Sunday, January 4, 2004

May the mountains yield prosperity for the people, and the hills, in righteousness.
Psalm 72:1-7, 10-14

The Quiche Maya of the Guatemalan highlands will tell you that they are the people of corn. As the old men and women tell their Pre-Columbian creation story, recorded in the Mayan text, The Popol Wuj, they recount how their gods failed in making people of out of clay and wood until they successfully molded humankind from golden kernels of corn.

Corn still brings life to the Mayan people today. Throughout the rugged countryside of Guatemala, the mountains ­ no matter how steep ­ are covered with a patchwork of cornfields. In Guatemala, a country where 75 percent of the land belongs to only one percent of the population, farmers must often grow their crops in the smallest and poorest of fields.

For those of us who can walk into a superstore and select one of a thousand products shipped from across the world, it is difficult to fathom the lives of others who still rely on a mountainside to yield their staples. Few of us can imagine being tied to something, as the Mayans are to their land, whose yield could mean life or death.

The Mayan people will tell you who they are, where they come from, and what makes them live and thrive. The certainty with which they speak challenges the listener to reflect on the source of his or her own life. Who are we as Christian people? What gives us life and makes us prosper?

These are serious questions to ask, especially at Christmastime. I wonder if the bright lights and tinsel of the Christmas season haven't made us forget who we claim to be.

Is it Wal-Mart or Jesus Christ on whom we rely as our life-giving source? What is the meaning of prosperity? Is it defined by our culture or by our faith?

PRAYER: Dear God, in this busy season of commercialism, let us remember that our prosperity is rooted in you and not in material gifts. From you springs life, and when we live in you, your people live in righteousness. Help us remember the meaning of Christmas this day, O Lord. Amen.

Amanda Stein

All contents copyright 2003 by the Wisconsin Chapter of the Methodist Federation for Social Action. Permission is granted to United Methodist congregations, individuals and groups to reproduce and distribute this devotional without charge. All other use requires the advance permission of the editor.