Give up "it all comes down to me" for Lent

Continuing our Lenten tradition of giving up hidden beliefs that aren't serving us, Vince explores how basically all working people today end up believing "it all comes down to me", and offers the story of Jesus being tempted in the desert as inspiration to not give up. (Photo by Luis Villasmil on Unsplash)

SPEAKER NOTES

Give up “it all comes down to me” for Lent

Context

Today is the 4th Sunday of Lent, the 40 day season in the church calendar that leads up to Good Friday and Easter Sunday, when we mark Jesus’ death and resurrection.
A long Lenten tradition in many churches is giving up a regular indulgence like chocolate, - as a way to intentionally commit to God for the whole season
Playing with that long tradition, BLC’s own tradition the last several years has been: giving up beliefs that don’t seem to be serving us - That’s our intentional commitment to God for this season
And this year, we want to give up the hidden beliefs underneath our lives that leave us feeling like our only option is to give up - We are giving up “giving up” - Some of these hidden beliefs we’re talking about are religious beliefs - But many are just general Western culture or American beliefs (unexamined assumptions about how life or the world works)

Ecclesiastes

The saying from Latin American Liberation theologies we’ve been going back to is: - “We don’t just read the Bible, we let the Bible read us.” - That’s how we’ve been uncovering the hidden beliefs we want to encourage giving up.
Specifically, referring to the Bible’s Book of Ecclesiastes. - One of the Wisdom writings of the Hebrew Bible, or Old Testament. Written 450 to 150 years before Jesus. - And yet an incredibly modern feeling text, - With its unflinching expression of existential dread - And its deconstruction of conventional wisdom - Today, I don’t have a new passage for us; I simply want to return us again to two of the most repeated lines in the book. visual - >>> “Meaninglessness! Life is all a chasing after the wind!” - >>> “Why do the righteous die and the wicked prosper?” - As we’ve been asking, what are the emotional states that the repetition of such lines, again and again, read in us? - This is a man who feels alone. - Who feels like nothing is holding him, nothing is holding him up, supporting him - And that seems to feel especially hurtful because he’s clearly been promised that things will hold him up. - That is a loneliness we can relate to, yes? - We know the resigned belief that nothing will hold us up, - Our version is: “everything comes down to me.” - That’s the hidden belief I want to talk about today… visual off

Uncovering our Hidden belief

I heard Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren share a story from her life once that has stayed with me.

She shared how, when she was 12 growing up in Oklahoma in the early 60s, her father had a serious heart attack and could no longer work his sales job that paid for their family’s mortgage and bills.
As a result, she said, her mother walked down to the local Sears Department Store and got a job taking catalog orders.
That job paid the mortgage and the bills, saved the family from losing their home and health insurance, and helped pay for Elizabeth to go to college.

After she tells this story, she explains:

She could tell this story to draw attention to the heroics of her mother. Absolutely, she says. Her mother is a hero.
But the reason she tells this story so often to people is because it can’t happen anymore in our economy, and that’s a problem. - If a family today experiences something like her family did, and a parent walks down to the local chain retailer, there is no guarantee of a secure job beyond a temporary position during the holidays. - There is no guarantee of full-time work that would pay a livable wage, that is enough to help a family meet their rent, let alone a mortgage — in Oklahoma, let alone Chicago or New York or San Francisco. - There is no guarantee of health insurance. - There is no guarantee of a social contract between employer and employee, as a mutually beneficial relationship between an employee who needs a job and an employer who needs work done. - Today the benefit is nearly always on the terms of the employer above all. - And, therefore, all the risk comes down to the employee above all.
In the days of employment as social contract, employers took on risk for employees - You had job security through the holidays AND the slow season, because that was part of the social contract. - The fact that you brought your labor to this employer forsaking other opportunities with other employers was acknowledged and honored. The risk you took was seen, and so employers would respond in kind and take on some risk for you. It's a social contract.
Now? The risk is all on employees… - You take temp or gig work because you need it, and if that means you miss out on another opportunity… well, sucks to be you. - You better prove yourself to be indispensable to your boss, because otherwise there’s a cheaper “human resource” around the corner for them to replace you with.
This has been called by some “The Great Risk Shift” - Over the last 50 or so years, owing to various contributing factors (cultural, political, economic), across the board, the average practices of average employers have shifted more and more of the risks inherent in employment to employees — to the point that that is the new norm. - It afflicts the working poor above all - But it also afflicts most of us who have been taught to regard ourselves as middle-class. - The explanation of class in America that makes most sense to me lately encourages those of us usually considered “middle-class” (me) to instead regard ourselves as among the masses of “all working people” - To see ourselves as having more solidarity with the poor and working class than we do with the rich and executive class. - If my wife or I lost our job, we’d be in danger of losing our home, not being able to pay our bills, not having health insurance. That means our lives are WAY more similar to the poorest people in our city than they are to the richest people in our city. - “Working people” are all of us who feel like the risks of life all come down to us. - We feel alone - Like nothing is holding us - But, somehow, we feel like we’re holding up everything. - And if we stopped, everything would come crashing down. - This belief, hidden behind daily life but always operative in us, is not fundamentally a problem with us as individuals, as though what we need most is to personally change our mindsets. - We could do with some mindset change, for sure, there are ways we make this worse for ourselves, but… - Fundamentally, this is a problem with something at the societal level, a problem with our culture’s vision for the world.

