This is an exerpt from an email from my friend working in Guatemala:

“Hey I really appreciate you giving some of your manna to me. The same day that you told me you were going to give me the money, I was in a counseling session with one of the girls from the young mum´s group. This is one of the poorest families that we work with and her Dad is in jail and her Mum is in and out of work all the time. Thus this girl, who is 14, is often looking for work. We want her to finish school though, so I was trying to think what she could do that could help her to earn some money. I started thinking that I would like to maybe start teaching her and some of the other clients how to make jewelry and then they could sell it to try and get a little bit of an income…I don´t know if it would work as a business project, but even if it was only fun and they just earned a little bit of money that would be good too. So I was thinking that I might also, if I get the go-ahead from my boss, start doing this group and use the money you give to buy the essentials and first part of the kit and beads and everything…

This is Gem writing now.

Ok I confess there are days when I feel a bit resentful for all the things I could have bought if I had have kept my $950. But when I received the above email (as corny as this may sound) all that resentment kind of melted away. Like yeah, I could have bought a really hot new pair of pants or gone for a facial or had a real nice dinner at a fancy restaurant or more subduedly, saved it for my future travel. But even better than that is the thought of helping a young 14 year old girl in Guatamala earn a little bit of cash and stay in school.

To listen to the files, just click on them or to download them to your computer right click on the link and select ‘save target as’.

3Aw interview – Simon Moyle with Derryn Hinch

3AW callers

How about using Kev’s manna to stimulate some generosity?

Sometimes the economy should take a back seat to fostering a good society.

THIS week a lump-sum payment will drop into many of our bank accounts like manna from Kevin. No doubt many of us will seize on it with glee, seeing it as an opportunity to buy that latest piece of technological wizardry, or pay off that relentless credit card bill.

Most of the analysis of the stimulus package has revolved around the macro-economic issues — whether it will work to stimulate the economy. What the debate has lacked is the question of whether such payments are good for us as individuals and as a nation, how they form our character, for good or ill.

Character might seem like a tedious or moralistic question to ask at a time of seeming crisis, but it is precisely at times of crisis that personal and national character is most revealing. Most of the stories defining Australia’s national character have been forged in times of war, or bushfire, or other difficulty. It has always been our response to these crises that has supposedly defined us — courage in the face of hardship, pulling together in hard times.

Yet this time we are being given a wad of cash and encouraged to indulge our way out of trouble. Far from requiring moral courage or toughness or a willingness to sacrifice, such measures are more likely to make us more fearful, self-indulgent and greedy.

For example, it is easy to forget that we are involved in two wars, such is our standard of living. My grandparents still tell proudly of the belt-tightening that was seen as civic duty during previous war times. It was a way of contributing to the war effort, of taking collective responsibility for bearing costs.

We could see the changes in economic fortune since then as evidence of progress, but more likely it demonstrates that war has become a costless exercise for all but those with family members serving, leading to widespread disengagement and apathy about the real costs of war.

Furthermore, these payments are a worrying indication of the increasing alignment between the concepts of “citizen” and “consumer”. The good, responsible citizen is the one who participates most fully in the consumer economy. Those who don’t, or can’t, are somehow less important, because they are not contributing. It seems that whatever disaster befalls us, a terrorist attack or a financial meltdown, we are told our patriotic duty is to shop.

This week we have the opportunity to ask ourselves what kind of people we want to be.

With crises come opportunities. Instead of using these payments to further the fragmentation and greed of our society, we can put them towards selfless acts of generosity to those less fortunate, thereby building bonds between people that go far beyond financial ties.

Friends of mine have come up with a number of creative, selfless ways to use this money. One person I know is going to change some of it into $5 notes so when she visits the city with her young son he can give it to buskers and beggars. Another friend is using it to throw a “stimulus party” for his street to help develop a sense of cohesion among his neighbours. Others will pool their funds to employ someone who has lost their job to spearhead a project for their community.

