Day 37 - The Sharing of Water

Reading : John 13:1-20

As we prepare tonight for the service of foot-washing, we dive into the scripture from John where Jesus washes the disciples’ feet.

It is not insignificant that Jesus uses water for this, as it is possibly our earth’s greatest natural resource. Without it, our bodies and our ecosystems cannot function. Without its refreshing, purifying, satiating effects, our souls and our land would be dry and desolate.

We are baptized in water and then reminded of that baptism at various points on our journey, including during foot-washing services, just as we are often reminded of the grace that God constantly washes over us.

But we often take that grace for granted. It is a gift freely and abundantly given, but it is a gift nonetheless – not an obligation.

Similarly, we often take the presence of water for granted in our everyday life. It is always there, and so we seldom take time to appreciate it or think to conserve it.

But we find in the story in John that Jesus serves the people he loves by sharing the cleansing gift of water with them. When Peter protests, Jesus even responds, “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.” Something mysterious and life-giving is transmitted in the sharing of water.

And so, as you prepare to wash and be washed this evening, think of several other ways in your life that you can extend the gift of water to others.

This might mean working to dig a well in a struggling community. It might mean saving the water in your drain to water house-plants. Maybe it means helping an orphanage or a friend with children’s bath times. Or perhaps, it simply means getting someone who looks thirsty a tall glass of ice cold drink.

Ponder today what Jesus’ gift of water means in your life.

Prayer:
By Joan Brown, osf, from the Ecological Ministry of Social Justice Office in the Catholic Archdiocese of Santa Fe

Prayer of Water

“Be praised my God for Sister Water, who is useful, humble, precious and pure.”
As St. Francis prayed in great gratitude for Sister Water,
we pray in thankfulness for her life-sustaining generosity.
Oh, water, in your mysterious beauty you cause the desert to bloom.
One tiny drop spread, collected with thousands of drops
waters seeds and future harvests to feed us and all creatures.
One tiny drop multiplied quenches our burning thirst.
Our bodies, like the body of earth, are over 75% water.
We are a water people.
We are a water planet.
Oh compassionate God, Creator who breathed over the waters
we seek forgiveness for our mindless use of water.
We beg for wisdom to know how to conserve and cherish water.
We ask for healing for the ways that we disrespect and contaminate our sister.
In this drought time we wait and watch for the gift of rain upon the earth.
We watch and wait for the rain of grace into our souls.
Come free us from hatred, greed, fear, and our lack of love for your gifts upon earth.
Transform us into living streams of water
Flowing green and moist with life, hope and love for earth and all peoples.

We pray this prayer in the name of God who is gracious Creator, Jesus who is Eternal Word, and Spirit who is Wellspring of Wisdom. Amen.

Day 36 - Anointing the World

Reading:John 12:1-11

We continue to meditate this week on aspects of our discipleship in relationship to the environment, and we find ourselves in the Gospel of John, peering into the story of Mary anointing Jesus’ feet with perfume.

Scientists say that the sense tied most closely to the human memory is our sense of smell. Have you ever gone through the day and caught a whiff of a smell – good or foul – that instantaneously takes you back to a moment from your childhood? This happens often to me with smells like evergreen, ripe raspberries, manure…, and musty churches.

Our feelings about and reactions to the world around us are often shaped by the smell that hits our nostrils.

People trying to sell homes are told to bake bread and roast fresh coffee before show houses. We cower and cover our noses when going through areas with sulphur and paint fumes.

And in the story for today, we find the sweet, pungent scent of perfume filling the whole house where Jesus is. Picture peoples’ attention piquing, as their noses catch the scent of anointing, and the memory of that smell is emblazoned in their minds. It is the smell of sacrifice, and it is sweet, but also strong and very costly.

What other scents come to your mind when you meditate on sacrifice? Perhaps, the insidious scent that wafts from paper mills, which most of us just catch a whiff of, as we drive by, but which others must live with every day in their jobs and homes so that we can be unthinking in our daily use of reams of paper.

Perhaps, the sewage smell of polluted water, which means people must sacrifice a safe space to swim and bathe, and animals must lose their homes and sustenance.

Perhaps, in a positive light, sacrifice smells like a backyard compost heap, that may not look beautiful but provides an alternative for dumping countless pounds of waste into landfills.

Perhaps, it smells like the clean, sweet air the results when fewer fossil fuel emissions are pumped into the atmosphere, even if that means fewer people can drive cars or run 24-hour air-con.

Perhaps, sacrifice smells like perfume from the flowers that grow from the fertilizer from the compost pile, perfume that anoints a broken world.

As you prepare for the healing and anointing service tonight, think about how God might be enabling you to share your anointing with the environment around you.

How might your faith be a blessing to the air we all breathe?

Putting Faith into Action:

Write down three specific sacrifices that you will make to ensure that the air we all breathe is clean and life-giving. Then, follow through on them, even if it is costly.

Go for a walk in nature, simply breathing deeply in and out. Do the same in the middle of the city, breathing deeply in and out. Pray through these breaths, asking God how Christ might desire you to share His anointing with the world.

Day 35 - Speaking Truth

Reading:John 18:37

Yesterday on Palm Sunday, we heard Jesus’ powerful message that if the disciples were silent, “the stones would shout out.” Tonight, as we continue to immerse ourselves in Holy Week, Roger will preach on speaking - sometimes shouting - the truth.

As we prepare our hearts for Jesus’ crucifixion, we remember the words he answered to Pontius Pilate when he said, “My task is to bear witness to the truth. For this I was born; for this I came into the world.”

As Lenten disciples, we engage this week with living faith through our relationship with the earth. And so, as followers of Christ, our task is to bear witness to the truth that the world and all that is in it belongs to God.

We acknowledge that we sin and that our sin impacts our personal lives but also the lives of others in our communities and the entire environment around us. We cannot be silent about the effects that our poor decisions and our lack of foresight often have on the earth.

When you look around the community today and for the rest of Holy Week, what truths do you see about how our lives have affected the environment, from signs of climate change to thoughtless pieces of litter in the streets?

Instead of simply grumbling under your breath about these issues, pray and ponder what specific measures you will take to speak for the truth that we are to be stewards of the land and resources God has given to us.

Pray also for efforts that are already being attempted to preserve natural resources and endangered species, to promote indigenous plant and animal life, to harness excessive emissions of fossil fuels, and to clean up and promote recycling and renewable energy in the eThekwini Municipality.

Speaking out to protect aspects of the environment, from the stones to the oceans to the trees, is not simply the job of a few tree-huggers. It is the role of the body of Christ.

For, if we do not, the stones will, indeed, shout out.

Putting Faith into Action:

Write down at least three truths you see about the environment around you. These might be positive statements, such as the beauty of the trees along your street. Or, they may be challenging statements, such as the failure of your complex to comply with recycling. After writing these statements, pray over them, and commit to speaking to someone else about them — not to complain — but to bring to light the current, real struggle and contribute to a spirit of positive change, even resurrection.

Day 34 - Looking back on Week 5

Questions for reflection:

1. As you look back on this past week, what insights or observations come to mind that you would not want to forget? Write them down.
2. What did you find most challenging this week?
3. What did you find most comforting and encouraging?
4. In what ways do you think God is calling and challenging this church to deepen our engagement with the poor? What are some of the possibilities that come to mind for you?
5. What are you going to do about these thoughts and ideas? Who can you talk to about them?

Day 33 - Using what’s been entrusted

Reading: Proverbs 11:24-28

One of my heroes is Bono, the lead singer of the Irish rock band U2. He’s an amazing artist, and has amassed tremendous fame and fortune through his music. As the saying goes - power to him! Especially seeing as Bono is using his fame and fortune to advocate for the needs of the poor of the world. He refers to his celebrity status as a rock star as currency that he can use to mobilise world leaders and ordinary citizens everywhere to respond in far more meaningful and creative ways to the challenge of global poverty. How awesome is that?

Bono has recognised that with fame and fortune comes an undeniable moral responsibility to use these things for the benefit of others. He is doing just that in quite remarkable ways. And even though he is not overtly religious, there is clear evidence of a deep and authentic spirituality at work in his life. I like to think of Jesus as a huge Bono fan, not just of his music, but of his life.

Now it’s true that none of us have access to the same ‘celebrity currency’ as does Bono, but that’s quite incidental. The real question is whether we, like him, will use what we have and what’s been entrusted to us for the benefit of others, especially the poor?

If financial wealth has been entrusted to you, it brings with it a moral responsibility.

If superior education has been entrusted to you, it brings with it a moral responsibility.

If good business sense and an entrepreneurial spirit has been entrusted to you, it brings with it a moral responsibility.

If any gift, competency, or quality has been entrusted to you that enables you to make your life richer in any way, it brings with it a moral responsibility.

When such moral responsibility is acknowledged and acted upon, then suddenly the gifts that have been entrusted to us (yes, including our wealth) come alive within us in miraculous ways, and we discover a newfound joy and purpose and significance for our lives that wasn’t there before. That’s what Bono has discovered, and it’s exactly what his example calls us to emulate.

