Click the link above to view and print details of a “Mini Immersion” course. The activities were prepared by Viv Hawkins of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting and are great for helping a small (or large) group Understand the need and practice of Micro-Enterprise, Self-Help Groups and Right Sharing of World Resources.
The RSWR display is contained in three separate, PDF files. You will need the Adobe Acrobat Reader to open and print these files. If you do not have it installed on your computer, it is free and downloadable, www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep.html. The display pages are in color, but can be printed in black and white. The RSWR display pages are designed to be mounted on a 48” (W) x 36” (H) display board. These dimensions are of an unfolded display board. As a display, it stands as a tri-fold with the two side panels being 12” (W) x 36”(H) and the center panel being 24” (W) x 36” (H). The first file, “Left Panel”, contains four (4) pages, to be attached to the left panel of the display. The first page of the file goes on the top of the panel. The second file, “Center Panel”, contains eight (8) pages. Pages 1,3,5,7 are to be attached to the left side of the center panel (starting at the top of the display). Pages 2,4,6,8 are to be attached to the right side of the center panel (starting at the top of the display). The third file, “Right Panel”, contains four (4) pages, to be attached to the right panel of the display. The first page of the file goes on the top of the panel. * All of the printed pages are on 8½x11 sheets of paper. The sum of the area of these pages equals the area of the display board. That is, they can be attached without any additional cutting. The one exception is the top three pages which are the RSWR banner for the display. * It is also possible to remove the un-printed portion of each page and put some color page(s) of paper underneath each printed page. * Of course, the final display is left to your creativity and time.Instructions For Printing and Mounting the Right Sharing of World Resources Display
Some notes about preparation of the display:
Click on the link above to view and print a “gratitude calendar.” This is an excellent tool for increasing economic discipleship from a spirit of abundance and appreciation.
Click the link above to view and print an outline for leading a Sabbath Economics workshop.
Jubilee Economics Ministries (www.jubilee4justice.org) is a treasure chest of educational and practical resources, inviting people and organizations, both faith-based and secular, to economic conversion.
Sabbath Economics Collaborative (www.sabbatheconomics.org) is a membership national network that offers resources in Biblical/theological education, economic literacy and pedagogy, and practical application.
Some Quaker links:
Quakerism on wikipedia
Quakerfinder: www.quakerfinder.org
American Friends Service Commitee: www.afsc.org
Friends World Committee for Consultation: www.fwccamericas.org
Friends General Conference: www.fgcquaker.org
Friends United Meeting: www.fum.org
Friends (often known as Quakers) believe in simplicity and have witnessed to that testimony since the days when they wore simple unadorned (often grey) clothing. At other times some Friends wore undyed clothing because the dye was produced by slave labor. Because Friends believe that there is “that of God” in all people, Friends recognized early the impossibility of “owning” another human being.
Lest we think that all these issues are something only of the past, we have only to take a look at the labels in the garments we are wearing and the shoes on our feet. Were they produced in sweatshops under deplorable conditions in Third World countries?
Simplicity is not just a matter of conviction. It is also a matter of spiritual concern. Consider these words by Caroline Stephen:
“ In life, as in art, whatever does not help, hinders. All that is superfluous to the main object of life must be cleared away, if that object is to be fully obtained. In all kinds of effort, whether moral, intellectual, or physical, the essential condition of vigor is a severe pruning away of redundancies.”
Many Friends have noticed a “lightening” effect when reducing their material possessions. Clearly, a cleaner, more organized household helps one to feel centered. Other Friends have noted that they feel increased energy.
Where Do The Proceeds of the Sale Go?
The proceeds of this garage sale go to Right Sharing of World Resources, which provides grants to support innovative income-generating, awareness-building and environmental-regeneration projects in the developing world.
The Sale
Months Ahead
Day of the Sale
Dimensions: 11x17
Here are some ideas for organizing a Simplicity Workshop or Retreat. We have included facilitator’s notes from past offerings. Be in touch if you have questions or something you would like to add!
image from Rebecca Chalmers via www.beechalmers.com
Event Model and Facilitator’s Notes
NOTE: This material can be used in a variety of ways depending on the time available and how it is configured. It can be divided into sections to be used as a several-week study for Sunday/First Day School classes, it can be done as a three-hour workshop, and it can be expanded, with the addition of other activities such as:
• The Right Sharing DVD on world poverty and the micro-enterprise solution (available free online at http://www.vimeo.com/18555623 or to order, please write or telephone RSWR, 101 Quaker Hill Drive, Richmond IN 47374, tel. 765.966.0314. Suggested donation $10.)
• The Right Sharing Project Partners PowerPoint presentation showing the women who receive Right Sharing loans and the businesses they start (available in adults’ and children’s versions)
• The excellent intergenerational activity contained in the booklet Population-Resources Exercise: Instructions for Facilitators, available for only $2.00 from Quaker Earthcare Witness.
Greetings
Introductory Conversation
Go around the circle and ask each person to answer the first question below. Then ask the second question of the group in general:
(It is ideal to get as many people as possible to share aloud during the course of the workshop, whether in the introductions, large or small groups, or in discussions by pairs or threes at some point during the day. Everyone has wisdom valuable to the group and many of us come to realize better what we think on a topic when we begin to talk about it.)
Opening Context—The State of Society
• Sewing patterns,
• Vacuums,
• Tools,
• Interior design, suggestions,
• Math formulas, and
• Tips for computer use
• Spiritual poverty (as in monastic vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience)
• An ecologically friendly lifestyle
• And for some, a last chance for emotional sanity!
