We Choose The God In Us, Part Two

Over the past several days, we have all watched with dismay the kind of chaos and havoc being wreaked on federal agencies and employees. Some of these employees are dedicated civil servants who simply did what they were tasked to do. One particular heartbreak is what’s being done to USAID, an organization that does a tremendous amount of work in impoverished places around the world.

Growing up in Ghana, I didn't know much about America, but I knew about the 'Shake my hand' gallons of cooking oil from America. Millions of Ghanaians benefitted and continue to benefit from the work of USAID. Their humanitarian work against hunger, poverty, education, and healthcare is beyond telling. Some of us may not see the value of their work, but if you were to travel to every corner of the planet, you would find someone who may not know the president but knows the local staff of USAID.

Imagine with me for a second - you are an American, and you uproot your family to go live in a foreign land to serve your country. You are the face of your country, helping people deal with some of the most egregious conditions that any human being should ever have to face. For you, it is a work of dignity and sacrifice because you chose to help your government bring mending, healing, worth, and dignity to impoverished areas of the world instead of working on Wall Street.

You wake up one morning, and in your email inbox is a letter asking you not to show up for work and to stop serving the very people you have been serving with joy. You are being asked not to show up for work not because of some wrong you have done nor some due process that was being followed by those who are asking you not to show up for work. One of our parishioners is in a situation like this; he counts on the work that he does for USAID to honor critical bills.

Imagine relocating from the Midwest to take up a position with the federal government as a young graduate. You love your country like everyone else, and you want to serve. You are invited to a Zoom call, and the next thing you hear, you no longer have a job. What do you do? How do you survive in DC?

I believe that there are core values that have been a part of the American system for years, and which other countries around the world envy a great deal. Why, in God’s name, do we want to give up on those values? Why do we want to squander such goodwill? And for what? 

I think about the thousands and thousands of people who have had their lives upended by someone who chooses the god in him and so sees these dedicated Americans as objects whose lives and work are of little to no value. I do not think citizens ought to be treated with disdain.

Does the federal government need some reform? You bet. Is there waste, fraud, and abuse within the federal bureaucracy? I do not know specifically, but I am sure there is. Granted that there is, is this particular approach what I believe people deserve? Absolutely not. There are acceptable ways in which any reform can be pursued, but what is going on right now is what Dr. Martin Luther King calls the suffering of being poor in spirit.

We often tend to forget that we are dealing with the lives of loved ones, friends, and neighbors who have done no wrong and who are as patriotic Americans as everyone else.

Here you have someone who grew up in an apartheid society that regarded Black South Africans as second-class citizens. Black South Africans were second-class citizens, objects to be used to serve their White masters. Here is someone who is a naturalized American, destroying the lives of Native-born Americans who have no homeland to go to. It may sound good to the ears of some of us, but remember that the damage that is being caused will take years and years to repair.

There’s a story of Joshua, who led the people of Israel after the death of Moses. Joshua gathered all the people at Shechem and narrated their history and the extent to which God had delivered them from their enemies. He then invited them to make a choice: “And if it seems evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

This choice acknowledges that there are multiple gods from which the people could choose. There are multiple gods from which we can also choose. Jesus also reminds us in the gospel that we cannot serve God and mammon. It is interesting to note that one of the many gods from which we can choose is the god that is in us.

Although Genesis rejects the idea that a human being is and can be god, there is a god in us, and that god can be petty and proud, that god can be full of the self, that god can be haughty, that god sees no one but the self, and that god always demands to be worshipped and served.

This god seeks to lord over others and sees those upon whom it lords itself as expendable objects. This god which is in us deludes us into believing that we are superior to others - it is this very same god that supported the enslavement of Africans, this same god rationalized systems of oppression against African Americans, it is the same god who provided the rationale for apartheid, this same god believes in separate but equal, this god believes in an unequal justice system, this god rejoices in the chaos and pain of others and this god believes in being the only voice and life that matters. 

This god desires for others to massage its ego, and many adore and worship this god on the altar of sycophancy and hypocrisy. This god provides us with this false sense of self, making us feel more important than we truly are. This god is attractive, and because of that, we almost always choose this particular god over any other God who is antithetical to this particular god. The god in us shows us all the glories of the world. He seduces us to worship it - and we blindly worship it because we are more concerned about our personal glories than the glory of the one God who invites us into a shared relationship and partnership.

And so, when the Psalmists tell us that it is only the fool who says there is no God, the Psalmist makes this claim because it is only the fool who sees the god in themself as the only god, and therefore cannot believe nor tolerate the existence of any other god outside of the self.

As we celebrate Black History Month, it isn’t lost on me that the god we choose - either the God of Genesis or the god in us - determines how we look at others.

If we choose the god in us, we will always be driven by cynicism, hatred, disregard for others, and a focus on ourselves. But if we choose the God of Genesis, the God in whom we live, and move, and have our being, we become others focused. Service to others, concern for others, and compassion for others - especially the vulnerable - become our calling and identity.

Human beings are not and cannot be God, the God of Genesis reminds us. It is this same God who invites us to see the divine bearings in others - just so we may never forget that power is transient, and power is meant to serve. But you can’t serve if you choose the god in you. 

To choose the God of Genesis is to reject your own claim to divine status and importance. 

Manny+