00:00:12.140 - 00:00:27.030

for those of you that we're here this morning, I attempted and perhaps succeeded in overwhelming you with a barrage of statistics regarding wealth inequalities, poverty, homelessness , and the impact of our current and dominant approach

00:00:27.030 - 00:00:43.890

to wealth creation and over consumption on people in the earth. Statistical knowledge, data gathering and fact finding has its place in diagnosing the problems that we are facing. However, I am ultimately an agreement with

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observations made by Kentucky, author and advocate Wendell Berry , that we as human beings are not to be much trusted with statistical knowledge. We don't learn very much from big numbers. We don't understand them very

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well and we aren't very much affected by them. Numbers, knowledge, data and fact finding are useless unless they are equally matched with imagination. Courage and compassion. We must also have the imagination, the

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courage and the compassion to see, hear and feel the stories of the people and the planet, which groan under the weight of the practice is reflected in the statistics and the numbers. This kind of imagination

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. Courage and compassion requires heightening our sensitivities, raising our consciousness, developing our theological and moral acumen, and perhaps most important, inspiring theological and moral courage to see our local, national and global economy and

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our own role in it in a new way. As we enter into conversation this afternoon, I want to try to see a way around the problem I defined this morning by shifting our perspective, framing the

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issues theologically and turning over the tables of our discussion . Maybe better said turning our discussion toward the table . I will be honest that by being willing to adopt a theological framing, claiming a reformed theology of

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economy as the beginning point for addressing wealth, inequalities , poverty, and the exploitation of our natural environment . We will be entering through the little gate to turn the tables of this discussion and to turn our

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discussion toward the table. In this lecture, I will explore the firm theological foundation for a christian response to seriously disordered priorities, evidenced among us and the unequal distribution of wealth in the US and the global

00:02:57.970 - 00:03:12.390

economy. In this lecture, I will set quite a different table for the conversation than that, which is likely to be held in boardrooms of business, financial institutions or corporations even in some ways than that

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which is found in universities, colleges and seminaries, I will cast a seed that can grow into a fuller understanding of the connection between theology and economy. I will connect the accumulation of wealth by those at

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the top of the economic ladder to the poverty of those experienced at the bottom. I will dig into the rich resources offered by our sacred text, the hebrew and christian scriptures and define the problem that we

00:03:39.940 - 00:03:55.060

are facing today not as poverty but as wealth. I will discuss an understanding of the connection between God's grace and an ethic of enough. And finally, I will consider the importance of the christian practice of

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communion, the table that has been set before us as a visible sign of God's invisible grace as a symbol of God's sufficiency, essence of enough nous and model for our own sharing theologians and ethicists, particularly

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those involved in the larger global ecumenical movement, have received a great deal of criticism from leaders, both within and outside. The church is for commenting on economic theory. Many economists, entrepreneurs cannot Sears politicians

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and also, even many church leaders will argue that conversations about the economy should be left up to the experts. I've even been asked about pastors when I presented on this topic and churches in the past.

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Whether I'm not, I'm making too much of the role the church that the church can play in creating change isn't the church's mission better focused on healing the wounds of the spirit than on the Brokenness of economic

00:05:00.360 - 00:05:15.450

systems and structures and the vulnerability of human bodies and the earth. It is worth making the observation here that economics is relatively new as a standalone discipline in the U. S. Academy. However, it

00:05:15.450 - 00:05:29.900

is particularly critical to point out that economics is not new to christian theology. Allow me to refresh our memories about the history of economics in the U. S. Academy. The term economics did not become

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common until about 1900 Before then. The language that was used to describe the study was political economy. As late as 1888, a student of political economy and professor named Francis Walker complained in the presidential address

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that he gave before the American Economic Association that political economy was subject to theology in the college curriculum. Can you imagine that we've certainly moved far away from that framing of the discussion walker held. One of

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the first professorships in uh Political Economy and history at Yale Economics was customarily seen as a subdivision of history of literature, of mathematics and departments in moral philosophy . I hope that you're getting my main point in

00:06:21.560 - 00:06:38.050

referencing this little bit of history. Economics was once considered to be more integrally related to even subject to a much larger body of knowledge. Economics was thought to be a discipline to be considered in conversation with

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other approaches and in relationship with and two other concepts , values and ideas. In addition, christian theology has always seen itself as concerned with and connected to economy. You may know, however, that theologians

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define economy quite differently, not according to this allocation of scarce resources, but as God's household, the oil economy to to thank you. The greek word Oikos is the entomological root for three interrelated concepts economy

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, ecology and a human necessity. Oikos literally means a house, an inhabited house and is used in the christian scriptures and reference to the whole household of God. My intention here is to affirm a fundamental

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claim of christian theology. Christian theology is about economics , it's about establishing right relationships in God's household. M Douglas makes professor of theology and Wesley and studies at Vanderbilt University has written that the economy understood in