• It was written in 1877 by a young Englishwoman, Anna Sewell, and was supposed to be the autobiography of a horse, told in his own words. It spoke of:
• Long work hours
• Few breaks
• Being required to bear ever heavier loads
• Being forced to move FAST, then even FASTER
• Being expected to work extremely hard despite being given poor food with low nutrition
• Being required to eat and work at the same time—hence the handy feed bag tied to the mouth while standing at the “taxi” stand
• Being required to work even when ill, until the horse collapsed and was simply carried off to the glue factory.
• Kelly said our world experiences a “poverty of life induced by over-abundance of opportunities” and we feel life slipping away without peace, joy, or serenity
• The burdens of poverty in the developing world, and
• To address the burdens of affluence in the developed world.
Discussion
(If this is a short session or workshop, these questions can be discussed by the group as a whole. If there is time, this makes an effective small group exercise: divide the group into teams of 4 to 6 persons to discuss these questions. Ask them to make a list of their responses and choose a reporter to briefly report back to the group. Allow about 15 minutes for the discussion and another 10 minutes for the reports. You can also have them write their responses on flip chart paper to be hung up around the room, or you can write their answers on the flip chart as they are reporting, noting duplications.)
• Your own life?
• Your family?
• Your meeting or church?
• Your community?
Context—The Bible on the Pitfalls of Affluence and the Need for Simpler Living
Small Group Activity
(With groups that are not so familiar with the Bible or are not comfortable with its setting in a culture so different from our own, it can be helpful to suggest they not allow themselves to get hung up on those differences but to look for the unique kernel of wisdom that this scripture has for our society today).
(It is good to check on the groups as they are working to see if they have questions about the task at hand or if they are having difficulties with their particular passage.)
Context—Quaker and Contemporary Authors on Simpler Living
• Health issues
• Since the time of Hippocrates, it has been known that stress causes illness and death.
• In medieval times it was recognized that it was not the rich with their rich food and drink who were the healthiest, but the poor who primarily ate the fruits and vegetables that they grew in their own gardens and the nuts and berries they collected in the woods.
• Ecological problems
• Spiritual malaise
• The #1 reason that people give for seeking to simplify their lives is finding inner peace and fulfillment
• She says we try to find it in:
• Houses
• Clothes
• Love relationships
• Travel
• Education, and
• Careers
• BUT—those things don’t bring fulfillment. Instead:
• They add stress and chaos to our lives
• The pleasure they give is fleeting
• They leave us with a void—we find ourselves wanting MORE
• Penn quote (below)
• Loring quote (below)
The greatest problem for the well-intentioned person—the serious issues invariably arise from things that are good in themselves unless or until they are placed or allowed to come between the individual and God.
William Penn,
No Cross, No Crown
Our days are often governed or guided by lists of generic “musts” or “oughts” that are usually fine in the abstract. In the aggregate, however, in our individual lives, they leave little or no time for quiet or reflection, for opening ourselves to guidance, for receiving or honoring nudges of the Spirit. They usurp the freedom, empowerment or peace of the Spirit in the moment. Filling us to overflowing with their demands, these psychological or demonic powers usurp our sense of ourselves and alienate us from family, friends, nature and the wider world. They leave no room for the Spirit of God to move in our lives: few and fragmented moments of spontaneous rest, reflection, appreciation, thanksgiving or joy.
Patricia Loring
Listening Spirituality, Vol. 1
Quaker Wisdom
• Single-mindedness, and
• The ability to focus on what is most important in life.
• Simplicity is an inward reality seen in our outward lifestyle.
• It is both a grace and a spiritual practice:
• It is a grace because only God can give it to us
• It is a spiritual discipline because it is something that we can DO—a practice.
• It doesn’t get us simplicity, but
• It puts us in the right place to receive God’s:
• Peace
• Serenity
• Wonder
• Empowerment
• Concentration
• Confidence, and
• Integration.
A Peace-Filled Life
Life from the Center is a life of unhurried peace and power. It is simple. It is serene. It is amazing. It is triumphant. It is radiant. It takes no time, but it occupies all our time. And it makes our life programs new and overcoming. We need not get frantic. He is at the helm. And when our little day is done we lie down quietly in peace, for all is well.
Thomas Kelly, A Testament of Devotion
So How Do We Get Started?
• Foster—in 1978, Celebration of Discipline, gave suggestions for beginning to practice simplicity in our lives. (give handout)
• At Right Sharing, as we have talked to many around the country about simplicity as a spiritual practice ,we have begun to feel it is primarily about making sacred time for quality relationships with:
• God
• Self, and
• Others
• Through:
• First—meditation/prayer—silent listening for Divine guidance for our lives
• Second—setting aside “Sabbath time” weekly
• The origin of Sabbath observance—scripture told the early Jews to honor the Sabbath so they didn’t wear out their servants or their animals—probably we too could use rest today!
• The back side of the handout has RSWR’s 5 tips for getting started. (Review them with the group.)
We Have All the Wisdom We Need To Do This
• If we stop, meditate, listen, and consider:
• We know what we want/need MORE of in our lives, and
• What we want/need LESS of
• We have role models to look to for examples
• But we need support to be so counter-cultural
•
Final Exercise:
• Distribute blank sheets of 8½” x 11” paper. Invite participants to:
• Draw two vertical columns;
• What I feel a lack of/desire more of in my life
• What I feel I have too much of/want less of
(These answers can include things, activities, people, responsibilities, etc.—the whole gamut of clutter or excess.)
• Then draw a line across the bottom third of each column and write 1 thing you could do in the next 10 days to make a difference, to start simplifying—one for each column
Conclusion
• Because of Quakers’ long history of practicing the simplicity testimony, we have many resources available to us to aid us on this journey
• And because many others in our society know of our history, I have experienced that they respect us and listen to what we have to say on this topic.
