11th Sunday after Pentecost                    

2 Samuel 11:26 – 12:5-13

When the wife of Uriah heard that her husband was dead, she made lamentation for him. When the mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife, and bore him a son. But, the thing that David had done displeased God, and God sent Nathan to David.

[Nathan] came to [David], and said to him, “There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor. The rich man had very many flocks and herds; but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. He brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children; it used to eat of his meager fare, and drink from his cup, and lie in his bosom, and it was like a daughter to him. Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was loath to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the wayfarer who had come to him, but he took the poor man’s lamb, and prepared that for the guest who had come to him.”

Then David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man. He said to Nathan, “As God lives, the man who has done this deserves to die; he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.” Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says our God, the God of Israel: I anointed you king over Israel, and I rescued you from the hand of Saul; I gave you your master’s house, and your master’s wives into your bosom, and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added as much more. Why have you despised the word of God, to do what is evil in God’s sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, for you have despised me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife. Thus says our God: I will raise up trouble against you from within your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes, and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this very sun. For you did it secretly; but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.” David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against God.” Nathan said to David, “Now God has put away your sin; you shall not die.”

This is My Cell Phone

I’m what some people might call a late adopter. When everyone around me was jumping on the cell phone bandwagon, I refused to get one. I just didn’t like the idea that I would always be available to anyone who had my number, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, no matter where I went. I just could not imagine why I would want that. Of course, now, I never leave home without my phone, and it’s pretty much with me wherever I go.

Like most of you, when I turn on my phone, I’m greeting with all of these little icons that represent some kind of function that the phone can do. You tap on them, and the application opens, and you can play your game, or check your email, or take a picture. There’re other things I can do with my phone that I don’t actually have to go into an application for, like checking the time, or the date, or the temperature. I have a flashlight ap, but most of the time, I’m too lazy to open it, so I just use the glow from the screen.

Any time I’m going to a new place, I use the GPS on my phone to get there. I have a text thread with my family that we all use to keep in touch with each other. I use it as a timer, a note pad, whenever I’m watching something, and I recognize an actor, but I can’t remember who they are, out comes my phone, because I just have to know!

If I ever need any kind of information, I have the entire Internet right at my fingertips. I mean, do you ever stop to think about how amazing it is that we all walk around with this vast repository of human knowledge in our pockets? Need a recipe? Google it. Want to know what kind of plant you’re looking at? Google it. Forgot the incubation period for Covid? Google it. If I’m looking for a restaurant, I go to Yelp. If I’m bored, I look at TikTok. I even have an ap that lets me point my phone up at a constellation up in the night sky, and my phone will tell me which constellation I’m looking at.

Our phones are completely integrated into our lives. I can’t imagine going back to a time before we were all walking around with cell phones in our pockets. It’s amazing what they can do, considering how small they are. One of the reasons they can be so small is because of the amazing battery technology that we have now. Most of our cell phones use lithium batteries, and without those batteries, smart phones wouldn’t be possible.

One of the main components of lithium batteries is cobalt. Much of the cobalt used to these batteries, as well as the batteries in our hybrid and electric cars, comes from the Congo, where men, women, and children work under dangerous conditions to mine it. The Democratic Republic of Congo supplies 60% of the world’s cobalt, where miners earn less than $5 a day mining for cobalt. This cobalt eventually ends up in the lithium batteries used by companies like Apple, Samsung, GM, and Tesla, brands that we see and use, every day.

Last week, we talked about the story of David and Bathsheba, and the way that people move through the world with their privileged and power. This week, we saw how God sent Nathan to tell David that what he did was wrong. Nathan had to explain it to David through a story, because David was so blinded by his privilege and power that he didn’t even realize that he did anything wrong. David was the king, he was isolated from his people, living in his beautiful palace, having his every desire catered to. He couldn’t even conceive that what he was doing was wrong. So, God had to send a prophet to tell him.

We live in the most powerful country in the world. We are the richest country, the most technologically advanced country, and our resources per capita is something other countries could only dream of. We are privileged. Even those of us who struggle, those who think that we don’t have a lot; we are privileged compared to most people in the rest of the world. And, most of us, including me, don’t see it…can’t see it.

I’m not telling you this to make you feel guilty; God isn’t interested in our guilt. What good does our guilt do for a 10-year-old cobalt miner on the other side of the planet? What God wants from us, what that 10-year-old cobalt miner needs from us, is change. Now that know where our cell phones come from, what are we going to do about it?

Changing things will be difficult, some might say impossible. We’re caught up in this system, this life in the United States, that like it or not, influences every decision that we make. As much as we like to think that our choices are our own, culture and society, peer pressure and marketing, all of these invisible hands are driving our decisions. I have a smart phone. I have a hybrid car. But, getting rid of them won’t change anything. The cobalt’s already been mined; people have already been hurt, and even if I decided I would never buy products containing cobalt ever again, I am just one person. And, the problem goes beyond a single resource like cobalt. The problem is systemic. We live in a society that tells us that success is tied to wealth, and that capitalism is tied to faith. It’s the foundation of our economy. It’s steeped in our bones. It’s as American as apple pie. How do we stand up to that kind of cultural monolith?

I believe that God is still speaking, and that God is telling us that this way of life is not sustainable. The Holy Spirit is moving in hearts and minds, right now, to bring change. In 2010, a law was passed in the United States banning the import of tin, copper, tungsten, and gold from mines in the Congo that are under militia control. The purpose of this law was to reduce human rights abuses, but cobalt was never added to the list. Some speculate it was because restricting cobalt would be devastating to companies that rely on lithium batteries. But, as consumer awareness about cobalt has increased, there has been growing pressure on companies to make sure the cobalt they use is ethically sourced.

The way forward is not going to be easy. But, we are not alone. God is always working alongside us, and as brothers and sisters in the risen Christ, we must support and encourage one another as we seek justice for those who need it most. We have to remember that in this global economy, our lives are intertwined with children mining cobalt in the Congo, with slaves catching shrimp in Thailand, with families living in fear in the Middle East. As we speak, the Thai people are working to end slavery in their country, and as each day passes, we move closer and closer towards a future that doesn’t rely on fossil fuels. God is at work all around us. There’s a long way to go, but with God’s help, I know we will get there. God is calling us to act. It is only through our collective voice, working together, working as God’s hands and feet in this world, that change can happen. God is with us in this work, and someday, there will be justice for all. Amen.

~ Rev. Charles Wei