A balance

Amidst the constant thought of loving neighbor,  one way that manifests itself is in helping the poor. One question that keeps coming to my mind is that of balance.  Is there a balance between the money we keep for ourselves and the money we give to the poor? Or how about our time?  How much time do we keep for ourselves versus giving to others?
It is very easy to look at others, especially the wealthy and assume that they are not doing enough.  But who's to say?
An early church father commented that if we have two coats, one of them is actually stolen from the poor! It's a big question to think about and one that will probably make us uncomfortable.

There is always an additional question

In the midst of the ever swirling existential questions that plague my mind, the idea came to the fore of what one question ought to underlie it all.  When we are thinking about, discussing or arguing some meta-ethical question, are debating some socio-political point or are questioning the validity of any particular political action, the question beneath them all should be that of love.  Are we loving our neighbor by doing this or that thing?
Is the current day coal miner, by doing his job, loving his neighbor?  In one sense, it depends upon the actual environmental effects of burning coal.  Is the CEO of the local nuclear power plant loving his neighbor? Maybe yes, maybe no, again it depends upon the long term effects of nuclear power and nuclear waste.
Are we loving our neighbor when we do things that adversely and possibly long term affect our neighbor and our descendants.  How many of our actions are driven simply by our desire to satisfy our comfort?

Us vs them?

Yes, this really is a question.  In most of the western religious world,  this is the unfortunate mentality. Evangelical America seems to believe that we as Christians are at war with the world.  But this really is not the case. That battle was already fought, that way was already won.  Jesus Christ is already king.
What is the situation then? What is our responsibility? It's love. Love is our responsibility.  The power of evil is already shattered.  We do not have to submit to the pathetic baubles and trinkets of sin.
If we could simply see all men as created in the image of God.....

Swimming in mediocrity

Over the past many years, there have a been a handful of Hollywood movies where the main characters are born into an artificial environment and then, for some reason are thrust back into reality.  The movie then focuses on their coming to terms with what is actually reality, as opposed to what they thought was reality.
This is us. Being born in to the 21st century culture of the USA, we are swimming in mediocrity and do not even realize it.  We, our parents, our grandparents and possibly our great grandparents have been immersed in, surrounded by and having fully imbibed, modern culture, that we know no different.  But there is something different.
There are pockets of faith in which some few people live.  I just watched a video of an eight year old girl, a survivor of the Coptic bus shooting in Egypt.  A bus load of Coptic Christians was recently surrounded by four truckloads of Muslim terrorists.  The terrorists proceeded to try to force these Christians to denounce their faith and declare Allah as God and Mohammed as his prophet.  They refused and were immediately shot.  The little girl survived and told the story of how no one on the bus renounced their faith, how they had been faithful and subsequently died as martyrs.
I have to wonder how many Christians in America would do the same.  How many of us, when we go silent in the face of mockery against God, against his clergy, and against his church, would dare to pronounce faith in Jesus Christ in the face of an automatic weapon?
We are swimming in mediocrity, comfort and ease and we know no different.  I often think (and really try to take to heart) that living in the face of danger and demands for faith is better, even when that demand may require our martyrdom.

Swimming

Why is it that we, as Americans, think that we should define modesty for the rest of the world?  Just today, I read a news article about an advertising agency in Saudi Arabia edited a swimming pool ad. The picture showed a family sitting in a pool together.  But after editing, it was a father,  two children and a beach ball.  The mother, in typical American swim wear, was edited out.
The public outcry was immediate and loud.  People laughed at the backwardness, people yelled about discrimination and people mocked. But why? Is a call for public modesty a bad thing?  Why does the west, with its gutter mentality, think that everyone else should join them? 100 years ago, we in America would censor that advertisement as well.  But now, in our depravity,  don't see the problem.
Oh how far we have fallen.

Emulation

Within Eastern Orthodoxy, we believe that there is one path to God, that is, salvation through Jesus Christ alone.  It is the work that Jesus accomplished that brought man out from under the power of death.  It is now our responsibility to use the tools, provided by the church, to attain theosis.  God became man so that man can become God, not in the ontological sense, but in the union sense.  As part of the body of Christ, we come into close, intimate communion/union with God.
With that in mind, we see two possibilities.  There is the monastic path and the lay path.  Both are the same, in that, both are striving after holiness, through love for God and love for neighbor.  One thing that really jumped out at me this morning, as I sat musing while drinking coffee, was the monastic example.
The monastics are those who have devoted their lives to a singular focus on purifying their souls and seeking after God.  The layperson is the one who has (acceptably) chosen to take on the responsibilities of spouse, children and finances.  But we lay people can and should look to the model of the monastic for our own efforts toward holiness.  One thing that is very distinctive of the Orthodox monastic is their insistence upon work.  The monastic is not one who simply does nothing but pray and depend upon others for their livelihood.  No, the monastic, while he is praying, is working with his hands and supporting himself.  We laypeople could take notice and emulate them.
In whatever vocation we have, we can pray.  The Orthodox church has, for centuries, strongly encouraged the "Jesus Prayer", "Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner."  This prayer contains it all, recognition of who Jesus is, who we are and our need of God. 
So the question then is, "Who are we emulating?"  Do we look to the world, the successful businessmen, the entertainers, or the athletes for a model of our lives? 
Who forms our lives?