Pt's I & II: Ziggy & Riches

Pt. I , Ziggy

I was talking to brother Laurence on Sunday. His nickname is "Ziggy." I like it. Brother Ziggy, bless his soul, seems a bit disengaged from reality. I don't label him a liar, because, perhaps in is own mind, what he speaks is the reality he perceives, or has chosen to believe… Ziggy was Rosalyn Carter and Nancy Reagan's bodyguard - Nancy liked him so well that she gave him a fifth of whiskey; Ziggy played for the Oakland Raiders and recently had his hair cut by the CIA. Geez man, he's had a more interesting life than me! Ziggy told me about his pad in the woods. He has a really hip tent - complete with bitchen stereo system, cooking gear, cot, space heater, etc. Sounds like a real camping-out gig. I don't know where Ziggy's head is at, but he seems to have found his reality. I confess I'm curious to peek inside his world - kind of like one of those, mmm, 'shroom trips I took in my much younger days: To learn something from it, but not to linger too long.

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Pt. II, Riches

What constitutes wealth anyway? Compared to my daughter's future in-laws, I'm poor. Compared to the typical New Hope congregant, I'm rich. It appears to be relative. The average black household today is more affluent than the average white family of the 1960's (when I grew up), yet there are still cries of racism and inequality. Why? Because of the affluence gap between whites and blacks. Never mind that the average black family in the 1960's would be doing summersaults of joy to have what the average black family of the 2000's has – the problem is relative: When you see what they / the others have, and yours is less than that, well then, you start to feeling as if you're "poor." That's why I try not to look at what other people have or what other people are doing. God has given me what I have: My job is to do the best I can with what He's given me - not to compare myself to others.

Long story short, I'm convinced that leading a rich life has only a little to do with material wealth. Sure, money helps, but there's more to it than that. In fact, I have a tendency to believe that too much affluence can, in fact, get in the way of leading a rich life. This idea I have about leading a rich life is one of the reasons I ended up at The Common Table - because it's something different, unusual, creative, and quirky (church = people), and it adds another interesting dimension to this life I've been given. Which brings us to the present scene…

It's an intriguing mix – the relatively affluent, educated, white folks, with their eclectic brand of emerging Christianity mixing with the poor, mental health challenged, mixed race folks, in their fundamental Bible setting. In spite of the oddness of all this, I think that Jen and Amy did a great job of leading worship, in a way that produced on outcome whereby there really was no "us" and "them."