The Sustainist

Who Do We Serve—Money or God?

Money was created to enhance human transactions of exchange. Before money, individuals and communities exchanged goods by bartering. But sometimes, the timing of the availability of goods does not work out perfectly. For example, if I farmed land and you hunted, bartering would work out well during harvest time. But what would happen during growing season when the harvest was not yet ready, and I still wanted meat to feed my family? So we invented money. I paid the hunter with money now in exchange for the meat and then, when harvest time came, the hunter could pay for the grain with that money. So, money is simply a temporary medium of exchange.

Yet the truth about money is that it is simply a medium of exchange. The people involved in the transaction determine its value. I can choose to spend thousands of dollars to buy a paper napkin with a signature of a celebrity or I can choose to give the same money to a charity that would exchange it into meals for thousands of children. When I exchange the money I have, I determine its value, not the other way around.

No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money. (Luke 16:13)

We need to reject money as a principality and power that wants us to believe that its status is equal if not greater than God. This does not mean we ignore the significance of money in our world today. Money is a part of our everyday flow of exchanges. To serve God means calling money back to its original calling by naming it for what it is. When we speak this truth to organizations and individuals who work with money, we are asking them to recapture their souls.

For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith, and pierced themselves with many a pang. (1 Timothy 6:10)

(Excerpt from Chapter 13 of Holy Currencies: Six Blessings for Missional and Sustainable Ministries by Eric H. F. Law)  

Reflection Questions for Proper 21 (Year C) Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15    Why is the ability to buy land important in God’s eye? Psalm 91:1-6, 14-16  What is God’s relationship with humanity? 1 Timothy 5:6-19   What does it mean to be rich?     Luke 16:19-31   What do you listen to God?

Eric H. F. Law
Kaleidoscope Institute
For competent leadership in a diverse changing world
www.kscopeinstitute.org

Giant Corn Fields and Community Gardens

Last week, I took a cross-country ride on Amtrak from Los Angeles to Chicago, then from Chicago to New York City.  I had great fun posting photos on Facebook along the way.  By the time I arrived in NYC, over 100 of my friends were following me on this visual journey.

One of the things that stayed with me was the vastness of the farms in the middle of the country.  I have always been a city person – grew up in Hong Kong and New York City.  Twenty years ago, I would have looked at these huge farms and had nothing but praiseworthy thoughts.  What great amount of food that these farms produce!  What wonderful technologies that are used to make these farms work!

But now I have conflicting thoughts about these big farms. What have been the impacts of these farms on the environment?  How were the workers treated?  What happens to the smaller farms and farmers? 

These conflicting thoughts were still swimming in my head last Sunday when I was invited to preach at the 115^th anniversary service at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Trenton, NJ.  Before the service, I was given a tour of the facility.  The pastor, Rev. Karen Henandez-Granzen proudly showed me the small raised-bed community garden by the side of the church.  Later on in the service I saw a multi-media presentation that presented Bethany House of Hospitality, which has a more expanded community garden.

The contrasts between a community gardens in the city and the huge farms helped me realize what was bothering me.   A community garden always grows a diversity of plants – tomato, pepper, herb, squash, corn, etc.  It brings people together.  As they work with the earth and experience the miracle of growing food and celebrate the harvest, they connect with each other and with the earth again.  While a large farm creates enormous amounts of food efficiently, and I am grateful for all the technologies involved, it creates a distance between everyday people and the earth.  What percentage of the citizens of the US really knows where the corn-on-the-cobb that they ate on Labor Day comes from and how they were grown?

I am not against big farms.  A sustainable community networks globally and connects locally.  Through the big farms, we produce food to feed people globally; at least, this is the hope I have.  (In fact, I know that we produce enough food in the US to feed everyone in the world and yet, there are people around the world who go to bed hungry – a problem that needs to be solved to maximize our global network.) However, a sustainable community also needs to feed people locally with locally grown produce.  In doing so, we not only feed people physically, we are also feeding people spiritually and socially, building up local relationship networks that in the long run is the heart of a sustainable community.

Reflection Questions for Proper 20 (Year C) Jeremiah 8:18-9:1    What is God’s relationship with humanity? Psalm 79:1-9  How might this psalm help you in difficult times? 1 Timothy 2:1-7   What does it mean for Christ to be a mediator between God and humankind?     Luke 16:1-13   What does the story that Jesus told teach you about relationship?

Eric H. F. Law
Kaleidoscope Institute
For competent leadership in a diverse changing world
www.kscopeinstitute.org

Golden Moments

Guest post: a letter from Keith Copeland

Dear Eric (The Sustainist),

I was blessed to be a part of the IMN (Interim Ministry Network) Conference in Indianapolis and was captivated by the idea of currency. You also graciously guided me on how to train people to intentionally build relationships at a Farmers Day event where thousands of people would be walking around outside our church. I wanted to give you an update on what happened. The training was fantastic! Everyone wore nametags with a question on them. Before the event began, I asked them how they felt when they were at a place of business and the employees talked to each other as if you were not even there. Everyone connected with that feeling. Then I said, “Does that happen to us when we host an event at the church?” It was really cool to see all of them engaging and talking to people when they came in. We had three organ concerts and part of it was a hymn song. It was wonderful to hear people sing. What really amazed me was that between the concerts, they never shut the doors. There was no concern about air conditioning or anything else. People continued to come in the church, cool off and engage in conversation. I wanted to thank you for the wonderful suggestions you shared.