There’s a well-known sermon illustration that most preachers have used some time or another, myself included. Although you may have heard it many times before, it still provides a vivid and compelling image that can transform the way in which we see everything that we have received. It goes something like this:

In the middle of the land of Israel, the Jordan River flows from north to south. Along its course two bodies of water can be seen. In the north is the Sea of Galilee - teeming with fish and birds and economic activity. Further south is the Dead Sea - aptly named because its high salt content makes it impossible to support any life at all. The Dead Sea is a much larger body of water than the Sea of Galilee, but there’s no doubt as to which one is more vital.

The difference between these two bodies of water cannot be found in what flows into them, for they are both fed by the same water of the Jordan River. The difference lies in what flows out. The Sea of Galilee has a massive outlet in the form of the Jordan, as it continues its journey south. Whatever it receives, it gives. It’s part of a mighty flow and as such is vibrantly alive. The Dead Sea, by contrast, has no outflow whatsoever. Whatever it receives, it tries to retain. It might be big, but it’s dead.

Which, of course, is a parable for our lives. When we see our lives as part of the great flow of God’s grace through the world, bearing the responsibility to use whatever has been entrusted to us, not just for our own benefit but the benefit of others - then life indeed will be found in us, and joy and wonder too! But if not...the legacy of the Dead Sea will be the sad description of our lives, brimming with potential but ultimately inconsequential.

Questions for reflection:

1. What resources have been entrusted to you, and how are you using them for the benefit of others? What could you do with them, if you chose?
    
2. Who are the people who inspire you to live a more selfless, creative life? (Why don’t you contact them if you can and tell them, and thank them for their example?)

Prayer:

Lord, it says in Proverbs 11:25 that a generous person will prosper, and one who refreshes others will be refreshed. Help me to take this great truth to heart. Help me to see how my entire life can be more fully surrendered to you, so that all that I am and everything that I have might become part of your great river of life that is flowing throughout the world. Amen.

Day 32 - Share what you have

Reading:1 Timothy 6:6-19

Another essential ‘house rule’ that will make our living together in the household of God the life-giving experience for all that God intends, is this: Share what you have! This applies equally to the rich and the poor.

In the household of God there is abundant provision for the needs of all.
God’s vision of shalom for all the people of the earth is a vision of well-being and peace that comes from everyone having enough and no-one having too much. A fundamental aspect of this vision of God is that abundance, rather than scarcity, better describes the true nature of the world that God has created.

This primary home with which we have all been blessed – the earth – is a home of rich and breathtaking abundance. The resources of air, water, land, seed, vegetation, animals and minerals are the abundant provision of a generous God who intends these gifts of the earth to be shared by all in order to meet the needs of all.

In God’s economy the earth with all its riches is enough. Coupled with human industry and social responsibility, the resources of the earth are more than sufficient to meet the needs of all. In God’s economy poverty, in any form, is unnecessary and can be eradicated. This should not be dismissed as idealistic naïveté, but can be confidently affirmed as the pragmatic possibility that has always been part of God’s original intention for the earth and the peoples who inhabit it.

In the fallen economies of the world, the twin oppressions of poverty and excessive wealth are rife. The unequal distribution of wealth is one of the most obvious characteristics of many of the economic systems of this world. We live in a society where there are those who have a great deal, and others who have very little. This disparity is so common that it is accepted as the norm - an inevitable fact of human existence. This is in stark contrast to the biblical witness. The experience of the Israelites in the wilderness, for instance, is a compelling example. As they relied on God’s abundant provision of manna for their physical sustenance we read that “…those who gathered much did not have too much, and those who gathered little did not have too little. For everyone gathered as much as they needed.” (Exodus 16:18)

The massive inequalities so evident in the economies of the world (and often the church) lead to two distinct, but interconnected oppressions – the oppression of poverty and the oppression of excessive wealth. They are interconnected insofar as they feed off each other, but they operate in opposite ways:

• Those living under the oppression of poverty are typically aware of this oppressive condition which severely limits their choices. Yet they often discover a remarkable degree of connection with others similarly oppressed, and typically have a far sharper understanding of the gift of community.
• Those living under the oppression of excessive wealth are typically unaware of their oppressive condition. Although they have seemingly limitless choices, they often experience isolation and alienation in the living of their lives, and typically miss out on the gift of community.

The gospel challenges the vast disparities between rich and poor, and offers the hope of economic liberation for those living under the oppressions of poverty and excessive wealth.
Every situation where some do not have enough and others have too much violates the intention of God’s household, for God’s abundant provision has been given in order to be shared by all to meet the needs of all.

The gospel of Jesus Christ challenges these disparities rigorously. It expresses a special concern for the poor, and makes particular demands upon the rich, so that both might experience economic liberation. As the rich share their material abundance, and the poor share their understanding of community, there can emerge a new experience of reconciliation that is one essential aspect of what it means to be ‘in Christ’. Read from an economic perspective, the familiar text from 2 Cor 5:17-18 throws rich light on this gospel dynamic: “If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation; everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation…”

Question for reflection:

Yesterday & today we’ve looked at two of the ‘house rules’ in the household of God. But there are others too, of course. What do you think some of God’s ‘house rules’ might be that would guide and govern our common life together? Some examples, to get you thinking, would be: ‘Strangers are always welcome’; ‘The front door shall never be locked’; ‘Good work for all’; ‘Listen before you speak, pray before you act’; ‘Always say thankyou’; ‘Singing in the shower (and in fact anywhere) is definitely allowed’. Can you add to this list?

Prayer:

Thank you,God, that your intentions for our common life together are for all people to experience the joy of your embrace and the bounty of your provision. Help us to play our part in bringing this dream of yours to fruition. Amen.

 

Day 31 - Community is non-negotiable

Reading: Luke 19:1-10

Today we continue our reflections on what it means for us to live together in the household of God. Yesterday we said that God has certain passionate convictions about how our life together should be shared. These passionate convictions could be thought of as the ‘house rules’ (literally the oikos-nomos – from which the word ‘economy’ is derived) that God lays before all who would live in God’s household.

Today and tomorrow we will consider two of the essential ‘house rules’ that will make our living together in the household of God the rich and abundant experience for all, that God intends it to be.

The first house rule is this: Community is non-negotiable

In the household of God we are all one family created to seek the common good and to live in solidarity with one another.
In the eyes of God the people of the world all share a common heritage and origin that make us one family. Being created in the image of God is the defining characteristic of who we are as people (Genesis 1:26-27). Therefore, as members of the human race we are, in essence, a global community living together in one household – under “one roof” as it were.

This has profound implications for the life that we share: The principle of the common good recognises that because we are inextricably bound together in community, the only way we can truly advance our own interests is by seeking to advance the interests of the community as a whole. The principle of solidarity recognises the ongoing necessity to identify with the needs and concerns of others, particularly the poor and marginalised, lest our common identity be forgotten.

In the broadest sense this is true of the entire human family. In a sharper sense this is especially true of the family of faith, which is the church. In the eyes of God the church, as the body of Christ, is one organic entity in which all its constituent parts are intimately interconnected. “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honoured, every part rejoices with it.” (1 Corinthians 12:26). This sense of community is a non-negotiable part of what it means to live together in the household of God.

In the fallen economies of the world we have lost our sense of community and are alienated from each other.
One of the great ironies of the globalised world in which we live – with its ever-expanding capacity for communication and connection – is the loss of community and the heightened sense of alienation experienced by many. More and more, people are being defined exclusively in economic terms – either as partners, competitors or consumers – in

an increasingly competitive and unforgiving global economy structured around the pursuit of national and corporate self-interest.

As a direct consequence of this disconnection, evils such as nationalism, racism, sexism, militarism, xenophobia, discrimination, materialism and self-serving individualism have become commonplace in our world. Many people have lost their sense of responsibility for the plight of others and have become hardened to the needs of the weak and the vulnerable. The concern for self has replaced the concern for others and the community at large. All this enables economic choices to be made that are selfish and harmful to others.

The gospel proclaims the hope of reconciliation and the forging of radically inclusive communities.
The promise of the gospel affirms that in Christ every alienating barrier is shattered Accordingly, radically inclusive communities of faith can be forged that can heal every division and affirm the fundamental unity that is ours in Christ. As in the story of Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-10), the discovery of one’s connection with and responsibility towards others, and the willingness to act on that discovery, is none other than the experience of salvation. “Today salvation has come to this house.” (Luke 19:9).

Questions for reflection:

What experiences have you had of true community, where you were included with grace and were made to feel like you belong? What happened exactly?

How welcoming is our church? Are there certain groups of people who might be made to feel uncomfortable here? What do you think should happen?

Day 30 - Living together in the household of God

Reading: Psalm 84

As we think about what a living faith requires of us in relationship to the poor, so we are drawn directly into the realm of economics.

The English word ‘economy’ is derived from two Greek words: oikos - meaning house or household; and nomos - meaning law, or rules, or requirements. Thus the word ‘economy’ could quite literally be translated as ‘the rules of the house’ or the ‘management of the household’. In antiquity, the term ‘house’ or ‘household’ was freely used to express the various ways in which people shared life together, from families to clans to tribes to nations. In those ancient times economics referred quite simply to the way in which households behaved and were managed that impacted upon the well-being of everyone in the community as a whole.

This understanding rescues economics from being viewed as an inaccessible, technical and chiefly academic discipline and thrusts it directly into the realm of theology and faith - for the well-being of people is one of God’s primary concerns. Indeed, God is not a neutral bystander when it comes to economics, but has passionate convictions about how our life together should be shared. Thus, to think theologically about economics is simply to allow God’s passionate convictions about the right ordering of “households” (in the broadest sense of that word) to inform our understanding and shape our actions around our common life together.

