Sermons

Sun, Jul 03, 2022

Because...

Series:Sermons
Duration:11 mins 24 secs

‘Universal Basic Income’;

an economic concept that used to be considered a “fringe academic theory”…

it argues that all members of society should be provided with a basic living wage that is “tax-free” and “unconditional”.

In other words, it’s given to every adult regardless of their need…

or any work that they might do.

Since the concept was first floated––

back in the nineteen sixties––

there have been several experimental trials.

For example, there was one in Manitoba, in Canada, that ran for five years in the nineteen seventies;

more recently, there was a trial in Finland…

which involved two thousand randomly selected unemployed people.

And the Welsh government has just announced a trial…

in which eighteen-year-olds leaving the care system will be given the equivalent of almost three thousand dollars monthly.

To date, all of the trials have shown significant societal benefits.

There has been less dependency.

There have been improvements in the participants’ psychological well-being, mental health, and physical well-being––

which, in the long term, would reduce the burden on the health system… 

both logistically and economically.

There have been improved attendances at school and university…

and improved employment opportunities.

And, as a flow-on effect… 

it has generated more employment because more people have more money to spend.

There have also been significant reductions in the level of crime.

But, despite these demonstrated benefits, the trials have never been continued…

nor made permanent.

One researcher suggested there were a couple of reasons for this.

First, the trials have only ever been designed as that––

namely, trials or experiments.

There has been no serious thinking about how they might be implemented more fully…

and, in many cases, the economic and legislative requirements to do that simply don’t exist.

But the bigger hurdle is a perceptional one.

Despite the societal benefits such a scheme would reap…

the idea of simply giving “free” money to people unconditionally… 

is seen as a hard political sell where most people work and pay taxes.

 

In the neo-liberal, free-market-dominant ideology in which we have all been raised…

we instinctively take it for granted that people ought to be rewarded for their performance;

and, conversely, that they ought to be penalised for their non-performance.

Implicitly, though… 

that means we’re a society that measures people’s value and worth by their productivity…

and by their achievements.

And those particular roots run very deep––

and not just on an economic or political level.

As a kid, growing up, I felt the pressure to perform at school.

My father held high expectations of me;

and he was always telling me that I could do better…

and that I should try harder.

And he would let me know––

in no uncertain terms––

when I didn’t measure up. 

I was even made to apologise to him… 

when I failed a subject in my first year at uni.

Too many of us grow up in an environment where success is rewarded… 

and failure is punished––

even if only verbally.

But it goes much further and broader than that.

How many women still feel like failures if they can’t control their kids in public…

keep their homes spotless…

cook an evening meal…

and still hold down a meaningful job?

How many men feel a failure if they can’t get work…

and can’t support their families…

or, in some cases, if their wives earn more than they do?

How often do people see their worth or value in terms of what they own… 

or what they accumulate:

the size of their house and its location;

the particular university that they went to and what they came away with;

the sort of profession that they’re in;

the prestige of the school that their children attend;

their children’s sporting or artistic prowess;

the sort of car that they drive;

the latest gadgets that they have purchased;

or where they go for their holidays?

And so it goes on.

But we can even see this sort of ethos in places that we may not recognise…

like…

two people remaining in a bad marriage… 

because to do otherwise would be an admission of failure––

both to themselves and to the world––

and because they’re worried about what people might think of them.

And we also find it in the church.

Congregations that are small…

elderly…

and without children…

are seen as failures, only fit for closing…

and not worth spending any significant money on.

Similarly, ministers who turn out to be real people––

who struggle to live in this chaotic modern world;

and who make mistakes––

are deemed failures or unsuitable.

There is any number of unrealistic expectations that we place on ourselves––

and that we place on others–– 

as a result of this pervasive ethos in our society.

An ethos that–– 

in some way or another––

affects each one of us personally:

the belief that our value depends on being successful;

the belief that our worth as people comes from what we do…

from what we own…

or from what we achieve.

 

In our reading this morning from Luke’s Gospel…

Jesus sends the disciples out to minister in his name:

to preach…

to teach…

to heal… 

and to bring peace.

And they seemingly do all of that and more.

So the disciples return all agog at what they have been able to achieve…

and the influence and impact that they have had.

And, after acknowledging that, Jesus says quietly…

“Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this…but rejoice that your names are written in heaven”.

In other words…

don’t be concerned with what you have achieved…

or what you can achieve;

don’t presume that your worth or value is tied up with what you can do;

don’t think that what matters, in the end, are… 

your gifts… 

your abilities… 

or how you live your life––

as if that’s how God sees you;

as if that is the basis that God uses to evaluate you;

as if what you do and the way that you strive to live determines your worth in God’s eyes…

or God’s opinion of you…

or whether or not God loves you.

Because they don’t!

Rather, Jesus reminds us in this story of who we are:

people who are known to God;

people who are precious in God’s sight.

And that’s what really matters.

How we live––

as followers of Jesus…

as people of God––

flows from that.

We live lives of compassion and care;

we forgive;

we struggle to be faithful;

and we strive to be generous and gracious…

because we know that we are loved;

not in order that we might be loved.

We embrace the excluded;

we advocate for the oppressed;

and we seek to empower the poor…

because we know that we are loved;

not in order that we might be loved.

We strive to make this a better world for all…

because we know that we are loved;

not in order that we might be loved.

What we do flows from who we are.

And, above all else…

what this story reminds us is that we are known and loved by God––

unambiguously…

unreservedly…

and unconditionally.

May that flow out in your living!

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