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terms of God's house vote hold is obviously qualitatively different from the logic of the market, reflected in neoclassical economics. It refers to what God does to create the conditions of a home in the midst of the

00:08:05.490 - 00:08:22.950

messiness of creation, so that all of God's creatures will have access to the conditions of life against death . It does not deny that there are natural and human lax and insufficiencies. But the notion of economy

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are to value does deny it fiercely denies the mistaken belief that human beings themselves are the center of the universe. The notion of the economy, a toothache who fiercely denies the fact that scarcity and insufficiencies but

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created by and among human beings, should dictate a situation in which we are forced to operate solely or primarily out of concern for the individual self. An individual wealth. The notion of economy, a tooth

00:08:58.650 - 00:09:16.880

a fiercely denies the fact that scarcity and insufficiencies created by and among human beings should dictate a situation in which we are forced to choose among various means to ensure that some have more, even when it means

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that others don't have enough and the whole creation itself is diminished and deprived, vulnerability. Interdependent sharing and reciprocity are all aspects of God's household. Our understanding of the economy, a toothache, you must be

00:09:37.630 - 00:09:58.420

inextricably linked to concepts of the interdependence of the whole creation, the sufficiency of God's grace and symbolized most fully in our sharing. Now, let's think for a moment About the framing of the problems that we're

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facing in the 21st century. Today we talk a lot about the problem of poverty and casual conversations in popular media and even an academic discourse. If you just do a casual Google search for the problem of

00:10:13.900 - 00:10:31.330

poverty using the proper quotes, it yields nearly 800,000 hits. In contrast, if you google the problem of wealth, It yields only about 37,000. Now this anecdotal evidence speaks to the widespread perception that at

00:10:31.330 - 00:10:45.090

least in U. S. Society. The reason to be concerned about wealth inequalities is because poverty itself is the danger. The problem to be solved. Before I went to graduate school, I worked at

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an interface social ministry in Lynchburg Virginia. At that time, the mission statement, the organization was defined as giving a hand up, not a handout. There are many good aspects to the approach of this

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organization. The charitable aid that it offered in the city was undoubtedly essential for the people that were living there. But the a port approach in the organization also lacked many things. Some of the most important

00:11:11.390 - 00:11:28.100

deficiencies in its approach where the failure to understand and interrogate the structural and systemic causes of wealth, inequalities and poverty. The failure to intentionally include those who had served in its own decision making structures and the

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grounding of its approach in upper middle class assumptions and attitudes toward those who live in poverty. The policies and approach to the work and effect separated people into categories of deserving and undeserving of charitable aid and often

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protected donations that were given by requiring clients to fill out a variety of detailed and tedious forms to prove their need. Sociologists Dalton Connolly observes that social scientists actually very seldom ask the question why are the rich

00:12:07.050 - 00:12:20.270

wealthy in the same way that they often asked why the poor are poor? Part of the reason for this is that given their power it is much easier for the rich to protect themselves to shield themselves from

00:12:20.270 - 00:12:37.860

social inquiry and scientific study. In fact, it is in their interest to remain mysterious and understudied, perpetuating the mystery surrounding wealth and the lifestyles of the rich and famous contributes to the way in which we

00:12:37.870 - 00:12:52.480

, in U. S. Society have associated the american dream with individual financial success, individual achievement and the accumulation of wealth for one's own sake in U . S. Society. And even in many churches

00:12:52.480 - 00:13:09.250

we continue to allow ideologies of equal opportunity and individual responsibility to separate separate the sheep from the goats, the deserving from the undeserving. We too often ignore the reality that the accumulation of wealth by those at

00:13:09.250 - 00:13:24.060

the top of the economic ladder is directly tied to the poverty of those who are struggling to hold on to the bottom, the latter's bottom run recently, there was a noteworthy exception to this that you may

00:13:24.060 - 00:13:39.990

have seen on PBS when they aired a documentary that was entitled Park Avenue Money Power in the american dream Alex. Give me the film's director focuses on the residents of 740 Park Avenue who are the top 1%

00:13:39.000 - 00:13:50.350

of the wealthiest 1% in the United States. And then on the residents, he looks at the residents of those who live at the other end of the street and across the river in the south Bronx.

00:13:50.930 - 00:14:07.280

The south Bronx is the nation's poorest congressional district. 700,000 people live in that area. Of those 700,000 , make less than$40 a day, Which means that 40% of the people who live in the South

00:14:07.280 - 00:14:20.620

Bronx live below the poverty line. These people are not only connected by the fact that they live on a major transportation artery in the city of new york , but also in the fact that the success of

00:14:20.620 - 00:14:35.800

the wealthiest depends upon the poorest kidney. He uses the familiar game of monopoly to explain the problem. Now, be honest with you, I'm most familiar with playing this game with our Children who usually crush

00:14:35.810 - 00:14:54.500

their opponents, the parents by amassing properties, making special deals with each other and then charging us exorbitant levels of rent. We've even sometimes called our daughter Emmy moneybags in our house. We start in the

00:14:54.500 - 00:15:09.600

beginning however with the same resources. But what if we began without the same resources and on very different terms with those given the most limited resources, really be able to win in Park Avenue money power.