Over the next few days the metaphor of ‘living together in the household of God’ will be used to consider what exactly it means for us as people to honour what God requires of us economically, particularly as we think about our relationship with the poor. We’ve all heard the expression, commonly used by an exasperated parent to a rebellious teenager, “So long as you stay under my roof you will live by my rules.” God deals with us more graciously than that, but in a similar way lays before us ‘house rules’ that God knows will make for life at its very best, and boldly invites us to live by them.

By contrast, the ‘house rules’ of the economic systems of the world largely reflect a vastly different picture, indicative of our fallen human condition. These economies, often filled with injustice, selfishness, fear and greed, reveal the ravaging nature of sin – personal, corporate and structural – and our desperate need for redemption.

The good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ is that the life we share need not be defined by our fallen human condition. The hope we are called to proclaim and bear witness to is that healing and transformation is possible here and now. This is true not just for individuals, but for families, communities, organisations, churches, corporations, security exchanges and the entire global economy.

Such economic healing and transformation is arguably the most pressing need of our time. Perhaps, like never before, the faithfulness of the church’s witness and its effectiveness in offering the hope-filled alternative of God’s Kingdom to the world, depends on our willingness to allow God’s economic priorities to order our life in a radical way.

Question for reflection:

In what ways, specifically, can you see the fallenness and inadequacies of the economic systems of the world? List the things of an economic nature that come to mind that you think are just plain wrong. (For example, children of poor parents get inferior health care and education.)

Prayer:

Lord, open my eyes that I might see the things in this world that are wrong. For it is in seeing what is wrong in our world that I, at last, can join those women and men of living faith who are praying and working for justice. Amen.

Day 29 - Meaningful Connections

Reading: Matthew 9:9-13

The following passage is an extract from A Quaker Book of Wisdom by Robert Smith. Although it was written in an American context over a decade ago, it still speaks powerfully into our experience today.

‘Consider this commonplace urban dilemma. On your route to work, two or three beggars have staked out street corners that you must pass every morning. They are ragged and unwashed; you are clean-shaven and well-pressed. They have nothing; you have a home, a family, a job. And yet they have the power to make you cross the street and go blocks out of your way to avoid encountering them.

It’s not that parting with a few coins is so painful. En route to work, we may have already spent five dollars on coffee, newspapers, and bus and subway fare. What feels so costly is facing the disparity between ourselves and another human being. Even if we pass by without acknowledging the outstretched hand and the mumbled request for spare change, we can’t escape such a flagrant display of life’s unfairness. Why is this person sick, addicted to drugs, homeless, while I have good health and a comfortable life?

I make a conscious effort to resist the urge to ignore street people. And I try to recognise the needy person’s humanity by extending a smile and a kind word along with a few coins. I don’t do this only because it makes me feel less guilty - which it does. When we walk past an indigent person without even a nod of recognition, we deny the existence of God in that person. When we pretend that he or she is invisible, we blind ourselves to that person’s inner light and its connection to our own.’

Robert Smith’s experience is one that we can all relate to. And certainly, his advice about offering humanising contact with the poor is spot on. I’ve made this my practice in responding to beggars at robots, and it’s been transformative for me. Now, whenever I’m approached by a beggar at a robot, I wind down my window (some say this is a security risk - if so, I reckon it’s worth it), look the person straight in the eye, ask them how they’re doing and wish them well. I don’t feel obliged to give them money, though sometimes I do. If I choose not to give any money I say so honestly and directly. I don’t say, “I’m sorry but I don’t have anything to give you,” because that’s not true. I’d usually say something like, “I’m not going to give you any money, but I can see that life is hard for you. I’m really sorry that it’s so tough.” That kind of simple, honest engagement, together with a friendly smile, can be a humanising encounter for both of us. Now, red robots can be little punctuation marks of grace scattered through my day. Try it. You’ll be amazed at the difference that it can make in your attitude towards those who, for whatever reasons, find themselves in a place of great need.

That’s all well and good, but it doesn’t fully respond to the essential point that Robert Smith was making, that encountering the poor highlights the injustice of gross inequality within our world.

Which raises a further, crucially important point for people who are seeking a living faith that is rooted in Christ and growing in love. And it is this: If our interactions with the poor are limited to occasions when we are being asked to give them something, we will never be able to bridge the divide that our inequality creates.

The challenge, therefore, is to look for opportunities to interact with the poor when we will not be required to make a decision as to whether to give them money or not. Such opportunities create the possibility, at least, of engaging in ways that are not completely defined by the labels of ‘rich’ and ‘poor’ that invariably stick to us.

As you think about your life, where might such opportunities be found? At work, perhaps? At your child’s school? At the running club? Here at church? If the circles in which you operate hold very few opportunities for meaningful engagement with the poor, could it mean that you consciously need to widen your circles?

Question for reflection:

What could you do to engage more meaningfully with the poor?

Prayer:

Lord, every time I connect with a fellow human being in a respectful way that transcends the roles and labels society puts on us all, your glory can be seen in a fuller, clearer way. Help me today to look with eyes of compassion and love upon all whom I meet, and especially the poor, that I may come to recognise your divine image in them and their sacred worth as beloved children of yours. Amen.

Day 28 - Looking back on Week 4

Questions for reflection:

1. As you look back on this past week, what insights or observations come to mind that you would not want to forget? Write them down.
2. What did you find most challenging this week?
3. What did you find most comforting and encouraging?
4. What practices do you need to maintain, and what specific changes are you needing to make when it comes to your relationship with your money, if yours is to be truly a living faith?
5. How faithful and consistent are you in giving generously to the church to support the work of God that happens here? Are you part of the Planned Giving scheme? Have you thought about giving to the church electronically via EFT, or even to set up a scheduled electronic payment every month as a practical way to ensure that you follow through on your good intentions?

For those who wish to consider this route, the church’s banking
details are:
Bank: FNB
Branch: Davenport
Branch Code: 220226
Account name: MCSA - Manning Road Society
Account number: 50710285335
Reference: Your name or PG number

Day 27 - Writing a money autobiography

Today’s devotion is a little different. It’s based on thoughts from a Faith & Money Handbook published by ‘The Ministry of Money’ and is simply a guideline to help and encourage you to write a money autobiography.

Writing a money autobiography is a challenging and crucial step in understanding our behaviour and powerful feelings evoked by money. Jesus repeatedly spoke about money and challenged the disciples, the scribes, and the crowds to become conscious of money and their relationship to it. As we discern the ways in which we earn, inherit, invest, spend, give or waste money, often without conscious thought or a deliberate faith stance, we will be enabled to respond more fully to God in this crucial area of our lives.

A money autobiography can be useful not only in personal growth, but also in the growth of the church. Whatever blocks our response to God as individuals also cripples the Body of Christ, the church. The Spirit cannot set us free to be communities of liberation if we are in bondage to an ancient idol. As we grieve over our entanglement with materialism, status and power, new vision and hope can flow through the church to the world.

How to write a money autobiography

Set aside some quiet time to write a three-page autobiography which deals only with the subject of your life as it is related to money. Use some or all of the following suggestions and questions that you find appropriate and helpful:

• Include the role of money in your childhood. What is your happiest memory in connection with money? What is your unhappiest memory? What attitudes did your father and mother have about money? What was your attitude towards money as a child? Did you feel poor or rich? Did you worry about money?
   
• What was your attitude about money as a teenager? What role did money play in your life as a young adult? As a married person? As a parent? At age 40, 50, 65? Did your attitude or feelings shift at the different transition stages in your life?
   
• Have you had any major financial crises in your life? What feelings are stirred within you when you think about that?
   
• How do you feel about your present financial status? What is your present financial status? What is your monthly income? What are your other assets? Do you think that your income is sufficient? What will your income be at age 65, 75, 80? Do you think about that? Are you likely to inherit any money?
   
• Are you generous or stingy with your money? Do you spend money on yourself? If so, do you do it easily?
   
• Do you feel guilty about the money you have, or the money you spend? How does having or not having money affect your self-esteem?
   
• Do you take risks with your money? Do you gamble with your money? Do you ‘throw it away’? Do you worry about money?
   
• When you eat with friend and there is a group bill, are you the one to pick it up? Do you make sure that you pay your share? Do you tend to be more on the giving end of things, or on the receiving end?
   
• If you lacked money, how would you feel about others helping you pay your rent, or treating you when you went out and you were not in a position to reciprocate?
   
• If you have money, how would you feel about subsidizing a friend’s rent, or paying more than your share of things? What would you want in return? How would you feel if that friend spent money on something that in your value system seemed ‘extravagant’?
   
• What proportion of your money do you give away? 0%, 2%, 10%, 20%, 50%? How do you really feel about it? Do you give money to the church because this is how you want your money to be used, or because you’d feel guilty if you didn’t?
   
• Have you made a will? If not, why not? Did you include anyone in your will besides your family? Did you include your church? Did you include some oppressed segment of society or any needy members in your community?
   
• How has your approach to money and its use been shaped by being a woman or by being a man? How does your gender, or your role within your family, influence how you see your financial responsibilities and obligations?
   
• How does having more/less money that your spouse, partner, and/or a friend impact your relationship with that person?
   