Consider also the impact a financial crisis has on the non-profit sector who work to support the most vulnerable in our community and around the world. At a recent forum, such organisations were encouraged to slash their already emaciated budgets by 30 per cent in anticipation of the flow-through impact of the crisis. Yet if middle-income earners are feeling the pinch, imagine the effects on those who are already at risk of falling into serious poverty. It is times like these that donations to such organisations should increase, not decrease.

If we intentionally include the soil, water, plants, and native animals in our sense of community, it might also help us consider using the money in ways that are affirming of the earth and our place in it. Putting the money towards solar panels or rainwater tanks, or building a vegetable garden in your yard would be a responsible contribution to the wider economy. After all, every liquid asset we have ultimately comes from the earth; it seems appropriate to return the favour.

No matter how you spend your stimulus payment, may it foster a cohesive, responsible society with a focus on those who usually miss out. That way, even if the stimulus package is unsuccessful in stimulating the economy, it will have stimulated growth in our generosity and national character.

Simon Moyle is public engagement co-ordinator at Urban Seed, a Christian-based non-profit organisation that helps marginalised people.

I have been involved in a number of conversations as well as reading peoples ideas online and I often find myself thinking “Yes, I SHOULD do that,” but soon feel the grey cloud of guilt creep over as I consider the option of paying off the debt that my wife and I have recently incurred, getting panniers for my bike or, God forbid, something more enjoyable.

The question I keep bringing myself back to is, how do we bring life to the world? Or in the words of the Lord’s Prayer how can we participate in God’s kingdom coming?   While generosity and the discipline of giving money away is a vital part of living that reality, and I find the idea of putting it under my bed somewhat intriguing, I would like to broaden the discussion to other life giving options that are in the same spirit without resorting to legalism or rampant consumerism. If, in the end, the discussion becomes one of “either/or” I fear many will just choose the plasma screen.

A few options or combinations I have been pondering include:
·    Consider it an act of Jubilee and use it to pay off your debts, then consider forgiving someone if they are in debt to you.
·    Buy a bike and ride to work; you’ll end up spending less in the long run.
·    Turn it into change and commit to “employing” your local buskers for the next year to keep your city/town vibrant.
·    Get chickens and keep your friends and neighbours in eggs.
·    If you or someone you know is in genuine need, use it for food, rent etc.
·    Give it to an overseas aid organisation.
·    Throw a stimulus party for your street and use it as a chance to get to know your neighbours.
·    Do the course/take the lessons that you have always wanted to do and never got around to so you can draw, dance, sew, play, cook, garden, swim, etc.
·    Use it to top up your existing budget and buy organic, local or ethical if you usually can’t afford it.

