GOD'S ECONOMY: HOUSE RULES
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GOD’S ECONOMY: HOUSE RULES
The news media are all covering “Occupy Wall Street”, the populist movement.
If you have started your winter hibernation early and somehow missed the hull-a-
balloo, here’s your news flash!!! Ordinary women and men are so tired, angry,
frustrated, outraged and just plain disgusted that they are taking to the streets. Not
the battered and flattened streets of Joplin, Missouri after the EF5 tornado.1 Not the
broken alleyways of New Orleans, still gutted by Hurricane Katrina. Not the burned-
over ash tracks of Bastrop County, Texas. No these angry Americans are marching on
the financial centers of Wall Street, in New York City; the Beltway in Washington, DC;
and the central business districts of Denver, Los Angeles, Seattle, and dozens of other
cities. By yesterday the movement had spread to Europe, Asia and Australia.
Regrettably in Rome, Italy yesterday, a group of violent anarchists hijacked a portion
of this peaceful movement, and caused significant property damage and many human
injuries. But back in the US, the peaceful Occupy Movement went on a “Billionaire’s
March” through the upper East Side of New York City where the vast estates of media
baron Rupert Murdock, Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, and Goldman Sachs
Investment leaders all have their addresses. The men and women of the Occupy
Movement originally had as many reasons for protest as there are diverse voices in
these United States. But the deep and wide gap in social and economic disparity; the
influence of money on politics; and unmitigated corporate greed have emerged as
uniting themes. “Investment banks were bailed out but homeowners were kicked
out,” is a slogan that touches millions of raw nerves.
No one is in charge. No publication carried uniform news of the Occupy
Movement until this week. But there is a core gripe that protestors share and it has
to do with the economy. Why, they want to know, in the richest country on earth,
are 22% of its children living in poverty?2 Why can’t they find work that will let them
feed and shelter their families? Why is the rate of poverty in Kenosha County now
1
Enhanced Fujita Scale 5 most severe, very little left in its wake
2
http://www.nccp.org/publications/pub_912.html
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HOUSE RULES sjnathan 1above 10%,3 higher than the national average? Why are so many well-educated young
people without job prospects? Why are there STILL such huge differences between
black and white employment? Between Latino and white employment? How can a
human being be called ANY kind of alien? When will this nightmare stop? Where IS
the American dream?
One thing is very certain. This is NOT God’s dream. God’s dream is Life
Abundant. God’s economy sets a place at the table for ALL of us. God’s care and
concern is a preference to wipe away the tears of those who weep and bind up the
wounds of those who bleed. We know this through thousands of years of reading and
studying our holy books. These books repeatedly define God’s economy. Now let us
be very clear about two things this morning—
What do we mean in this scientific and technological era, by “God?”
What, on earth, THIS earth, do we mean by “God’s economy?”
First—God. “We can neither praise God nor love the world if we have not
thought through who God is and how we should love the world.”4 This is why YOUR
theology matters. Theology just means words about God: “theos” – “logos.” Every
human has a right to think about and talk about God. For Christians it is more than a
right, it is a freely chosen responsibility. We live to give God glory by loving the
world and everything in it. As long ago as the 3rd Century, Bishop Irenaeus, a Father
of the entire Christian Church said, “The Glory of God is every creature fully alive.”
The glory of God—well—what SORT of God? Who is God in the 21st century? For
myself, I have adopted the credo of Sallie McFague, an American ecotheologian who is
now the distinguished scholar in residence at Vancouver School of Theology in British
Columbia. In her powerful book, Life Abundant: Rethinking Theology and Economy
for a Planet in Peril, McFague said this. It is the very best description of what I have
come to believe, heart and soul, about the Divine.
3
http://media.journalinteractive.com/images/POVERTY20G‐2.jpg
4
McFague, Sallie. Life Abundant: Rethinking Theology and Economy for a Planet in Peril. Minneapolis: Fortress
Press, 2001, P. 25
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HOUSE RULES sjnathan 2I believe in God, the Creator and Sustainer of ALL life; in Jesus Christ, in whom
we see God at work for the flourishing of life; and in the Spirit who works in us so we
might live from, toward, and with God. This God is my Source, my Way, my Goal.
This God is more awesome than all the galaxies in the cosmos—yet nearer to me than
my own breath. This God invites all of us to live together in community, as the
beloved of God’s own self.5 Who is God to you?
Now, about God’s economy. In the first Testament, when Moses was away
from his flock, too long in prayer with his God on the mountain top, the people grew
restless. They made a golden calf of melted trinkets from their travels. In their
vanity, they made God as small as a baby cow.
Our people restlessly explored this land from coast to coast. Our leaders grew
very vain about the empire they established and they created a God in their own
image, a bronzed bull, the pride of Wall Street. But where is that God now? Even
before this current Great Recession, the people were becoming unhappy with the God
of Wall Street. Although many had houses the size of barns, on happiness scales they
scored low. Even though during this Great Recession, luxury items such as an Hermès
exotic animal skin handbag--at $5,300 to $50,$000 EACH--cannot stay on the shelves,
on happiness scales the people score lower than some in so-called 3rd world countries.
How can this be? Don’t the Ivy League schools, the private swimming pools, the
sparkling cars and precious jewels make people happy? Ahhhhhhhhh, no, they don’t.