• Do you ever use money to control events and/or people? Do you ever use money to give others freedom and opportunity?
   
• How do you feel when beggars approach you asking for money? How do you respond?
   
• Do you feel that dealing with money is a bothersome intrusion into the real purpose of your life? Do you have a personal or family budget? Do you know how much you earn and spend each month?
   
• In what ways is your relationship to money a training ground for your spiritual journey, or an expression of your deepest values?
   
• How has your faith influenced your attitude to your money and what you do with it?

Prayer:

Gracious God, give me the courage to look honestly at the role money plays in my life. Thank you that by your grace I can know the truth, and the truth will set me free. I need this so desperately Lord. Help me, please. Amen.

Day 26 - Dealing with debt

Reading: Deuteronomy 15:1-11

The global economic recession that struck with such venomous and devastating effect last year was fuelled, in essence, by unmanageable debt spiralling out of control. Money was loaned, particularly in the sub-prime property sector, without any realistic hope that it would ever be repaid but with the assumption that the property value itself would cover the debt. This debt was underwritten by reputable insurance houses, and subsequently traded as a ‘low-risk’ investment option. But when the bottom fell out of the property market, there was nothing to underwrite these huge levels of indebtedness. The cumulative and knock-on effects of this literally brought the global economy to its knees.

How this scandalous situation could have arisen in the first place is the vexed question that hangs over some of the world’s richest economies that shoulder the lion’s share of the blame for this global economic meltdown. The answers from an economic perspective are complex and beyond my ability to comprehend entirely. But from a spiritual perspective the reasons are pretty clear and not that surprising - rapacious greed, willfull deception and rampant materialism. A pretty deadly cocktail with the most bitter aftertaste imaginable.

As it is being played out on the global stage right now, the tragic face of crippling debt can be seen for what it is. Which perhaps is the gift within this recession - forcing a radical rethink as to how business is allowed to be conducted in this global village of ours, where the decisions of some (especially the rich and powerful) have such massive consequences on all.

Of course, in a very real sense none of this is new. The issue of debt is one which the bible tackled head-on centuries ago. Interestingly, in the bible, the larger focus by far is on the responsibilities and obligations of lenders, and the requirements of generosity and justice that should govern their lending activity, particularly when dealing with the poor. In Deuteronomy 15:1-11 there’s a fascinating picture about the necessity for generous open-handedness on the part of the wealthy, while at the same time providing safe-guards that nobody should fall into the pit of crippling debt that can never be repaid. What this points to is God’s broad concern that no economic exploitation should ever take place, because it diminishes everyone who is involved in whatever way.

Today, people subject themselves to very real economic exploitation through the very high levels of indebtedness in which they have become trapped. If this describes your personal financial circumstances right now, then you will be familiar with the sense of hopelessness and despair that crippling levels of debt can bring. Maybe it feels for you like there’s no way out. While I obviously cannot make any sweeping generalisations about what might or might not happen with you, as everyone’s circumstances are different, what I can say is this: God is deeply concerned about all who are indebted, and offers real hope that can make a concrete difference in your financial affairs.

The hope God offers is the shining light of truth to bring out into the open whatever is lying festering in secret, with the assurance of God’s unconditional love and support to enable you to start living in a more sustainable way.

To take hold of this hope, what you need to do is the following:

1. Get honest. Admitting to yourself that you have a debt problem is the first essential step to dealing with it. Take a long and sober look at your financial affairs. If your lines of credit have been exhausted. If you’ve struggled to service your debt repayments for two months in a row. If the levels of your short-term debt are the same or higher than they were six months ago, the chances are that you have a debt problem. The sooner this is honestly acknowledged the better.
2. Get help. Find someone helpful whom you can talk to about your situation. This requires humility, but is an essential step in the healing process. An objective outsider does not have the same emotional attachment to your financial situation as you do, and will be able to see things with a fresh perspective. Debt counsellors are increasingly common. Psychological and spiritual counsellors can also provide essential support for the underlying emotional and spiritual issues that are almost always a factor in situations of crippling debt.
3. Get smart. Formulating a financial strategy to start moving you out of debt is imperative. Here the services of a debt counsellor may be essential, especially in communicating with your creditors. You’ll need to define clear parameters for your ongoing expenditure, to keep it to appropriate levels so that the problem isn’t compounded while you’re trying to resolve it.
4. Get accountable. Unless you have some form of accountability to hold you to your course, it is likely that you may slip back into bad patterns of behaviour. Find someone who can hold you accountable to the commitments that you have made.

All of this is pretty down-to-earth, pragmatic advice - but woven through it is the promise of God’s gracious presence and activity in your life that longs to liberate you from the crippling burden of debt in which you find yourself.

Prayer:

Gracious God, hear our prayer for all who live under the constant cloud of excessive debt. Shine the light of your truth upon their circumstances, so that whatever lies hidden with destructive power may be revealed in order for it to be redeemed. Give them courage and humility to seek the help they need, and to make whatever changes they can that can lead them out of this darkness and into your glorious light. We pray especially for those who are unemployed or underemployed, who simply do not have the monthly income to support even the basic necessities of life. We pray boldly for the day when poverty and unemployment will be no more. Until then, may each of us work for economic justice within our world, and do whatever we can to alleviate the plight of the destitute and the poor. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Day 25 - Gratitude & Generosity

Readings: 2 Corinthians 9:6-15

In writing to the church in Corinth, Paul has this to say:

‘God can pour on the blessings in astonishing ways so that you’re ready for anything and everything, more than just ready to do what needs to be done. As one psalmist puts it:

He throws caution to the winds, giving to the needy in reckless abandon

His right-living, right-giving ways never run out, never wear out.

This most generous God who gives seed to the farmer that becomes bread for your meals is more than extravagant with you. He gives you something you can then give away, which grows into full-formed lives, robust in God, wealthy in every way, so that you can be generous in every way, producing with us great praise to God.’ (2 Corinthians 9:8-11, The Message)

According to Scripture, there is a wondrous cycle of abundance that we can be a part of. It starts with God generously providing everything that we need, and more, so that we can extend the blessings we’ve received to others. What a wondrous thing - that our lives are both targets and channels of God’s abundance. That God intends us to be recipients and givers of grace.

Our capacity for generosity has very little to do with our relative wealth or poverty compared to others. Some of the richest people in the world in monetary terms are the most anxious, fearful and tight-fisted when it comes to giving. And some of the poorest people have discovered the great joy of generosity that bursts out of heartfelt gratitude for all that God has done for them. There is little doubt as to who lives the richer life!

What is more, as we take our place and play our part in this cycle of abundance, the vice-like grip in which money holds us is broken. It’s true, the spiritual discipline of giving shatters the god-like power that money can wield over our lives and enables us to place our trust in the one true living God. And as we grow in generosity, we become a more faithful reflection of the abundantly generous God in whose image we have all been made.

Gratitude and generosity! This is the great and desperate need of a world that has become so obsessed with selfishly trying to grab more and more, and never being satisfied with what there is, because it is unable to see the sufficiency in what has already been given.

These gifts of gratitude and generosity are freely within reach of us all. They can, and should, be a central part of how we live our lives every day.

Six spiritual principles of generosity:

1. Generosity is part of God’s nature. Ours is an abundantly generous God. We see the generosity of God in the brilliance and beauty of creation; in the rich gift of life that He has freely given to us all; in His patient, long-suffering love for us. We see God’s generosity best of all in the gift of His Son Jesus, given in love for the world, who in turn gave up his own life so that we might live.
2. Generosity is part of our deepest identity. If God is a generously abundant God, and we’ve been made in God’s image, this means that generosity is part of who we are and who God has made us to be. The life that God intends for us cannot be fully known unless we live generously.
3. Generosity always makes a positive difference. We live in a world that is full of desperate need. Every day we are confronted by the harsh realities of poverty, unemployment, homelessness, and the like. Many people feel powerless, or frustrated, or angry in the face of these things, without realising that the simple decision to live more generously would make them part of the solution, and not simply adding to the problem.
4. Generosity frees. People easily become ensnared in anxiety, fear, envy and greed when it comes to the material things of this world. Expressing generosity liberates us from the choking effects of greed and fear.
5. Generosity is a powerful witness. In a world dominated by so much grabbing and hoarding, generous people stand out as shining lights, pointing to a different way of living life. Generous people point others to the generosity of God.
6. Generosity opens us to abundance. While it is true that we do not give in order to receive, it is equally true that when we do give, we always receive. In some strange but wonderful way, that which we give away determines what we will have most abundantly. Whoever sows generously will also reap generously.

Questions for reflection:

What are you most grateful for? Is your gratitude evident in the life you’re living?

When were you recently on the receiving end of someone else’s generosity? How did it make you feel?

Prayer:

Abundantly generous God. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Amen

Day 24 - God and Mammon

Reading:Matthew 6:19-24

Listen to these words of Jesus
‘You can’t worship two gods at once. Loving one god, you’ll end up hating the other. Adoration of one feeds contempt for the other. You can’t worship God and Money both.’ (Matthew 6:24, The Message).

The Greek word that is translated here as ‘Money’ is the word Mammon, which is a direct transliteration of the Aramaic word for ‘property’, which included, but was not limited to, money. What’s fascinating about Jesus’ use of the word is that he is effectively placing worldly goods on a par with God as an object of worship and of service. Jesus is saying that Mammon is an idolatrous rival to the one true God.

