Tag Archives: stewardship

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More blogging to come. I promise. (and thoughts on “Stuff”)

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My mom emailed me the other night thinking that something had gone wrong with her email feeds of my blogs since she hadn’t been getting them. That’s a surefire sign that I need to get with the program and start blogging a bit more. Things have been really busy for a number of reasons: no internet, lot’s of work, more people in our home, long bike ride to work, and Moving.
Let me tell you about moving for a minute. For three out of the last four weekends we have rented a U-Haul truck and moved a bunch of stuff. It’s not technically my stuff personally, but as a part of this new community we’ve been forming it is my “stuff.” This stuff is part of my life, and it resides in the same home as I do.
Every move I’ve made personally since high school (including since being married to mindy) has been with only the stuff that would fit in a car. This is not quite as impressive as those folks who show up to college or their new home on a plane with two pieces of luggage (head nod to Zach), but I still find it as an important thing for me to do.
All this is to point out that the last month has solidified in my mind my desire to avoid the accumulation of “stuff.” I wish there was a good way to articulate the feelings of being overwhelmed by stuff, but I think you just have to experience it. Maybe my thresh hold is a bit lower then most people’s (seeing as many folks are quite comfortable with houses full of things and U-Haul’s packed floor to ceiling).

I always think about the quote:
“There is enough for everyone’s need, but not for everyone’s greed.” -Gandhi

The truth is there is a large conversation to be had about what we have that are a “need” and what truly is an element of our greed.

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Salaries, income and the wage gap

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I ran across this article about making salaries open rather then a secret and it reminded me I haven’t posted on the church addressing the wage gap.
The article was basically about the dangers and negative outcomes of companies keeping their salaries a secret.

There are three major reasons why salaries secret are silly:

1. It frustrates employees because any unfairness (real or perceived) can’t be addressed directly.
2. They’re not secret anyway. People talk, you know.
3. It perpetuates unfair salaries which is bad for people and for the organization

Making salaries public (inside the company of course) has some major advantages:

1. Salaries will become more fair. The system gets a chance to adjust itself.
2. It will be easier to retain the best employees because they’re more likely to feel they’re getting a fair salary.
3. The pressure is on the people with the high salaries to earn their keep. Everybody has to pull their weight – the higher the salary, the larger the weight.

I thought it was a pretty good case and figure not just companies but communities (like the church) could probably learn something from this.

As a church, we are a body of people who share some of the same beliefs. Some of these beliefs include this idea that we are “brothers and sisters,” that we should love one another, care for and meet the needs of one another. The idea of sharing all our possessions in common might be a little too radical for most, but maybe opening up our check registers and bank statements might be an honest way to start challenging ourselves and one another to live in a way we believe is Biblical.

I had a discussion the other night with a bunch of folks about stewardship, money, etc. and what the Bible says about it and what that means for our lives. I wanted the conversation to be very practical and relevant to our lives, specific to our lives even. I think some of what the conversation lacked though was the specifics. We talk about how we don’t really know how much someone might be giving, and I see the biblical justification for that (don’t make a show of your giving, etc), but I also think the reason we don’t challenge each other and a reason tithing is so stinking low in the church is that we our so secret and private with our money. Let’s be a little more open shall we?

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Hobbies: How many is too many?

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I think I have too many hobbies. When I was in high school I skied a couple of times and then I bought my own pair (big purchase) because I was so sure I was going to do it all winter. Then I only skied a couple more times ever. Summer rolled around and folks where playing roller hockey in the street, I picked myself up a pair of skates, certain I’d spend all summer out playing, and the skates sat on a shelf in the garage for nearly the rest of their lives. I did the same thing with multiple items, and I still find myself doing it. I buy a quality something because it’s something I really intend to take up, and I rarely do.
I think my skates are still sitting on a shelf in my parents garage. A guitar sits in my closet, I just sold a SLR camera that’s been sitting around, my Greek books were gathering dust on the shelf, multiple books I always intended to read stand unopened. None of these items are bad themselves, but I’m in need of a reality check.

I think we probably all need to assess our “hobbies” and relinquish most of them. If I ever want to pick up serious photograph again there’s cameras out there. For now I should probably just stick to playing soccer more with the new cleats I bought. I think one hobby is probably enough. You might be able to justify two, but only if you actually do them.
I always here people talk about being wise with your money doesn’t mean buying cheap it means buying quality, but I’d argue quality that sits gathering dust in the garage is probably not very wise either.

