Age of Entitlement

(Ps. 107:1-3, 17-22 - Hesed - The Unfailing Mercy of God, Ephesians 2:1-10 - Hesed Continues- Saved by Grace not Entitlement. But we Can’t Complain, John 3:14-21- Look Up and Be Lifted Up)

Our modern world is one of entitlement, blame and complain. It is never my fault or my responsibility, it is someone else – them - (whoever them is) who is responsible for the situation I want to complain about. Because I am entitled to better, more, respect, recognition etc. And our society feels entitled to and complains about everything! Not enough money, roads, school, medical support, decisions others make, the that’s not how we do it complaints, the I don’t want to change complaints, the it won’t ever be right no matter what you do complaints.

 A man in Canada sued a restaurant because when he bowed his head to say grace the sizzling hot plate of food he ordered, sizzled and burnt his face! So he blamed and complained.

 A couple of years ago a Kenyan Baptist minister spoke to our year 11 & 12 students. He told the story of his church, his people and the lack of opportunity they faced. Almost one in two Kenyans are unemployed[1]. 70% of all unemployed are young people.[2] It is suggest that only one in 6 of those who attend primary school go onto high school. These figures vary greatly from region to region. The Baptist Minister explained that is because of the cost. Uniforms and fees equal about $300 Australian Dollars for a high school year, an amount only about a third of the ipad, iphone, surfboard or dress for the year 10 formal. A fee that would cover less than 30% of a years school fees for those listening

It was interesting to watch the reaction of the young people. They went from complaining about the small stuff to putting it in perspective. What they felt entitled to, a new pair of shoes, the latest iphone, a new surfboard etc seemed of less import to the situation faced by their peers in Kenyan. In one hour we raised $1,000 from what was obviously the students own resources, enough to educate 3 students for one year.

Entitlement, blame and complain seems to hardwired into our human existence. Ask anyone who attempts any kind of change in companies, institutions or even in family relationships. Change is threatening, the process unnerving, the outcomes uncertain. At the first sign of difficulty people begin to blame and complain. Now take the Hebrews in the desert, or maybe you would think twice about taking them into the desert, if Moses’ experience is anything to go by. They were slaves in Egypt. Exiles and outcasts, fodder the economic development of that country and without a country of their own. They managed to remain in tact as a people without a place. Moses comes along and, as instructed by God begins the process of setting them free from their captivity. They are ecstatic. This is what they were entitled to. They are going home. Wait a minute – out there – into the desert – what are we going to eat – where do we get water – how long are we going to be here – we were better off in Egypt – it’s all your fault Moses – Now why did God bring us out here to die – it’s all his fault.

Now we know they finally made it to the promised land, not all of them, not even Moses and anyway at 120 years of age and having spent 40 years with that lot in the desert I am not sure he wanted to. Yet make it they did. But they stilled blamed and complained over and over, against God, against others, against the situation they found themselves in.

You see the good news that found embodiment in Jesus Christ speaks not of entitlement but of grace. It is the Hebraic concept of Hesed, the unfailing goodness and mercy of God, which formed part of the Old Covenant reimagined through the life and death of Jesus. Through that experience we have the opportunity to reimagine our own lives in a way that reflects the values of God – compassion in action. Paul in Ephesians suggests that it is not anything we do but it is the initiative of God’s grace, hesed that means we have the capacity to live in a new and life giving way. You don’t get there because you are entitled to because of your good works good works are the outcome of grace. The definition of good works means taking sacrificial responsibility for self and others. Grace is given free but it has a cost – the relinquishing of the passions and desires we are enticed into by our nature and our culture.

If our nature is to complain and find fault or to always point the finger at someone else then we are called to let go of such a nature. If our nature is to want our way at all costs to those we share the world with, then we are called to let go. If our nature is to hold onto old hurts and faults, then we are called to let go. If it is our nature to think none of this applies to me but I can those it does apply to, then we are called to let go in response to God’s unfailing, unending goodness to us. We cannot simply say this is the way I am and you are going to have to deal with it.

John at the end of Jesus conversation with Nicodemus, a Torah Jew who was unable to accept the message he had heard, connects Jesus directly to Moses and the serpent. The people complained and poisonous snakes afflicted them. God instructs Moses to place a snake on a pole and to hold it up and healing was possible. Not simply physical healing but the wholeness that comes when you see something for the first time. It not only was to heal the snake bite but also the sense of entitlement, blame and complain that was preventing them moving forward into the promised land.

The death of Jesus acts in the same way. The Moses story is a type of the Jesus story. In the death of Jesus we do not concentrate on who to blame but on the example of hesed – the unending goodness of God which Jesus never ceased to offer to the world. The law apportioned the blame but only a new vision of the world provided by the death and resurrection of Jesus heals the blame.

In his resurrection we see the possibility of living out this unending goodness everyday. Not only do we see it as a possibility, but we recognise it as our responsibility to do so and to do it to the world, not just those we like but those we don’t like; not just those the same as us, but those who are very differentOh and we are to do it within the worshipping community of St Oswald’s too. The challenge for us this Easter is to give up any sense we may have of entitlement, any inclination we have to blame others and any tendency to complain about the way things are and come together with the Good News present in others, wherever we might met them on a daily basis, in away that ushers in the new way of living, the realm of God!