Jesus

I want to talk more about Cultural Visions for the world,
We’re going to read an important Lent story from the Bible.
It’s one of the most richly symbolic stories in the New Testament — the temptation of Jesus in the desert, before he begins his public ministry. - I wonder if you know it? - Jesus is said to be led by God’s Spirit into the desert to fast 40 days (tying him to the Ancient Hebrews after the Exodus who were said to wander in the desert 40 years) — that’s where we get the tradition of 40 days for the season of Lent - And while in the desert fasting, Jesus faces three temptations, from “temptation personified” — the devil, or Satan. - Very much a proverbial story — rightly referred to all the time to represent the need for worthy leaders to have demonstrated integrity in the face of temptations to sacrifice their values.
Before reading though, I want to start with the cultural matrix behind this story - Because it’s not just a general critique of how an individual might lead. - When we read this inside its cultural matrix, we can see it as a very pointed, specific critique of the dominant Cultural Vision of the day: Imperial Rome’s. visual
The Cultural matrix of the New Testament we must remember is a confrontation between: - The Roman Imperial Vision for the world (Pax Romana, or Roman Peace, which was no peace at all) vs Jesus’ Vision for the world (the Kingdom of God) - The Kingdom of this World vs. The Kingdom of Heaven - A world held together by victory and conquest of the strong over the weak vs. A world held together by a just distribution of God’s abundance to all - Caesar as "Son of God" vs. Jesus as “Son of God” visual off - that term “Son of God” is a Roman term, reserved for the Roman Caesar, so the use of it in the Gospels to refer to Jesus is provoking the Empire. visual

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:

“‘He will command his angels concerning you,

and they will lift you up in their hands,

so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”

Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”

Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”

Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him. visual off

Within its cultural matrix, the three temptations of Jesus in the desert can be seen to represent Imperial Rome’s Vision for the World: feed to pacify, show off to subjugate, dominate for victory visual - The first temptation - feed to pacify (turn these stones into bread) - The Roman Empire would give conquered peoples just enough bread and fish to keep them from organizing against them - The second temptation - show-off to subjugate (jump off the temple) - The Roman Caesar had no qualms about demonstrating (or parading) his “divine” importance, so the masses would subjugate themselves to his rule, out of awe or fear - The third temptation - dominate for victory (bow down to tyrannical power) - Greco-Roman gods (Zeus or Jupiter) didn’t care about justice (ever read the stories about them?) they cared about getting what they want; if the Caesar wants to be a divine Son of God, the way was victory and conquest.
All of this Jesus resists, saying the true God’s vision is different than the empire’s. - The true God does not feed to pacify, - because humanity does not live on bread alone… the true God provides for all humanity’s needs, physical and social, justly distributing to all - The true God is not behind a leader who shows-off to keep himself propped up as “divine”, - The Caesar puts the true God to the test at his own peril. The true God is behind leaders who hold up others, not who demand others hold them up - The true God’s isn’t tempted by dominating power for the sake of victory, - The true God is a God of justice, victory is not the goal; justice is the goal.

Application

Unfortunately, despite Jesus’ resistance of these Imperial temptations, Christianity would become the religion of the Empire in the 4th century, perpetrating through the centuries its own brutal versions of this Imperial Vision for the world. - This was no longer Christianity, this was Christendom
If we continue the timeline down to our 21st century globalized world today, - It’s no longer Imperial Religion that sets the narrative for our world (neither Roman religion, nor the bastardization of Christianity that was Christendom) - and, actually, it’s also no longer even Imperial colonizing Nation-States (which eventually unseated Imperial Religion), - Today, it’s the Imperial Market that holds our global world together under one narrative. visual next - We are indeed held together, connected to an unprecedented global degree, but it is not by a vision of distributive justice where everyone gets what they need.
THIS is why I bring up the Great Risk Shift, and why for the rest of this morning I’m going to call what we have right now “the Imperial Market”.
In Jesus’ days of Imperial Rome, it was more explicit subjugation and domination resorting to overt violence, whereas today’s Imperial Market is more subtle subjugation and domination resorting to more measured or psychological violence, but it is subjugation, domination, and violence all the same. - The Imperial Market feeds to pacify. - I think of the carbon footprint calculator. In theory a good tool to help individuals live more climate-friendly lives. But who invented the Carbon Footprint calculator? British Petroleum! One of the small number of global corporations that together account for 71% of carbon emissions! - So long as we’re distracted from the real problem and stay believing these things "all come down to us” as individuals (all the risk, and, therefore, all the guilt), the Imperial Market will feed us our values all day and night — just enough to pacify us. - Last week in our Lent discussion group after service, someone mentioned their employer talks all the time about self-care this and self-care that (a good value!) — BUT underneath is the communication that self-care is just that: SELF care. - To quote Jesus, the Imperial Market “ties up heavy loads on people’s shoulders, but lifts not a finger to help.” - The Imperial Market shows off to subjugate - In our secular age, it’s not about showing off divine status, but material status - Algorithms show off to us awe-inspiring personalized images about what our future could be, giving us a sense that we are pursuing our own individuality, but really we are subjugating ourselves to the system — the Imperial Market, which has figured out that people being driven by internal fear of falling behind and internal guilt to themselves for not living up to their hopes and dreams is even more efficient at keeping up the status quo than external physical force. We keep ourselves in line, we keep ourselves subjugated, even as it’s exhausting and exploiting us, because we're also in awe, we're entranced, we're star-struck. - The Imperial Market dominates for victory. - With our attention dominated, and all of us feeling like “this all comes down to me”, we feel alone and desperate, and can easily be taken advantage of by those most craven for victory.
Yes, insert comments here about Trump and Musk, but remember they’re just the current clothing of the Imperial Vision, so don’t give them too much credit. The issue here is more than individual bad guys; it’s a systemic thing; almost like it’s a force with a will, with a mind of its own. This is why we personify evil. visual off

