Security, abundance, and economic justice flow from your spirituality. Justice depends on your conviction that you belong in the universe. But you've been taught that you must take care of yourself first! The wisdom of our society and of our evolutionary biological history says that we must take care of ourselves first. We think that after we take care of ourselves we can relax and take it easy. So we spend years climbing the ladder of success, thinking that then we will have earned the right to relax and live! Looking up from the bottom, the top of the ladder seems to disappear into a cloud of abundance and security – usually defined as money. But often if we succeed in reaching the top of the ladder, we discover that we have no more security or satisfaction at the top than we had at the bottom. We have focused solely, or at least primarily, on ourselves and our own needs.
Our goal has been on getting, having, and keeping. Think for a moment about physics: When we need heat or cooling, we want movement in the air to bring us the heat or cooling. When we want water to drink, we do not go to a stagnant pool. When we need the power of electricity, we must keep the circuits open.
In order to be in the flow of life itself, we must not keep and hoard anything of any kind for only ourselves. Instead, we must let goods and compliments and success and blessings and life itself flow through us.
Some spiritualities refer to this as the abundance of spirit or of the universe.
The Christian language of my tradition calls this being grounded in the love of God. It is only when we know God’s boundless, steadfast love intimately that we are grounded in abundance rather than in scarcity. It is only when we know that we belong to, and are one with, the Creator of the Universe that we can truly be channels of God’s abundant love. Only then can we, in the words of the prophet Micah, “do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God.”
All of Jesus’ teachings on the Kingdom of God seem to turn upside down the ways of the world. Those teachings make no sense apart from the deep knowing that comes from a spiritual connection with God. For example, the message of Christ is that anything that stops the flow of blessings, of goodness, of material goods, also stops the flow of life itself. The containers that only receive become like the Dead Sea. The barns can only hold grain that will surely ferment and spoil.
It isn’t God’s vengeance that warns the rich man that his life shall be demanded of him. (Luke 12:16-23) It is a rule of life itself: life is maintained and furthered only when the channels of reciprocity are kept open.
Nancy Smith is a writer, educator, and ordained deacon whose ministry is to link faith and work, spirituality and justice, passion and ethics. From her own commitment to the Christian faith, she affirms the common spiritual experiences of people of all faiths and encourages inter-religious dialogue. Nancy offers Spiritual Life Retreats as well as workshops on Workplace Spirituality and Career Decisions. All are appropriate for both clergy and laity. Visit her web ministry at www.WorkplaceSpirituality.info
