• Archive of "money" Category

    Kingdom Stimulation

    July 24, 2008 // 5 Comments »

    I received my Economic Stimulus Payment the other day and wondered what I would do with it.  As I thought and prayed, I decided to join the ranks of those who called the whole premise of the program into question.

    Feel free to accuse me for oversimplifying things if you want, but bottom line, the whole point of the Economic Stimulus Payments that virtually everyone received this year, was singular, “The economy is hurting, so please go buy stuff.”

    Sadly, this advice just doesn’t square with those of us who live in a new reality under the Kingship of a God who says, “a man’s life does not consists in the abundance of his possessions” or whose dream for people is to live lives of sacrifice, sharing, generosity, and stewardship.

    God’s economics fly in the face of the dominant American addiction to consumerism illustrated perfectly both by the opening line of a recent credit card advertisement, “We are a nation of consumers….and there’s nothing wrong with that.” (ht: Grete), as well as our President’s advice to the country after the 9/11 attacks of, “Go shopping.”

    So, 1/2 my check went to Geronime, a woman in Benin, Africa, a fruit vendor through Kiva – a group (you definitely need to check out) that makes micro-loans to “entrepeneurs in the developing world, empowering them to lift themselves out of poverty,” and the other 1/2 went to pay down debt.  Guess I will just have to go without that gizmo, gadget, or do-dad that I probably needed sooooo badly.

    Posted in capitalism, consumerism, decisions, God, money

    Christian Escapism

    July 19, 2008 // 3 Comments »

    Disclaimer:  This post is not (really) about cars.

    On the heels of that last post, I thought I would throw this out there and say how glad I am that most of the folks in my life seem to be those who are really trying to press into the full implications of what following Jesus means and looks like right here and now.  They are not, for the most part, Christian Escapists – those whose value for Christ primarily has to do with their get-out-of-hell-free card.  They want to live out lives of discipleship for the sake of their neighbors and the world.

    Anyway, that being said… I caught this in a parking lot the other day, read it, kept walking, and went back to take a picture once my internal annoyance-o-meter reached its peak.

    This bumper sticker perfectly illustrates the degree to which a subtle neo-gnosticism has seeped into how we understand the Christian faith.  The idea of gnosticism is simple: eternity has nothing to do with here and now.  Therefore, for example, I can “have my treasure in heaven,” and live however the heck I want.

    I am reminded of my friend Wess’ post, “How Do We Look for the Theology of a Church?“  One of his suggestions was to check out the cars in the parking lot on Sunday morning.  Now, this may not be a perfect gauge (and Wess doesn’t suggest that it is), but in terms of a non-gnosticized version of the Christian faith, it is a valid point.  That point being, if we understand the good news of God’s Kingdom as something we get to participate in and live out for the sake of the world here and now, then guess what, it will envelop every aspect of our lives, including (perhaps especially including) the economic dimension.

    The gospel aims to get a grip on not just our hearts, but our whole lives.  Imagine the visible impact of church communities which aimed to live well below their means because of their rejection of consumerism and materialism, or, even better, because they so badly wanted to experience the blessing of sharing and giving – of living lives unencumbered by extravagance and luxury.  That seems like a way of being the church that is more worthy of a crucified and risen Messiah.

    Posted in church, consumerism, discipleship, money, pictures, suburban

    Riches in Poverty

    July 10, 2008 // 1 Comment »

    If I had to guess, I’d say that I’ll be posting on “the scandalous impracticality of all that Jesus stood for” really soon as I can’t seem to stop thinking about it.

    As a prelude to that though, I wanted to point to a message Gib offered to the Living Hope community this past Sunday when I was away, “Riches in Poverty.”  Probably my favorite line, “Every time currency changes hands, I am making a spiritual decision.”  How different our lives would be, how different our very understanding on what it means to be a gospel people if we embraced and lived out this Kingdom truth!

    Posted in decisions, kingdom, living hope, money

    One Day = $720 Million Dollars

    March 29, 2008 // 1 Comment »

    Immediately after I finished my taxes this morning and submitted them online, I caught this video over on Josh’s blog and wanted to repost it.  Of course there are all sorts of issues bound up with a video like this and I don’t mean to oversimplify it, but I find it incredibly convicting in terms of how little thought I tend to give to what my money is going to.  ”Out of sight, out of mind,” as they say.  I wish I could simply rest in the fact that I am getting a full refund of my federal taxes from last year, but something tells me that there just might be something more to it than that – ya think?  

    Posted in money, politics

    Midwest Missionary:Update

    November 7, 2007 // No Comments »

    Just a short post to follow up with everyone who reads this blog and especially those who took interest in previous post about serving as a missionary here in the Midwest.

    I  need to thank many of you for your emails, phone calls, financial support, conversations, and prayer as I try to figure out what it looks like to live and help others to live missionally here in the Midwest.  As you may have noticed from my blog, I haven’t been able to raise the necessary support to really invest in the ministry of Repeat the way I had hoped.  On top of this, through further communication, it doesn’t seem like what I feel I can add to the overall thrust of the community is what is most needed.  Consequently, while I will still be proactively exploring other options for missional connections, I will not be heavily investing my time in the way I originally thought.

    For the time being, I have begun working at Starbucks on a part-time basis and am also working with the Salvation Army for the holiday season.  I will be assisting with their Angel Tree and Adopt-A-Family programs.  I look forward to writing more about these programs in the near future.

    I really want to keep this conversation about missional living and engagement in the midwest, so please offer comments and ask any and all questions that you think of.

    Peace.

    Posted in midwest, missional, money

    Big THANKS

    December 29, 2006 // No Comments »

    Just wanted to say thanks to Alex and Kevin whose donations more than covered the financial damage from my slip up.  I really appreciate you guys and your donations.  Let me know if there is ever anything I can do for you.  Thanks again.

    Posted in blogging, friends, money

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