The greatest power is no power
—Ooh! Look at Jeff going all zen on his bloggy blog.
—No, but seriously, think about it. It is a deeply Christ-imitating statement.
22 May 2011
tags: abundance,
giving,
non-violence
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I love the way the bible combines bright-eyed idealism with clear-eyed realism
Deuteronomy 15:1-11, TNIV At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts. This is how it is to be done: Every creditor shall cancel any loan they have made to another Israelite. They shall not require payment from anyone among their own people, because the LORD’s time for canceling debts has been proclaimed. You may require payment from a foreigner, but you must cancel any debt one of your people owes you. However, there need be no poor people among you, for in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you, if only you fully obey the LORD your God and are careful to follow all these commands I am giving you today. For the LORD your God will bless you as he has promised, and you will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. You will rule over many nations but none will rule over you. If anyone is poor among your people in any of the towns of the land the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward them. Rather, be openhanded and freely lend them whatever they need. Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought: ‘The seventh year, the year for canceling debts, is near,’ so that you do not show ill will toward the needy among your people and give them nothing. They may then appeal to the LORD against you, and you will be found guilty of sin. Give generously to them and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to. There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward those of your people who are poor and needy in your land.
10 June 2010
tags: abundance,
debt,
giving,
money
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Morons!
Paul Mayers posted this parable over at Deep Church. I am reposting it here with his kind permission because it is brilliant and I want it to launch me back into writing more about abundance culture.
I can almost hear Jesus saying…
‘A man and women walk into starbucks, pay £8 to sip their skinny latte and chi tea. They leave feeling less thirsty and more virtuous having discussed their spiritual journeys and resolve that in this space they can be truly free. Before parting they agree to meet back there at the same time next week where they will this time discuss how to resolve world hunger over a chocolate muffin and a piece of blueberry cheesecake. Who do you think is richer for this experience, the economy of God or the economy of the market?’
At once Peter spoke up, ‘Guru, you have made me think that if we offer free muffins and better coffee we will be able to attract more followers, for as you have said men and women need more than just Dunkin Donuts alone.’
‘No, no,’ said Judas, who managed the on-line bank account and charitable donations, ‘We should buy shares in this starbucks. It would seem its business model is most profitable.’
The disciples began to bicker amongst themselves, one saying for the coffee plan and another for the investments, still a third argued that they should set up their own coffee shop chain and a fourth that maybe it would be better and edgier to run a pub or a tattoo parlour. Each one saying that their idea was more radical and counter cultral than the last.
Finally Jesus spoke again, ‘Oh you and your consumer ways! Do you not realise that you seek to take on the forms of this world rather than embody the values of my Father? For it is not about the coffee blend or the pastries that you consume but rather what it is that consumes you and gives your identity. Broad is the market and many who find it easy to be sold their identity from amongst its counter cultural niches. Morons! You are being consumer sheep not radical rebels. But I tell you, narrow is the way of true self formation, denying your right to your rights and instead following me.’
The disciples wondered at his words as they entered into the McDonald’s drive through…
21 March 2010
tags: abundance,
kingdom of god,
stories
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Why abundance?
A growing number of mainstream commentators (not just my favourite fringey archdruid) are saying that the western world is in for some tough times for a while. Here is an example by Thomas L. Friedman that is worth reading. I’m not a fan of tough times. I’m more a fan of New iPads For Everyone. I don’t think that’s what we are getting though.
So, what to do?
The bible says that ‘there was a famine in the land’, and ‘Isaac planted crops in that land and the same year reaped a hundredfold, because the LORD blessed him.’ (Genesis 26:1&12, TNIV)
This is a favourite scripture with the God-is-my-get-rich-genie crowd, but it is important to remember that this is not talking about Isaac, Rebekah, 40 acres and a mule. Abraham, Isaac’s dad, had a personal army of 300. Isaac inherited the leadership of a significant community of people. That community, in the middle of a famine, experienced abundance.
Understanding abundance culture in the middle of hard times is important for God’s people and for the communities we live in and for the growth of the kingdom of God.
22 February 2010
tags: abundance
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Greater than the sum
Today Google tossed this article by Barbara Sher onto my screen. I’d never heard of Barbara Sher. Apparently she invented life coaching, but I’m willing to forgive her because the story she tells is really good. Here are a couple bits:
In one of the groups, the Tuesday night group, I could tell that something very special was happening. One of the members, an unprepossessing fellow (he had been described as ‘Woody Allan without a sense of humor,’) had admitted to his first feeling: he was unhappy because he was lonely and wanted a girlfriend.
At first they shook their heads and told him to forget it. “Women hate you, Ronnie,” one of the members said.
“I know,” he said. “Fix me.”