William Stringfellow writes:
‘Idolatry, whatever its object, represents the enshrinement of any other person or thing in the very place of God…. Thus human beings, as idolaters, have from time to time worshipped stones and snakes and fire and thunder, their own dreams and hallucinations, images of themselves and of their progenitors; they have had all the Caesars, ancient and modern, as idols; others have fancied sex as a god; for many, race is an idol; some worship science, some idolize superstition. Within that pantheon, money is a most conspicuous idol.

The idolatry of money means that the moral worth of a person is judged in terms of the amount of money possessed or controlled. The acquisition and accumulation of money in itself is considered evidence of virtue. It does not so much matter how money is acquired...the main thing is to get some. The corollary of this doctrine, of course, is that those without money are morally inferior - weak or indolent, or otherwise less worthy as human beings. Where money is an idol, to be poor is a sin

The idolatry of money has its most grotesque form as a doctrine of immortality. Money is, then, not only evidence of the present moral worth of a person but also the way in which a life gains moral worth after death. If someone leaves a substantial estate, death is cheated of victory for a while, if not ultimately defeated, because the money left will sustain the memory of the person and of the fortune. The poor just die and are at once forgotten. It is supposed important to amass money not for its use in life but as a monument in death. Money thus becomes the measure of a person's moral excellence while alive and the means to purchase a certain survival after death. Money makes people not only moral but immortal; that is the most profound and popular idolatry of money.’

Questions for reflection:

In thinking about the extent to which you might have made money an idol in your life, consider the following questions:

1. How much time do you spend thinking and worrying about money?
2. How often do you think that the ‘solution’ to whatever challenges or difficulties you may be facing lies in having or getting more money?
3. How often do you fantasize about winning the lottery or making a fortune?
4. Have you ever turned aside from something that you felt God was calling you to do because you thought that you couldn’t afford it? What was it?
5. In what ways have you compromised your honesty and integrity for the sake of financial expediency?

Putting Faith into Action:

Tomorrow’s devotions will deal with the spiritual discipline of giving money away, which breaks our compulsive clutching onto money as our source of security and shatters the god-like power that money can wield over our lives. Resolve today that you will not gloss over tomorrow’s devotions but will engage fully, as an act of faith, with the challenges that will be presented there.

Prayer:

Forgive me, Lord, for my idolatrous relationship with money. Forgive me for thinking that my worth and significance is wrapped up in how much money I have. Forgive me for seeing money as my ultimate source of security in this world. Forgive me for acting in ways that demonstrate that I’m willing to trust you with so-called ‘spiritual’ matters, but that when it comes to my material needs I’m far more concerned about my bank balance than with falling to my knees in prayer. Forgive me for grasping so fiercely to my ‘right to autonomy’ in my financial affairs, and for making my finances a ‘no-go area’ for the nudges and promptings of your Spirit. Forgive me for allowing money to replace you at the centre of my thoughts and actions. By your grace, come and free me from my slavery to this god that cannot save. Amen.

Day 23 - Money & Spirituality

Reading: Luke 12:22-34

It has often been said, and rightly so, that Jesus spoke more about money than just about anything else. Because he recognised the huge spiritual issue that this is for all of us, and how closely our faith and our money are intertwined. And so this is an essential issue that a discipleship course on Living Faith simply has to address.

If inwardly there was a little groan when you heard that this week’s focus is on money, what might that be saying about your resistance to looking at this important area of your spiritual life? The good news is that the good news of Jesus about how our relationship with our money can be redeemed, really is good news. This is an area that can be such a massive source of anxiety, fear, paralysis and guilt in people’s lives, that when our money dealings are brought into God’s healing light, the freedom, trust, peace, and joy that can be found is truly miraculous. So embrace the invitation of this week’s focus, and allow God to deal graciously, but decisively, with this aspect of your life regardless of how much or how little money you may have.

There are many connections that can be drawn between money and spirituality. Here are a few, based on the helpful suggestions of Rev Vicki Curtiss:

•  Money is a gift from God. Money becomes a servant rather than a master when we recognise that it comes as a gift from God, who intends money to be used freely as a tool for living and loving. When the giver is remembered, the gift can be used as intended.
  
• Money can easily become an idol. In our culture, money is honoured like a god, as if it can bring us happiness, security, power and worth. When money replaces God as the source of our security and worth, it will wield an oppressive power over us, and we will find ourselves enslaved by always wanting or trying to get more and more money.
  
• Money is an emotionally charged issue. Deep feelings may be stirred in us in connection to money, which are clues to areas in our lives that need to be brought before God: wounds that need healing, longings that need expression, blocks that need to be opened.
  
• Our use of money is an expression of ourselves. How we spend it, withhold it, give it, save it, receive it and think about it reveals a great deal about who we are and our deepest beliefs and values.
  
• Money determines many more choices than it should. Money is often the determining factor in many of the significant choices we make - like the work we do, the things we buy, where we live and how we get around. The question of affordability is often the only consideration given to these important choices, rather than what God might be saying to us or requiring of us.
  
• Money is a root cause of much injustice. People are commonly oppressed and exploited for money. The same is true of the earth. All of us, in one way or another, are complicit in systems of injustice that are driven by the pursuit of more money. Economic and environmental justice is central to a world of harmony and dignity for all, and to work for such justice is a significant expression of faith.
  
• God yearns to bring Shalom on earth. Shalom is that vision of wholeness and peace, where money plays its rightful part as God intended, so that the abundance of God’s provision and the fruits of the earth can be freely and fairly shared by all, in which everybody has enough and nobody has too much.

Questions for reflection:

1. How would you describe the connection between money and spirituality in your life?
     
2. Which of the points mentioned above (suggested by Rev Vicki Curtiss) were most challenging for you? What might that be saying to you?

Prayer:

Lord, it’s true. My relationship with money has huge significance for my faith, and my relationship with you. I’m so glad that you understand this, and that you graciously promise to help me in this regard. Thank you, Jesus, for the bold and challenging words that you spoke into this broken area of our human existence. Help me to hear those words, to trust that they are words of truth and life, and to find the courage and wisdom to put them into practice in my life. Amen.

Day 22 - Looking Back on Week 3

Questions for reflection:

1. As you look back on this past week, what insights or observations come to mind that you would not want to forget?  Write them down.
    
2. Having contemplated various aspects of work this week, how would you respond to the scripture from James 2:26 that “just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is also dead”?
    
3. Knowing that God desires an abundant life for you and for the whole world, what changes might you need to make in your work and Sabbath patterns of living?
    
4. Write yourself a commitment statement for how you will seek to be faithful to God’s work and God’s rest. Keep this commitment practical, pray over it, tell someone you trust about it, and place it where you will often see it.

Day 21 - Working & Sabbath Community

Reading: Exodus 23:10-13

At the start of this week, we read and contemplated God’s desire for us to have Sabbath rest. I hope that this week has been filled with moments of Sabbath in your personal life and that you have prepared (or are preparing) a special Sabbath time for Saturday or Sunday. We have mainly focused, however, on what Sabbath means in our personal lives.

After discussing other aspects of work this week, we must notice that the effects of our work reach far beyond ourselves. Our work touches the lives of our families, our colleagues, our friends, and indeed, the whole world. And so, likewise, our Sabbath must reach beyond ourselves.

Exodus calls for a sabbatical year for land, vineyards, and orchards – not only because it is good for the soil to lie fallow but also because it offers the poor and the animals an opportunity also to be fed by the harvest. This passage also states that rest on the seventh day is not just for you but also so that “your donkey, and your homeborn slave, and the resident alien may be refreshed.”

Very few of us today have donkeys...but instead of donkeys, we use machines operated by humans for most forms of transportation and farming. Even fewer people (one would hope), have slaves, but there do remain many resident aliens in our midst, and we continue to maintain a society where some people serve at the command of those who have greater power and education. We continue to be a world of insiders and outsiders. A world where some are entitled to certain privileges and others are not. The scriptures indicate, however, that Sabbath should not be a privilege to which only some are privy.

Often when going to brunch on a Sunday, I wonder when, or if, the people working at the restaurant have their Sabbath. In our instantaneous, self-indulgent, globalized culture, we expect knowledge and resources to be at our fingertips immediately, without stopping to think that someone else’s work was required for that to be possible.

But when we, as individuals, truly slow down, we allow the world to slow down with us. When we cease with incessant productivity, we cease to require it of others, as well, which means that we are making space for the world to rest.

When studying at seminary, I was in awe of a particular minister and professor. I often bumped into him, as I was racing to a class, scrambling to finish a paper, or rushing to a rehearsal. But aside from the annual Shrove Tuesday Pancake-Flipping Race, I never saw him move above a snail’s pace. It was as though he carried a bit of Sabbath with him at all times. A bit of God’s rest – rest in the knowledge that even though he is one of the most productive, wise theological scholars of this time, God is wiser and more faithful than he is, and God would go before him in every work that he did. He was humble enough to know that God would be working, with or without him.

I was always convicted of my self-importance, my sub-par time management skills, and my frantic spirit during these encounters with him. But his pace and spirit gave me permission—not to be constantly late because I was walking so slowly but to re-evaluate calmly and carefully what work I was doing, what time I was spending, what rush was necessary, and where God’s work really was in all of my clutter.

