The whole congregation swayed and lip-synched as the choir sang “Kanaka Wai Wai” at the Oct. 11 Sunday Mass at my parish. One of the most mellow, lovely Hawaiian hymns; even those not fluent know the words of the chorus, “E hawi, e hawi lilo. I kou mau waiwai,” and so on. But did we know what we were saying? I did a little exit poll at the side door asking why did we sing that Hawaiian song today, what was that about? One out of 10 knew the answer.
The Johnny Almeida composition echoed the day’s Gospel reading about the rich young man who wanted to earn a place in heaven, but couldn’t let go of his wealth.
The chorus we were belting out was an uncomfortable message delivered through the sweetest tune: “Give, give away all of your possessions, then come and follow me in order to gain eternal life. The young man grieved over his wealth, unwilling to sell and give all to the poor and destitute. Jesus then turned and answered the man: rich man, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”
The Hawaiian words sound much more poetic.
A historical note: Almeida wrote the tune in 1915 for a Mormon church which rejected it for church use because it sounded too much like a hula.
So, two days later I found myself humming the tune as I watched Snow White and her back up ensemble debate about various things including wealth, who’s got too much of it and how bad it is that they don’t let loose of some of it. Good thing it wasn’t the other team, Bad Boy and the Pips, talking about richer is better and sharing is bad, because I might have ramped up to some storm and fury operatic theme, and that’s beyond my humming skill. And not fair to my hostess at the time.
As heavily populated with politicians who self-identify as Christians as this “nation under God” is, we don’t seem to be selecting the same chapters and verses to guide our lives. There’s a lot in the book about prosperity, too, and it’s widely embraced. Charity, sacrifice, love, not so much. Can’t find that chapter of Mark’s Gospel when we’re talking my money and the government taking it away from me or expecting me to share it with thousands of impoverished American citizens or worse yet, those from outside who seek a better life within our boundaries.
I wondered when we listened to that story of the rich young man about what our elected leaders hear in it. I wonder what their righteous backers hear. Oh wait, probably a rich old man selects the theme he wants to hear when it’s his preacher, just as he does when he invests in the campaign of his politician.
The Catholic liturgical calendar is drawn up years ahead, with the readings set for each day being heard in every Catholic church around the globe. Sometimes the serendipity between the readings and what happens to be happening in the world at that time is enough to make you believe in the Holy Spirit.
St. Paul’s admonition
For instance, just as Pope Francis was heading from Cuba to our shores like a Force 5 hurricane, we heard in the Sept. 18 liturgy that famous St. Paul admonition to Timothy that “the love of money is the root of all evil.” At that very time, the pope’s prospective Washington audiences were infected with angst about whether Francis would subject them to the theme of his encyclical about wise stewardship of the earth. Not a popular theme because addressing climate and ecology crises gets down to a bottom line of money needing to be spent by governments and profits being lost by big businesses that burn fossil fuels and destroy forests.
Maybe the Catholics in Congress escaped that weekday Mass reading, but surely they were at Sept. 20 Sunday Mass and were attentive to the Epistle of St. James:
“Where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind. Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they not come from your ravings that are at war within you. You covet something and cannot obtain it, so you engage in disputes and conflicts.”
Hmmmm. I wonder if John Boehner did ponder in a pew that day, just a week before he announced he would evacuate his speaker’s chair in a place so aptly described in that reading.
God knows what another Catholic congressman has been hearing in church. Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar huffed in an online posting that he would boycott the pope’s speech before Congress because he would not sit still to hear any mention of climate change, “the false science being propagated by the left.”
“When the pope chooses to act and talk like a leftist politician, then he can expect to be treated like one,” Gosar wrote on Townhall.com. Later in September, the Washington Post reported that Gosar was soliciting campaign contributions in emails touting his role as the guy who boycotted the pontiff.
Actually, Pope Francis spoke of so many things, it’s hardly fair to pick out just the one that matches my theme. He talked about the positive aspects of a market economy, as long as it is ethical and has controls. He said the creation and distribution of wealth should have the goal of reducing poverty here and globally and that “business is a noble vocation” when it seeks the common good.
So, no, the pope didn’t cram climate change down their throats. And he didn’t sing the theme of “Kanaka Wai Wai,” a message of faith that was maybe too extreme for the secular setting.
More from St. James
Then, at the end of the week of the papal visit, we’re back in church again, only to be hit with more of the epistle of St. James: “Come now, you rich people, weep and wail for the miseries that are coming to you. Your riches have rotted and your clothes are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have rusted, and their rust will be evidence against you, and it will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure for the last days. The wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in pleasure. You have condemned and murdered the righteous one, who does not resist you.”
And there’s more from James, who is identified by biblical scholars as writing in the first century. His short letter to early Christians wasn’t all read Sept. 27.
It’s not a scriptural text that you’ll hear read much in non-Catholic churches. Especially not the evangelical brands that preach prosperity theology, whose premise is that God wants us to have material wealth and success in this world. One of the most bizarre experiences of my previous life as a religion reporter was hearing a televangelist guest speaker at Word of Life Christian Center tell the crowd “God wants me to have my big black Cadillac” while believers waved their hands with checks ready for the collection basket.
Giving your wealth away is an uncomfortable idea at best. Even if you don’t have much to let loose of.
“If we are good stewards, nothing we have really belongs to us,” Father Clarence Guerreiro told the St. Patrick congregation. “The young man was not master over his possessions. The things he had were his master.”
We’re heading into the last months of the liturgical calendar for this year, and let me warn you, ’tis the season for more uncomfortable texts that challenge us to choose the discomfort of being Christian. It’s the time to ponder how rich we actually are. It’s the preview of the coming celebration of Christ’s birth in a manger, when we know, we positively know, that’s true.