They started to protest that everyone had to fix themselves when I interrupted and said, “It doesn’t look like Ronnie is going to be able to do that. Why don’t you all help him out?”
And they did! The Tuesday night group, instead of talking about their own problems, decided to get Ronnie a girlfriend…
Right then and there I got it: orphans don’t make it. Isolation is the dream killer. You can get what you want even if you don’t love yourself and don’t feel positive — as long as you have an ongoing team to help you think and back you up and help you over the hard spots…
Read the article, and as you do consider: abundance culture is one of honest recognition that I don’t personally possess every thing, talent or strength I need. God has designed humans in such a way that we need each other in order to thrive.
‘For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us.’ (Romans 12:4-6, TNIV)
18 February 2010
tags: abundance,
community,
humans
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Untranslate
‘Give us today our daily bread.’ (Matthew 6:11, TNIV)
How often, in our minds, do we change ‘Give us today…’
to ‘Give me today…’
or, at best, ‘Give my family today…’?
What if we all stopped doing that? What if we untranslated the prayer, and prayed it as it was given to us? If each of us was praying, Give us today the things that we need, for our small groups, for our churches, for our neighbourhoods, for our communities? What if each of us prayed to Our Father instead of My Father?
What effect would that have on our thinking and our actions?
Photo: Jimee…
17 February 2010
tags: abundance,
prayer
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One way to practice abundance
From Telegraph.co.uk
‘For a long time I believed that more wealth and luxury automatically meant more happiness,’ he said. ‘I come from a very poor family where the rules were to work more to achieve more material things, and I applied this for many years,’ said Mr Rabeder.
But over time, he had another, conflicting feeling.
‘More and more I heard the words: “Stop what you are doing now – all this luxury and consumerism – and start your real life”,’ he said. ‘I had the feeling I was working as a slave for things that I did not wish for or need.”
Be sure to read all the way to the end.
16 February 2010
tags: abundance,
stories
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God's ideal of abundance for Israel
Abundance culture is an ancient idea. God’s ideal for Israel was that they lived like there was more than enough:
‘When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. 10 Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the LORD your God.’ (Leviticus 19:9, TNIV)
‘When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and for the foreigner residing among you. I am the LORD your God.’ (Leviticus 23:22, TNIV)
I don’t know how well they did with that in practice, but the standard was clear: there is more than enough, so don’t worry about maximising your profit. There are other people who could use the bits in the corners and on the edges. This was a blanket command, for everyone with a field, not just for the rich people with lots of fields.
The belief that underlies this practice is that the land is actually God’s:
‘The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you reside in my land as foreigners and strangers.’ (Leviticus 25:23, TNIV)
and any power to create wealth comes from God:
But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today. (Deuteronomy 8:18, TNIV)
And the belief was wrapped in a 50-year cycle of jubilee, at the end of which all land reverted back to the families that originally owned it. God’s design for Israel was one of the nation prospering together, rather than at the expense of those less fortunate, in an environment of confident reliance on God.
16 February 2010
tags: abundance
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Us, actually
So this abundance culture thing — I think I’ll start talking about it from here:
All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need. (Acts 4:32-35, TNIV)
Most of what I’ve heard and read about this passage has been explanations why we modern Christians don’t need to live like this because it’s not a command and they were in unique circumstances with people there from all over the world and it’s a different culture and blah blah blah.
The fact is, we like our stuff and quite like the idea of keeping our possessions as our own. I’m going to resist the urge to rant about how all our stuff is God’s anyway and we are just taking care of it.
Instead, I will drop one foundational thought: abundance culture exists in the context of community. There were no needy people in the very early church because ‘all the believers were one in heart and mind.’
This is massively different from the Bless Me religion of the western world. We all understand Christianity as being about God and me. Turns out, much of the time, possibly most of the time, it is about God and us.
13 February 2010
tags: abundance,
community
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Tons and bunches
I grew up charismatic with a strong word of faith influence. There was a thing in the air: you gotta get rich. Setting aside untold damage this message has done in developing countries, this message has made the lives of actual people I know far more difficult than they needed to be. If you are supposed to get rich and you are supposed to do it by the blessing of God without ‘works’ and you aren’t very well off to start with, then you are easy prey for the multilevel marketing people and get-rich-now scammers.
I’m happy to see a lot of that has fallen by the wayside. For quite a while I have been looking for a viable, biblical replacement. I’m pretty sure a celebration of poverty isn’t it. I think I might be moving towards a thing that is. Knowing how bang-up-to-date I am, most of you reading this probably know and practice this thing already. Nevertheless, I am going to spend a few blog posts exploring what I am going to call abundance culture.
Photo: Andrew E. Larsen.
12 February 2010
tags: abundance
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