Personal Stewardship and Spiritual Formation
August 12, 2006
Here is one of the best essays I have seen on the economic principles of Christian stewardship. I have never been comfortable with the “simple living” approach often taught in the church.
Kruse Kronicle: Theology and Economics: Personal Stewardship and Spiritual Formation
One of my favorite Proverbs is Proverbs 30:8-9 (NRSV):
Remove far from me falsehood and lying;
give me neither poverty nor riches;
feed me with the food that I need,
or I shall be full, and deny you,
and say, “Who is the LORD?”
or I shall be poor, and steal,
and profane the name of my God.As Christians there are only two relationships to material possessions. One is to be a steward for God and the other is to forgo material possessions altogether. There may be some who are called by God to forgo material possessions in pursuit of some unique call. That is always a small minority. The rest of us are stewards. The only choice we have is whether or not to be good ones or bad ones. Will we use them with the mind and heart of God or will we use them toward our own satisfaction? (Not that the two necessarily are always, or even frequently, in conflict. It is a question of ultimate loyalty.) I hear church folk boast about being good stewards because they tithe 10%. That is all good and well but what are they doing with the other 90% of God’s resources?
All this ties in with what I am learning about developing a Christian worldview. While social darwinism keeps telling us that the spiritual and the secular are two separate spheres of life that must not be allowed to intermix, the economic principles in Kruse’s essay do not admit to such a dichotomy. Makes sense to me.
Dave, an economic animal.
A few broth
August 11, 2006
Our language is a fascinating thing. From the Forgotten English Calendar for August 10, quoting Samuel Pegge’s Anecdotes of the English Language, c. 1800, I learn that in the northern counties of England, the common people will always say “Will you have a few broth?” It seems that they don’t say a a few ale, or a few milk, or a few any other liquid. The writer speculates that it may be an elliptical way of saying, a few spoonfuls of broth, for broth cannot be considered as one of those hermaphroditical words which are singular and plural, such as sheep and deer.
From a sermon at St. Paul’s Cross in 1550: “At ten of the clocke they go to dynner, whereas they be content with a penny pyce of byefe amongst four, having a few potage made of the brothe.”
Can you think of any other liquids of which we might have a few? (Beer doesn’t count.)
Dave
Lake Ozark sunrise
August 8, 2006
Fishing, at least the lazy way I do it, is an exercise in futility in August. The water is at 87 degrees, there is no oxygen below about 20 feet, and the bass disappear. I like to fish around the shoreline and the many boat docks, but until the schools of shad reappear in the coves in late September, the only bass around are a few disoriented one-year-olds, maybe twelve inches long at the most.
But I still go fishing for casting practice and because it’s just plain pleasant to be out on the water at sunrise, before the boat traffic gets worrisome. On a recent morning trip I laid down my rod and picked up my camera. Here are a few shots to commemorate a beautiful lake sunrise from the water,
The sunrise from 3 mile marker.
The entrance to McCoy Branch Cove.
A point at 3 mile marker.
Ozark bluff.
Dave, fishless but smiling.
Okay, what’s an orlop?
August 8, 2006
Some years ago my imagination was captured by reading about the short Age of Sail, when Napoleon was the Bad Guy du jour, and the Royal Navy ruled the seas. In particular it was the Aubrey-Maturin novels written by Patrick O’Brian, full of authentic detail about frigates and ships of the line that interested me. The lowest partial deck on those ships, just above the hold, was called “the orlop deck,” the safest place aboard ship during a sea battle, well below the waterline.
The condo where Marilyn and I live doesn’t much resemble a three-masted sailing ship, but I think of my basement office, where I do my blogging, as the orlop.
Dave, as he writes these words in the orlop.
A year of blogging
August 8, 2006
My first post to the Orlop was on August 14, 2005. I managed to fill the year with over 350 posts, ranging from the inane to the almost profound. I plan to change course a bit and concentrate more on what I see as a war for our minds and hearts between competing worldviews.
Here’s a short quotation from Toward an Evangelical Public Policy by Scot Rodin that may help explain the competing worldviews:
In regard to our relationship to the world, Scripture and history of the church instruct us to reject both isolationism and establishment of a new Christendom. Instead, we are to live as critical and cautious participants in the economies and social systems of our day. To be “in” the world but not “of” the world obligates us to cooperate within these systems but never to be conformed to them.
Therefore, we must seek to be one-kingdom stewards in a milieu that promotes two-kingdom living as the norm. In doing so, we must understand our responsibility as evangelicals to speak and live in a way that defines us as nonconforming participants. To do so we must understand the socioeconomic systems in which we live in order to operate as godly stewards within them. For those of us who live in a capitalistic system, we must acknowledge that capitalism is based on the premise of ownership and the power that comes with it. Buying and selling are the foundations of capitalism, and by definition, every buying and selling transaction requires ownership. Positively, capitalism promotes a strong work ethic and a system that links consequences with behavior. Perhaps no other economic system has the potential to lift the poor and create opportunities for those willing to work, invest in good ideas, and create businesses that produce needed goods and services while gainfully employing others in the process. In the hands of good and honest people capitalism can bless society.
That states one aspect of the Christian worldview. I’m not sure yet how best to characterize the opposing wordview, but it does not recognize the sovereign role of God in human affairs, which leaves belief in our corporate selves as competent caretakers of the world we live in. I have a queasy feeling about that, but I’ll work on it.
Writing from the orlop as I enter year two of my blogging life, I will probably tilt more toward opining on church matters, although my list of categories will stay the same. My posts on ‘worldview’ will probably end up under Bible and Religion.
This might also be a good time to remind myself that nobody really cares a hoot what I think about things. So I write mainly for myself, and if anyone wants to waste their time looking over my shoulder, that’s okay with me. Having said that, if you want to kibbitz a bit and make a comment on a post, you are more than welcome.
Dave, trying on his philosophic hat for size.
Lay Priests, Prophets, and Kings?
August 3, 2006
Blogger Michael Kruse has been writing a series on theology and economics that I haven’t been paying close attention to (sorry, Michael), but the idea that pastors and other elders should be ready to be priests, prophets, and kings to the hurting world around them caught my attention.
Kruse Kronicle: Theology and Economics: “But I don’t want to be priest, prophet or king.”
G. K. Chesterton wrote that “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried.” We need pastors who are ready to break their “chicken” addiction. Not necessarily with a big fanfare, mind you. (Envision incoming eggs.) But maybe in the sense of finding just a few people they sense God is fanning the flames in and then pouring themselves into the discipleship of those folks.
But even more importantly we need people who are not pastors to catch the vision of what it means to be priest, prophet and king in the world, and be willing to pay the cost. They need to identify themselves to pastors and seek out others to band with who are willing to pay the cost. The awareness of their presence would embolden the hearts of some pastors enough to resist their own coronation by the people who keep crying out “Give us a king!”
That last paragraph begs the question of how one might go about doing this. I think I understand the idea of being a servant leader in the church, but I’m not sure how to reconcile that with being priest, prophet, and king. I’ve always thought that that was Christ’s unique role among us.
Dave, who is still noodling this… .
