A friend told me that my last blog post appeared in his feed next to an article about McDonald’s new automated kiosks. The post included a comment along the lines of “this is what you can expect when fast food workers want to get paid more.” The derisive tone of the actual comment was mocking those seeking a living wage and those who think they could possibly be worth it.
It was a funny juxtaposition of articles and ways of thinking, but it also struck me as an interesting case study to talk about market logic compared to God’s view of things–even if I can really only attempt to scratch the surface.
That the logic of The Market is at clearly at work in our world doesn’t make it natural, God-given, or the way God intended…but it is at work. Publicly owned corporations have only one legal responsibility: to generate shareholder value. Because of this they will always have to reduce costs, will pay people the minimum, and treat them only as a means to generating returns for our stock portfolios. (So really it’s not just the big bad corporation that’s to blame because we are the ones who demand low prices and often invest in the stock market!)
This can present a confusing situation for those of us who do want to live according to a different reality. In the example of raising the minimum wage and others like it, we do need to understand The Market so we know the likely effects of a policy change. That probably means we need to get more creative about how we seek change. How we do so is a subject for a policy expert, not me. But in that process of reform that is good on its own terms, we’ll quickly discover that we’re still forced to play by the system’s rules.
If we want to subvert the system we need to look a bit deeper about what The Market’s logic tells us about people: they are means to an end, they are expendable, they are only worth what the market will pay. People simply need to work harder or educate themselves more to compete and be valued. We value not just others, but ourselves, based on what we can consume and produce.
I’m pretty sure God doesn’t see us that way.
Whether there really is equal opportunity for education and employment, which many of us can probably acknowledge is not always the case, is a side point. People are valuable simply because they are created by God and he wants to be in relationship with them.
There’s a lot to think about with this, but what are some simple ways to begin to respond?We can treat the people that we encounter at shops or on the street as valuable in themselves not just as a checker at the supermarket. I’ll admit I’m usually totally tuned out in these situations. We can build actual relationships with people we work with or manage and not just see them as co-workers who we need to get our jobs done. We can shop from local, small businesses, co-ops, and benefit corporations that aren’t bound by the stock market and have the freedom to value and treat their employees differently.
But the issue runs much deeper than the obviously economic realm. Think about one of the first questions we often ask when we meet new people: “What do you do?” The question seems benign enough, but below the surface we are taught to value people based on what they produce and how they can serve our own ends. If we really stop to examine our attitudes and actions I think we’d find we view others this way quite often.
Romans 15:7 says, “Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.” (NRSV)
Such a transformation in how we see and treat others is only possible through Christ and the work of the Spirit within us, but the practice of hospitality is one way we can open space for God to work and bear witness to a different reality. Henri Nouwen writes, “If there is any concept worth restoring to its original depth and evocative potential, it is the concept of hospitality. It is one of the richest biblical terms that can deepen and broaden our insight in our relationships to our fellow human beings.”
Hospitality opens us up to see others not as means to our own ends, or as people to judge and compare ourselves to, but as those created by God who depend on God and on each other. As we welcome others, especially strangers, as people God has brought into our lives to share life with, God transforms us, reconciliation can begin, and community flourishes. Practically speaking this could be as simple as inviting a co-worker or neighbor we don’t know, someone of another generation, someone of a different race or socioeconomic status, or even our enemies.
Jacques Ellul writes that as Christians “to be revolutionary is to pass judgement on what is, on actual facts, in the name of a truth that is not yet (but is to come). And it means doing so in the belief that this truth is more authentic, more real, than the reality that surrounds us. As a result, it means causing the future to intervene as an explosive power in the present, believing that future events are more important and true than present ones.”
In the midst of the apparent reality of The Market and its logic at work within us, we are called to repent, to pray “Your kingdom come,” and to ask God to transform us so we can begin to welcome others as Christ welcomes us. It is in doing so that we also receive Christ.
Emily Beth Hill 