I enjoyed lunch with my wife today at a local Mimi’s restaurant. The cobb salad is yummy. While eating I overheard a group of religious men planning for a big gathering of churches. They were going over the various strength and weaknesses of proposed speakers. One name, pastor Jones, was mentioned again and again. Apparently pastor Jones is a very good public speaker. The problem, pastor Jones will only fly first class. There was no talk of how this is inconsistent with the message of Christ. No, instead they talked about how to get him to LA on the cheapest flight. They talked like religion was a business and pastor Jones was a product. They were looking at keeping their costs down so they could maximize their profits (donations). Religion has lost its way.
Let’s assume that pastor Jones flies to public speaking venues a few times a year. Pastor Jones is not earning any more for flying first class. He’s is costing more. The money goes to his comfort and his ego. The money is essentially wasted to satisfy the base needs of a man of God. How does that make any sense? Would Jesus have flown first class? I don’t think so. Jesus would have rode an ass, walked, or hitch hiked. Would Jesus have made the trip to headline a fundraiser? Um… no.
So why do it then? Why do our religious leaders fly first class? Why do churches waste thousands of dollars so that a pastor’s fat ass can sit in the front of the plane? Don’t churches have any concern for the waste? Or is this all business? You can feed a lot of hungry people for a thousand dollars.