Robert Bellah, the American sociologist and educator, who was awarded the National
Humanities Medal by President Clinton in 2000, said this:
“That happiness is to be attained through limitless material acquisition is
denied by every religion and philosophy known to human kind, but is
preached incessantly by every American television.”6
5
McFague, P.23
6
Robert Bellah as quoted in Durning,Alan. How Much Is Enough: the Consumer Society and the Future of the
Earth. New York: WW Norton, 1992. P. 147
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HOUSE RULES sjnathan 3Over and over again, the people who score the highest on the happiness scales
are folks like firemen and school teachers—and yes, ministers. Psychologists say that
is because being of service to one another is a powerful key to open the happiness
doorway. Pastor Rick Warren of the hugely popular Saddleback Church in Southern
California would say those people live purpose-driven lives.
So then, what IS our purpose in the 21st century? That’s where God’s House
Rules for the economy apply—to our hearts, our minds, our very lives, to our inborn
sense of fair play. If God’s House Rules were followed, there would be no Occupy
Wall Street movement, and there would be far, far less pain around this planet.
Our word for house, our word for economy and our word for family all derive
from the same Greek word, oikos. In God’s economy, these three units are also
closely connected. Here are the House Rules for God’s Economy7:
One--Take only your share. Well, OK, what is my share? And who says so? Common
sense at home tells us not to raid the ‘fridge. That’s because when it’s empty we will
have to refill it. That means leaving the comfort of home; using fuel to get more
groceries; buying stuff that was not on the budget. If we do this late at night in many
small towns, there is no all-night Walmart to serve us. We will just have to live with
an empty fridge. The planet is our ‘fridge, and friends, there is no all night open re-
supply when we clean it out. My share or your share is what we need for a decent
life: food, shelter, clothing, medical care, education. If we have these things we
have the reasonable possibility of happiness in life—that is—health and human
fulfillment. Following this rule, take only your share, will not guarantee that all will
prosper, but it will sure help level the playing field. It means we have the power to
curb our appetites for more, more, more.
Two--Clean up after yourselves. Cleaning up after ourselves means taking care of
our waste, recycling it so its energy can be used again. Our house is a sphere that
functions by processes of energy input and energy output. We cannot survive in a
7
McFague. P. 122‐123
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HOUSE RULES sjnathan 4throw -away society where pollution (output) overtakes energy sources (input). The
house will become full of hot poisonous gasses, the water will fill with deadly debris,
and we will not have clean breathable air or real food.
Three--Keep the house in good shape for the kids and the grandkids. Native
Americans put this rule another way in a proverb: We do not inherit the earth from
our ancestors. We borrow it from our children. We not only don’t own this house of
ours, we don’t even pay rent. Our home is on loan to us with the caution that we
obey the first two rules, so that our sphere can continue to feed, shelter, nurture and
delight us and our children and their children, and their children.
God’s House Rules are there, underlying all life. But we can choose to go around
them or break them, because we are formed with radical freedom to choose. Thing
is, there are always consequences for our choices. These House Rules are the
conditions of our very existence, and they are essential to our happiness.
If we follow these three simple rules, we will find ourselves living within a different
vision of the good life. We might accept the greatest calling of our lives. This true
vocation for all of us is described best by Dr. Robert Costanza. He’s not a church
person. But he sounds like a minister of life.
“Probably the most challenging task facing humanity today is the creation
of a shared vision of a sustainable and desirable society, one that can
provide permanent prosperity within the biophysical constraints of the
real world--in a way that is fair and equitable to all of humanity, to other
species, and to future generations.”8
Robert Costanza is the founder of the International Society for Ecological Economics.
He is the author of more than 400 scientific papers and 22 books. His research has
been cited in more than 6,000 scientific articles. Scientific articles are not the
Gospel. But our readings this morning, that predate both Sallie McFague and Robert
Costanza by thousands of years—our readings this morning sounded the very same
8
Costanza, Robert, et al. An Introduction to Ecological Economics. Boca Raton: St. Lucie, 1997. P. 179
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HOUSE RULES sjnathan 5themes. Psalm 96 speaks to us of the beauty and joy of God’s good creation. In this
morning’s reading from Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus tells us how to apportion our needs
and our wants within that creation. When he told the hypocritical faith leaders that
people were to pay the Imperial Tax, he knew it was a special tax on people who had
been occupied by force and that if they did not pay it they would be killed. Jesus is
always on the side of life, the fullness of life, the goodness of life. The glory of God
is every creature, fully alive.
Jesus is on the side of sharing rather than hoarding (Gospel of Luke 12:20). He
tells us that the measure we give is the measure that will be given back to us, spilling
over into our own laps.(Luke 6:38). Jesus is on the side of supplying our real needs
when we ask in his name—that means with humilty. (John 14:14). In the prayer he
taught us (Matt 6:9-15) Jesus invites us to respond to one another as kindred members
within the circle of God’s good creation. Because the glory of God is every creature,
fully alive.
So forever, as people of faith, no matter our denomination, we have a place
and a vocation. Our place is planet Earth; our vocation is working with God for the
flourishing of all life in our home.9
Then let our hearts be filled this morning with the love of our Source, our Way
and our Goal. Let us be assured that this vast and beautiful and generous and tender
God loves us with surprising, surpassing, superabundant love—and this God accepts U
turns on our journey—our highway to give God glory by loving the world and
everything in it--our road home to our Source. AMEN
9
McFague. P.21
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