When we practice Sabbath, we acknowledge that God has worked and will continue to work without our busy-ness getting in the way. God’s work arches over all of our work. God gives us all permission to rest, and so we can cease from pumping up each other’s self-importance and instead must permit one another to rest.

As you consider the work, the discipline, of Sabbath in your own life, how might this discipline affect the lives and work of others around you? How does it draw you more deeply into life-giving community? How does it deepen your understanding of the work God would have you to do in His world?

Putting Faith into Action:

In the spirit of the Jewish tradition of the Sabbath, or Shabbat, meal, light two candles on the Sabbath, in response to God’s command both to remember and to keep the Sabbath. In a great attitude of respect, pray the prayer:

“Blessed are you Lord, our God, sovereign of the universe – who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us to light the lights of Shabbat.”

Read again the passage from Genesis 2:1-3, remembering the work that God has done in your life and in the world and trusting in the work God has yet to do in your life, through your life, and for the world God so loves.

Invite someone else who is a hard-working person to share a Sabbath with you. This may be someone who works for you or with you, or someone else you have noticed in the community. Give each other permission to rest and appreciate God’s abundance.

Day 20 - Dominion

Readings: Psalm 8:3-9 and 2 Timothy 3:14-17

When we hear the word, ‘dominion,’ what comes to mind? A kingdom? A home? A place where someone rules? The word, dominion, comes from the Latin, dominionem, meaning ownership. In the passage from Psalms today, we read that God has given humans “dominion” over the works of God’s hands.

The psalmist then mentions several aspects of nature, which is the context where we often think of dominion. We see in the creation story that God gave human beings “dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.”

But in order for humans to have dominion, or ownership, over the creatures in God’s creation, human beings must work to care for every aspect of creation because, as scientists know all too well, every life cycle on this planet is integrally intertwined. We must take ownership for ALL the “works of [God’s] hands.”

And so this ‘ownership’ over the works of God’s hands is the definition of our work in God’s world. If we are being faithful to God’s plan in creating us, every work that we do must work toward taking ownership of God’s creation.

And so, what does it mean to own something? It means we take responsibility for it when it is broken. It means we rejoice in it when it experiences delight or success. It means we care for it, protecting it and encouraging it to thrive. It means we have power over it, and that power can be used to hurt or to heal.

We have been given power in God’s world. Power to do work that takes responsibility for God’s broken people, work that rejoices when the world thrives and good succeeds. We have been given power to care for one another and for creation, power to heal and to encourage growth.

And so in everything that we do, we are called to own God’s world through the work that we do in it. I knew a young man once who was seriously struggling with the work he did. He was excellent at his job, worked hard, and made a lot of money. But at the end of the day, he asked the question, ‘What is it that I really do? I make lots of money for other people, but what is the real purpose behind my work?” We may not all make lots of money for ourselves or for other people, but we are all called to ask – what is the purpose behind our work?

In the work that we do, are we remembering that our primary calling as people loved by God is to take ownership of God’s world? Are we remembering that as we strive to do this, we are “owning” something that truly belongs to someone else – someone much greater than we are – someone sovereign over everything.

Are we remembering that everything is owned by God? If God were in our shoes, doing our jobs, would God do them the same way? If what we do through our work is actually contributing to the greater destruction or hurt of the world instead of its greater healing, would God do what we do at all? Or, would God ask us to reconsider the tasks we do, going back to scripture, and becoming equipped, as 2 Timothy says, for God’s true, good work in the world?

Prayer:

Lord, is my work, Your work? Are my motivations, Your motivations? If so, let me find great joy in the work You have for me to do. If not, give me courage to ask You to teach me how rightly to own and work within Your world. Give me the courage to change and to follow the works of Your hands. Amen.

Putting Faith into Action:

Write down a list of tasks that you do in your occupational work and your work at home. Pray through this list one task at a time, asking God if the works that you are doing are the works of God’s hands. And finally, ask God if work has been omitted from your list that God would desire you to do.

Write a mission statement for yourself to hang on the wall in your workplace or home. Commit yourself to serving the work of God’s hands in all that you do, and leave it there as a reminder for days when that is a particularly challenging task.

Day 19 - Idle Work

Reading: 2 Thessalonians 3:10-13

The first verse of this passage in 2 Thessalonians may, at first, seem a bit harsh! - “Anyone unwilling to work should not eat…”

But notice that it does not say, anyone who cannot work – or anyone without work. It says anyone “unwilling.” As we stated earlier in the week, often there are times where we find ourselves without employment, whether because of family commitments or lack of a market for our skills. That is not the heart of the issue being discussed in 2 Thessalonians. The heart of the issue is that as children of God, made in the God’s image, we are made to work faithfully at the callings God has given us. And far too often, we are idle and lazy in our pursuit of God’s work – whether in the workplace, at home, or in transition.

As Christian people, we often ask: how can we best represent God in the work that we do? How do we take God to the office, but steer away from the tactic of Bible-beating people during board meetings?! How do we show others our faith through the work we are given?

The writer of the letter to the Thessalonians has become aware that people were idle in the community, acting like busybodies, not doing the work they’d been given – work that was good and righteous – the work of sharing the Gospel. Madeleine L’Engle says in her book, Herself, “If the work comes to the artist and says, ‘Here I am, serve me,’ then the job of the artist, great or small, is to serve.” Christ gave the Thessalonians and has given us, as artists in His creation, a beautiful, gospel work to serve. Are you following Christ’s example by serving, or are you following the Thessalonians’ example in being idle…?

Think about it in the context of the modern workplace. If you complain about how much work there is to do and talk about the demands of your job, but your colleagues often catch you playing on Facebook, dawdling after lunch, failing to take initiative and follow through on tasks, your actions will speak far louder than your words. Often, it seems, people point fingers at crews working on the roads, as one person drills a hole while the other three stand around watching, but in your own context, might you actually be one of the idle people on the team?

The Gospel rings so loudly when godly work is done with patience, diligence, and enthusiasm instead of idleness. One example comes to mind every time I think of joy and gospel enthusiasm in work.

One day when my mother was very ill, I went with her to the doctor. She needed some food while we were there, and so I trekked out to find the closest restaurant. I came first to a popular fast food chain, so I reluctantly popped in, feeling pretty miserable and queasy myself. I got into the queue, reached the till, and was greeted by a beaming smile on the face of a lady, probably about 75 years old. She was wearing a festive hat, ringing a bell merrily, and calling out robustly, “Good Afternoon! Welcome to Arby’s!! What can I do for you today?”

She had done all the she needed to do. The roast beef sandwich was a bonus. I’ve been in many fast food places in my life, had many roast beef sandwiches, and seen many days of suffering and illness. But that day was special because of one little old lady who instead of shuffling, uncaring along the counter smiled and greeted me with joy. I was too surprised to say anything then, but I often wish I could tell her how much that meant to me and how I will carry that faithful picture of Christ’s work with me for the rest of my life.

What work of the Gospel is Christ calling you to do? Without stopping to evaluate if you think it is a “small” or a “big” work, stop to ask Christ, other people of faith, and yourself, if you are faithfully preaching the gospel through the work that you do.

Putting Faith into Action:

In the midst of the work you do today, stop for one moment to smile at someone you would not normally notice, get someone a cup of tea who usually works through lunch or tea break, or ask God for strength, perseverance, and joy to finish a seemingly insurmountable or onerous task.
If you catch yourself idling on Facebook or wasting the day, stop for a moment to pray and ask God how Jesus might desire for your time in that particular moment to be spent. Ask what Gospel work you are called to serve at that specific time.

Prayer:

Working God, help us to seek you in every moment of the work you have prepared for us. Help us to act out your work faithfully throughout the day so that others will see in us the face of Christ. Amen.

Day 18 - Wondrous Works

Reading: Job 38:4-11

The past year has been a terrible year of loss for many people – particularly, loss of work. In a country with an unemployment rate of greater than 23 percent, everyone is touched by lack of work and its effects. Because we are made to be active, being cut off from work can lead to depression, frustration, alienation, and feeling that we lack purpose.

These feelings not only occur through loss of a particular occupation but also through loss of any aspect of our lives through which we find meaning and purpose. Often in such situations of loss, we compare ourselves to Job. In Chapter 1 of Job we watch Job lose his family, his economic sustenance, his means of transport, and his health. He loses virtually everything, going from someone who is prosperous in the eyes of the world, capable of working and creating a living for himself and his family, to someone cut off from prosperity, an invalid covered in boils.

Do you ever feel like Job, whether because you have lost a job, you have never been able to have a job, or because of some other lost purpose in your life? Perhaps you have a prestigious, high-powered job, but your life still feels like it’s lost direction, and your work seems separate from your faith. Do you, or does someone you know, feel as though you are sitting helplessly in ashes, disconnected from God’s direction for your work?

Much time is spent in the book of Job, searching for a reason or justification for his plight. Job and his friends sling around blame and lament the situation, which is natural, when we lose our purpose, direction, motivation, and ability in work. In Job the people go through a journeying process of re-evaluating life, purpose, relationship with God, and relationship with one another, as we must, as well!

