Sermon: Love, Taxes, and the New Earth

Texts: Revelation 21:1-6; John 13:31-35

Date: May 2, 2010 (Bread for the World Offering of Letters Sunday)

Rev. Dee Eisenhauer, Eagle Harbor Congregational United Church of Christ

            Have you ever been present for an unveiling of an artwork or monument?  I have been there for a couple of these occasions, and it’s wonderfully dramatic.  You wait in expectation while looking at the object covered up with a sheet, and then at the big moment someone yanks the cover off and the object of beauty is there in all its glory.  Oohs and aahs ensue.

            “Apocalypse”—which, among other things is the genre or type of writing in the fascinating and unsettling book of Revelation—literally means “unveiling.”  Our brief segment this morning has an “unveiling” feel to it, as the author describes his vision of a new heaven and a new earth.  This is especially true of the part where the new Jerusalem is coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.  It sounds like something that happens all at once, with oohs and aahs to follow.

            The Bible study curriculum raised an interesting question that gives an alternative view of unveiling.  The question was whether we thought the New Earth that is God’s dream is something that will replace the old, or whether we imagine it more as a refinement of the old earth?  Do you see the difference between replacing and refining?  Your perspective on what may seem like a trivial theological speculation actually deeply impacts the way you behave as a disciple.  If you think the New Earth is going to be a total replacement of the old, with the old earth going on the cosmic scrap heap while the new one comes down plunk from somewhere beyond us, your job is just to wait around and be patient until God thinks it’s time to start over.  If, on the other hand, you believe what’s happening is a refinement or a refurbishing of the old earth so that it becomes the New Earth of God’s dream, you’ve got some work to do as a disciple.  You’re a co-worker in the refinement process.  The Bible study students were generally in agreement that we believe the New Earth will be a refinement, not a replacement.  We conclude that we have work to do.  Theologian David Roy put it this way: “The reign of God…is something within each one of us that needs to grow and thrive and flourish…We cannot get there while we are waiting for the supernatural superman, omnipotent God.”  If this is so, the unveiling will not be the fun, dramatic here-you-go-with-the-finished-product, but the gradual re-shaping of life on earth to make it conform to God’s dream.  It will be more like Michaelangelo gradually liberating the figure of an angel from a block of granite by removing the unneeded chunks.  Slow, painstaking labor.  But with the same goal of beauty in mind.

            I was tickled to find this quotation from William Sloane Coffin that speaks to the painstaking labor of co-creating a New Earth with God: “It is one thing to say with the prophet Amos, “Let justice roll down like mighty waters,” and quite another to work out the irrigation system.  Clearly there is more certainty in the recognition of wrongs than there is in the prescription for the cure.”  We can say with certainty that having one in five children living in poverty in the United States is wrong, and we would like to remove the obstacles to justice that keep so many little ones at risk of hunger in this wealthy nation.  But it is one thing to say “let justice roll down like mighty waters” and another to work out the irrigation system.  The subject of our annual Offering of Letters is one aspect of working out the irrigation system that will let justice and mercy roll a little more freely.

            The subject targeted by our colleagues at Bread for the World for advocacy this year is one that immediately sucks all the oxygen out of the room.  It’s going to test your attention span; it’s so difficult and boring it’s going to make you want to run, fast, in the other direction.  So strap on an imaginary seat belt and call up the most patient and compassionate aspect of yourself.  Are you ready for it?  The offering has to do with taxes.  Yes, taxes.  Let’s have a group moan and get it over with.

            Here’s the deal: the Earned Income Tax Credit is America’s largest anti-poverty program, a refundable tax credit for working families.  It is estimated that last year the EITC lifted 6.6 million families, including 3.3 million children, above the poverty line.  Figures aren’t yet available for last year in terms of hard numbers, but in 2007, 25 million working families and individuals received the EITC.  In Washington State alone, 354,387 households claimed the EITC in 2006, averaging $1,749 per household.  The economy has slumped since then, so we can assume even more people will be claiming the EITC this year.

