Gimme Shelter: A Response to the Global Economic Crisis by Ken Wilson
Foundations are things we take for granted. Like ground beneath our feet. Solid, secure. Until the ground turns into a water bed. Never been in a real earthquake--just a Michigan shimmer--but they say it undoes the psyche when the ground decides to tango.
We're in a slow motion global economic earthquake. The institutions of our economy are in serious distress.
Fear & uncertainty spreading through every sector. Students-parents of students worried about student loans. Business owners and their employees are concerned. One in six homeowners now owe more on their homes than their home is worth. Banks holding those loans….
A boomer is reminded of Rolling Stones, Gimme Shelter.
See the fire is sweepin, Our very street today
Burns like a red coal carpet, Mad bull lost its way
A storm is threatening, My very life today
If I dont get some shelter, Oh yeah, Im gonna fade away
Hebrews says "Everything that can be shaken will be shaken so that what cannot be shaken remains." When foundations are shaking, we either panic or search for deeper foundations that cannot be shaken.
Today, we interrupt our regular programming, to consider a prayer from book of Psalms: someone who went thru the shaking. Who felt the aftershocks of the schemes of the powerful. Who learned in a time of turmoil, the best laid rescue plans are not the most secure ones. Who found shelter in God.
Ps 37 depends on a distinction between wicked & just. Wicked people, just people. In Bible wickedness & justice are also destinations. We aim our lives in their direction. So wickedness & justice are different paths.
Just man David, turned his heart toward wickedness when he decided to go after another man's wife. He got on wicked path, putting everything he held dear at risk so long as he was on that path: His children, his household, his legacy. Instead of building his house & God's house, he started wrecking both.
Also important to remember that this wicked-just category is often perverted or abused. In Jesus time it was.
Jesus challenged the conventional application of the labels to people. Those who called themselves righteous he called "self-righteous."
The moral majority of his day were the religious leaders and those who could play by their rules. The people with power in his day.
Jesus came from the people without power. Raised in N. Israel, fertile farm land. Peasant working 5 acres, squeaking out a living. Romans taxing them heavily through a puppet King who was Jewish in name only. (Farmer led tax revolts, led to mass crucifixions.)
Priests, temple authorities, Sadducees, to a lesser extent, Pharisees served at pleasure of powers that be [Rome & Herod]. The corruption of power thus worked its way through his native religion.
As Jesus understood things, "the just" were a different crowd: "people of the land," who lived off land & sea (farmers-fishermen). Not righteous according to experts; many couldn't keep Law. Ordinary sinners, but people whose only hope was in God, who had a rough & ready piety. They struggled, prayed, tried to do right by God, but felt they often failed, especially with preacher-man reminding them…
Jesus told a story of Pharisee & tax collector. Both went to temple to pray. Pharisee: "I thank I'm not like this sinner over here" Tax collector stood in shadows: "Have mercy on me a sinner." Jesus said the sinner went away justified. He and his kind were the just ones.
So read this psalm as Jesus might have read this psalm. The wicked are the powerful greed-schemers. The just are the people who live off the land, whose only hope is God. Not good all the time, but their cause is just; they are vulnerable, poor, hungry for righteousness but not always full of it.
Do not be incensed by evildoers,
Do not envy those who do wrong.
For like grass they will quickly wither
and like green grass they will fade.
Trust in the Lord and do good.
Dwell in the land and keep faith.
Take pleasure in the Lord,
that He grant you your heart's desire.
Direct your way to the Lord,
Trust Him and He will act.
and He will bring forth your cause like the light,
and your justice like high noon.
Be still before the Lord and await him.
Do not be incensed by him who prospers,
by the man who devises schemes.
Let go of wrath and forsake rage.
Do not be incensed to do evil.
For evildoers will be cut off,
but those who hope in the Lord, they shall inherit
the earth.
And very soon, the wicked will be no more.
You will look at his place--he'll be gone.
And the poor shall inherit the earth
and take pleasure form great well-being.
The wicked lays plots for the just
and gnashes his teeth against him.
The Master will laugh at him,
for he sees that his day will come.
A sword have the wicked unleashed
and drawn taut their bow,
to take down the poor and the needy,
to slaughter those on the straight way.
Their sword shall come home in their heart
and their bows shall be broken.
Better a little for the just
than wicked men's great profusion.
For the wicked's arm shall be broken,
but the Lord sustains the just.