Mark 5: 21-43

……..Jesus arrived by bus back at the northern suburbs. A huge crowd of shoppers gathered to meet him at the entrance to Northlands shopping centre, and a man named Mr Jones — a respected business leader — was among them. Mr Jones fell on his knees at Jesus’ feet and begged him repeatedly, “I am on the verge of defaulting on the mortgage repayments for my commercial venture at Northlands. Come and bail me out so that my livelihood might be saved.” Jesus agreed and went with him. Much of the crowd tagged along, all jostling and pushing, trying to be near him.
……..Hiding amongst the shoppers was a welfare recipient suffering from prolonged financial crisis due to stolen wages and generational poverty. Since the previous recession her money troubles had meant that everyone treated her as a dole bludger and an economic liability. She had spent all her money on financial counsellors, compensation claim lawyers and get-rich-quick charlatans who had signed her up to everything under the sun. Despite all their budgets and submissions and pyramid schemes, her debt just kept getting worse. She had heard about Jesus and was sure he was her last chance. Unnoticed, she pushed her way through the shoppers and managed to pull out a hard luck story. She was thinking to herself, “Surely even picking up a few dollars will be enough to turn things around and help put me back in the black.”
……..Sure enough, the moment she did it, she felt the financial haemorrhaging stop. She could feel a real change in herself and she knew that she was finally free of her debts. Jesus felt something too, a sudden discharge of purchasing power. He spun around, looking at the crowd, and asked, “Who’s got some money out of me?”
……..“Who hasn’t?!” his disciples asked incredulously. “If these bargain hunters shake you down much more they’ll have to scan you through the checkouts, so there’s not much point asking who got money out of you.”
……..But Jesus knew that it was something more than that and kept looking around to see who it was. The woman knew he meant her, and she knew that she was going to be found out. Shaking with fear, because she had put everyone’s financial security at risk, she fell at his feet and spilled out the whole story. But Jesus lifted her by the hand and said to her, “Daughter, you took a risk of faith and it has paid off for you. Welcome back to the world where there is enough for all! May peace, health and happiness be yours, and may your debts be gone for good.”
……..As he was saying this, some people arrived from Mr Jones’s home and said, “It’s too late. You’ve been declared bankrupt.  It’s no use bothering the consultant now.”
……..But Jesus heard what they were saying, and said to Mr Jones, “Don’t give up. Trust me.”
……..He sent the shoppers on their way and wouldn’t let anyone come with them except Peter and the brothers, James and John. When they arrived at the shop of the business leader, it was in a state of chaos. Everywhere there were people catastrophising, and you could hardly move for financial counsellors, neighbouring shop owners, and people bearing dire predictions and credit  agency brochures. Jesus didn’t mince his words: “That’s enough. You have not lost your security.  There will still be enough.”
……..But they rubbished him. They knew he was stuffed. Unperturbed, Jesus took charge of the situation and kicked them all outside. Taking only the business owners and his three companions, he went into the room where the bank’s letter was laid out. He took it in his hand and ripped it to bits and said, “Participate in the Economy of God!” which is a way of saying, “When the world operates God’s way there is enough for all.” That was all it took —suddenly their sense of security was alive and well, with the wealth of community relationships developed over the last economic cycle! Of course everyone there was blown away — overcome with joy and amazement. Jesus gave them strict instructions not to breathe a word of this to anybody. Then he said, “The economic justice and wellbeing of your community needs an investment of your time and attention.  Give it some.”

©2000 Nathan Nettleton www.laughingbird.net
Adapted by Samara Pitt for Lent, 2009

I think the government message to be a good consumer has lacked important information about what type of spending will help the local economy. Perhaps I’m making an assumption and the government’s intention is to maintain the global economy? If I use the cash to support local small businesses who share a concern for the environment and community, then I believe the cash can contribute positively to my neighbourhood.

Looking at the broader picture though, I know that people in developing countries have struggles beyond my comprehension. Donating the money to an organisation working on community development and aid would be worthwhile. Similarly, knowing the wealth of my heritage has been bought at the expense of lost land, lives and health of the Indigenous people, the money would be justly spent if put towards reconciliation efforts.

When it comes to deciding how to spend the cash handout, to be honest, I am struggling. I became a disability-pension recipient last year. I have also had low income for many years due to faith-based decisions related to vocation. I would never claim to have chosen voluntary poverty as fully as others have, but working for justice, for the church, has meant a constant of low income. I don’t regret these decisions – I have loved my work, and would not have been happy remaining in teaching. But the consequences of faith and vocation are beginning to settle in. I’m single, over forty and don’t have my own home. Some things that I guess I unconsciously expected to have in life are now beyond my reach.

In my current circumstances, I am grateful for the pension as it contributes to my good health. I manage financially due to the generosity of family and friends. It means however, I am in a kind of virtual perpetual debt to family. I have not found it easy to be unable to support myself and have had to learn to swallow my pride.

Despite my circumstances, I don’t feel poor, or do I need to – it would be hypocritical to do so.
My wealth is in my heritage and simply in the richness of being alive. So how I spend the cash handout involves not just an evaluation of my bills for this year, but also how my conscience, and faith, leads me.

Years ago I was challenged by the example of friends who, on a very low income themselves, took the story of the Good Samaritan as their model for tithing. They took the injunction to ‘love your neighbour as yourself’ as the rule for their practice of giving. After paying bills, rent and food, they divided the remainder of their income, giving away fifty-percent in tithes. This made their life more difficult financially but was a faithful act that trusted in the abundance of God.