I’ve certainly got some more things I need to get rid of, reality check here we come.

Update: I totally forgot about my camping gear (tent, sleeping bags, sleeping mats, and a few doohickies)

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My response concerning high gas prices

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This was my response to my friend Gustave’s letter about high gas prices:

Goose,
my dear and wonderful friend. Let me start by saying I am quite naive to the large ramifications you’ve talked about here. I completely agree with you on everything you shared here.

Just so we get some clarifications on all this here is the basic jist of what happened:
I wrote off-handedly once about enjoying the fact that High gas prices has created a much greater interest and demand for fuel efficient cars, more people out biking to work, and more efforts in mass transit. In other words, I said I see a lot of benefits in the gas prices being high. I also feel like high gas prices reflect the actual cost of the use of that gas (as in damage to the environment, etc). I didn’t in any way imply that I like high gas prices, I like big powerful countries getting rich, I don’t care about the effects on the poor.

Again, I completely agree with everything that you said about the negative effects of high gas prices. I realize it hurts the poor and I think that sucks too. I also feel like really low gas prices aren’t going to help solve many problems either, they seem to create a slew of other problems. By the way, weren’t we in Micro-Econ together? Lower gas prices just means more people buying it, which means those companies and countries are still making a lot. I say we take out the CEO’s and others and we could offer some dirt cheap gas that way.

Seriously though, what are some solutions and problems solving techniques? Let’s commission city council to get public transit started in our area. How do we organize car pooling groups in the poor areas we live in? Could the government ration gas some those dimwits with their Hummers can’t drive them more then two blocks, but the neighbor can make it to and from work? How about promoting scooters more in poorer neighborhoods, those should solve the problem big time. This is the way I think; I like the big picture but I’m all about the practical.
I’ve filled up more then my fair share of guys gas cans and tanks in the past couple months (sure hope they were actually for their car).
Could churches offer free fill ups, gas cards, etc. in the neighborhoods they are a part of? Shouldn’t we be preaching all the stuff you shared from the pulpit?
Mostly what I’m saying is I hear you loud and clear, now what are we going to do about it?!

Let’s get a move on!

ariah.

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My essay for MinusCar…

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Wanted to point you to an essay I wrote for MinusCar.blogspot.com, a site dedicated to the idea of reducing our car use and trying alternative forms of transportation.

From
The MinusCar Project

In an age of massive consumerism, bigger is better, the person with the most toys wins mentality, some folks are starting to see that the Emperor is not wearing any clothes. For some they caught a glimpse of the recent movie concerning global warming, others it was their empty pocket book at the pump, others still have been riding their bikes around town all along.

And slowly, some people are getting it. Some of us are realizing it’s okay to slow down. Two car garages don’t necessitate two cars. Bike lanes aren’t a waste of space. Rush hour and traffic jams really are stealing away our lives. Suddenly people realize using your muscles and breaking a sweat isn’t just something you do at the gym or on the toilet.

Read the rest of the Essay…

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Further thoughts on Moderation (From Mel)

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Mel recently went to the dentist, where during the course of conversation about her going to do Peace-Corps, the dentist offered to do a small cosmetic procedure on her teeth for free, because he was touched by the work she was doing. She agreed to it, then had these thoughts to share in reference to a post I had written earlier about moderation.

From
Mel’s Xanga

Even though I didn’t pay for it, and it was really nice, now I am playing into our culture of consumption and perfection and cosmetic appeal. Now I’m one of those women who can say “I’ve had some work done…” Ick. Did I really need to have that done? Absolutely not–I’m happy with my teeth! At least now there’s no risk of them continuing to split up the notches until my tooth cracks, so that’s good. And going back, I would probably let him do it all over again, just because it was a nice thing that he wanted to do for me.
Still feels funny, though. And makes you think, what should our limits be? Joel and I are going to Africa soon, so we know our lifestyle will be forced to drastically change. In the meantime, we probably won’t stop eating out with my parents when they want to take us, because it’s a way we connect with them. But at the same time, that is contributing to our society’s need to have new things and big things all the time. And just because something is free, doesn’t mean we should take it.

