BATHING IN THE FOUNTAIN OR REPAIRING BROKEN CISTERNS

“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve God and money. THEREFORE, I tell you, do not be anxious about your life” (Matthew 6:24, 25).

“I have no silver or gold, but what I do have I give to you.  In the name of Jesus Christ, rise up and walk” (Acts 3:6).

Many religious systems today are serving money rather than God.  Ministries have grown dependent on the bottom line, giving up programs that help people to maintain the business of keeping their institution going.  Activities that used to be volunteer work have become work for pay, and when the money is gone, so is the work.  Once that pattern starts the downward spiral begins.  Now religious institutions are worried about rights that they claim God gave them, and then were followed through by our founding fathers and government.  Now money is being poured into law suits, money that could have been used for better purposes.  The disciples called ‘foul’ on the woman with the alabaster jar for wasting money.  I call ‘foul’ on the law firms and lawyers in these law suits.  Somehow, I believe Jesus would as well.

When I look at the roots of the Christian Church I find very little close to what it is, to what it was.  That is true of most of the religious institutions I have seen and worked with these days, including The Religious Society of Friends.  “You cannot serve God and money.”  The quest of many of these groups is to return to the origins of the early church.  The liturgy is changed, the missals are changed, the concept of community is changed; the outside of the bowl is being cleaned up to look like the early Christians.

But, Peter and John had no money, no church building or church affaire to manage.  What they had was the power of Jesus Christ to be able to heal a lame beggar they happen to walk past on their way to temple.  They were true to the teachings of Jesus, not the ways of the world that so quickly serves money rather than God.  They loved God, the fountain of living water, and did not build cisterns, broken cisterns that held no water.  That is what religious institutions need to do as they return to their roots…draw near to God and stop trying to repair their broken cisterns.