Of course, Jesus isn’t around to do this, but maybe someone else could?
I imagine Jesus going to the Supreme Court building and setting up a long table between the two sides of demonstrators and laying out a really nice picnic. He invites everyone to sit down and eat. That’s the rule: you have to sit down. No takeaway. And it’s food that you eat with a knife and fork – or chopsticks – so you have to set down your sign to eat. All the food is in big dishes, no individual servings, which forces conversations with people on the other side of the table. ‘Could you pass the casserole, please?’ At first, not too many people sit down, but the food smells so good and we are so hungry from our demonstrating that it doesn’t take long for more and more and more people to sit down. Just when some of us are shifting in our seats, thinking about getting back to our signs and our deeply held convictions, Jesus serves another course or passes around another basket of fresh rolls and another bottle of wine. When the meal finally ends, everyone is too relaxed to pick up the signs, and anyway they look a bit garish now, so we all wander off home or back to our hotels. It’s only as we are drifting off to sleep that we realise we shared communion with the enemy.
27 March 2013
tags: creativity,
food,
giving,
humans,
jesus
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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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Don't go to church
My friend Sarah heard an idea at a conference. Her enthusiasm for it turned out to be infectious. This is the idea: regularly have a Don’t Go To Church Sunday. The pastor tells people to stay away so they can spend time obeying the second great command, love your neighbour as yourself. Most everyone has stuff that they would like to do for others, but they never quite get around to it. What if your church explicitly gave you permission and time to go do it?
6 May 2011
tags: church,
community,
giving
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We live and die by good deeds
Here is what I mean. No matter what your theology of doing good is — I think the spectrum ranges from ‘It’s nice to be nice, but there’s not much point if they’re going to burn in hell’ to ‘Loving your neighbour through doing good is the core of the gospel message’ — in everyday practical living, you live and die by good deeds.
When your car breaks down and a friend loans you theirs, it really matters to you.
When someone Nastyfacebooks you, it really hurts.
When a stranger gives you a friendly smile, it lifts your mood.
When that jerk cuts you off in traffic and flips you off for existing on his road, life tastes sour.
When you are exhausted or broke and someone brings you a meal, you can cry for joy.
When your kid wants to hold your hand while you walk together, you can walk anywhere.
When your lover holds your hand in public, you are invincible.
No matter what you say you believe about good deeds the value that you place on the ones (not) done to you says they are actually some of the most important things in the universe.
The obvious next step is to place the same importance on the good deeds that you (do not) do.
4 March 2011
tags: community,
giving,
love
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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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Merry Christmas, everyone!
I’m sure you were hoping desperately for a family newsletter, being such close friends and all, but if you look closely at this photo, you will understand our year, our family dynamics, probably even our entire life. (This year instead of cards, we are giving an equivalent amount of money to Cymru Community Foodshare.)
20 December 2009
tags: giving,
holidays
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St Paul the socialist?
‘Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. The goal is equality, as it is written: “The one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little.”’ (2 Corinthians 8:13-15, TNIV)
Put that in your pipe and smoke it hard, because that does not fit well at all with typical Western Christianity.
18 November 2009
tags: giving,
kingdom of god
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The Mustang 4
In 1992 I went on three short mission trips, two to Moscow, Russia and one to Caracas, Venezuela. My Mustang paid for two of them. It wasn’t hard for me to sell the car. What was hard was a few months earlier when I gave the car to God so that he could use it however he wanted.
The reason for a Christian to have stuff is to build the kingdom of God. Stuff can only make me actually happy when I am using it for that reason.
It was hard to give my car to God, but I had more happiness from that decision than I ever had from driving it. I had more benefit from travelling to Russia and Venezuela with the good news of Jesus than I ever had from travelling around my own city in a cool car.
Photo by Jozef Beckley
3 September 2008
tags: giving,
kingdom of god
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