• Some believe this is a gift we could give to the world that could help our families, meetings, communities and world to move to a healthier place
• And it could quite possibly help us to build our meetings at the same time.
• Richard Foster seemed to feel this many years ago when he said what seems even more relevant today: (read quote below)
Closing Quote:
Models of simplicity are desperately needed today. Our task is urgent and relevant. Our century thirsts for the authenticity of simplicity, the spirit of prayer, and the life of obedience to the guidance of the Spirit. May we be the embodiment of that kind of authentic living.
Richard Foster, Freedom of Simplicity
I n s t r u c t i o n s f o r O r g a n i z i n g a S i m p l e M e a l
Why a Right-Sharing Simple Meal?
The Right Sharing Simple Meal is about mindfulness, calling us to be mindful of our abundance and to share our bounty with others in a way that is rightly ordered. It is an outward expression of the Divine center within us, putting our faith into action. The Simple Meal raises awareness of how we live, and how our use of resources impacts the ways our fellow humans are able to use resources. Sponsoring a Simple Meal reminds Friends “To live simply so others may simply live” and gives us an opportunity to perceive and follow urgings of the Holy Spirit.
The Simple Meal is served specifically to raise consciousness of hunger throughout the world. In many places, including some close by us, people do not have a choice of what or how much they eat. Watery soup or gruel may be all that is available. In contrast, most of us do have choices, abundant choices, in what and how much we eat. The Simple Meal calls us to awareness of the following realities:
The Simple Meal is also about building community. Organizing and sharing the meal can be purposeful as well as fun, and a number of monthly meetings hold annual Simple Meals to benefit Right Sharing programs. Through faithfully living out our testimonies as a Meeting, we corporately acknowledge the Light within all God’s creatures.
The Simple Meal
Suggested charge is $5.00 (can be adjusted). Because volunteers donate all items, the total amount goes to Right Sharing.
Simple Meals can be done as Monthly, Quarterly, or Yearly Meeting activities, adjusting logistics and preparation to fit location and number of participants.
Basics - A soup recipe is selected by the organizing group. Friends are encouraged not to have many different kinds of soup—a simple meal requires that diners have few, if any, choices and that portions be sufficient but no more. Make several copies of the recipe, and on each copy highlight one line. The person who takes that copy will bring that particular ingredient or vegetable—cleaned, cut up (diced, etc.)—on the appointed day to the appointed place. Some people volunteer to cook the soup, and some volunteer to serve it. Other volunteers make bread and bring fruit. Still others set the tables and clean up. People are not reimbursed for their food contributions.
Publicity - Be sure your Meeting (or whatever group) knows well in advance of the event. Involving everyone, including children, has greater meaning than if only a few do it all. Using the newsletter is encouraged.
Significance - Prior to the Simple Meal, First Day teachers should offer lessons on the themes of equality, hunger, poverty, stewardship, sustainable environment, etc. To open the event, if you haven’t done it as a group yet, read aloud “Why a Right-Sharing Simple Meal?”
Sample Procedures/Tips from Philadelphia Yearly Meeting
(Approximately 15 RSWR members prepare the food and serve 300-350 people.)
made by committee members or volunteers from their respective meetings.
RSWR Simple Meal Recipes
Bean Chowder (serves 20)
Ingredients:
3 lb. beans (chili beans cook faster but any kind will work)
2 tsp. salt
2 cups potatoes, diced
1 cup onions, chopped
2 cups tomatoes, stewed (optional)
2 cups green pepper, chopped
1 tbsp. flour
2 tbsp. oil
Soak the beans overnight. Drain, cover with water* and bring to a rolling boil. Turn heat down and simmer 30 minutes. Add salt, potatoes, and onions, cook another 30 minutes. Add tomatoes and peppers, cook over low heat for 15 minutes. Add flour and oil to thicken. Can be served with chopped parsley garnish.
*Throughout, use sufficient water not to burn the ingredients but keep soup at a thick consistency since it will be served as an entree over rice. If needed, additional water can be added when reheated.
Vegetable Soup (makes about 4 gallons)
Ingredients:
4 cups celery, simmered in 1 cup water and 1tbsp. oil
1 head cabbage, steamed in small amount of water and 1 bay leaf
2 cups sweet red peppers, simmered in a cup of water and 1 tbsp. oil
4 cups rutabagas (turnips)
4 large onions
4 cloves garlic, simmered (with onions) in 2 tbsp oil and 1 cup water.
4 cups carrots
1 medium eggplant, sauteed in oil
4 cups zucchini
4 cups yellow squash
8 cups tomatoes, crushed
4 cups string beans
4 cups peas, added (with string beans) when soup is heated
1 lb. brown rice, cooked, kept warm and added during the last 15 minutes of cooking
Chop or dice each vegetable into small pieces and cook separately until just tender. Combine all ingredients including the cooking water of each batch of vegetables and bring to a simmer, seasoning with salt, basil, bay leaf, or other herbs and spices as desired. Heat soup slowly, stirring frequently. Substitute or add vegetables as desired.
Activities Related to Organizing Simple Meals
For Adults - In Adult Forum or discussion groups:
Read and discuss two articles in the June, 1999 issue of Friends Journal:
Discuss the purpose of the simple meal. The meal is more to make us think about the issues of hunger, economic inequities in the world, and our own tendencies to consume more than we need than to raise money to share with poor people (although this is also a goal).
