Scripture: Jeremiah 17:5-10 - Those who trust the Lord are like trees
In 1961, outgoing Republican President Dwight Eisenhower delivered his farewell address to the nation, as all presidents do. But as a former World War II general, his address included this prescient warning:
“In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex.”
Eisenhower continued:
“The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted.”
In January of this year, President Joe Biden delivered a farewell address of his own and in an explicit nod to Eisenhower, offered a scorching warning about a new concentration of power. President Biden said:
"Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead. I’m equally concerned about the potential rise of a tech industrial complex that can pose real dangers for our country."
This new "tech industrial complex" was unabashedly on display at the inauguration of President Donald Trump on January 20th, where pride of place in the ceremony was given to Elon Musk and other tech leaders from Meta, Amazon, Google, Apple, TikTok and Uber.
As Senator Elisabeth Warren noted at the time:
“They have even better seats than Trump’s own cabinet picks. That says it all.”
This new concentration of influence in just a few wealthy people is arguably the most obvious in the far-reaching powers recently given to the entirely unelected "richest man in the world", Elon Musk, to take the tech mantra of "move fast and break stuff" into governmental institutions.
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I recently listened to a New York Times interview about Musk between Ezra Klein and Kara Swisher, a tech reporter who has been covering Musk for years. It was fascinating and disturbing to hear Swisher's take, starting with her assertion that Musk has a darkly dystopian view of the world.
His desire to go to Mars is very much centred in his belief that humanity is doomed, and we have to get off this planet.
His worldview, she says, is greatly informed by video games, where he is Ready Player One, the hero, the one who matters the most, and everyone else is an N.P.C. — a nonplayer character, a faceless other who is only in his way.
Despite his vast wealth that he could chose to use to help solve some of humanities problems, Musk is not motivated by money, only the power that money provides. Money brings the tools and opportunities to decide, to centre reality on yourself.
And while this self-centredness is certainly not unique within the billionaire class, Swisher says that Musk's narcissism took a distinctly darker turn through COVID, where he, and so many others were radicalized online into right-wing conspiracies, which provided easy answers to why he, and others were so unhappy.
Half jokingly, and half not, Swisher described Elon Musk as a:
"sad little boy who wasn’t loved enough as a child [who] is searching for meaning, searching for love."
She goes on:
"Why would you stay up at night talking to people named Catturd [on Twitter]? Why Because you have a desperately empty hole in the center of your life that you can never fill. It’s a bottomless well. And I hate to break it down like that because I’m not a psychologist, but boy, does he have a big old hole right in the center of himself."
Thus says the LORD: Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals and make mere flesh their strength, whose hearts turn away from the LORD. They shall be like a shrub in the desert and shall not see when relief comes. They shall live in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land... The heart is devious above all else; it is perverse-- who can understand it?
The words of Jeremiah seem apt in the current era of power-hungry politicians and oligarchs who would uplift the devices and desires of their own hearts - who would see themselves as the main character, usurping for themselves the rightful place of God in the story of salvation.
The prophet's words lay a biting criticism upon any who would rely on their wealth, status or religious heritage while failing to honour God and God's commandments of Torah to love the neighbour and welcome the stranger.
The prophet Jeremiah's historical context was that of the Babylonian exile, the 6th century BC rupture of culture, religion and national sovereignty for the nation of Judah. The rupture came in the form of an invading army, which, the prophet says, is justified because of the nation's unfaithfulness to God.
It may make us uncomfortable to hear, but Jeremiah declares that this is God's judgement. The only ground in which God’s people can truly flourish, the only way to make the nation great again, is by letting go of traditional understandings of power.
Strong armies, secure borders, sustainable religious institutions—Jeremiah challenges them all as ultimate goals of life.
Such standards by which humans judge success are as shallow as the roots of a shrub in the parched places of the desert - this is the way of dust and death.
Go deeper, the prophet says. Go deeper, deeper, deeper.
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Perhaps you saw this in the news, or celebrated it yourself, but it was recently "Flag Day" in Canada. A day that we mark the first time the red and white maple leaf flag was raised on Parliament Hill on Feb. 15, 1965, replacing the Canadian Red Ensign.
Leading up to Flag Day, Canada's five living former Prime Ministers, Joe Clark, Kim Campbell, Jean Chrétien, Paul Martin and Stephen Harper, jointly wrote an open letter, telling Canadians to "show the flag as never before" as the country contends with "threats and insults from Donald Trump."
