Pathways Monthly Gathering

First, about PATHWAYS: Pathways is a Bay Area gathering place for progressive thinkers in the Christian faith tradition, located right here in Walnut Creek. As an incorporated California religious non-profit organization, we welcome doubters and seekers, skeptics and agnostics.  To learn more about Pathways, its principles and programs visit our website.

This month’s program: "The Affliction of Affluence:  Reconciling Gratitude, Generosity and Greed"

The election is only a few days away, when we will each consider what’s in our own best interest. Then we will move on to reflecting on the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday season, and our relative good fortune. How do we best reconcile those competing and conflicting tendencies that are an integral part of our human nature: gratitude, generosity, adequacy, abundance and the word no savvy politician will utter: greed.

 We live in a country where one presidential candidate has amassed an astronomical fortune as a former leveraged buyout specialist and venture capitalist; and the other candidate was once a community organizer, but is now himself a multi-millionaire. We also live in a country where 15% of our neighbors live in poverty; including nearly 22% of our nation’s children.

 Chances are, if you're reading this, you may not consider yourself to be part of the economic 1%. But we’re all likely part of the a privileged 99%; relative to the world’s inhabitants, where 1/6 lack such basic necessities of as safe drinking water.

 As talk of lifting up an American middle class dominates the national political rhetoric in this election season -- perpetuating the shallow notion it's all about "the economy, stupid," and nothing more -- how might we regain a more balanced and compassionate perspective with the affluence with which we are all already imbued?

 Come join the conversation! To RSVP email:jb@wordsnways.com or call 925.787.6965