But, as the Book of Job comes to a close, Job and Job’s friends run out of justifications, blame, and lament, just as we eventually do, and we finally hear God speak. When God speaks, God reorients Job to the work God has already done and reminds him that God will continue to be faithful in the future. He points Job to God’s past creativity, specificity, and faithfulness in creating and providing all things. He limits Job’s pride and instead proclaims that God, alone, is the one who knows all wisdom and purpose for every individual and part of creation. If God is so faithful, that may mean lost work will be restored, or it may mean, as it did in Job’s life, that forgiveness is found, new life is born, and true fullness of life is gained – perhaps not in ways that we first anticipated.

What work has God done and is God doing in your life, in the midst of loss and in the midst of gain? How might God’s work speak to you about the purposes God has for your work?

Prayer:

edited from Walter Brueggemann’s prayer, ‘We are second and you are first’ in the anthology, Awed to Heaven: Rooted in Earth.

Before our well-being, there was your graciousness,
Before our delight, there was your generosity,
Before our joy, there was your good will.
We are second, and you are first.
You are there initially with your graciousness, your generosity, your good will – and we receive from your inscrutable goodness grace upon grace, gift upon gift, life upon life.
because you are there at the beginning, at all our beginnings.
Our gratitude wells up in the midst of your constancy –
New words spoken, new children born, new vistas opened, new risks taken, new words uttered that heal.
We dare confess that in these startling break points, we glimpse your powerful care which runs beyond our capacity to manage and beyond our exhausted capacity to cope.

You…after all our best efforts, it is you, you who hold and you who break. And we are grateful. Amen.

Putting Faith into Action:

If you, or someone you know, is looking for a job currently, ask for prayer, or pray for that person, requesting reminders of God’s provision and care. Read Job, lamenting the pain of loss but also allowing yourself to be reminded of God’s constant, wondrous work in the world and in each individual life.

Living Faith Together:

Sarah Vermeer, MRMC’s new Children’s Ministries Coordinator, has now been at work at the church for approximately one month. Please pray that she remembers God’s work throughout her whole life and in the world around her, and pray that she continues to discover God’s purposes for her in this crucial ministry.

Tomorrow morning at 8:30am, the staff members of every church in this circuit of the Methodist Church will gather together to pray, share news, and encourage each other in the midst of challenges and joys. Please keep Roger, Anna, and the rest of the ministers in your prayers, as they prepare for this monthly gathering.

Day 17 - The Work of Sabbath

Reading: Genesis 2:1-3

Most people spend most of their lives consumed by ‘work’ – whether that’s paper’work’, garden work, home’work’, house’work’ or the millions of other works we do to maintain our lives, sustain our bodies, and keep the world orderly. We often do this work begrudgingly, wishing that we could be some of the lucky few who live lives of supposed ‘leisure’ - although those who do have lives of ‘leisure’ may dispute their leisurely quality.

Many of us do work eagerly but are motivated by getting all we can out of it – whether that’s money, power, fame, or simply sustenance. Regardless the type of work we do, since we spend so much of life occupied with it, we must take some time to examine our motivations. Instead of drifting through life, working for the sake of working, as a discipline this week, try and identify some of God’s purposes for your work. That may mean that you need to spend some time truly resting!

There is no question that there is much to do and accomplish in the world. Despite the beliefs of some, God did not give us work to do as a punishment but instead gave it to us for our delight! Because it is a gift from God, and because we are made in the image of God, it makes sense that God models for us how it is to be done. God says work is to be done always keeping in mind God’s holiness and God’s work of creation, which why we have Sabbath. Just as God’s work in Genesis 2 is incomplete without rest, so our work is incomplete without rest. Indeed, we cannot speak about work without speaking about how it is shaped by Sabbath rest.

As you are aware by now, Lent is a time when we re-evaluate the disciplines in our lives that draw us closer to Christ. Often Sabbath is considered one of those disciplines. We are taught that Sunday is to be our Sabbath, a day of worship and rest from the routine. During Lent, Sundays are feast days, not included in the 40 total days, leading up to Jesus’ resurrection. They are days when, traditionally, Christians celebrate a break from disciplines like fasting and instead feast and delight in God’s creation.

And this is all well and good! However, Sabbath is more than a commitment to coming to church on a Sunday. It’s more than stepping back from workweek work to spend time instead cleaning out the car, shopping for groceries, reading the book you’ve been meaning to get to, taking a bubble bath, or bustling around church doing everything possible to make sure the Sunday School runs smoothly. Sabbath is not just about resting and doing chores so that the rest of the week will be more productive. Sabbath is about setting time apart to stop our own creating and producing to orient our whole lives to the holiness and creative power of God.

A mentor once told me that I have a productivity mindset, not unlike many people. And this mindset can be quite a gift when being faithful to the tasks given to us. However, it also means I can begin to believe that my productivity is the be all and end all. It becomes my motivation instead of allowing my motivation to be glorifying God, regardless of the quantifiable amount of work I accomplish or the goals I achieve.

Because of this mindset, my mentor required me to spend an entire day from sun-up to sun-down doing absolutely nothing. What am I supposed to do, if I’m doing absolutely nothing?? I protested. He replied – go someplace where you can just be.

And so I went, annoyed and uncertain of what this day of doing nothing would actually accomplish, but hopeful that it would mean that the rest of my week would be far more productive… I was still missing the point…

But, once arriving at Botanic Gardens with a picnic lunch prepared ahead of time, I realized I was spending one of the most boring and simultaneously most fascinating days of my life. I spent a good half an hour simply watching a spider crawl up and down blades of grass at the edge of the pond. I listened to the bamboo creak, as it moved in the wind. I noticed the movements and laughter of other people, and I realized that all my work, my creation, my productivity, my grasping at straws to survive and thrive was in vain, if I did not center my whole life, work, and rest on God’s.

Prayer:

Holy God, as we enter into this week, whether we remembered or ignored your holiness and creativity on Sunday, help us allow you to shape all of our work, play, and rest on your rhythm of creation and rest. Set our hearts apart from our own desires to be productive and bend them toward your faithfulness in sustaining and flourishing your creation. Make each of our days holy, as we live out of the source of your rest. Amen.

Putting Faith into Action:

Set apart a period of Sabbath rest during each day this week, a few moments to remember God’s work in creating the world and creating you, personally, as someone made specially to carry out God’s purposes in all your work.

Prepare during the week to spend one day on the weekend truly in rest, ceasing every activity that is productive and creative to simply be and delight in God’s creation. This may mean you need to cook the night before. It may mean that you must reschedule necessary chores, cancel rehearsals or practices, or plan shopping ahead. If you live hand to mouth, this might mean attending the Sunday Evening Meal at MRMC so that you don’t need to worry about where your food will come from that day. Maybe it will mean spending time in quiet or simply being with family and friends. It may be boring, but it may be a crucial window into God’s holiness and love for you.

Day 16 - Looking back on Week 2

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION:

1.  As you look back on this past week, what insights or observations come to mind that you would not want to forget? Write them down.
    
2. What relationships in your life are a source of particular anxiety or pain for you? Write the names of those people down, and next to each name write something that they bring to the relationship that is a gift. Let this help you to pray for them and your relationship with them in a new way.
    
3. List the various relational roles that are yours. (For example: Wife; Mother; Grandmother; Sister; Aunt; Friend.) Think of each role, and consider what you can do to bring greater joy and creativity to each.

Day 15 - A feast of forgiveness

READING: Matthew 18:21-35

Yesterday I spoke about the importance of saying sorry - those powerfully liberating words that can help to heal the wounds that we have inflicted and which bring the hope of forgiveness and reconciliation to light.

Today I’d like to continue with that broad theme, by sharing an amazing story that speaks about the relentless quest for forgiveness to be found. It’s a story of hope that speaks of the promise that in the most unlikely ways, grace is powerfully at work within our lives seeking to bring about healing and wholeness against all the odds. This account is based on a version written by Peter Storey which he entitled ’A feast of forgiveness.’ It is used with his permission.

Richard Gruscott from Illinois was a young 101st Airborne soldier in Vietnam. On one of his first patrols he came face to face with an NVA soldier carrying an AK47. For a terrifying couple of seconds they stared at each other – each of them frozen with shock. Then Richard pulled the trigger and killed the man.

Some of his colleagues searched the body and Richard picked up a tiny photo that fell from this man’s pocket – not much bigger than a postage stamp. It showed a fine looking young man in NVA uniform, with a beautiful little girl – who must have been about eight years old. Both had a haunted, sad look in their eyes – as if this photo was taken when they knew they must be parted from each other soon. He checked the photo against the face of the man he had shot – sure enough. It was the same person. For some reason he put the photo into his wallet.

He killed again and was shot at many times – but he survived, finally being shipped out with a shell fragment in his back sustained while trying to rescue a comrade.

He got a job at the local Veterans’ Association and for 25 years was haunted by the picture he still carried in his wallet. He couldn’t forget the face of the little girl he had orphaned. He now had two daughters of his own, and was desperately guilty about her. It obsessed him and it threatened his marriage.

He finally thought that maybe if he could make an offering of the photo, he might be set free. He wrote an anonymous letter to the girl, telling her he had killed her father and asking her forgiveness. This and the photo, he laid at the foot of the Vietnam Memorial wall in Washington DC. As he did so he felt a great sense of relief wash over him and went home to Illinois to resume his life.