The letter says that they have:
"witnessed a surge of Canadian pride and patriotism" and they are heartened to see so many people "come together to express their love for our country and their determination to defend Canada's values and our independence."
These leaders from different political stripes conclude:
"We've had our share of battles in the past. But we all agree on one thing: Canada, the true north, strong and free, the best country in the world, is worth celebrating and fighting for."
Makes you want to hug a beaver and chug some maple syrup, and doesn't it?
I am a very proud Canadian, and I strongly believe in supporting Canadian culture, businesses, institutions and the people who put on a uniform to defend our country. But there's something about this current moment that we are in that is reminding me of another moment. This "we're all in it together" vibe feels to me like those first weeks of the Covid-19 pandemic.
And I’m sure you will recall, what started as a unifying effort to tackle a common threat, quickly took a nasty turn. What started with goodwill, in a very short amount of time, metastasized into intolerance and radicalization.
And we must be clear-eyed about the fact that the tech platforms that enabled that radical turn, and the people who entrenched their own power and literally made billions of dollars when neighbour turned against neighbour, were the exact same people - the tech industrial complex - who were given pride of place in the inauguration ceremony on January 20th in Washington D.C.
I think we must be very, very cautious that the patriotism we are feeling these days is not weaponized and used as just another way to drive us further apart.
While this moment of national pride comes from a good place, we should also recognize that this is a moment of the heart - the heart as the prophet Jeremiah understood it - the place of passion and emotion, which is also the place that can be exploited when we are scared or feel threatened.
As Jeremiah writes "The heart is devious above all else; it is perverse-- who can understand it?"
The heart longs, the heart aches, the heart breaks, the heart is the hole at the centre of us that years to be filled - and make no mistake we will fill it with something.
That scared child that lives within each of us will reach out for something to hold onto.
Maybe it will be patriotism, maybe it will be the idols of consumerism, or the conspiracy theories that titillate, or the hedonistic pleasures that bring the next dopamine hit. But Jeremiah knew that none of them will satiate, for they are the path of woe, and not the blessing we seek.
Go deeper, the prophet says. Go deeper, deeper, deeper.
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The mediaeval theologian Thomas Aquinas once wrote that
"It is evident that nothing can bring the will of man to rest except the universal good. This is not found in any creative thing but only in God. Therefore man's happiness consists in God alone."
God is the one who can make our hearts whole.
We live in the world, and we have to make decisions on how to be in the world - what to buy, who to vote for, what we give our attention to. But our faith says, that out trust, our trust is for God: "Blessed are those who trust in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD" the prophet says.
"They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream. It shall not fear when heat comes, and its leaves shall stay green; in the year of drought it is not anxious, and it does not cease to bear fruit."
When we do our best, which is really all any of us can do, when we do our best to love our neighbour, and welcome the stranger, and take care of our common home - but we place our trust in God - as prophet Jeremiah says - when we place our faith in God, that… that is how our soul finds it’s rest and our heart is filled with the universal good and we are like the tree with the deep roots by the flowing stream, not fearing the droughts, always bearing good fruit.
And that might sound like beautiful poetry, but here's how it's actually prophesy: when the roots of a tree run deep, they become enmeshed with the roots of other trees, sharing nutrients, communicating with each other.
The figures that appear to be solitary are actually a community.
There is no Ready Player One's in a forest, all characters are valued, all creatures are needed, and the stream that nourishes all, knows no political boundaries and waves no national flag.
The great river of God's love flows through all places and races and can never be dammed for exclusive use by anyone, no matter how much money you have.
The true power in this universe resides with God, and faith… faith is the only thing that truly fills the human heart.
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I give the last words now, to what might sound familiar from Jack Layton's last public statement before he died in 2011, but were actually given by Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier to a group of young Canadians on October 11, 1916, two years into the First World War.
Laurier said:
"I shall remind you that already many problems rise before you: problems of race division, problems of creed difference, problems of economic conflict, problems of national duty and national aspiration.
Let me tell you that for the solution of these problems you have a safe guide, an unfailing light if you remember that faith is better than doubt and love is better than hate."
Our safe guide and unfailing light is to always remember that faith is better than doubt and love is better than hate.
Amen.
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