For Children
A skit with a “monkey trap” - a jar containing a hard fruit or a ball. The mouth of the jar is wide enough for an empty hand to enter it, but too narrow for a hand clenched around the fruit or ball. One leader may pretend to be the monkey discovering the trap and reaching for the fruit, then panicking as the “hunter” approaches, but refusing to let go of the fruit. Audience participation should be encouraged by asking “Oh, what can I do?”
With younger children, ask if there was ever a time when demanding something, or refusing to let go of it, caused problems for them. If the group is large, it would be good to have them draw a picture of the incident rather than allowing each child to tell a long story. Conclude the session by telling them that there will be a Simple Meal and that everyone is going to practice letting go of things by letting go the idea that we have to eat a rich dinner with dessert every night. Answer questions like “What if I’m hungry?” “What if I don’t like it?” by saying that withstanding a little discomfort can make them stronger, and if they’re really uncomfortable, their parents will help them.
With older children, discuss the symbolism of the monkey trap as it relates to consumerism. It would be good to emphasize that, spiritually speaking, consumerism is a dangerous trap because it diverts our attention from God. If the group seems ready, they might try to identify the “fruits” which keep their own hands in the jar. As with the younger children, explain that the Simple Meal is to be a group effort at letting go. It’s much easier to let go when we have the support of a group of friends.
Extending the Concept
(if you want to use more than one session)
As an opener, go around the group with each person speaking briefly about “a time when someone wouldn’t share with me.” Remind the children to be brief! If the group is large, this can take half an hour, which is too long for many young children. In this case, perhaps only a few children will speak instead of inviting all of them to do so.
Invite the children to draw pictures (or use other art media) expressing their feelings when someone won’t share.
Ask if there was a time when they refused to share, and why. If the group is large, it would be a good idea to break into small groups of 3 or 4 for this exercise. Ask one person to list reasons for not sharing.
Make a poster showing that the richest 20% of the world’s population gets 80% of the goods and services; the middle 60% gets 15% of the goods and services, and the poorest 20% gets only 5% of the goods and services. (Either the children can make such a poster, or the leaders can prepare it in advance.) Discuss why the goods and services are distributed so inequitably. Brainstorm ideas for sharing more equitably.
SERMONS/Meditations/Messages
Sabbath Economics
This sermon was delivered at Fairfield Friends Meeting, Mooresville, IN, on April 20, 2008 by Roland Kreager, General Secretary, Right Sharing of World Resources
Good morning. It is a joy to be with you this morning, and to have partaken of your kind hospitality the last three days. This morning I would like to speak about right sharing. The right sharing I would like to speak about is not the organization which by capitalizing the “R” and “S” as part of Right Sharing of World Resources. Rather, I would like to focus on right sharing, spelled with a lower case “r” and “s”, the idea.
Anyone who knows me knows that I think Wendell Berry, the Kentucky farmer and writer, writes gospel. So, I will start with Wendell and a story he tells. Something like 20 years ago, while talking with a friend about economics (particularly the economics of farming) he wondered aloud what might constitute a comprehensive economy, what would it look like? His friend quickly answered, “The Kingdom of God”. What grew from this interchange was an essay titled “Two Economies”.
Wendell understood that, while the phrase “ Kingdom of God ” was fine with him, saying “it has not much been tainted or tampered with by the disinterested processes of academic thought; it is a phrase which comes to us with its cultural strings still attached”, it was not for everyone. However, as a communicator and writer, he knew that he needed a phrase which meant the same thing as “ Kingdom of God ”, but which used different words. The phrase he chose was, the Great Economy. This is the first of the two economies. The second economy is the one in which we live and breath, what Berry calls the industrial economy. My focus this morning is on the Great Economy, the Kingdom of God . I want to look at why we persons of faith are called to it, and what it might mean in fairly practical terms.
I am making three assumptions that I need to identify. First, while we are social, cultural and political people, we are also economic people and that this dynamic is a very basic part of who we are, how we relate to each other, and how we make decisions. Second, to one degree or another, we all live as if the industrial economy is the Great Economy. That is, the part of us which is economic is governed by the law of the industrial economy, the laws of supply and demand, scarcities, etc. Third, following from the second, we understand the industrial economy as so basic that it is virtually unquestioned. It is simply a given, the only “real” way to make sense of things, especially things economic. The Great Economy, in contrast, is often taken as something that is almost other-worldly and, while a wonderful ideal, simply can not have much to do with our “real” lives.
The Great Economy is, however, as Berry says, “both practical and spiritual … then we must see it as prescribing the terms of a kind of little economy or human economy … a Christian economy.” The core of this message is contained in Matthew 6:24-34 (I am reading from my favorite version of the Bible, the Christian Community Bible: Catholioc Pastoral Edition, the text often used in the base Christian communities of Central and South America . I also note, with apologies, the exclusive pronoun usage):
No one can serve two masters; for he will either hate one and love the other, or he will be loyal top the first and look down on the second. You cannot at the same time serve God and money. This is why I tell you not to be worried about food and drink for yourself, or about clothes for your body. Is not life more important than food and is not the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow, they do not harvest and do not store food in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than birds? Which of you can add a day to his life by worrying about it? Why are you so worried about your clothes? Look at the flowers in the fields how they grow. They do not toil or spin. But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his wealth was clothed like one of these. If God so clothes the grass in the field which blooms today and is to be burned tomorrow in an oven, how much more will he clothe you? What little faith you have! Do not worry and say: What are we going to eat? What are we going to drink? Or: what shall we wear? The pagans busy themselves with such things; but your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. Set your heart first on the kingdom and justice of God and all these things will also be given to you. Do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Of this text, Berry says, “ If this passage meant for us to seek only the Kingdom of God , it would have the odd result of making good people not only feckless but also dependent upon bad people busy with quite other seekings. It says, rather, to seek the Kingdom of God first ; that is, it gives an obviously necessary priority to the Great Economy over any little economy [here, we would read human-made] made within it.”
