does one do? We went to the morning worship, where the text for the second Sunday of Advent came from John the Baptist crying in the wilderness for the repentance of sins, calling his audience a “brood of vipers who have fled from doing anything significant to show their repentance. Don’t justify your behavior by your ancestral and religious heritage! (i.
e. your pedigree) No matter your background, the ax is lying at the root of your trees, and those that do not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.” And the people said, “What then should we do?” To which John replied, “Whoever has two coats should share with those who have none.
” The tax collectors asked him what they should do to repent. He replied, “Don’t use your position to take more from people than the amount owed.” And the soldiers joined in, “What should we?” John replied, “Don’t extort money or more from the populace by threats or false accusations!” Our pastor noted how relatively small those acts were in the face of huge problems and crises.
But they were concrete steps — of things to do, and things not to do, depending on your role in society that illustrated how everyone could take responsibility in his or her own sphere of influence by either helping or doing no harm. Bear with me, and let’s play that out in our times. For taxpayers: “Don’t avoid paying taxes just because there are loopholes your lawyers have shaped for you, nor complain about the national debt if you use all of those loopholes.
” For corporate executives, boards and billionaires: “Don’t neglect taking responsibility for the communities in which you are located just because Milton Friedman said that profit margins are the only good. Your business and success depend on educated and healthy employees and on infrastructure that carries your goods.” For legislators: “Don’t make rules and policies that favor some and treat others unfairly, no matter how much you need campaign money.
Your job is your oath, to protect the Constitution with liberty, justice and freedom for all.” For reporters and newscasters: “Tell the truth, not what you wish was or wasn’t true.” For bankers and financiers: “Don’t hide multiple fees, hidden costs and quickly triggered penalties inside your contracts that are too hard to read.
” For American patriots: “Don’t complain about illegal immigrants without remembering that many Americans came to this country without the permission of its natives, and especially don’t turn around and exploit them with cheaper wages just because you can.” For drillers, miners, farmers and loggers: “Don’t use or take from God’s creation without cleaning up your mess or ignoring the consequences on the people there.” For health care systems and insurers: “Treat people as people, not as units out of which every possible cost can be squeezed.
” For police and law enforcement officers: “Don’t treat people of one race or color differently than you would treat another.” For employers: “Think about how you might hire some people who have the skills but don’t often get the chance to prove so, such as people with disabilities.” For businesses: “Don’t just raise prices if your costs have not gone up, just because inflation gives you cover for doing so.
” For people and corporations with great means: “Don’t use your money to persuade others without it seeing the light of day.” For priests and clergy: “Don’t condemn or take the speck out of others’ eyes without taking the logs out of your own.” For all of us: “Just because others do it does not justify your doing so.
Don’t drive or walk by just because you think it is someone’s else’s job. Do something, even if it just calling one of the people above.” And for op-ed writers: “Make sure you don’t write about something unless you practice what you preach.
” In the Gospel of Luke, it is written that “the people were filled with great expectation” after John the Baptist’s teaching. Treating people justly and with care, in whatever role we play, indeed might be the best medicine for cynicism, hatred and despair, as well as for a revival of trust in the institutions and systems those roles embody. Won’t somebody do something? We have met that somebody, and it is us.
That’s a revival I would like to attend. Former Wacoan Bill Gaventa is a clergyman and educator living in Austin, who is grateful for his Sunday school class and the pastor who sparked this column — and a bit more hope in him. He is a member of the Tribune-Herald Board of Contributors.
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