00:15:09.600 - 00:15:22.660

The american dream. What give me does is he stages a rigged monopoly game? Some of the players are secretly chosen to represent the wealthiest people. They in a sense, established the rules of the game

00:15:24.340 - 00:15:37.070

. The privileged players get more money and have already purchased their property. Other less fortunate players are given less money and have to figure out a way to get a break to strike it rich and to buy

00:15:37.070 - 00:15:52.090

the property that they want of course, for those who play the game without property and with less cash , it's nearly impossible to win. What is intriguing is that those who are playing the stage game in

00:15:52.090 - 00:16:07.330

the film seldom see their own lack of resources as an injustice. They just see it as part of the game. As you know, the stakes when you consider the real life story are much higher now

00:16:07.330 - 00:16:21.550

, it be easy for me to continue today by afflicting the most comfortable and pointing fingers towards those who are extravagantly wealthy. But I need to be careful to fully flesh out the problem that we are facing

00:16:22.240 - 00:16:37.880

. Let me return to a point that I made earlier. The reality is that the accumulation of wealth by those at the top of the economic ladder is directly tied to the poverty experienced by those who are

00:16:37.880 - 00:16:51.720

struggling to grab onto the latter's bottom rung. Over the past four years, I've been involved in a series of dialogues held by the World Council of Churches called the Agape Process. And in this context the

00:16:51.720 - 00:17:04.420

greek word agape is an acronym to stand for alternative globalization for peoples and the earth. I wrote and presented the research on us poverty, wealth, inequalities and ecology for the north american regional forum in Calgary

00:17:04.420 - 00:17:21.180

Canada after presenting my paper, one of the scholars who was there pulling pulling link Ebola, a feminist ethicists and a representative at the meeting from South Africa . Ask me the most memorable question with regard to

00:17:21.180 - 00:17:37.710

my research when talking about wealth inequalities Elizabeth. Where should we begin? I didn't understand her question for a moment because I've been asked to research the north american context in her point of view. However,

00:17:37.720 - 00:17:49.560

the debate had to begin from the perspective of countries in the global south, not only our wealth and poverty defined along radically different lines, but the U . S. Economy, an approach to wealth creation

00:17:49.570 - 00:18:07.190

is connected to a much larger global economy and all too often it is our country that establishes the rules of the game. In June 2012, I attended another World Council of Churches meeting the global forum on

00:18:07.190 - 00:18:19.450

poverty, wealth and ecology, which enabled me to fully understand the point that link Ebola made. It was the final meeting of the agape process. I was part of the listening group, which ultimately became

00:18:19.450 - 00:18:33.000

the drafting team for a statement that emerged from that conference. In the first rendering of our statement, we use the pronoun we to refer to the gospel call to adopt simpler lifestyles to confront the problem of

00:18:33.000 - 00:18:48.660

wealth and admit our own complicity with agreed that is evidence throughout the global economy. We seemed to represent fair balance right after the first reading of the statement , however, one of the scholars who attended the

00:18:48.660 - 00:19:04.000

meeting, a scientist, an expert on climate change named Dr Jesse mugabe raised a serious and fair challenge about the use of the language we that had been adopted in that statement, Dr Montgomery had presented a

00:19:04.000 - 00:19:15.980

passionate argument at the meeting that pointed out just how much the U. S. And other countries in the global north bear the burden of responsibility for the impact of our carbon emissions on the rest of the

00:19:15.980 - 00:19:30.390

world, particularly countries in the global south. Remember that the amount of carbon that we emit into the Earth's atmosphere is directly tied to our production, our production of food and our consumption patterns. I rode

00:19:30.390 - 00:19:44.540

in a small taxi to the airport with Dr. and two other representatives in the meeting while we were packed together in the back seat of that taxi, like Sardines, riding on a heavily trafficked and very

00:19:44.540 - 00:19:57.430

bumpy road into Jakarta, I asked dr Mugabi to tell me more about his perspective on the problem. He turned to me in that tightly packed space and made the observation that there are more. There are

00:19:57.430 - 00:20:11.680

about one million people that live on the continent of Africa. The people of Africa, however, generate only 3% of the world's carbon emissions. He was from the African country of kenya, which happens to

00:20:11.680 - 00:20:30.340

lie geographically along the equator, kenya literally means mountain of whiteness. You can see in the picture on the screen that the peak on this mountain no longer looks very white. Dr McGann be explained that if