This brings us to two points. First, as persons of faith we are particularly called to fit our economic selves within the context of the Great Economy, to seek first the Kingdom of God, God’s desire and plan for the continued wellbeing of creation. Second, the Great Economy is practical and, as such, serves as a means by which we can order our lives to both fit within the God-given order of creation and to be a part of repairing the damage that we humans have done.
Thankfully, Matthew outlines for us the way of the road. We have also been given some of the tools necessary to pave this roadway with something more than good intentions. The one set of tools that I would like to lift up this morning grows from the Jubilee tradition of the Hebrew Scriptures in which wealth is adjusted every seven, and seven times seven, years. This is most often read from Deuteronomy 15:1-18. I am reading verses 1-5, “Every seven years you shall pardon debts, You shall do this in the following manner: the creditor shall pardon any debt of his neighbor or brother, and shall stop exacting it of him because Yahweh’s pardon has been proclaimed. You may demand that a foreigner pay back his debts but you shall pardon the debt of your brother. However you should have no poor in your midst for Yahweh will give you prosperity to the land that you have conquered. If you listen to the voice of Yahweh, your God, and obey all that he has commanded you, which I now remind you of, he will bless you as he promised.” From this root has grown the recent movement to release the poorest countries from debt. There is now, too, a growing movement, called Sabbath Economics, to apply these ideas to individuals, families, and local communities.
Ched Myers, in his small book The Biblical Vision of Sabbath Economics , says, “The Bible recognizes that inequalities will inevitably arise in a `fallen’ society – a realism it shares with the worldview of modern capitalism. Unlike the social Darwinism of the latter, however, the biblical vision refuses to stipulate that injustice is therefore a permanent condition.”
It is Sabbath Economics, then, which provides us with a set of tools for building the roadway. As promised, I want to suggest some of the specific tools to be found in the Sabbath Economics toolkit. These particular six were devised by Bartemeous Cooperative Ministries and are called the Sabbath Covenant: 1. Donate part or all of our surplus capital to the poor. Make investments socially responsible. Invest in community development financial institutions; 2. Minimize, and when possible eliminate, personal debt; 3. Attune to the natural environment’s rhythm; 4. Simplify life; 5. Engage with the poor in solidarity rather charity; 6. Honor the Sabbath, especially as a discipline of living justly.
This is not, however, a program that is simple or that can be grafted into a life that is not rooted in community. Like all “programs” which require much of us, I think particularly of the 12-step programs, we can not do it alone. I want to close with a note of hope, a note that demonstrates that the Kingdom of God is not as far off as we might think, and that it is within our grasp, if we can but listen and learn.
Of recent, I have been describing the micro-enterprise projects which RSWR supports as laboratories of Sabbath Economics. To the extent that this is true, and I think it is very true, they serve as models for us to examine, learn from, be moved by, and emulated. Let me close by lifting up some of the specific actions and dynamics that we find in these group. Let us listen and learn.
A self-help group is 12-20 women (there are now a few men’s self-help groups) living in the same community. These groups are formed for the purposes of mutual support, creation and use of a mutually-held loan fund, mutual accountability, discussion about and action taken on common problems. I want to close this morning with a few scenarios which demonstrate not just the value of these self-help groups to their members, but the values they demonstrate to us, especially related to Sabbath Economics.
A. One member of the group reports that her husband has been beating her. A committee of five from her group agrees to go to her husband and tell him to stop. He refused. The group then goes to the next meeting of the women’s federation, which appoints another committee of five. These women go to the police and village leader asking that they tell the husband to stop. This was done, and he stopped. The Jubilee is community action taken to redress individual misdeeds.
B. There is only enough savings in the group fund to make loans to three of the members so they can start their own income-generating businesses, who will get the loans. After some discussion, the women agreed that the poorest three of them, most probably widows, would get the loans.
C. One of the women who got a loan became sick, could not work, and could not make her loan payments. The other women in the group decided to take turns operating her business, continuing her family income, and maintaining the loan payment back to the group.
Finally, an example we heard Friday from our fundraising consultant. He asked how many of us would be willing to give $100,000 to RSWR, or some other organization. No hands were raised. He then asked how many of us had children and how many of us would get $100,000 to pay for a surgery to save our child’s life. All hands went up. This is Sabbath Economics.
There is, finally, one particularly valuable means by which we can measure our participation in Sabbath Economics, the Great Economy, or the little economy in which we most often live. That measure is the question, “How much love is released?” My prayer is that we continually seek to order our individual and corporate lives in such a way that they increasingly release love.
Sermon for theThanksgiving/Christmas Holiday Season
This sermon was delivered at West Newton Friends Meeting, Indianapolis , IN , in December 2006 by Jackie Speicher. Right Sharing Field Staff.
Scripture: The Parable of the Foolish Rich Man Luke 12: 15-21, 33-34
I have come to speak today wearing my Right Sharing of World Resources hat. I am a field representative for Right Sharing which is a Quaker organization started by FWCC (Friends World Committee on Consultation), 40 years ago. It has two primary missions:
1. To help alleviate the burdens of poverty in the third world by making grants to the poor, especially women, to start small businesses in order to support their families and help improve the economics of their community; and
2. To raise awareness in the developed world of the spiritual, emotional and physical burdens of affluence.
Simple living is an especially appropriate theme in the holiday season when TV, radio and print media bombard us with pressure to GIVE, GIVE, GIVE (which really means BUY, BUY, BUY; SPEND, SPEND, SPEND). Also, family, community and other social traditions often encourage us to extravagance that we can ill afford and that does little to provide lasting satisfaction, build healthy relationships or feed the spiritual hunger that gnaws at our depths.
