I suppose that our transient lives predispose us to looking for short term benefits rather than for long term gains. We prefer a bit of adhockery so as to deal with issues as they arise rather than moving into a new future with planning for future generations. One of the issues with our political system is that those we elect are people who are often a generation behind in their thinking and in what the people of their country are asking for. Simply put those in power are often looking for short term goals to either remain in power or make a quick fix to growing situations. In the reading from 1 Samuel we hear about the Israelites wanting a king (1 Sam 8:4-11) and we know the consequences of getting what is wanted as opposed to what is beneficial and to be desired. In looking for a king, a mortal king / leader the Israelites were not looking towards God nor were they looking at a long term picture. Like our present day they were focussed only on the perceived benefits of the short term goal, a king.
In our own lives we too look for short term gains very rarely we look at the long term. Just think about the increasing presence of short term loan companies like PayPal, etc. Paul in writing to the Corinthians hits the nail on the head when he states that our troubles are slight and short-lived (2 Cor 4:17). This is the reality, if we were to look at things in perspective. We are consumed by our short lives and therefore seek to take every advantage we can to become what society portrays as being the best. This could and can be riches, fame, comfort, etc. All of which are geared to our personal taste and wants rather than needs. We would rather spend more on an item that will give us pleasure in the short term rather than seek for a long term gain or goal. There are exceptions, there is no denying the fact that some people go for a long term goal rather than the short term but these are exceptional people and often they are not noticed by society around them. Some are of course quite famous but the fame has not come as a result of seeking it but rather as a result of their example in their selected community. None of us had heard of Mother Theresa until her deeds were published or became famous. How many years had she been doing the things she was doing before she was noticed by the rest of us?
Even when we think of our own community it is often with a sight on the short term goal rather than a long term understanding of the future. Let us go back say twenty years in many parishes and you would have found thriving communities with much love in an apparently exciting environment that appeared to be extremely successful. Twenty years on and often those communities are in the midst of struggle because they were unwise in what they sought looking at their success as an ongoing given rather than as the short life that it actually was. Often as parishes and as other spiritually formed communities we look only to gain more people of like mind, bemoan our lacks and recast ourselves into the successes of the past. The moment we have in plenty we do not think to the future but rather think only of the present much the same as do aged politicians who know that they will have no future other than what they have in the present. The question we fail to ask is what does God want from us and our communities?
God does not favour one above the other God loves all. God does not favour our human constraints on what God thinks or wills but wishes for us to become as Christ. What precisely does this mean for us? Well, in the words of Christ "who are my mother and my brothers?" (Mark 3:33) and the answer is not those in the present who believe that they are. The so called guardians of our future who only think of the past or their time. No it is we who are the purveyors of the future and it is we who must look far into the future and strive towards what God wants - all to be as Christ to those around them. It is not the sanctuary of the old church were we were baptised but the community that our children's children would wish for; the one that is free of pain and filled with love and understanding of each others difference. Our riches are not on earth but are present in Christ as we seek for a better world not just for our selves but for all of our companions in Christ wherever and whoever they may turn out to be. They are the unseen future goals not the seen present gains.
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