00:20:30.340 - 00:20:42.290

you happen to live in a region that spans the equator, you experience summer twice a year. Those within the tropics have summer twice and winter twice The summer winds then blow over Africa two times, meaning

00:20:42.290 - 00:20:57.250

that African countries get the impact of carbon emissions production and over consumption from heavily industrialized country countries around the world. Two times a year, scientists have tracked many of the pollutants that blow through countries which lie

00:20:57.250 - 00:21:12.410

on the equator such as kenya and discovered that they could not have originated in African nations. Many of these pollutants, however, could have come from the United States. Dr mugabe continued, he encouraged me

00:21:12.410 - 00:21:29.050

to carefully examine a conflict map of Africa outsiders, looking from a distance at the problems often assumed that the conflicts that emerge in Africa come from tribal differences . But dr Mugabi observed that these conflicts are not

00:21:29.060 - 00:21:45.550

often from tribal difference, but over increasingly limited resources , some of them particularly water diminished by heat caused as a result of climate change. The territorial lines that draw the boundaries for the African nations were also

00:21:45.550 - 00:22:03.960

drawn by the West and communities of people who once had access to natural resources are now contained within borders that were drawn by outsiders. As I was sitting there in that taxi in Jakarta, sweltering heat,

00:22:04.640 - 00:22:22.880

I realized that dr Mugabi was not just talking about the problem of poverty, wealth and qualities and ecological debt. From a casual distance he was talking to and about me and the lifestyle that I have come

00:22:22.880 - 00:22:37.530

to lead and the luxury that I find so alluring . Turning the tables of this discussion and turning the table, the discussion to the table means that we cannot just examine the problems we are facing from the

00:22:37.530 - 00:22:56.090

perspective of the economically advantaged global north or even a privileged Western perspective. Turning the tables of the discussion , turning the discussion to the table means that we have to lose to let go of our investment in

00:22:56.090 - 00:23:15.220

the security we have known in a conversation that focuses on the problem of poverty and leaves us the wealthy by global standards and our practices unexamined and in a position of privilege. To change our point of entry

00:23:15.230 - 00:23:30.300

, we must reframe the discussion as the problem of wealth. We still have a great deal to learn , I think, from our own christian faith and early christian practices. There's an alarming disconnect between the

00:23:30.300 - 00:23:45.280

current global economic system and the claims of our faith . Early christian communities raise questions about poverty, wealth , inequalities, the value of people in the land to which they belong in their participation in economy in

00:23:45.280 - 00:23:59.680

markedly different ways for those who became part of the jesus movement of the ancient world, the problem was wealth and the exploitation of people who are perpetually submerged into poverty and want even held in bondage in the

00:23:59.680 - 00:24:15.650

bondage of slavery by human masters. Biblical faith, in both hebrew and christian traditions didn't focus just on individual needs or see human beings as the center of God's creation. People living in agrarian, pre industrial

00:24:15.650 - 00:24:32.110

societies saw themselves as part of the whole creation and lived in a sense of interdependence with it. As you know, early christian teachings, the shape of the community and practice emerged from a tradition of jewish

00:24:32.110 - 00:24:48.940

faith. The Israelites had long been familiar with God's call to resist the ex fix. Ea ting stranglehold grip of ancient empires in periods of exodus and exile . The Israelites formed an identity around covenant relationship with

00:24:48.950 - 00:25:07.020

God and it was this identity that fundamentally opposed life under the rule of pharaoh or other emperors. I realized that especially at this late time in the afternoon , it's not gonna sound very enticing to suggest that

00:25:07.020 - 00:25:21.010

you might go back and read through the legal corpus of Deuteronomy, but I want you nonetheless, I want to invite you to consider both the importance of the debt codes along with the words of the prophets

00:25:21.010 - 00:25:37.670

for the Israelites and then for the christian communities that developed much later. Biblical scholar, walter Brigham and comments on Deuteronomy 15 versus one through 18. An essay he wrote on scriptural strategies against exclusionary absolutism.

00:25:37.540 - 00:25:52.660

The debt codes provide for the release of people in poverty from their debts every seven years so that people in poverty may viably participate in the economy and in order that the community does not form a permanent underclass

00:25:53.240 - 00:26:07.290

In Deuteronomy 1511 Moses says that you must always release people in poverty from perpetual indebtedness because the poor will be always with you. A familiar phrase quoted from the gospels, but not as frequently connected to releasing

00:26:07.290 - 00:26:22.040

the captives from debt. The legal codes frame this saying also in relation to an earlier verse, because if you do this, provide for the release from debt, there need be no poor people in the

00:26:22.040 - 00:26:38.030

community. This commandment warns against tight fisted hard heartedness towards people in poverty. What is so unique about the legal codes of the hebrew bible is that in their context, they emphasize the violation of people in