I accept the need to be challenged on my spending habits and irresponsible use of money. I struggle to stick to a budget and often shop beyond my means, especially when buying books and clothes. Sometimes it’s pointless retail therapy, sometimes the enjoyment of material things. It is rarely from need. Perhaps these are things a Christian shouldn’t admit to? I could choose to keep the money to help pay bills. But even as I write about the options I have, I feel shame as I remember the people I met in South Africa, who sleep on cardboard on the pavement, own nothing, and are the inheritors of generations of oppression. I can choose whether to keep the money or not. So many people do not have such luxury.

I find myself embracing the challenge to practice restraint and responsibility in money matters, and choosing not to be a ‘good consumer’ just for the sake of mindless consumption. As a country I hope we can move beyond consumer-driven fixes and learn economic responsibility for creating humanitarian and environmental justice for all.

It probably hasn’t escaped your notice that we are in the midst of a global economic meltdown. At least this is what we are continually being told anyway. However the experiences of this will be quite different amongst readers – while the lives of some may already have been turned upside, others will hardly have noticed its effects at all, except perhaps for a $900 cheque in the mail any time now. This can make it all seem a bit surreal; nevertheless it is real, and by the end of the year most of us will have felt its impact in some way.

Preparing for the impact

It is a sobering thought, but if the current economic forecasts are in the right ballpark, then some reading this newsletter may lose their jobs in the next twelve months. It is clear that all sorts of different sectors of the economy are already feeling the strain of economic contraction, including odd little independent Christian ministries that bang on about economics.

What role does our faith play in how we prepare for and respond to this?

The first thing we must face up to is that ‘having faith’ does not in any way make us immune from suffering the effects of this economic crisis. The core promise of Jesus (expressed in the name ‘Immanuel’) is that God is with us in the good times and bad, and not that God removes us from the bad times. We are bound together with the broader community of humanity and we share a common fate – this is as it should be. The questions of faith have to do with how we respond to suffering and not how we evade it.

So like many others, some good and faithful Christian folk will lose their jobs (and probably already have) through no fault of their own. Others will be forced to live on lower incomes. This is a devastating blow for anyone, and although our circumstances are nothing like those in the 1930s Great Depression, there will be real hardship. How will we face it and how will we support each other?

1. In all things it is important to keep perspective – one important resource for coping with a significant change in income and living standard is learning to see how wealthy we (in Australia) actually are. Indeed this is perhaps the first necessary step in any economic reorientation. Maintaining a sense of clarity and thankfulness about the things we do have is a source of enormous spiritual resilience.

2. We need to look for and positively accept some of the lessons that the economic crisis will offer us:

a. There will be new opportunities to explore different forms of job sharing. One of these – and it is already starting to happen – is accepting fewer hours of work (and therefore lower incomes) so that jobs can be saved. This has been needed for a long time, but now will become more possible.

b. There will be a need for new initiatives in community cooperation to support those who have lost employment. These will necessarily involve material and emotional support but could also begin to help redefine a more positive and less individualistic approach to work: what work does the community need and how will the community resource it?

c. There will be opportunities to learn a greater generosity of spirit that includes our material goods.

d. We will need to learn new economic habits – we will have to downscale our consumption, learn greater maintenance and care for what we do have and learn to live within our means rather than on credit.

3. In all of this, it will be important to be building a sense of why this is happening. Having some understanding of the impersonal political and economic forces behind this upheaval will not lessen the hardship for anyone who has lost their job, but if we learn from it, it can instil a sense of purpose and resolve about what sort of economic and political system we strive for as individuals and as citizens. This is another powerful source of spiritual and psychological resilience in the face of hardship.

All of these things are things we need to learn irrespective of the present economic crisis. Can we take up the challenge willingly? Given that we are currently in the season of Lent, it would not be inappropriate to even look on these lessons as an opportunity for economic repentance. The Greek word for repentance [metanoia] means to renew your mind; this cannot be forced on anyone – it has to be chosen.

Can we afford to move away from a consumer economy?

Let’s be honest – the economic crisis throws up as many big questions and challenges for those of us interested in an alternative economics as it does for the evangelists of unrestrained capitalism.

For while times of crisis present times of opportunity, we are also presented with the very real human cost of such an event. So many jobs here and abroad have grown up around decades of rampant consumerism, can we now responsibly reduce our consumption? What about the impact on jobs, both here and abroad?