The Lord embraces the fate off the blameless
and their estate shall be forever.
They shall not be shamed in an evil time
and in days of famine they shall eat their fill.
For the wicked man borrows and will not pay,
but the just gives free of charge.
For those He blesses inherit the earth
and those He curses are cut off.
By the Lord a man's strides are made firm.
and his way He desires.
Though he fall, he will not be flung down,
for the Lord sustains his hand.
A lad I was, and now I am old,
and I never have seen a just man forsaken
and his seed seeking bread,
all day long lending free of charge
and his seed for a blessing.
Turn from evil and do good
and abide forever.
For the Lord loves justice
and will not forsake His faithful.
They are guarded forever,
but the seed of the wicked is cut off.
The just will inherit the earth
and abide forever upon it.
The just man's mouth utters wisdom
and his tongue speaks justice.
His God's teaching in his heart--
his steps will not stumble.
The wicked spies out the just man
and seeks to put him to death.
The Lord will not forsake him in his hands
and will not condemn him when he is judged.
Hope for the Lord and keep His way
and He will exalt you to inherit the earth;
you will see the wicked cut off.
I have seen an arrogant wicked man
taking root like a flourishing plant.
He passes on, and, look, he is gone,
I seek him and he is not found.
Watch the blameless, look to the upright,
for the man of peace has a future.
And transgressors one and all are destroyed,
the future of the wicked cut off.
The rescue of the just is from the Lord,
their stronghold in time of distress.
And the Lord will help them and free them,
He will free them from the wicked and rescue them,
for they have sheltered in Him.
Global financial crisis! Pot of money seeking higher interest. Real estate a good investment with housing prices rising. Money seeking higher yields tempted mortgage lenders already encouraged by gov't to expand homeownership numbers to loosen lending standards; no down payment needed! no verification of your income. At one point giving out loans called NINAs, "No Income, No Assets."
How was it possible? As soon as they made loans, sold 'em to those who sliced and bundled them and sold them again. A game of hot potato but everyone who touched the potato made money. Easy money until housing market softened. Higher risk loans started to default. People lost their homes, more homes on market, prices fell even more. More defaults. Cycle spirals down.
AIG, selling bets that loans wouldn't go bad. Easy money. In a company with tens of thousands of employees, 300 were doing this.
While waiting for bailout, take an executive retreat at a swanky resort to the tune of $400,000!
Many factors, but greed of powerful-institutions played a role here.
A lot of anger now at fat cats, high risk mortgage officers making 6 figures straight out of college, CEO's who bailed out in golden parachutes. A lot of anger at our institutions….
But that anger, as understandable as it is, is as toxic as the bad loans.
Be still before the Lord and await him.
Do not be incensed by him who prospers,
by the man who devises schemes.
Let go of wrath and forsake rage.
Do not be incensed to do evil.
For evildoers will be cut off,
but those who hope in the Lord, they shall inherit
the earth.
The root of the word "incensed" is "heat up." [pause] Also translated "Don't fret…" The heat the fuels anger also feeds the worry dog.
When foundations shake, we heat up inside. But the fire of anger and worry can burn us. When foundations shake, look for deeper ones.
"Be still before the Lord and await him."
Take a walk, blow of steam. Talk over your worries with a friend. Then sit and breathe, in through nose, out thru the mouth. Pray. Be still before God. Pivot. Aim quivering, overheated insides God-ward. Wait there a while.
Powers beyond our control seem to be out of control but controlling our destiny! But the powers that be are not the only Players. God is a Player in your drama. Ultimately, he holds your future in his hands.
Let go of the wrath & the worry for a time. Just because you have a right to be angry doesn't mean you can't let it go.
Put your hope--that part of you that anticipates the future--in God. The God of the vulnerable. Take vulnerable self before God. God I feel so vulnerable. Put your hope in him.
This crisis strikes at core needs: future, job, home. Recurring refrain: you will inherit the earth, your estate (home) will be secured.
Better a little for the just
than wicked men's great profusion.
For the wicked's arm shall be broken,
but the Lord sustains the just.
The Lord embraces the fate off the blameless
and their estate shall be forever.
They shall not be shamed in an evil time
and in days of famine they shall eat their fill.
When times are evil, and all we hear are words of doom and gloom, we have to claim these words of comfort. Our fate may seem like it's sealed, but it's actually held-embraced by God. You will be sustained, embraced, not shamed.