To withstand these pressures and opt for a simpler, saner approach to the holidays takes self-consciousness and, often, courage. We are not the only ones longing for such a change, however. An Internet search for “saner holiday celebrations” provides 52,000 resources! This says to me that many in our communities desire to stop the madness and restore the holy to the holidays.
The holiday season seems to be a particularly good time to think about this second topic. A few years ago in October in the little town of Paoli, IN, I saw a great window-display on the town square. It showed Santa looking down with great distress at a witch with long black hair, pointed hat, black dress and orange and white striped stockings lying on the ground in front of him, pinned down by one of the runners of his sleigh! It was that shop owner’s way of deploring how the commercialism of Christmas seems to be starting earlier and earlier every year.
He is clearly not the only one that feels that holiday celebrations can get out of control in the US. A Google search online for “sane holiday celebrations” brings up 52,000 “hits” or items to read on the topic! Financial advisors are increasingly warning against the “routine” overspending that occurs in the Christmas season, creating debts that many must work the entire next year to pay off. However, there is another price to the extravagance of our holiday celebrations that is even more damaging than the f’mancial one. That is what Jesus’ parable of the rich but foolish farmer is all about: the spiritual dangers of abundance.
This parable has often been confusing to readers of the Bible because Jesus did not specifically say what the folly of the rich man was. The Jewish audience of Jesus’ day would have understood abundant crops, or any other good fortune, as being a gift from God indicating God looked with favor upon the recipient. So accumulating wealth by itself was not considered bad. In fact, Jesus himself says, in John 10:10b (KJV), I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
No, it appears the rich man was not a fool because he was prosperous. Rather it was that he used his prosperity in an unwise and selfish way, letting it blind him to the needs of the less fortunate and letting it so consume his time that he had no time for God, even thought, apparently, that his good fortune was all his own doing and that he did not need God or others to have a long, full and happy life. In fact, Bible scholars suggest the follies of the rich man were many:
• Preoccupation with possessions—tearing down old barns and building new ones would have taken some good deal of time
• Security in self-sufficiency—feeling he did not need God or others to provide for his good future—a lot of I will do this and I will do that and my language— my crops, my barns, my grain, my goods.
• The grasp of greed, the opposite of generosity—not once does he think about giving some of his abundance to the poor and needy
• The hollowness of hedonism—I will eat, drink and be merry for the rest of my life
• Practical atheism—professing to believe in God but at the same time living his life as though there were no God, as though there were no divine accountability for the way that we live our lives on earth.
This might be summed up an inability to discern “How much is enough?” and how to manage his abundance with generosity toward his fellow human beings and with constant communion with and guidance from God. Jesus says, in Luke 9:25 , “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?.” (His possessions will take his life from him. Then whose will they be?)
The story asks us to take a good look at our own inner lives and listen to our own inner guidance.
It has been suggested that the overspending rampant in our country today reflects an attempt by many to fill a hole or void in our lives with possessions which is actually a spiritual hole that can only be filled by a closer relationship with God. Too often, our Christmas celebrations have gotten so far away from the original meaning that it has prompted one pundit to quip: “Whose birthday is it anyway?”
It strikes me that we Quakers, with our Testimony of Simplicity and our long history of emphasis on simple living are in a unique position to take the lead in modeling sane, compassionate commemoration of Christmas, demonstrating how to put blessed peace and the holy back in the holidays.
That is a small part of the message of Right Sharing when it calls us to pay attention to the burdens of affluence in our lives and to take steps to reorganize our lives around a spiritual center, around a deeper relationship with God.
If you are desiring a way to reclaim the spiritual meaning of Christmas for yourself and your loved ones, here are a few tips:
1. Teach children to question marketing messages and limit everyone’s exposure by monitoring TV programs, newspaper ads, and Christmas “wish-books.”
2. Resolve to relish the priceless treasures of the season: the music, smells, literature, community lights and decorations, worship, and quality family time.
3. Focus on recovering low-cost family traditions e.g., caroling, baking cookies, sharing family history.
4. Take advantage of free holiday events at churches, libraries and schools.
5. Teach children to give of themselves—volunteer as a family.
6. Give alternative gifts with meaning.
7. Make homemade gifts together.
8. Give philanthropic gifts in the names of loved ones in lieu of material items.
9. Consider giving gifts of time instead of things.
10. Be a good holiday role model for others.
It has been said we are all walking billboards, reflecting in our words and actions who we are and what we really care about. May we all find ways to live this holiday season as compassionately and spiritually as possible, as countercultural messages of peace and sanity, for ourselves, our families, our communities, and our world.
This sermon was delivered to Kokomo , Friends Meeting, Kokomo, IN, in October 2006 by Jackie Speicher, Field Staff of Right Sharing of World Resources.
How many of you watch the Jay Leno show? (Nobody!) Well, frankly, I don’t either. I don’t stay up that late. But I’m TOLD that on the Jay Leno show every once in a while he will send an interviewer out on the street to question people there about Bible stories and Bible characters, and one time not too long ago he sent someone out to ask people about the Good Samaritan.
The interviewer approached the man on the street and asked, “What do you know about the Good Samaritan?” The man sort of shrugged his shoulders and said, “Well, I think he was a man who did a good deed.” Then the interviewer asked, “Do you know anything else about him?” and the man said, “Yeah, well, I think they named a hospital after him.” Then, finally, the interviewer asked, “Well, do you know he is actually a character in the Bible?” The man shrugged his shoulders and said, “Oh, no, I wouldn’t know anything about that!” Well, that’s sad. And hopefully we know more about the parable than the man on the street.