Like all other mementos at the Memorial Wall, the photo and note were picked up and stored. There they lay for some time, until an author decided to write a book about the gifts left at the wall. In going through the store room he came upon the photo and letter, which were quite unique, being the only gifts in 25 years to feature an enemy soldier. He featured the picture and message prominently in his book, without mentioning the name of the man who had written it.

A friend of Richard bought the book, and immediately recognized the picture and brought it to show him. The veteran who was curator of the store returned the original photo to Richard. For Richard, this brought everything back again and it was a sign to him that there was more to do. So he set about writing to North Vietnam’s Ambassador in Washington DC and asking how he might try and identify the little girl – now 30 years older. The North Vietnamese were not very optimistic, but a newspaper story did appear in Hanoi, showing the picture, and telling of the note left at the Memorial.

That is where it all might have ended, if it were not for someone who used the newspaper to wrap a parcel to send to his parents in his home village. One of the parents, on opening the parcel, immediately recognized the picture – this was a soldier he had known. The dead man’s family was in a nearby village. He alerted them.

Richard was finally told and soon after, a letter came to him from the girl – now a woman of 40 – expressing some measure of understanding and appreciation. Richard knew without any doubt that the only way he was going to find peace, would be to return the picture to her.

So he traveled to Vietnam – a place he swore he would never ever return to – and was taken to her village, where an incredible meeting took place, in which both wept, and embraced. He made a little speech in Vietnamese that he had prepared, handed the picture over to her and asked for her forgiveness. When she saw it – the only picture of her with her father in existence – she really broke down, and clung on to him, almost as if he were her lost father.

Together they placed the picture on the little family altar in the house, and all the village gathered for a meal – it was a feast of forgiveness.

PRAYER:

Today you are encouraged to write a short prayer around some area in your life where the feast of forgiveness is still waiting to be celebrated.

Day 14 - Saying sorry

READING: Luke 18:9-14

There’s a line that’s often quoted: ‘Love means never having to say you’re sorry!’ What a load of complete and utter hogwash!

In our relationships with others we make mistakes. We say things and do things that are thoughtless, selfish and sometimes just plain mean. And more often than not it’s those people whom we love the most that we end up hurting the worst.

There is a vulnerability that love brings. It’s one of love’s great gifts because out of vulnerability, trust and tenderness and intimacy can grow. But it also means that we can get hurt by those whom we love. And what is even worse, we can cause great hurt to those we love. It’s an agonising thing to realise about ourselves—our capacity to inflict hurt and damage on those nearest to us.

Therapists’ rooms are full of people dealing with the aftermath of wounds inflicted by parents, siblings & spouses - sometimes years after the fact. Because wounding in intimate relationships often happens in subtle ways, beyond immediate consciousness, it is often only fully recognised much later in life, when the task of dealing with it is more complex. Though thankfully, such wounds can be dealt with, and it’s never too late for healing to be found.

That is why when the hurt we cause others is brought into consciousness, it becomes a powerful opportunity for the wider work of healing in those relationships to be helped. For every time conscious hurts are graciously dealt with, a bastion of grace is built for dealing with unconscious hurts later whenever they should surface.

What is required, first and foremost, is for us to say that we’re sorry. Because saying sorry, without any justifications or excuses, in a sincere and unequivocal and heartfelt way is totally liberating, in a whole host of ways.

• It liberates the person who has been hurt from the tyranny of silent suffering or of self-doubt, by bringing into the open the fact that they have been wronged.
• It liberates the person who has caused the hurt from the illusion that everything is OK, and that really ‘it’s not that bad’, or any other defence mechanism that tries to minimise the hurt.
• It liberates the person who has been wronged from being a victim, by allowing them the opportunity to participate actively in the great work of reconciliation, if they choose to forgive.
• It liberates the relationship from the cold kiss of festering resentment.

And so, as soon as you are aware of a hurt that you have caused, do not delay in saying sorry, so long as you can say it with heartfelt sincerity. Recognise too that you may not realise the full extent of the hurt that you have caused, and that such realisation may only arise when you’re making amends. There’s a vulnerability in this business of reconciliation, but whatever it may cost in terms of humility and swallowing your pride is a small price compared to the long-term damage that unresolved hurts can inflict on a relationship with someone you love. And one more thing, remember that saying sorry does not mean that the whole matter is now over. Saying sorry does not entitle you, in a subtly manipulative way, to expect the person who has been wronged to suddenly ‘get over it!’ Far from it. All it means is that you’ve helped to open the door of forgiveness, and have taken your first step in the journey of reconciliation. That journey may still involve the one you’ve wronged expressing their anger and hurt, and for you to hear and simple receive that. And it may require specific acts of restitution on your part. But it all begins with those simple, grace-filled words, ‘I’m sorry.’ So what do you think? Does love mean never having to say you’re sorry? That’s hogwash. The good news is subtly but significantly different: Love means never hiding away from saying you’re sorry, however costly it may seem, because love knows that not to say sorry is infinitely worse.

PUTTING FAITH INTO ACTION:

Who have you wronged that you’ve never acknowledged? It’s never too late to say you’re sorry. Resolve to make amends and tell them how you feel, except if to do so will cause them, or others, further hurt. If you’re not sure what to do or how to go about it, this is something that would be worth speaking discussing with a trusted friend, counsellor, church leader or minister.

PRAYER:

Merciful and compassionate God, give me the courage to acknowledge with humility and grace my wrongdoing to others, and give me the resolve to seek reconciliation with those whom I have hurt. Help me to say the words, “I’m sorry.” Amen

Day 13 - Roles

READING: John 8:2-11

All of us have certain roles that we fulfil as we interact with others. This is a necessary part of living and functioning in the world. Roles help to define what we should do, and give helpful cues to ourselves and others as to what kind of behaviour is appropriate and expected.

Here’s a simple example: If I’m watching my child play a hockey match, I am there primarily in my role as a father, to support and encourage my child. My role is not that of coach, and even though there are things that I may see on the field of play that could be improved, if I were to slip into the role of coach and start yelling instructions (as opposed to encouragement) to the players, it would be inappropriate. (It’s amazing how many parents fail to make this very basic distinction.)

So having roles clearly defined certainly has its place. But a problem arises when we identify too closely with our roles, and begin to see ourselves and others in terms of the respective roles that we fulfil. Listen to what Eckhart Tolle says about this:

If you are awake enough, aware enough, to be able to observe how you interact with other people, you may detect subtle changes in your speech, attitude, and behaviour depending on the person you are interacting with. At first, it may be easier to observe this in others; then, you may also detect it in yourself. The way in which you speak to the chairman of the company may be different in subtle ways from how you speak to the janitor. How you speak to a child may be different from how you speak to an adult. Why is that? You are playing roles. You are not yourself, neither with the chairman nor with the janitor or the child…. A range of conditioned patterns of behaviour come into effect between two human beings that determine the nature of the interaction. Instead of human beings, conceptual mental images are interacting with each other. The more identified people are with their respective roles, the more inauthentic the relationships become.

He goes on to tell the story of a Zen teacher and monk by the name of Kasan who was to officiate at a funeral of a famous nobleman. As he stood waiting for the governor and other dignitaries to arrive, he noticed that his palms were sweaty. The next day he called his disciples and confessed that he was not yet ready to be a true teacher, because he still lacked the sameness of bearing before all human beings, whether beggar or king. He was still unable to look through social roles and conceptual identities and see the sameness of being in every human. So he left and became the pupil of another master. He returned to his former pupils eight years later, enlightened.

When roles define who we are and how we act towards others, it seriously stifles the possibility of authentic relating. It can also be utterly exhausting as we flip-flop from one role to the next, constantly wondering what’s required of us and whether we are making the grade, constantly trying to live up to our own and other people’s expectations of who or what we should be.

In stark contrast to this we see in Jesus a remarkable capacity to be fully present to people as they are, without any posturing or pretence on his part. There’s a directness and honesty in his engagement with others that cuts right through any of the social constructs that otherwise might have defined the interaction. A wonderful example of this is the account in John 8:2-11 when a group of Pharisees and teachers of the Law brought to Jesus a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery, and asked him if they should stone her as the Law commanded. With remarkable composure Jesus exposed the hypocrisy that their elevated roles and titles were hiding, and then dealt graciously with the woman as a fellow human being.

It is this same quality that a living faith in Christ seeks to develop in us, helping us to see people not according to their labels but as they really are, and enabling us to relate to them out of a deep sense of our common and shared humanity.

PUTTING FAITH INTO ACTION:

Think of someone you know that you always relate to according to the role that they fulfil — a work colleague, a domestic worker, a car-guard, a teacher at your child’s school. Now think of some ways in which you might interact with them, not according to their role, but as a fellow human being. For example, you could ask a car guard about their family or their home. Or you could make your domestic worker a cup of tea and invite her to join you in the lounge for a chat. If that sounds totally crazy and feels very awkward, what does it say about the respective roles that have rigidly defined those relationships? What do you think Jesus would say about that? What are you going to do?

PRAYER:

Lord, forgive me for the many times when I fail to see through a particular role that someone else may be fulfilling, and assume that that’s all that there is to them. Remind me that people are richly woven tapestries of many different roles and experiences, and that even this does not capture the fullness of who they are. Give to me an evenness in all my dealings with others that comes from a deep sense of who I really am. And help me to treat each person I meet with profound respect that recognises that they are a fellow son or daughter of God. Amen