00:26:38.030 - 00:26:53.960

the land as problematic precisely because they were seen as part of God's whole creation, as opposed to considering the violation of people or the land, because they were considered to be the property of another human being

00:26:55.940 - 00:27:10.480

. Ultimately the whole creation is God's and intended to sustain all that lives there in in leviticus, the land itself is to have rest. in Deuteronomy. The land produces enough to care for the widow,

00:27:10.480 - 00:27:23.870

the orphan, the alien. In other words, the most vulnerable in the community, Brueggemann argues that in the due to economic tradition, economic justice prevails , the economy is subordinated to and made to serve

00:27:23.870 - 00:27:38.430

the infrastructure of the whole neighborhood. Obedience to God has to do with a counter cultural practice of economic justice. One of the most well known and best of concepts name for the churches by Brigham in is

00:27:38.430 - 00:27:53.320

that a prophetic imagination, Brueggemann argues that the most important aspect of the prophet speech is there re perception of the world as the arena of God's faithful governance in the prophets, God's word is not an absolute

00:27:53.330 - 00:28:10.840

, is not an absolute and everywhere the same. God's word is spoken to particular people in particular context , with a promise to impinge upon perceptions and awareness to intrude upon public policy and to evoke faithful and

00:28:10.840 - 00:28:27.760

transformed behavior. What we can gather from these passages and Brigham ins reflections on them is a fuller understanding of the character of God's grace can fade in the text of the hebrew bible. God's grace is disruptive

00:28:27.770 - 00:28:44.380

. The Holy One is conveyed as a God who grabs the greedy by the collar, gets into their faces, commands their attention and disrupts economic schemes that place the resources of communities and the natural world at

00:28:44.380 - 00:29:03.850

the mercy of individual self interests. In the ancient Greco roman world, Christianity shaped itself and became influential partly because of what it offered. In contrast to imperial Rome, the romans displayed some admiral admirable generosity

00:29:03.440 - 00:29:18.680

. They built grand buildings and monuments, constructed aqueducts and developed systems of sanitation. They invented innovative, albeit primitive air conditioning systems, built baths, pay streets and roads. The wealthiest citizens in Rome often

00:29:18.680 - 00:29:36.020

lived in richly appointed homes located in the finest neighborhoods . The impulse to build, however, was not philanthropic, but to display the grand glory of the empire, Historians will point out that about 95% of

00:29:36.020 - 00:29:48.960

the residents of Rome lived at or below the poverty level. The neighborhoods in which people in poverty lived were cramped, squalid and dangerous. Instead of single family homes, domas, the urban poor lived in

00:29:48.960 - 00:30:03.950

high rise, 3-5 story apartment buildings in cell, a similar to the one that you see on the screen. These were bet were at best equipped with communal of trains and water fountains. According to historian

00:30:03.950 - 00:30:21.800

Linda Gigante, it is estimated that in the early empire, apartment buildings in Rome outnumbered single family dwellings by ratio of 26-1 because of overcrowding, poor sanitation and generally poor nutrition diseases were rampant among robes,

00:30:21.800 - 00:30:34.730

urban masses. His lifespan was consequently very short. Only 5% of the residents in rum enjoyed a privileged lifestyle for the rich and famous. But even in the midst of such poverty, the roman elite didn't

00:30:34.730 - 00:30:52.670

develop any kind of comprehensive or systematic approach to help the lower classes and people who were impoverished. The romans relied on slave labor, roman laws afforded parents the rights to sell their Children into slavery to pay

00:30:52.670 - 00:31:07.030

off their own debts. There's very little mobility for the global, the lower classes to increase their status in roman society. Church historian Eglin Henson observes. Then, in roman society, the lower classes were

00:31:07.030 - 00:31:22.460

deemed crooked, evil, immoral and wicked. Henson writes, The Greeks and romans sought to deal with the problem of poverty by forced immigration, hiring out the poor as mercenary soldiers, or regulating births.

00:31:22.940 - 00:31:37.000

Infant exposure was common among the lower classes, orphans of lower class citizens did not know the protections and solicitude enjoyed by those in the money to estate. There were no orphanages or hospitals in the true sense

00:31:37.330 - 00:31:53.210

, the motto of classical humanism was not give to the penniless, but give to those who are deserving . Does any of this sound? Familiar people who were attracted to following jesus were attracted, partly because

00:31:53.210 - 00:32:09.050

of how those gathered in the community of faith resisted the grip of the empire. It's logical due to the makeup of society that members of the earliest community of faith were predominantly found among those who were poor

00:32:09.740 - 00:32:28.020

. Henson underscores three prongs of the early Christian response to tremendous disparities in wealth, evident in ancient Rome . First speaking out about reservations about wealth and the wealthy. Second, emphasizing the redistribution of wealth primarily