So keeping this questions in mind, let’s put it into perspective:

1. While the financial meltdown (which has now turned into an economic meltdown) has completely dominated our attention, developing countries have been suffering an even more serious economic crisis for a longer period of time. Between mid 2007 and mid 2008 the prices of food staples such as wheat, rice and corn shot up, in some cases more than doubling. While we experienced this as an annoying increase in our grocery bill, in the developing world an additional 75 million people went hungry resulting in food riots across three continents. The causes of this food crisis are multiple and complex, but it is very much a product of the present system.

2. To argue for the status quo out of concern for people’s welfare ignores the very fact that the current shock and trauma is a product of the present economic system and its own inherent contradictions, and not product of any steady shift away from irresponsible and unsustainable economic behaviour.

3. A more responsible economy is going to require massive job creation. Most importantly, a shift to more responsible agriculture (less dependence on petroleum inputs, better stewardship of soils, water and habitat, lower green house gas emissions) will be highly labour intensive, in Australia as well as in developing countries. Likewise, there is whole raft of ‘green jobs’ which do not yet exist but will become essential to our ongoing economy.

4. Our current world economy is so ecologically unsustainable that continuing on with the status quo is the surest way to ensure mass suffering on a scale we cannot conceive. The potential economic impact of climate change and resource depletion in the coming century makes the current crisis look like a Sunday School role play. Simply put, we do not have an option.

Manna from Kevin

This all brings us to a more direct and immediate questions. Sometime in April many of us will once again be showered in unlooked-for manna from Kevin – $900 if you are lucky enough to be on an income below $80,000. What then should we do with it?

The message from the Government is that we should use this money to consume our way out of recession. The cash hand-out is part of a much larger overall economic stimulus package which has the ultimate aim of keeping money circulating through the economy. This is undoubtedly necessary – while the amount that should be spent (and debt that is incurred) is debatable, it would irresponsible to just let things collapse.

The more important question is how the money is spent. In one sense this is a golden opportunity – the much bigger issues of climate change, resource depletion and waste all require a massive effort of spending and human energy to begin to shift our economy onto a less self-destructive footing. Some of this is being done under the current package – things such as insulation rebates and water efficiency measures – although in a less than visionary manner.

However the purpose of the $900 cash hand out is simply this: shop ‘til you drop. It is yet another development of the disturbing idea that a citizen’s duty is to consume. It says that even though the current crisis is a manifestation of our collective greed, and even though this greed is killing the planet and creating poverty, we are determined to do more of the same.

It is in just such a context that Jesus calls us to do something different.: ‘Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it’ (Matthew 7:13).

The only responsible thing to do with such a massive splurge of public money is to put it towards healing. There are many different ways in which this could done (see the box for some suggestions) and it is appropriate that we take time to actually think and talk about it. Whether you use the money materially or symbolically is probably not important – what is important is that it makes a statement: we need to change.

Jonathan Cornford, MANNA GUM

And in the midst of this comes a call from our government to throw off restraint, and use government money to splurge on ourselves.  Spend on yourself! – and in so doing, save the economy.

To me that throws into stark relief the contrast between the logic of the world and the logic of the church, and gives plenty of reason for thinking more deeply and more theologically about what a Christian response in all of this might be.  Do we simply go along with the wide road of public opinion and ignore our tradition, our story?  Or do we take the narrow and difficult road though it might be more lonely?

It goes to the heart of questions of faith – what do we trust in to save us?  Is it the “economy”, this Manna from Kevin?  Or is it the salvation story we see in Jesus, in which we too are called to walk through the rhythms of the church year?

Certainly austerity has its excesses, and self denial can be destructive.  But our culture is known for its suspicion of discipline and self-control, and not for its suspicion of excess.  Yet it is excess that has caused this crisis, and which fuels our growing ecological crisis.

Seems like Lent is exactly what we need at this particular point in time.

