Falling Over the Cliff... Together

Isn't it rather depressing that this Christmas season, what we are hearing the most of is the impending fall over the fiscal cliff?  I mean, I hardly even understand what it means, but it sounds like doomsday whenever the term is used.  On my way to shop for gifts, I hear the warning on the radio- We're about to fall over the fiscal cliff- and I automatically want to turn the car around and go home and hoard my pennies. Tighten the belt.  Cut some corners.  Ward off my own personal financial doomsday.

I'm not an economist so I don't fully understand the repercussions of falling over this cliff.  In my limited understanding however, it seems like avoiding it is a band-aid to a much bigger problem; falling over it could hurt... but maybe allow us to get back up on our fiscal feet again in time.  I could be wrong on this.  What I hear is that falling over the cliff means $2000 more dollars in taxes a year for most families... but a deficit that is cut in half.  Avoiding the cliff means more deficit but immediate avoidance of a recession.

Why is recession such a bad word?  Why have we become so fearful of hard times?  Well, yes, maybe it's the word "hard" linked with "times". That doesn't sound pleasant; it's nothing you'd wish for.  But isn't it typically the true means of change in a life, and perhaps a nation?  It often becomes my personal pursuit to avoid all things "hard" and at any cost.  I believe most people are like this and we let our nation be run the same way.

Congress called for a "What does $2000 a year mean to you?" essay from as many taxpayers as possible.  I haven't read any one's responses.  I honestly don't even know if it was the Republicans or the Democrats asking for this.  I'm so confused by it all.  But here's my answer:

Two thousand dollars a year means $40 a week. For me that's Starbucks, a few Happy Meals, and the gas it takes to get to my nearest Walmart.  I can suffer that loss.  However, I know plenty of people who cannot suffer that loss. Forty dollars a week is their gas money to get to the job they feel lucky to have in light of the dooming economy.  It's the money they already scraped out of their personal budget to pay for their child's braces.  Or in my cold winter state, it's the money they need to keep themselves warm.

I get that $40 is chump change for me and make-or-break-it for some of my dearest friends.

But this is what I think, and I don't think I need to be an economist to get this right.  We were not created to live autonomously.  Nor were we created to live dependent on our government.  The very first institution that was made was a covenant between God and man.  He created us, therefore he is responsible for us.  In a similar, though imperfect, way, my husband and I created our three children together and we  are responsible for them.  We don't expect them to buy their own food, put oil in the tank, or gas in the car.  We don't expect them to pay their own medical bills.  We take care of those things.  God intended to take care of his creation when he made it.  That's you and me.

When I read the book of Acts, I am always profoundly touched by how the early Church lived.  They are described as having everything in common, "selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need" (Acts 2:44,45)  In Acts chapter 4 it is said "All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had...There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles feet and it was distributed to anyone as he had need" (vs. 32,34, 35).

I get really bugged when people, especially Christians, explain away Scripture. The very first teaching I heard on these passages was why this was a bad thing and why it doesn't work.  It was called "communism".  Oh my, it was anything but!  This was a people so wholly wrapped up in the goodness of  God and so filled with his Spirit, that the love overflowed to others, their material possessions became insignificant, and it was their sheer delight to help those who were poor among them.  The result is that they won favor with all men. They had a good name as Christians among everyone but the religious Pharisees.  So was their generosity abused? Did some people get lazy?  Did it breed some hypocrisy? Sure.  But I don't believe for a second it was the wrong thing to do and I don't believe for a second that God isn't calling his Church today to do the same kind of things.

I get so much joy out of watching the family of  God take care of each other.  I see it and hear about it all the time.  Believers taking care of believers.  Food gets dropped off at some one's house.  Money is given in secret. Bills get paid anonymously.  Cars get given to people.  Everyday miracles happen and it's God using everyday people to do them.  It blows my mind, blesses my socks off. And so many people miss out on this because they are either not part of this family or.... maybe even worse... they are part of this family but are giving absolutely... nothing.

Giving has gotten a pretty bad reputation, especially when linked to the Church.  Yes, it's an awesome and Biblical thing that sinners have abused and used for their own glory and their own greed.   Even if you are not a Christian you could probably tell me the names of five famous "Christians" that have stolen from the house of God.  It's gross and it's wrong.  So now we're afraid to talk about giving, because we don't want to be one of those churches that is all about money. Giving and tithing, specifically, has such a nasty connotation that we've written it off as Old Testament, not New Testament theology. Whatever. I'm not a theologian just as much as I'm not an economist.  But I guess I think that what God says about giving is true no matter how much the world has changed.  Giving should be absolutely synonymous with being a Christian and if you are part of the family of God, you should be blown away by how much more God gives to you.

So when I think about falling over the fiscal cliff and heading into a recession, what I think is that this is the time for God's people to step it up.  To deny themselves the Starbucks, the Happy Meals, the $5 DVDs at Walmart, and start giving.  Taking care of their brothers and sisters and even people who are as far away from the family of God as can be.  It hurts for like two seconds and then you watch what God does with your $5 and you get blown away.  You learn that it's God's responsibility to take care of both you and the rest of his Creation and that he will- but you have the supreme privilege of being part of it.  People will see it.  The Church might actually gain favor with men again.  Yes, you'll have some people abuse it.  You'll have some thieves in the midst.  But you might see the Church added to daily just like they did in the book of  Acts. Because you're doing what God does best and that is give and give and give til it hurts.  He gave His Son.  We have a hard time giving anything that's going to require sacrifice.

You know, you may think I'm just ranting, but I have really been bothered by the autonomy of the Church for years.  By this explaining away of the "common-ism" in the book of Acts.  By how wrapped up we are in our own lives and gaining our own world of stuff and possessions, when our brothers and sisters need food and oil and love.  If we fall over that fiscal cliff,  God is going to take care of us.  And we need to be like him and take care of each other.  We're so afraid of hard times. We avoid it all cost.  As Hosea said, however, we "sow the wind but shall reap the whirlwind" (vs 8:7).  If we fall, we  remain the arms of a loving God. He'll provide for us and help us provide for others.  We were not meant to live alone in the body of Christ.  We won't fall over the cliff alone.