The one that he mentioned is an old familiar one that we’ve heard often. But I suspect that often we still have the image of The Good Samaritan that we got when we were children—I imagine a number of you grew up with it as I did— and we saw that beautiful painting of a man in traveling clothes kneeling on the ground beside a wounded and bleeding man lying half-naked on the rocky road while the donkey stands to the side patiently waiting to carry the patient to the inn. Did you see that painting in your Sunday School class?
Well, I think that when we heard that story in Sunday School class we heard that the moral of the story was that we were supposed to help others. And usually we thought that meant we were supposed to help others like us. Like the little old lady who lives next door to us, or somebody in the Sunday School or the church, or, perhaps, some of the little kids that were in our school. And we were supposed to get a good, warm feeling out of helping others. But the fact of the matter is that is we looked at the history behind the story, the setting of Jesus’ day, we would find out that that was not so! This is not one of those warm, fuzzy kinds of stories. In fact, it probably shocked Jesus’ listeners to hear it. In fact, they may have felt insulted; they may have even felt repulsed by it. The reason for this was that Jesus was challenging beliefs about themselves and what was and was not their responsibility to others that they had held for a very, very long time!
It pushed and challenged them in ways that would change their lives if they really, really listened. And if we read the story today in the same way that Jesus’ listeners first heard it, it should push and challenge us to the maximum. The history of that time tells us that the Samaritans were “lapsed” Jews. They had broken a lot of the Mosaic laws of the Jewish temple, and the first one was that they had intermarried with their Gentile neighbors. They were no longer pure-blood Jews. In addition, they had the audacity to develop some of their own scriptures. And thirdly, and almost worst of all, was that they had decided that it was not necessary to go to Jerusalem to worship God. They felt they could worship God in their own country, and so they built their own temple. And they refused to pay the temple tax that all Jews had assessed against them to support the big, beautiful temple in Jerusalem . So, the Jewish authorities declared the Samaritans to be taboo and unclean. And what it meant to be unclean in those days was that you should not touch them, OR be touched by them.
And just think about the Good Samaritan story! If you were that Jew lying by the roadside and the Good Samaritan came along to save you, you might have wondered if you wouldn’t rather die. The fact is, not only would the Good Samaritan have had to touch him in order to bathe his wounds and clean him up, but he would have had to HUG him, put his arms around him in order to put him on his donkey in order to take him off to the inn. And when they got to the inn, its quite likely they shared a room together as the Good Samaritan watched over him, and cared for him, and nursed him back to health. This would have been a humiliating experience, and yet, this was what Jesus was talking about.
The hostilities between the Jews and the Samaritans went back a long way and caused a lot of bad feeling among them. The Jews had been known several times to set fire to Samaritan crops because of injustices they felt that had suffered due to the Samaritans. That would have meant that the Samaritans would have been doomed to hunger in the coming months because their food crops were gone. The Jews in Jesus’ area, up in Galilee, had to pass through Samaria when they went down to Jerusalem once a year to worship in the temple. And one time when they were passing through a riot broke out between the Samaritans and the Jews and a number of Jews were killed. Even though the Jews appealed to the Romans to punish the Samaritans, the Samaritans bribed the Romans and no one was punished. All this would have been in the memories of the people that Jesus was speaking to. All of that formed their images of the Samaritan who was giving help and the Jew who was receiving it.
Jesus’ story was a major address. He said that loving our neighbor means loving the one who is most unlike us. It means loving the foreigner, the alien, or the stranger. It means loving someone whose religious beliefs are different than ours and who worships the Creator in a different way than we do.
The scripture says that the lawyer asked the questions in order to justify himself. Now sometimes we do this, don’t we? We ask the question because we think the response is going to be, “Well, this is what you are supposed to do in that type of situation, and you have done it so well I just want to praise you for that!” Well, Jesus did not praise this lawyer for being a good Jew. Far from it! And no doubt the lawyer probably was a very good Jew, that is to say he probably gave coins to the beggars who were ill and begged at the temple gates. He probably gave money, as every good Jew did, to the widows and the orphans who were very poor. And, yes, he probably followed all the rules of his Jewish faith as he understood them. But Jesus said all of that is not enough.
He said we are supposed to radically love, love as ourselves, not just those who are closest to us, not just those who are easiest to love, but, in fact, we are called to love ALL of God’s children, AND we are called to alleviate ALL of the suffering and injustice that God’s children experience in our world. And Jesus, over and over again, gave us in his own life, examples of what he meant by that. Repeatedly he reached out to the suffering and the needy in his society, even when it was against the Jewish laws to do so. He reached out to the outcasts, like the lepers whom he was not supposed to touch. When he healed a leper he touched the leper, not only touched the leper but put his arms around the leper. He reached out to other persons who were considered to be unclean simply because they were ill. He reached out to Gentiles. He reached out to the despised of his society who were the prostitutes, for instance, and the tax collectors. And he always gave compassion to the poor.
People flocked to Jesus by the thousands—our scriptures say that there were 5,000 there on the day of the miracle of the loves and the fishes. They flocked to him because Jesus gave hope to the hopeless. And by his example he calls us to do the same today. So then, again, we must ask ourselves the question, “Who is my neighbor today?” “Who am I really responsible for in this world that I live in?”