On that morning, still nursing a vague hope that the dreadful predictions might be overly pessimistic, I turned the page to read about the global economic crisis and the federal government’s proposed $42 billion stimulus package. A photographic ‘vox pop’ asked a range of Australians how they would spend the cash handouts that would comprise part of the package. Acknowledging the need to spend the money (after all, it was designed to ‘stimulate’ the economy) they responded with, “Pay off bills and credit cards, buy an iPod, a romantic dinner out, a new washing machine….etc.” If the proposal was approved, I realised, then as one of the multitudes of Australians earning less than $100,000 a year, I would be eligible for a payment. Unsure what to make of this, but inevitably imagining what I might do with the cash, I took another sip of my latte. The heat felt ominous.

Turning to the opinion pages, I came across a piece by Simon Moyle, a colleague of mine at Urban Seed. Reflecting on our work with people in the grip of drug or gambling addictions, his article posed that global warming, linked to our society’s dependence on cheap energy, might also be understood in terms of addiction. The same dynamic is at work. “Rudd’s recent ‘consume our way out of recession’ policies are a perfect example,” Simon wrote, referring to the cash handouts. “Despite the fact that we know our overconsumption is accelerating global warming, this Government, which was elected on taking “real action on climate change”, is encouraging us to buy more, consume more… Yet without the Earth there is no human life and no economy.” These words proved more poignant than on any other day.

Finishing my coffee, stepping outside the café, I was assaulted by a blast of suffocating, hairdryer-like air, I considered where I might go to spend the day in airconditioned comfort. The local shopping centre? Mea Culpa.

Over the next 24 hours, the surreal, horrific effects began to reveal themselves. I heard many people say that Saturday afternoon felt apocalyptic. By Sunday morning the cool change had well and truly arrived, but the wind change it brought with it did not bode well for the fires. I spoke to my friend Sarah who told me shakily that a close friend of her husband, who had been visiting his parents in one of the affected regions, had been missing overnight. She knocked on my door a couple of hours later, ashen-faced. “They found his body,” she told me. Without the Earth there is no human life and no economy. We hugged and wept.

During the terrible week that followed we were warned that, with global temperatures set to rise further, fires like these would only become more common during Victorian summers. I continued to return to Simon’s article. He is no more of an expert on global warming or economic policy than I am. But he is a passionate follower of Jesus who has sought to ‘be the change he wants to see’ in the world through slow, costly, patient action in his life. He is convinced of the power of symbolic action. His gut tells him that what we need are not policies to reinforce our destructive habits, but communities animated by hope, able to imagine an alternative future. Communities who remind each other not to put blind faith in any human-made economic system. Communities who remember that the only ‘real’ economy is the earth, to which we must pay the greatest respect.

A week later, the package to stimulate the economy was approved. After adopting the changes negotiated in the Senate, $12 billion was allocated for one-off cash bonuses. For example if you, like me, have a taxable income of less than $80,000, you will receive a payment of $900. There is wide disagreement on whether this is good economics, or good politics for that matter. Not many people remind us of what a letter from Tear Australia reminded me recently: that 40 million people worldwide are predicted to fall into dire poverty as a result of the global credit crisis. Most of them aren’t earning 40, 60 or 80,000 a year.

Well might we listen to advice that it is our civic duty to spend the money before “the global economic recession wreaks havoc” on our country. Yet as I understand it, the global ‘credit’ crisis is nothing more than a crisis of debt. A crisis brought about by an addiction to consumption. A crisis being tackled by a package that requires our government to borrow more money. Research released yesterday confirmed that more than a third of the payments made as part of the Government’s $8.7 billion stimulus in December were used for extra payments on credit cards. Is something wrong here?

I am part of Loam, a Seeds community in Preston. Like the other Seedy mobs, we believe enough in the Kingdom of God, or the Economy of God, to seek to embody it in our own small, faltering ways. I could never attempt to hold my own against the abstracted spin of Wayne Swan. Joe Hockey would tear me to pieces! But what I can do, with my community, is attempt to live out what I believe. So over the next few weeks Loam will be discussing this issue at a really practical level: what will we do with the money that the tax office will put in our bank accounts in April? I want to argue that this is a question that relates not to civic duty but to faith, morality and the guts of what we believe about the world we live in.

by Kate Allen