Mennonites are known for being a breakaway church denomination of the Amish. Peace, compassion and living simply are core beliefs and although they are allowed things that the Amish are not, such as electricity, cars and education past the eighth grade, a plain and conservative lifestyle is preferred. I just happened to attend a Mennonite high school and the typical Sweet 16 gift for a student there? A brand new Lexus or Mustang convertible. Not exactly plain and simple. But this sort of hypocrisy is rampant in the modern-day church, whether it is in Mennonite, Methodist or Messianic congregations. It is not unusual to find a pastor driving a luxury sedan or a family of four hopping out of a $60,000 SUV on Sunday morning. In America, where the favorite pastime is no longer baseball and hot dogs but rather buying material things on credit, the idea of living simply amounts to having two cars in the garage versus three. So how did many people who call themselves Christians end up living “like the world and in the world” when the Bible calls them to do otherwise? And why does the church seem to be embracing wealth, materialism and an entitlement philosophy?
We live in a society where status and prestige is measured by accumulation of wealth. But a “keeping up with the Joneses” mentality was not always the norm in America, especially in the church. In Where We Stand: Class Matters, author Bell Hooks writes that in times not so long ago, church members were taught to identify with the poor and communities were held together because of shared resources. Being poor was looked at from a religious perspective as something to be revered and admired, because the lack of material things put one closer to God. Still, no one in their right mind would choose that lifestyle. In later decades in the US, individualism and self-interest became the normal way of thinking and Bible passages such as “ask and you shall receive” or if you give a thousand dollars, you will be given five thousand in return became popular because they focused on God blessing those who work hard to get what they have. Anyone who chose to live a simple life free of material possessions was now considered a hippy and anyone who was poor was considered lazy.
To be considered rich there have to be those who are considered poor. Hooks writes on page 47 “for many people the thrill of having more is intensified by the presence of those who have less.” America’s value system teaches people that the individual is responsible for the way their life turns out and that everyone has an equal opportunity to “make it”. Those who don’t make it are undeserving anyway. As a nation, we are programmed internally to believe that our wealth determines our status and that unless we accumulate as much wealth as possible, we are not as important as someone who has it. Therefore, the purpose of our lives is to climb up and up the ladder of success until we get as high as we can. But the ‘havenots’ will never even get to the first rung because of the injustices in place that prevent them from achieving. It is these injustices that are ignored or unknown to the ‘haves’. Instead, they just look at poverty as a fact of life and believe that their life is the way it is because they are blessed.
Throughout the semester, we have looked at the numerous social institutions in place that preserve racial prejudice and keep the gap widening between the wealthy and the poor. Governmental institutions such as housing, welfare, education and jobs were all formed out of a need for public assistance to those who needed it but greed and corruption found its way in and soon stories of people cheating the system were more prominent than stories of how it’s helped. Because media is drawn to the disheartening and dismal, those outside of the system began to see it as giving people a free ride. Met with so much criticism from the middle and upper class, these systems have become a place where the poor are put through humiliating circumstances just so they can receive their basic life needs. Instead of identifying with the poor as Scriptures teach, the poor are looked at as parasites and leeches, undeserving of God’s economic grace.
All of the books we have read this semester deal with a group of people who were feared, taken advantage of and stereotyped by the majority. Native Americans, Japanese-Americans, African Americans and Westerners in China were all grouped together and separated from society because of the fear that accumulated from the way they look. In the case of the American Indians, the quest for land was greater than the respect and preservation of a native group of people. In the case of the Japanese-Americans, the fear of the East and war was greater than respect for people who had called America home for years. And since times of slavery, the African American male has been looked at as a frightening source of violence and less than human, accounting for a high percentage of the prison population.
These groups of people have all suffered so that others could prosper. Most accept it as a fact of life and continue about their day without giving it a second thought. Others will even go as far as to say that certain people were giving the short end of the stick in life so that the rest of us could be grateful for what we have. My boss believes that his company does so well because he is a blessed American and God’s favor rests with our country. Whatever helps people sleep at night also helps them go about their day with a blind eye towards the mission of Jesus and the plight of the poor.
So how does living simply help end poverty and eliminate violence? We live in a world that begs us to consume all we can, without thinking about the consequences. Hooks writes on page 49 that “solidarity with the poor…invites us to embrace an ethics of compassion and sharing that will renew a spirit of loving kindness and communion that can sustain and enable us to live in harmony with the whole world.” To see the poor as we are, we have to connect with them. To connect with them, we must do as Jesus did and go to them- in the cities, in poor neighborhoods and forgotten communities. But first we must realize that the social system we have set up in this country does not promote equality for all and that there is indeed a division amongst the classes that allows the rich to stay rich and the poor to stay poor. The heart of this system and all the prejudiced institutions that go along with it must be redeveloped so that they do not further the stereotypes they have helped to promote. And above all else, we as people must change our habits of consumption that blind us to the bigger picture and realize that we are not making our home on earth and that all material things cannot be taken with us when we pass away.
People who work in non-profits or as pro bono doctors are looked at as saints because most people will not choose to live a life of simplicity if given the choice. Instead, they would rather work a high paying job, go home and shut out the world at the end of the day. Even those active in the church draw limits in their charitable work and have the option of turning that part of their life off when they want to. Living simply requires letting go of all things that tie you down to this world and living Jesus’ teachings of solidarity with the poor. Instead of being slaves to consumption and weighing one’s worth with the amount of material things owned, we must forget about class, race and religious lines and embrace each other as children of God, who are all equal in His eyes no matter what kind of car we drive or the position we hold at work. By letting go, we can become free.
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