It's Mine

"It's mine," is the cry of the child who does not want to share. I know. I am an "only child" who did not get the computer chip implanted in my "wiring" that tells my hardware to share. I have to download sharing. It does not come naturally for only children.

That is, in fact, why we have two children. Betsy announced a few years after we had our first child that "one was enough for her." I abruptly responded, "O no we will not do that. You had a brother. You don't know what it's like being an 'only.' It is not the real world."

So we had two. Betsy reminded me when that second child got into the adolescent girl spiral in a rather large way that this second child fit into my only child "It's mine" category. She pointed to that second child and said, "She's yours."

It seems of late that we are an "only child culture." Everybody is claiming and even screaming that "it's mine." We seem afraid of loosing our rights to have a gun, make sure our hospital insurance is untouched, or choose who we will have as neighbors both literally and culturally. The latest culprit who seems to get the role as parent is none other than the government. We seem to want certain things from our "parent" like protection and roads and the "pursuit of happiness." But there are certain things that make us scream, "it's mine."

Those of us who dare claim the title, "Christian" need to take a look back at our family heritage. Our foundations are built on a Hebrew understanding of life that did not have, "it's mine" in the glossary. Community was the building block of culture. In fact community was so important that the community had to even be careful about those who came their way who were not part of the community.

These "strangers" were called "sojourners" by the God who made the rules. The reason that the community was required to be careful of and do justice to the sojourners was that this God said that everyone was a sojourner. God seemed to realize that one of the first things people do when they get a bit settled is that they start the only child thing and claim that most everything is "mine."

So God reminded the people that the land was not really "theirs" but was on loan. The land was God's garden shared with sojourners who were passing through. All the "stuff" that the people ended up obtaining and holding so tight to as "mine" was in reality in the category of "gift." Sharing at first was the norm because community was always more important than individual rights. Individual rights stemmed from a secure community but was never meant to become the norm.

Later those first people who claimed that Jesus was the human face of this same God started not a religion or a movement but they started a "community." Records (the book of Acts if you are interested) show that this community was a place where people brought together their resources and shared them with the "apostles" so as to make sure that all people had enough.

Well...we've come a long way. To listen to some who still wear the Christian sweatshirt you would think that individual salvation and right thinking and believing are the top ingredients of the Christian way of life. Community gets lost amidst that old and always dangerous idea that "it's mine."

I've bumped into St. Francis again recently. His prayer is a good antidote for the recent revival of the "it's mine" way of life:
Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.Where there is hatred, let me sow love;where there is injury,pardon;where there is doubt, faith;where there is despair, hope;where there is darkness, light;and where there is sadness, joy.O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;to be understood as to understand;to be loved as to love.For it is in giving that we receive;it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen

Bless you,
jody jseymour@davidsonumc.org