The U.S. economy is in a shambles. Each new day brings fresh revelations about the devastating effects of the collapse of the financial institutions upon which millions of Americans had come to depend.

God only knows how much worse things will get if we the people, and those who control our economic system, cannot bring about some much needed change. But, in truth God IS the only one who really knows how to make things better. Maybe it’s time we listened to God for a change.

When Jesus began his ministry in first century Palestine ordinary people were as distressed economically as are lower and middle class Americans today. Then, as now, a wealthy 1-2% of the population owned or controlled the nation’s financial assets while the vast majority of people had become landless peasants or indentured servants living in poverty and/or left with huge debts that they could riot pay.

Into this distressed economy came Jesus “proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe the good news.” (Mark 1:14-15) This kingdom (or commonwealth) that Jesus announced as within reach is in fact an alternative economy different from, and better than, all economies invented and controlled by selfish human beings! Jesus’ invitation to “repent and believe the good news” was an invitation to all who would hear--rich and poor alike--to stop operating according to current broken, unjust economic systems, based as they are on greed and the acquisition of private wealth, and to start living into God’s new commonwealth, a social, political and economic realm that we can trust will really meet the human needs of all of us because it accurately reflects the will of God and the purpose for which God created us!

Much of Jesus’ teaching, as recorded in the Bible, is devoted to helping people catch the flavor of God’s commonwealth. The phrase, ‘kingdom of God” and its equivalent, ‘kingdom of heaven,’ appear no less than 125 times in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke. These passages of scripture tell us that the commonwealth of God will be characterized by blessing (Matthew 5: 1-11), abundance (Luke 18:29- 30), equity (Matt. 20:1 if), humility (Matt. 18:1-4), surprise (Matt. 21:31,43), healing (Luke 11:20), compassion (Mart 25:31-46), and commonwealth rather than private wealth (Mark 10:23-24).

But just reading about God’s new kingdom, or commonwealth, is not enough. We will not know fully what God’s economy looks and feels like until we begin to enter it together, and allow God to show us the way it works in actual practice! Because it is God’s commonwealth, it is not an economic system that we can set up, manipulate or control. We can only seek it (Mart. 6:33)’ wait for it (Mark 15:43), discover it (Luke 17:20), observe it (Luke 9:1-2, 27), receive it (Mark 10:15), inherit it (Matthew 25:34), enter it (Luke 18:24-25), and proclaim it (Luke 9:60).

But how do we move from what we have to what we need?

How do we get beyond a dysfunctional money-based economic system, whose driving force is greed, and supplant it with a system that really works--where we allow God to be in charge and operate only within the framework of God’s will?

Certainly we cannot (and should not) attempt to force such a commonwealth on a population where there is no consensus even about the existence of God, let alone about God’s expectations!

But there are things that people of faith can do, the first being fervently to pray to God, as Jesus taught, “Your commonwealth come; your will be done on earth..
Matthew 6:10). For in so praying we align ourselves with God’s economics and distance ourselves from allegiance to all other humanly contrived economic systems, especially those that enrich the few at the expense of the many.

Beyond this, because we live in a democracy “ofthe people, by the people and forthe people” we can measure every piece of proposed legislation and government policy against the values of God’s commonwealth as presented in the New Testament, and support only those public actions that are consistent with these values.

But most importantly, we can personally “live into the kin-dom of God” by practicing commonwealth values such as economic community, compassion, forgiveness, non-violence, hospitality and generosity. Our particular church congregation, Metanoia Peace Community, and the members who live together in the 18th Ave Peace House, are working to do just this. We’d be pleased to share our personal stories with you and tell you what God has taught us!