[1] http://www.tradingeconomics.com/kenya/unemployment-rate

[2]http://www.africaneconomicoutlook.org/fileadmin/uploads/aeo/PDF/Kenya%20Full%20PDF%20Country%20Note.pdf

Wanted: Leader to Step Into The Breach!

The Exodus story (Exodus 32:1-14) is a cracker – it has everything! A group of people lost in the desert after leaving behind a comfortable existence in Egypt to follow Moses and God because of some old story about a promised land. They brought with them all their worldly goods – jewellery, household goods and gold.

They find themselves at Horeb, a small hill renamed a mountain for the sake of a good yarn, and Moses goes missing, ostensibly up Mount Horeb to meet with God. But no-one knows where he is!

Now Moses was the key man, he was the visionary, the leader, the one with the big ideas. His brother Aarron, however, is a different kettle of fish. There is not the same steel or zeal in Aarron.

Left alone with the pilgrims, he gradually succumbs to the pressure of the popular push and allows the people to create their own gods out of the precious metals they brought with them. When Moses returns there is, literally all hell to play. I suspect they didn’t think he was coming back and had finally got their way. But that was not to be.

Where had Moses been? – arguing with God on their behalf. (Now I would love to have been a fly on the wall listening to THAT conversation!) God was angry and wanted to smite the lot of them but Moses stood in the breach – stood between God and the people - and argued their case.

Imagine how he felt when he returned!

This story poses some interesting challenges for us in relation to the role of the leader, be that leader a parent, a partner, a teacher or a world leader – what is our role? What are we to do?

For Moses that was simple but not easy – he was to be who he was – a leader – he was to look after the interests of those who couldn’t do so themselves; he was to speak on their behalf if and when necessary, even when the one he was challenging was God. He placed himself in their place and stood on their behalf. He didn’t avoid the hard questions for expedience sake, and he never changed his vision of who he was. He didn’t bow to populism but stuck the course for the common good. He was no interactive leader, letting other set the agenda; he knew what the major game was and stuck to it despite the fact those he lead grumbled, complained and plotted against him.

We seek these qualities in our community leaders but they are the qualities asked of us as parents when we hear one, or all of the following: “you’re the worst mother/father ‘, ‘all the other parents/teachers let their children/students do….’, ‘everybody else has one…..’, “all the other kids do…’ –“I hate you”.

We live in a sibling society where parents want to be friends to their children and not parents. You are first and foremost a parent, not a friend – they will have enough of those and they are the ones who get them into trouble – they need consistent boundary setters who do not shirk the task.

Noticed on a morning show last week that children as young as 5 are suffering withdrawals when deprived of mobile phones – the panel discussed it but nobody asked the hard question – what are small children doing with such items – they are adult toys not children’s toys. Trivial perhaps, but symptomatic of how we as a society have moved from Moses to Aaron in terms of leadership.

See, Aaron didn’t want to be not liked, he didn’t want people grumbling – he had his eyes on the Morgan Gallop popularity poll and went with what would make him popular. He caved into the shopping aisle whinging, the constant pestering, the lobby group push – the moaning and groaning won him over. He became their friend, not their leader. He succumbed to populism – to what the masses wanted.

As parents, teachers and leaders of any kind that is always an option – the easy option – be relevant, get them on side, be their friend – I don’t want conflict, so just say yes. For Aaron there was no arguing, debating, holding a line, setting the boundaries, being in charge – he just gave in and let them do what they wanted to do. Not always a good idea.

Moses models:
• Leadership as the big picture – this is about something bigger than instant gratification and momentary fame and popularity – it is about setting the course in the life of a people and holding to that course for their long term good. The challenge for us as parents, and it is not all together an easy thing to do, is to hold the line, to not fix every thing for them, to not succumb to the urge to distract them when life gets tough or boring etc.

• Leadership as the common good – leadership is never about me – parenting is not, ultimately about me, teaching is not ultimately about me – it is about helping to forge individuals and a society that works for all – it is about making a difference in the lives of those you lead so they can, in turn, make a difference in the lives of those they contact. It is about being unpopular now for a better outcome later, it is about delayed gratification (some of us are still waiting!), it is about looking to the horizon and not just to this instant – it is about what’s best for all.

• Leadership as standing in the breach –it’s what we do as parents and teachers. We make decisions, provide information and give direction on behalf of others, as if we were those others. We advocate and act on others behalf when they are unable to do so for themselves because they lack the experience, learning or wisdom to do so themselves.

• Leadership as being true to who you are. Moses was called to lead and remained to true to that calling. He was who he was. Leadership is being you – and those we lead need to hear a consistent feminine and a masculine voice (males and females lead differently and our children need both). As a parent and as a teacher we are called to be leaders true to who we are and should not try and lead like someone else. Moses didn’t, Jesus didn’t, Paul didn’t and neither did any of the great leaders of history such as Gandhi, Martin Luther King or Bishop Tutu.

What is to be our model of leadership? Are we Moses or are we Aaron? Jesus stood in the tradition of Moses who stood in the breach for the common good and used his relationship with God for our benefit, even when we, as a human race, had rebelled and gone astray.

We are called to imitate Christ in all our relationships – the challenge is ours to meet – and in God’s grace and never failing mercy, as Psalm 23 reminds us, we can.