Pastoral comments

It can feel like a losing battle… to give up “it all comes down to me”… if the deck is so stacked against us. I hear that. The thing about an Imperial Vision is that it’s got Imperial Power behind it.

But what if we believe Jesus and the Apostle Paul that Imperial Power is NOT the most powerful force in the universe?
That, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians, the wisdom of the world is foolishness to God? That true strength is in weakness? NOT brute domination, subjugation, and pacification as Imperial Visions would have us believe?
What if God is the most powerful force in the universe. The God revealed in Jesus, the God of love and just distribution, who has inspired every beautiful and creative and loving and just act that has ever occurred, and is doing so right now, in us here, in countless people of good will all over the world.
Losses are part of the story when you’re resisting Imperial Visions. But, Jesus resists the logic of temptation that says, “c’mon, aren’t you tired of losing? join the winning side”
He says: that is a flawed logic!
In its hubris, it overlooks the power of resurrection after death, of renewal after loss, of redemption after fall, of strength in weakness.

The Imperial Market is not the only game in town. As the Lenten season builds to: Jesus is alive as long as the vision of Jesus’ God is alive. And it is alive. And it is a better vision.

NOT - feed to pacify, - show-off to subjugate, - dominate for victory
BUT - feed to fulfill everyone’s needs — from Divine abundance, not Imperial scarcity. - come alongside to earn authority — we are held up by this Vision, not demanded to hold it up - Persuasively love and lead — we follow not because we’re afraid of what would happen if we don’t; we follow because we’re magnetically drawn to a worthwhile vision of justice.

There are outposts of this alternative Vision out there, countering the Imperial Vision. I want to believe this church is one such outpost.

To be sure, it’s probably impossible for any of us to entirely opt out of the Imperial Market’s Vision (unless you’re going totally separatist, like the Amish), because it sets the narrative for the world today.

Insidiously, the more we press conversations about “how do we opt out?” the more the burden falls… once again… all on the individual. It just plays right into the system.

So I can’t offer a solution here that is “3 practical steps to following Jesus’ Vision rather than the Imperial Vision” and tie everything up in a nice bow for us.

I’m going “inspiration” rather than “practical instruction” today to close this message…

I just want to say: do not give up. There IS a vision that is big enough, meaningful enough, alive enough to hold you up, not just demand that you hold it up — to take on risk for you, rather than shovel more risk on to you.

It is Jesus’ Vision of the Kingdom of God, for a world of just distribution, responsible leadership, and social contract.

And it is found in communities that try, best they possibly can, to live it out.

This is what I have found in church, and part of why we started this church. I didn’t grow up a classic American churchgoer. Churchgoing became a thing for me later in my life, because I ended up unexpectedly connecting with a healthy church and finding in it a template for living and relating to others that didn’t all come down to me inside an existence that usually feels like it does — at first I found this for very personal reasons — I was in grief after losing my mom to cancer. And then eventually I found this for even-bigger-than-personal reasons, as I longed for my life to be about more than just keeping propping up the Imperial Market.

Church community does ask of me and you —

to lift our heads away from our screens,
to tolerate feeling a little awkward sometimes for the sake of relationships,
to show up for one another, to patiently stay present to the suffering of others and of the world, rather than run from it for discomfort,
to learn to move through the world slowly, contemplatively, prayerfully, not just fast and efficiently
to sacrifice privilege if we have some (to choose solidarity with poorest among us rather than the richest among us)
to remove the log in our eyes before we try to remove the speck in others’…

But none of these asks have behind them “it all comes down to you” — these asks have behind them participation in a community, a vision, a narrative that cares for us just as much as we care for it.

This is easier said than done, yes?

So I want to pray for us…

Prayer

1 Corinthians, Matthew, EcclesiastesVincent BrackettApril 1, 2025Lent 2025Comment