Description
Imagining the Lectionary: Whose in, whose out (Proper 5B)
Reflection accompanying image “In or out”
The image of the rope boundary and the notional welcoming space it defines addresses one of the most persistent and vexed challenges we face today as societies in a global context. How are we to coexist together for mutual benefit when our setting of the boundaries between
inclusion and exclusion vary so markedly across a whole range of social, political, cultural and economic descriptors One person places the rope to define a broad and generous space, another draws it in to become much narrower and exclusive. The photograph implies that such
boundaries are flexible; the wooden post can be pushed out or pulled in at will.
The ongoing global economic crisis demonstrates how brutally the boundaries of austerity are drawn by those with the power to define them. Within the global banking sector the financial architects of chaos and ruination remain secure and protected together behind the rope of
government policy everywhere, put in place through the mechanisms of economic deference and political preference which the extreme wealth of the 1% confers. Meanwhile the rest of us, the 99%, are excluded on the other side of the boundary, suffering the recessionary
consequences of decisions and risks we did not take. This 'Royal Box' view of patronage, privilege and preference sustains so many injustices and inequalities around the question of 'whose in, whose out'.
And on this key question our politicians habitually fail us. They crave our votes but dance to the tune of big money. Power seduces. Status corrupts. Wealth separates and entices.
Continues...
Reflection accompanying image “In or out”
The image of the rope boundary and the notional welcoming space it defines addresses one of the most persistent and vexed challenges we face today as societies in a global context. How are we to coexist together for mutual benefit when our setting of the boundaries between
inclusion and exclusion vary so markedly across a whole range of social, political, cultural and economic descriptors One person places the rope to define a broad and generous space, another draws it in to become much narrower and exclusive. The photograph implies that such
boundaries are flexible; the wooden post can be pushed out or pulled in at will.
The ongoing global economic crisis demonstrates how brutally the boundaries of austerity are drawn by those with the power to define them. Within the global banking sector the financial architects of chaos and ruination remain secure and protected together behind the rope of
government policy everywhere, put in place through the mechanisms of economic deference and political preference which the extreme wealth of the 1% confers. Meanwhile the rest of us, the 99%, are excluded on the other side of the boundary, suffering the recessionary
consequences of decisions and risks we did not take. This 'Royal Box' view of patronage, privilege and preference sustains so many injustices and inequalities around the question of 'whose in, whose out'.
And on this key question our politicians habitually fail us. They crave our votes but dance to the tune of big money. Power seduces. Status corrupts. Wealth separates and entices.
Continues...
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