The fact of the matter is that today we live in an interdependent global village. I would guess that some of you drank coffee or tea for breakfast this morning. It is quite likely that that coffee or tea came from Africa, or from India, or from South America. Perhaps you had fruit, like bananas, that likely came from South or Central or America . Or if you had kiwis they may have come from as far away as New Zealand. The gas that you put in your vehicle to get here probably came from the Middle East. And most likely some of the clothes that you are wearing today—the clothes and the shoes—have a label in them that says “Made in China ” or Indonesia , or some other far-away country. Often, the people that made those clothes were working for pennies a day.
John Woolman was a well-known Quaker who traveled up and down the East Coast in the late 1600s and early 1700s campaigning amongst Quakers for an end to slavery. He said that we cannot allow poverty and physical hardship to exist because in it are the seeds of war. I believe that John Woolman would say in the kind of situation that we have today where people are being paid pennies a day to produce things for us in our wealthy land, those workers are actually our slaves. By our use of the products that they produce, we are actually responsible for them, too.
That is a very uncomfortable thought, and that is the kind of discomfort that Jesus caused when he told the story of the Good Samaritan. Like it or not, the people in other countries of the world are our neighbors. And there are some sad facts about those neighbors of ours.
It has been said that is there were only 100 people in the world: • 67 of those would be poor (two thirds) • 50 of them would not have safe drinking water • 30 of them would be hungry or malnourished • And out of those 100 people, only 6 of them would be Americans and those 6 would have 33% of the entire income that exists in the world. . • If the hungry of the world were to line up out in front of the church, right out here, and that line were to go across the parking lot, down the street, out of town, and on to the coast, across the ocean, and around the world, it would encircle the world 25 times. • If the unemployed of the world were to start lining up out here, their line would encircle the globe 5 times, and one out of every 3 persons in that line would be from the developing world. • 40,000 children will die TODAY in the developing world because of preventable diseases because they cannot get the inoculations and the medicine that they need for simple, preventable things like diarrhea, measles, or polio. That’s 15 million children a year!
Now there are two ways to see and hear these kinds of statistics. One way is to be overwhelmed, to be depressed and tired, and to doubt that anything can really make a difference in this world where there is so much suffering. But there is another way, and there is a better way, and that is the message that Jesus brought us. Jesus brought a message of hope. That is to believe that God is at work in the world right now changing the world through the efforts of God’s people. That way is to believe the prophetic message of liberation and of wholeness, of justice and of peace, is being raised up and lived out in the world. And I know that you all here at First Friends of Kokomo believe the second way. I know that because I have had the opportunity in the last two days to visit with people from your congregation, and I have heard the stories of the work trips that you have taken to places like Belize and Jamaica and Cuba and Kenya . And I heard wonderful stories at the fall USFW conference that was held here yesterday and at the joint Indiana-Western Yearly Meeting USFW retreat that was held a couple of weeks ago—wonderful reports about what Quaker women are doing in countries like Africa where an orphanage has been established for children orphaned by AIDS—a wonderful orphanage and school that has been filled to the max. It was, I believe I heard, built for 175 students and they have 350 there now and they are now in the process of expanding it so they can take 600 children. Even then, it will only be making a dent in the needs of Kenyan children, but it IS making a dent, and those 600 children’s lives will be changed forever because Christian brothers and sisters reached out to them.
I am always inspired when I hear the stories of Right sharing—wonderful success stories about the poorest of the poor—many widowed by AIDS in Africa or the Tsunami in India, many whose human and civil liberties are severely limited by the remnants of the caste system in India or by other unfair laws there and in Africa. These are women whose families were living lives devoid of hope until they received a small business loan and business training thanks to Quakers like you who made that possible. Now they can feed their children, they have decent housing, they have decent clothing, and they can send their children to school, which is going to make all the difference in the world for those families. I had the opportunity to go to Guatemala to the annual meeting of the Friends World Committee for Consultation in March where I heard the wonderful story of two people, just TWO people, out in California who learned that many children in Central and South America cannot go to school because their families can’t afford the books and the school uniforms needed to attend public school. And so they started a scholarship fund a number of years ago to help just two children to graduate from high school. They have now served almost 1,000 children and some of the first young people that they helped have now graduated and are going back to their hometowns and are helping to start businesses and to bring more income and better housing in so residents will not be so poor. One is now a national senator working to change laws that keep the poor down.
In Jesus’ parable of the Judgment Day, he talked about the separation of the sheep and the goats. I find it very interesting that when it was decided who would get to go to heaven and who would not, the main criteria was not how religious people were. God did not ask the question, “How often did you pray?” “How often did you read the scriptures?” “How regularly did you attend worship?” The one criterion was: “How compassionate were you?” “How well did you do at feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, comforting the sick and visiting those in prison?” There is, indeed, a deeper meaning to the parable of the Good Samaritan. Jesus calls us in this story to reach out to those that we normally would not even think about helping—because they are out of sight, out of mind, or because we have prejudices against them: we believe that they are not like us. The story calls us to open our eyes and our ears to see where the suffering are crying out for help. And he calls us to have faith that the task is not, in fact, too big. I like the words of Paul who said, “Without God I can do nothing. But with God all things are possible.” And that is indeed true for us today. The problems of our world are many, and they are great. But with God’s help we can reach out to God’s suffering children wherever they are and we can make a difference for them. Thanks be to God! Amen.
Simply titled “RICH,” this short film by Michigan pastor, Rob Bell, examines perceptions of wealth and abundance. What instruction might the Bible or other texts have for us? How might we hold our understandings up to the Light?
This could be useful to share with youth groups, Sunday/First Day school, or discussion groups.
Purchase this video here.
(Zondervan Publishing House is not affiliated with RSWR.)
Resources for individuals and small groups interested in living and communicating the vision of Right Sharing of World Resources.
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