Distressed? Walk. Talk. Breathe. Pray. Pivot. Wait.
By the Lord a man's strides are made firm.
and his way He desires.
Though he fall, he will not be flung down,
for the Lord sustains his hand.
The just aren't having a cake-walk. Even with firm strides, may fall.
But there's a big difference between falling and being flung down.
"For the Lord sustains his hand." Many falls lead to broken wrists.
The image here, is someone trusting even while they are falling. God catches you, so you don't break your hand.
When we're falling we can freak or trust God to catch us. A difference between falling & being flung down….
When the ordinary foundations are shaking, that's when we discover the deeper ones. God is the deepest foundation of all.
When angry, frightened heart pivots toward trust in a deeper foundation, space is created in our hearts for doing good.
Let the bad times call the good out of you.
A lad I was, and now I am old,
and I never have seen a just man forsaken
and his seed seeking bread,
all day long lending free of charge
and his seed for a blessing.
Turn form evil and do good
and abide forever.
For the Lord loves justice
and will not forsake His faithful.
They are guarded forever,
but the seed of the wicked is cut off.
The just will inherit the earth
and abide forever upon it.
The just man's mouth utters wisdom
and his tongue speaks justice.
His God's teaching in his heart--
his steps will not stumble.
These are farmers who didn't have much. But in bad times, willing to lend neighbors some seed. For a blessing. Here neighbor, take some of my seed for your land. "Bless you!" [When blessings are few, you can always get one by giving!]
The Lord loves that. The Lord loves it, when his hard pressed people, pivot from anger-worry toward trust in him, claim his comfort as their own, and trust makes space in their hearts for those who are needier than they are.
By percentage of income the people who give the most are those in middle & lower income brackets. The higher income brackets give more dollars, but less percentage.
Why is that? The more well off you are, the easier it is to trust in something less than God. The capacity of our hearts is determined by what we trust in. Trusting God makes your heart larger, not smaller.
Hard times are the times for the church to shine.
My daughter works for a non-profit, Robin Hood. Almost exclusively funded by investment bankers, hedge fund operators. Having to cut their programs severely. Made me appreciate the uniqueness of the church, which has a mix of upper income, middle income, lower income donors. The church has people who give regardless.
The church, by definition, has a mixed portfolio. People with different portfolios mix with each other. If you're upper income and part of a church, you mix it up with people of lower income, and you're less insulated, more likely to consider yourself blessed, more likely to be generous. If you're middle income, you know people who less fortunate, you consider yourself blessed, and more likely to be generous. If you're low income, you know what it's like to be needy, your heart is softened to the needs of others.
I'm thankful for Wilfried who felt moved last year to begin offering a class on finances. Dealing with debt, living within means, giving.
Time for another class!
Maybe it's time for us to do another Food Gatherers Food Drive.
Interesting: just as economy is tanking, homeless ministry picked up an old UPS van for a prayer and few thousand dollars….the Lord knew we were going to need it.
This is the time for the church to shine.
This is the time for us to realize that our riches aren't just in our bank accounts. Relationships are the currency of the kingdom.
It's the time to speak wise words, gentle words to turn away wrath, encouraging words, good words to each other, as the just do. Lets be on the lookout for each other--speak the words of the just to each other, wise words, gentle words, caring words, encouraging words.
All of this is part of the rescue & the shelter. Final theme.
At first we heard a lot about a bailout. Now it's a "Rescue." Let's pray for our leaders, Secretary Paulson is carrying a heavy load, let's pray for him. For our President. For Obama & McCain--one of them is about to get hired for a tough job.
Stock market volatility driven by computers doing trading according to set triggers.
But in times like these, we need wisdom. Wisdom in bible is a dancing lady and she doesn't dance with computers. She dances with people. We need wisdom to dance with our leaders. Let us pray that they will find her and dance with her. And this crisis will be met with the best available wisdom so as to limit the pain of it.
More power, more wisdom to those working on the rescue plans!
But when foundations are shaking, go for deeper ones.
Every time we see a headline trumpeting latest rescue plan,
Let it be a reminder to place our hope in a deeper rescue rooted in a firmer foundation, the one that after all the shaking, remains.
The rescue of the just is from the Lord,
their stronghold in time of distress.
And the Lord will help them and free them,
He will free them from the wicked and rescue them,
for they have sheltered in Him.