00:32:28.020 - 00:32:43.230

at the time through alms giving, and third, radically renouncing their own attachment to worldly goods through acetic practice and the creation of monastic communities. Early christians didn't condemn wealth per se, but they saw greed

00:32:43.240 - 00:32:53.890

as the obstacle to salvation in the sermon on the Mount and the sermon on the Plain and a surprising twist, considering the cultural context that time it is jesus who says that is the poor who are to

00:32:53.890 - 00:33:09.380

be greatly honored for centuries isolated. In particular movements of christians have interpreted jesus sermon as the heart of a christian social ethic. The gospels also includes stories that must have been familiar among early christians concerning the

00:33:09.380 - 00:33:23.570

value of labor, charging interest on money, lung to people in poverty and private property. The goal of the gospel of Matthew. Chapter 20 includes you'll probably remember a parable about workers in the vineyard and

00:33:23.570 - 00:33:37.250

the story. Workers are equally valued by the owner of the land upon which they labor, even though they begin their work at very different times of day . Early church leaders almost universally condemned usury. They

00:33:37.260 - 00:33:52.910

resonated with the prevalent pagan belief that excessive wealth led to worry. In response, they developed a more distinctively Christian concept than in giving to the poor one lends to God. Concerns about narcissism and the distinctiveness

00:33:52.910 - 00:34:09.300

of christian community led to arguments among early christian leaders that material things were not evil in themselves. Rather , it was the inordinate love and unchecked desire to accumulate things that was evil theologian, Justo Gonzalez observes

00:34:09.380 - 00:34:23.570

that there was a surprising level of agreement regarding private property among the writers of the early church. Early church leaders urged heavy restrictions on the limitations on private property, based on their understanding that all property belonged

00:34:23.570 - 00:34:38.960

to god. Private property was justifiable when it was used for sharing. Most important, the argument to accumulate wealth is to pervert. It is used consistently by the early church writers to insist that we are

00:34:38.970 - 00:34:52.960

owners of our wealth only in so far as it is used for the common good, Gonzalez continues. Real wealth must be always moving and active, but also because the purpose of wealth is to meet human

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need. People in poverty held some favor, something akin to the liberationist concept of the preferential option for the poor. The key question for early christian communities was not how to deal with the problematic poor,

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but this how would the rich find salvation? The early christian response, Salvation lay in the redistribution of their wealth among any who might have need. The story that is found in all three of the synoptic

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gospels is about a rich man asking jesus, what he must do to obtain eternal life, go and sell what you own and give the money to the poor, then you will have treasure in heaven,

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Jesus then turns to the disciples and says, it will be very hard for the wealthy to enter God's kingdom. Jesus words startle the disciples, so he tells them again, Children, it's difficult to enter

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the kingdom of God. It's easier for a camel to squeeze through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter God's kingdom. Honey, pause for a moment. I want to take a

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breath because I don't know exactly how you're feeling at the moment. I will be honest. That the challenge presented to me personally in these texts, which we, as a community of faith hold sacred leaves

00:36:17.410 - 00:36:37.390

me feeling convicted, afflicted and distress allow me if you will to move toward making a more careful and intentional connection between a grace filled economy and an ethic of enough contemporary theologians often underscore the way in which

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Christianity has challenged itself and challenged wealth, inequalities and poverty by emphasizing the uniqueness of God's own agency, the distinctive characteristics of a divine economy, and contrasting that to the radically different way in which we can

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reframe our understanding of economy in today's world. The alleged Kathryn Tanner, who wrote the book Economy of Grace, which was a result of her continued reflections after giving the curry lectures here about 10 years ago

00:37:10.530 - 00:37:22.570

. It was striking for me, as I was re reading her book to prepare to come to be with you to see how many of the problems that she named 10 years ago persist. Today, Economy

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of Grace focuses on Grace as an organizing principle of a theological economy and emphasizes a social model of the trinity as a symbol of divine economy. For Tanner , theological economy is a singularly peculiar, wild and

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unworkable ideal. It exists more in and as in other worldly reality that enters into and challenges capitalist economy but runs on very different pre supposition Tana writes about theological economy entering into the present configuration of global capitalism

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to transform it at those points where the two fields cross each other in conflict just where the capitalist economy is at work, it can be met head on and find itself crossed in a clash with an alternative

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configuration of economic life running along very different lines. Like Tanner, I'm certainly equally intrigued about the connection between God's grace and our salvation amidst the current economic order. I also believe that God is much more

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concerned with and intimately related to us worldly people. The economy a toothache, you. The household of God is integrally related to an interdependent with the world . God's reality activity and continued creation can't be distant

00:38:50.070 - 00:39:04.920

from the world, but must be intimately related to it, theologians and biblical scholars such as anna Case winners, joseph settler, Jorgen, Motoman, sally McF aig and around again Addison are immensely helpful in