So what are your thoughts?

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Being careful about our life of consumption (even when it’s free)

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Last week, Mindy and I went and enjoyed dinner (courtesy of a gift certificate from my work) and a movie (courtesy of inconvenientchristians.org) without our taking a dent in our pocket books. For better or worse (usually worse) I took a moment during our meal to bring up the conversation of how much is too much eating out. Mindy pointed out that the meal was free and I responded in saying that I still felt like it was “going out” and that we should have some sort of limit on it. It so happened that we were about to see our second movie of the week (the previous had also been free), and so mindy asked me how often I felt it was acceptable to go out to the movies in a given week. Initially, I responded “as much as you want as long as it’s free,” but then I reconsidered.

You see I think there is a culture of consumption about us and it’s not something I want to be a part of, regardless of how much I pay for it. I imagine with enough connections, I could go out to eat, to the movies and out to coffee daily without ever having to pay a penny. Yet, even if it never cost a dime, I still feel a bit uncomfortable with our superfulous consumerist lifestyle.
Though I don’t have any those connections to free meals, we do get free movie screening passes, gift cards for the holidays and much more from friends and family. I don’t believe we should be employing a “if you got it, spend it” type attitude with these things either.

Mindy and I have decided to take a step in downsizing. For us that means that we will only eat out twice a month. This is a good step (it does not include coffee), and a very encouraging moment for me. Maybe we’ll decide we need to reduce this even more, or eliminate it completely, but for now it’s a step on the journey.

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Skepticism about travel

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I’m certainly open to other thoughts and opinions on this one, but lately I’ve been pretty skeptical of travel. I’ll explain more later, but I wanted to throw something out there and see how many people wanted to commment back on it.

I’ve always wanted to travel the world, backpack Europe, cruise the USA and South America, and visit lot’s of countries. Now, I’ve felt like all those desires are really just selfish. It just seems wrong when there is so much need in the world for me to be spending my leisure traveling. Even if I did it in the name of “missions” and a desire to help people, I just don’t think it would fly in my mind. I’m feeling lately that my desire to travel is something I need to forego in this lifetime.

Now, I’ve made exceptions, I’ve traveled and will travel to visit family and friends on occassion. I’m not saying you have to stay in one place forever, but short term stuff just seems tough for me to justify in my mind.

I know people will have opinions on this one, let me hear them.

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If only we all gave away this percentage…

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One of the richest dudes in the world is giving away 85% of his wealth, if only we could all follow his example.

True I’m usually one to rant about our gross superfluous wealth in this country (and if you do the calculations, 15% of Buffet’s net worth is still a heck of a lot of money), but I figure I should try and take a more positive look at the moment.

Jesus gave the example of the women who put her two coins in and how commendable that was because it was all she had. That story can easily be trivialized because two coins really isn’t that much and (in our minds) she could probably find that much on the ground or begging for a few minutes. Regardless, Jesus uses that story to challenge us, and I think there is an opportunity to be challenged by this story as well.

Warren Buffett, and Bill & Melinda Gates for that matter, have been shining examples of stepping out against the values of our society, which argue that acquiring wealth and amassing your own fortune is the ultimate goal. They are making a statement that says something quite different, a hat tip to the pleasure and satisfaction one receives by giving to the needs of others. An acknowledgment that we were created to live in community and were created to serve the needs of one another. Maybe these big time philanthropist will spur others on to some more radical giving (and by radical I mean 99% of their fortune or something like that).

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Abba Ephrem gives his thoughts on Righteousness and Stuff

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Abba Ephrem also said,

“God sells righteousness at a very low price to those who wish to buy it: a little piece of bread, a cloak of no value, a cup of water, a mite.”

Woe to me. How much bigger the plank in my eye then the speck in my brothers. I realize often how far short of the righteous, selfless calling of God that I see in the Bible. I spend the morning writing a post about how surrendering means giving up things, and I feel puffed up pointing out others faults and list none of my own.
I like to eat. Far too often I eat more then I need for my own good and I indulge on the things that I will enjoy. I hide my desire for pleasure in a cloak of fair trade and financial stewardship.
I excuse laziness as faithful stewardship and sacrificial living.

How dare I spend my mornings passing judgement on those around me when I two stand so far from God’s standard and calling for following Christ.