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The
Bishop's Journal
November 2002
Less Is Best
The impact of a biblical story changes significantly depending upon which character the listener identifies with most readily. And let's face it, our natural tendency when we hear or read stories from the bible is to identify with the "good guys"; with the Samaritan, rather than the Levite; the sheep rather than the goats; with the "just" steward rather than with the "unjust" steward.
But that can't always be done so easily, particularly when the scriptures speak of the relationship between the rich and the poor. Most of us are quite aware of where we sit in humanity's seating plan and know that it's a bit of a stretch for us to pretend to identify with those who the scriptures describe as begin poor. No matter how poor we might sometimes feel as individuals, we know that in global terms, we are part of the 20% who consume 80% of the world's resources. We North Americans are the richest of the rich and even still we persist in madly chasing after ever increasing production goals and ever more expansive forecasts!
Several years ago, I listened as a theologian at the Central American University in San Salvador described North Americans as having a "permanent low-grade confusion about what is really important in life". I think he was right. But I also see signs that this is changing. More and more of us are coming to realize that growth can't be limitless. More and more of us are realizing that, in spite of our riches-in spite of our technological expertise and strength-when it's all said and done, we are profoundly lacking in many of the things that hold real and eternal value. More and more of us are beginning to suspect that unbridled progress might not be compatible with the continued good health of our souls, much less with the continued life of the planet!
It has been said, and wisely so, that it is only by being little that we can ever discover anything that is big. This, I think, is one of the key points of the gospel; that blessedness-the new and abundant life that Jesus always points us toward-is to be found in smallness and humility.
The way that Jesus calls us to live is radically different from the way we have too often been conditioned to follow. His way isn't the way of upward mobility, but of downward mobility. It isn't charging to the front of the line, but willingly choosing to go back further. It is the way of reduced expectations, the way of "less being best". It isn't the way of the brass ring, the way of the biggest and the best; but the way of the least coin, the way of a widow who gives away everything that she has. And by God's grace, it can become our way as well; inch by inch; step by step; decision by decision; choice by choice; penny by penny.
The Rev. Michael J. Pryse,
Bishop