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envisioning the reality of an economy. A Tokyo in our world. A grace filled economy attends to write relationships between and among human beings and is experienced within the whole creation. I'm indebted to theologian and a

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case winners who proposes a model for a reformed vision for living with within an experiencing God's redemption throughout nature . In reconstructing a christian theology of nature down to earth, case winter sites, Lutheran theologian, joseph

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settler, He says that protestant theology has a particularly constrained understanding of grace, holding it captive to human beings. Settler observes that our whole world is a place of grace. Settler calls upon us to restore

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the theo centric focus of crist ology and affirms that grace could be both a comprehensive term for the created goodness of all reality and a term where with to specify the incarnated presence and historical focus of that light

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, which is God Pauline text, offers some of the most influential biblical passages to explain the place of grace in God's household. One example can be found in the way in which God's grace is embodied in

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fairness and balance in the economy. We heard a beautiful sermon about that last night. Much of the scholarly literature directs its attention to the historical circumstances surrounding a collection of money for the saints gathered in Jerusalem

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, and the importance of generosity. In this case , for paul's claim to apostolic authority, Theologians such as Francis, Young and David Ford observed that second Corinthians eight and 9 are the only places in Paul's

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letter, where Paul employs theological language to describe money and economic language to talk about God's generosity, paul . In these passages, references to key greek terms , chorus and a turkiye meaning sufficiency. Contentment,

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Enough Grace and the enough nous, The sufficiency of God and God's creation meet. In these passages. Chapter eight suggests that a reversal of our expectations and assumptions can fund an alternative vision for economy. One

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of the verses that stands out among the others is second Corinthians 8 10, as it places Jesus own example of living in response to God's grace within the economic categories of wealth and poverty. For you.

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Now, the generous act of our Lord jesus christ that though he was rich yet for your sakes, he became poor so that by his poverty you might become rich. This is one of the most influential

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texts used to summarize the concept of christ self giving love, David G. Horrell and Cheryl Hunt and Christopher Southgate argued that paul's story of redemption of self giving love in this passage clearly encompasses the whole of

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creation becoming poor. In this perspective is about recognizing one's own place as part of a larger whole. We live within among through four and because of a larger body of organisms were dependent upon God and the

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whole creation. On this point, we have so much to learn from the spirituality of indigenous peoples like the Filipino women who are part of a movement that is trying to transform their own economy and they claim

00:42:52.630 - 00:43:08.790

their own kind of belief in the terms land is life. We must learn and resist on all levels . The faulty and mistaken belief that the rule of empire can hold sway and be given priority over this

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grace filled economy, Juergen moellemann argues that to truly turn the tables of our discussion, we have to overcome to limitations of past crist Allah, jeez and theologies, we have to overcome the tendency to describe

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divine economy in other worldly terms, and we need to overcome the notion that the salvation of the individual soul is the primary goal of God's action In history . God's redemption. God's salvation exist within the whole

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household of God Motoman observes that the concept of christ the redeemer confronts a nature which human beings have plunged into chaos, infected with poisonous waste and condemned to universal death. For it is only christ who can

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save men and women from their despair and preserve nature from annihilation. God's relationship and involvement in the economy is not focused on God's action or agency upon our world, are solely solely on the redistribution of power

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and goods among human actors, but emphasizes the radical nature of God's eminence and embodying love and sharing of resources for the mutual benefit of the whole creation. It is intriguing that in reading the writings of theologians

00:44:40.540 - 00:44:59.070

like case winners, settler Motoman and sally McFayden, they've all been involved and played significant roles in the global ecumenical movement. So many more voices come to that table for the conversation. One of the participants

00:44:59.070 - 00:45:14.230

in the WC RC dialogue out of which the across confession was issue. Ophelia Ortega of the Reformed Church of CUBA has described Grace and Love as God's economic model around again, Innocent, a theologian who formerly

00:45:14.230 - 00:45:25.850

worked for the World Council of Dirt of churches and now lives in our home country of India, described a grace build economy to me. In this way it is possible to imagine an economy of grace which

00:45:25.850 - 00:45:40.740

would bring people together, create more of a sharing mentality. Breakthrough structures which are keeping people apart and keeping people poor. We have a gospel which compels us to work for an economy of grace, jesus

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life. His table of sharing is the model. This leads me to the final concept that I would like to consider this afternoon and formulating a response to wealth, inequalities, poverty and the exploitation of neighbor

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and nature in our contemporary experience and reform thought, communion is a visible sign of God's invisible grace chorus . The greek term I referenced earlier in relation to Paul's second letter to the Corinthians, is the root

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word for Eucharist. The sacrament of Communion. The Eucharist symbolizes visibly represents our experience of the grace filled or economy of to theo in which grace is known in mutuality, in sharing reciprocity, love and the

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just distribution of resources rightly practice. According to reform tradition, everyone comes to the table as equals. All are fed resources are distributed equally and there is enough. There is enough for everyone. A painting