            I’m going to say a little bit more about how it works for the benefit of those who, like me, want to slump into a coma whenever the topic of taxes comes up, so our understanding might not be so sharp.  A tax credit provides a dollar-for-dollar reduction in a person’s tax liability (the amount of taxes that a person owes).  If Ed owes $1,000 in income taxes and is eligible for a $750 tax credit, the amount he owes is reduced to $250.  If Ed owes $500 in income taxes and is eligible for a $750 tax credit, the amount he owes is reduced to $0.  A refundable tax credit provides a reduction in a person’s tax liability, plus refunds the remainder if it exceeds the amount of taxes owed.  The levels are set according to income.  The more wages people earn, the more benefits they receive until reaching a certain income threshold.  At that point, families see a decrease in their credit but not a complete loss.  At its highest point, the EITC provides a 40 percent boost in earnings.

            For families where every dollar counts, that makes a huge difference.  The EITC puts an average of $200 a month back in the pockets of working families with children.  With this credit, low-income families are better able to meet essential needs, including food and quality child care.  One woman named Andrea Paluso who testified at a recent hearing in support of EITC explained that when her working mother had a full-time job, a part-time job, and a full-time college schedule, the EITC gave her a chance to “exhale for one second.”

            In addition to advocating for the EITC, Bread for the World is encouraging us to advocate for Child Tax Credit.  The CTC also provides financial support for working families with children.  It helps offset the costs of raising children.  It is a partially refundable tax credit, worth up to $1,000 per child under age 17 to families earning at least $3,000.  The CTC provides close to $50 billion in benefits to families with children every year.  By providing a larger credit the more you work, the CTC creates a strong incentive to work and increase earnings.

            The EITC and the CTC are on this year’s offering of letters radar because while they were both expanded in recent years, the expansions are due to sunset at the end of 2010.  Congress must extend the current provisions of the EITC and the CTC to prevent low-income families from losing crucial benefits.  On the EITC, if the expansions enacted in 2001 and 2009 expire, seven million low-income people stand to lose benefits.  On the CTC, 16 million children currently benefit.  If Congress does not extend the income threshold at $3,000, 6 million children will lose the benefit and 10 million children will receive a smaller credit.

            While we may be reluctant to advocate anything that costs the government money in this age of deficits, it helps to remember that the money the EITC and CTC returns to the pockets of the poor generally gets right back into the economy.  It has been estimated that for every $1 spent on refundable tax credits, $1.26 in economic activity is generated within local communities.  That’s because people who live close to the edge are taking the money and spending it on Cheerios and diapers and day care and such.  The money doesn’t just evaporate.  Furthermore,  the majority of families who file for the EITC do so for only one or two years at a time; it’s not like a permanent entitlement. 

            I don’t want to yammer on about this because we want to have time to do the work of advocacy here in the service.  I hope I have said enough to stir up your compassion and not too much so as to put you to sleep.  It’s a little strange to be talking taxes after April 15, especially in our sanctuary.  Keep in mind that the poverty that causes hunger is largely due to a lack of monetary resources.  The tax changes Bread for the World is advocating puts more money in the pockets of low-income families, making it easier for them to make ends meet.  Our advocacy reminds elected leaders—namely, our Senator Maria Cantwell, who serves on the Senate Finance Committee—that the federal budget is a moral document that should reflect our nation’s best values. 

            Jesus unveils a new commandment in his address to the disciples in today’s gospel reading: that we should love one another as Jesus has loved us.  “By this,” he says, “everyone will know that you are my disciples, that you love one another.”  We don’t usually put “love” and “taxes” together in the same sentence.  What a unique opportunity is before us, to show our love for our low-income sisters and brothers by promoting the protection and strengthening of the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit.  Love and taxes.  As we take such small steps, the New Earth God yearns for, the one where mourning and crying and pain are no more, gradually comes into view.  We can be part of the unveiling—part of the planting of seeds of mercy, part of the mechanics of irrigation that allow justice to roll down like mighty waters on our parched land.