We also have something really special happening here. The church is exploring purchasing a house next door for the purpose of developing what is being called a “Community Learning Café”. The purpose of this Café is to be a destination point to bring resources and needs together in a relational environment of equality and respect. We held a Community Café with representatives from a variety of organizations to explore the question of unmet needs in the community. It was a World Café conversation that sought to draw out the wisdom in the group. I used your exercise of the 100 cards (an activity called Do More with Less, see post on February 8, 2011) to begin. What we heard was the need for an intentional presence in the community to encourage and promote the flow of blessings. This is not going to duplicate anything already available. Instead, it is going to be a place to connect. There is a young man in the congregation who has taken up the mantle and sees this as a possible new direction for his life.

I wanted to share this with you as a way of saying thanks for your gift to me. As an intentional interim, all that is happening would not happen were it not for the Holy Spirit. They know that my time is short but they continue to move forward with these major decisions. What is even more amazing is that this congregation only worships an average of 60 now. I don’t think I could have helped them see God’s call without the image of currency and so I thank God for leading me to you.

Please know that my prayers will be with you as you continue to keep the blessings flowing through your work. My deepest desire is to do the same. God bless!

Keith Copeland

TheGoldenMoment.org

Reflection Questions for Proper 19 (Year C) Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28    How does this text apply to our world today? Psalm 14  What is God seeking in humanity? 1 Timothy 1:12-17   What does it mean to receive mercy? Luke 15:1-10   What do these parables say to us about our relationship with those whom we considered “sinners” ?

Eric H. F. Law
Kaleidoscope Institute
For competent leadership in a diverse changing world
www.kscopeinstitute.org

Équi-Table : Going Missional in Quebec City

Guest post by the Rev. Darla Sloan

If going missional is about being with people "where they are at" and building relationships, then in Quebec City, a pub or a restaurant is where you have to be! People here today attend “Happy Hour” after work and weekend brunch more religiously then their ancestors attended Roman Catholic mass. I had often thought of taking the Gospel into local restaurant or pub as a way of inviting people to nourish their spirituality. But I was also aware that cash flow (or lack thereof) would prevent a number of people I knew from attending.

Working through Holy Currencies with Eric got my wheels turning and I came up with the idea for Équi-Table. The concept is simple. Gather a group of people in a local restaurant. People order what they want and pay what they can. If they can pay for their meal, great! If they can pay a little more, even better because it helps cover the cost of the meal of those who have a little less to share. I chose a restaurant that had sufficient parking and easy options for those travelling on public transit. I also wanted a restaurant with a play area so that kids could have a place to go if they got tired of listening to the grown-ups talk. Initially, I spoke with the restaurant management to see if they would give us a “group rate” or something. No, they didn’t do that sort of thing. Then I toyed with the idea of asking people to choose from a limited selection of menu items (to reduce the size of the final bill). In the end, I decided that I would just trust the Spirit and invite people to order whatever they wanted and pay what they could. I would pay the bill with my credit card and ask people to put their anonymous contributions in a small box placed in the center of the table. I told myself that if I needed to pay an astronomical amount to cover the shortfall at the end of the evening, I would know that I had to re-think things before trying again.

So, on a Monday night in October 2012, a group of us gathered. We shared a meal and KI Bible Study, followed by a celebration of the Lord’s Supper (a woman in a clerical shirt draws a lot of attention in this town!) At the end of the evening, I asked participants for feedback. They responded that they liked having the opportunity to build relationships with new people and to do so while talking about their faith (because they said they didn’t get much of an opportunity to do that in church!!). Participants liked hearing from people with different church backgrounds (or no church background).

I liked…that the experiment worked! When I got home and opened the box in which everyone put what they could afford, there was just enough to cover the bill! And the same thing has happened again and again.

There have been some variations on the theme. We have decided to change restaurants in order to vary the menu, but also to have a room to ourselves. It does mean that we are less visible to the rest of the restaurant patrons. However, upon reflection, it was decided that the ultimate goal was to be able to build relationships around the table and that is easier to do if we can hear each other well. In July of 2013, 11 adults and 5 children took Equi-Table outside (to two picnic tables near a playground in a park) and we feasted on loaves and fishes.

And the wheel keeps on turning! Rather than being a block to participation, the currency of money has flowed and helped to create a ministry that is sustainable. We have made use of public spaces that are available to us. We have built relationships of trust where people feel free to speak the truth about their lives and their faith. And in taking time to nourish our bodies and our souls, we have nurtured our collective wellness. Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

Rev. Darla Sloan