00:47:00.610 - 00:47:13.100

that you may have seen before is entitled Temple do parody and attributed to the work of jean parasol and displayed on the wall just to the right of the entrance. When you enter into the International Museum of

00:47:13.100 - 00:47:27.060

the Reformation in Geneva, the temple do parody is thought to be one of the first paintings of a church from the french protestant reformation and depicts a church in the round in France. There was no architectural

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uniformity across churches, but the center of churches usually included the pulpit and the communion table. In this picture men, women and Children are sitting in the pews that encircle the pulpit. Besides the pastor who

00:47:40.270 - 00:47:54.240

is preaching a baptism appears to be underway, Pastor Isabella grossly observes that there is even a dog that's sitting on the floor beneath the pulpit, which suggests the inclusion of the whole creation in the circle of

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community. The ecclesial space that's represented in this picture , invites us to grapple with how we understand the right relationships within the oil economy. A two. Thank you reflected here, are the core beliefs,

00:48:10.820 - 00:48:28.940

the core beliefs of our reform tradition that no human being should claim superiority over others or dominate and subvert the life giving power of the creation as a whole , as christians today, living in an economy organized

00:48:28.950 - 00:48:45.880

by free market capitalism, we have to ask ourselves some very serious questions in light of the reciprocity, the love and just distribution of resources. That is the foundation for our reform practice of communion. How

00:48:45.880 - 00:49:02.160

can we live as christians in a world of boundless global capitalism, where does the ritual of Communion call us to confront, reshape and challenge the dominant forms of wealth creation in the global community? How does

00:49:02.160 - 00:49:20.900

Communion pride for us provide for us? The symbolism to create an alternative ethic, an alternative vision for right relationships within God's household. For today, I want to just leave you with one more story.

00:49:21.970 - 00:49:35.960

My aunt florida and Uncle Oc who lived on that small farm near cuba Missouri. They had a clear sense of living in the grace filled economy that I've just described. They would have described it in quite

00:49:35.970 - 00:49:50.740

the same way they embodied it instead and fly to and Uncle Oc owned a farm between CUba and Sullivan . I loved to visit that farm in that little town. It was so different from this city in

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which I lived during our summer visits and fly to , spent most of her time tending the garden, putting up vegetables for winter and cooking for the rest of us. The dinner table usually had an incredible

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spread of dishes that were made from the season's harvest . One year there was a particularly abundant cucumber crop . Remember eating pickled cucumbers, sweet pickles, sweet and sour pickles, pickle, relish, chow chow

00:50:17.710 - 00:50:31.820

made with corn and pickles. Let us out salads heavily laden with cucumbers, tomato cucumber and onion salad marinated and homemade apple cider vinaigrette and a cucumber salad made with sour cream and onions. There were probably

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some other cucumber dishes really. We ate cucumbers for almost every lunch and dinner that week, coming from a city where our food was purchased primarily at the grocery store. I remember complaining about eating cucumber so

00:50:45.880 - 00:51:01.780

frequently. I delighted in the few meals where I was allowed to let that cucumber dish passed by without adding any to my own plate. It wasn't until many years later that I realized how much the household

00:51:01.780 - 00:51:14.820

economy of my aunt flee to an uncle Oc differed from my own. The practice of eating the food from their garden wasn't just about enjoying the food that they harvested from their own land. He was about

00:51:14.820 - 00:51:28.280

being able to share. They had lived through the great depression. They knew the reality of scarcity. They learned to think in creative ways about how to find the work that they needed to survive and recognize

00:51:28.280 - 00:51:40.120

the importance of sharing out of what they did have , even when times were better. They knew that they should limit what they would store up in jars for themselves and other things so that they would,

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so that they would be able to share with others , their money, their food, their talents, and other resources. As I mentioned earlier, there sharing went so far as to provide a home for

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my father and his brother jean when their mother could not afford to raise him. But they're sharing was not limited to their own family. They opened their eyes, they opened their eyes and look directly into

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the faces of the people in their community, the people who are hungry. Some of them were migrants which were abundant during the years of the great Depression and they shared their food or even found work for

00:52:22.780 - 00:52:37.500

them on their own farm. I really don't mean to present an overly romantic portrait of the past. Of course, my memory is influenced by my love for my family and I'm aware that many of the

00:52:37.510 - 00:52:52.770

inequalities, injustices that were present during that era are similar to those in our own. But I think that we can glean this prophetic truth from the story of aunt florida and Uncle Oc. For these people

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who live fairly simple and sustainable lives, The response to the scarcity of their age was not so complex . It didn't really require economic advantage, a privileged social position, theological acrobatics or sound moral argumentation.

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It required theological and moral courage to know when they've had enough and to confront the scarcity that was all around them. And they did it by sharing.