Confessions of a Consumer Addict

admin August 1st, 2010

A few more thoughts on buying a laptop and its effect on our growing malignancy (see my previous post below).

My basic assumption about Christian simple living, as well as Vernard Eller’s (http://www.hccentral.com/eller3/index.html#toc) is that living simply is the direct result of loving God which is what Jesus tells us should be our prime concern. Loving God means, in addition to other things, that we live and do as He tells us – because our faith is in him, not in what the flawed world has to say.

If we really lived by God’s and Jesus’ basic teachings on a daily basis, we would pretty much be living simply. However, and this is important, if we did it the other way around (choosing to live simply because we prefer it as a lifestyle or because it is environmentally, logical, or socially just) it would not automatically make us lovers and followers of God. This is the situation for people who are secular or lifestyle simple livers. Nothing wrong with what they are up to, but it is different than Christian Simple Living in the long term.

Are these two versions of simple living not the same thing? After all, both the God lover who lives simply as a result of what God tells him/her, and the secular simple liver who lives purely ‘rationally,’ are living the same way and having the same effect in the world!

Not at all! And hence my dilemma over buying a laptop.

In my last post, most of my rationale for buying or not buying the dingus had to do with the logic of sustainability and my Luddite approach to it. This decision-making process can, and often does, become very reductionistic and absurdly difficult as we sort through a cascade of relevant data on both sides of the argument tring to find the single rationally, environmentally-sustainably ‘correct’ action. We simply don’t have all the facts, and even if we did, that cascade of facts and their myrid implications would overwhelm our decision-making process.

From the Christian, God-lover perspective, however, things look a bit different.

God has told us in many ways to be good stewards of what he gives us, to not kill or covet, to heal the sick and feed the poor, to not store up goods for ourselves, to give freely, etc., and these truths have persisted unchanged for several thousand years. So I try to do these things as best I can, knowing that God, who sees longer and further than all human beings together and who is love, wants it done. I have faith that doing this is right for the future of the universe, mankind included.

On the other hand, I, here in the 21st Century, could have used my intellectually trendy, and politically corrected reasoning to decide to live this way just as well. But (big ‘but’), we need to keep in mind that all of us tend to use intellectual models and assumptions that are tied to current social and intellectual trends, and this particular 21st Century science and sustainability mindset is new and changing as opposed to God’s ancient and unchanging wisdom. Tomorrow, today’s ‘rational’ decisions will be seen as naïve or simply wrong by the secular, scientific standards of that new day.

Taking the secular decision-making route makes me a prisoner of the times, and “the times, they are a changing,” and always will. They will change to suit contemporary desires and insights, and will often not be in concert with what God wants us to be up to.

This simply means that, left to my own rational devices and the dictates of contemporary society, I’m likely to be making some bad decisions – bad for others, the planet (and perhaps the universe) and me. We humans, at any given time and place, simply aren’t all that smart!

The Decalogue and the Sermon on the Mount, however, haven’t changed. I can count on them!

OK, so what about the laptop?

Instead of thinking like a Luddite, as much fun as that can be, I need to think instead of what my faith says I should do.

Is the dingus needed to do the work I believe God wants me to do, or am I simply caving-in to my need for a toy or to keep up with consumer society? As far as I can reasonably see, will buying this thing injure me or others, or will it help?

In reality I don’t know how to answer that without trying to fool myself and I’ve wasted too much time on that already. But I think that at least the laptop will help us to continue doing the work we believe is what we should be doing – helping kids grow into caring adults through our puppetry and storytelling.

Will buying the laptop hurt?

In the long term I believe it will contribute to maintaining a cancerous consumer society. I can find no way around that conclusion. The same is now true for almost any purchase I make.

So I’m straddling the “in this world, but not of this world” dilemma. In faith, part of what I do I believe is right, and part of it is wrong.

But then of course there is grace.

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admin May 29th, 2010

I haven’t posted anything for over a month and I owe an explanation to everyone along with my expectations for future posts and other activities on the Christian Simple Living web site.

There are a couple of reasons for my absence, one easy to explain, the other more important but not so easy.

The easy one is that I have been overwhelmed with getting a couple of new puppet shows together for first performances. The older I get, the more daunting this becomes, so I end up focusing 100% of my energy on it.

The hard one is that my heart will no longer let me write anything that purports to tell anyone how to live a Christian life, simple or otherwise. I don’t believe I have any standing to do that. I have come to grips with a few hard, hurtful aspects of my life that, if I was truly living the life I write about, I would have dealt with and put aside a long time ago.

I’m not talking about not being able to live a perfect, Christ-like life, or anything remotely approaching that. I’m realistic enough to know that we are all fallen people who are shot full of moral, human flaws, even the best of us. Rather I have found myself to have far too little compassion for others and for myself – far less than it probably appears from my posts and articles than I actually have. There are still too many dark places in my soul that are bitter and angry which too often make it difficult if not impossible for me to feel or practice real compassion in my thoughts or actions.

I don’t think it is fair or right, on such a weak personal foundation, to advise others on how they should live their faith lives, what practices they might pursue, or even to imply that I have personally grown a great deal as a result of these, when any growth I have actually experienced is small in comparison with what my posts might suggest. To do so is hypocritical.

An advisor must do better than that.

So I’ve had to stop writing posts here along with articles on the ChristianSimpleLiving.com site that deal with matters of spiritual or moral growth, or the spiritual and moral aspects of simple living.

I’m still trying to decide what that means I have left to write about, but at the moment it feels like I might be able to write occasional pieces on current events and other information related to simplicity, or the history and theology of Christian simplicity, but always with the caveat that because I write about these things it does not necessarily mean that I’m a good practitioner of them.

I do practice simplicity as a key part of my Christian faith as much as I am able. I do believe what I write. I always try to make the information I present as accurate as I can, and I don’t write about what I don’t believe is good and true – but I’m a far better messenger than a good example.

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admin March 28th, 2010

In church this Palm Sunday morning our pastor mentioned Marcus Borg and John Crossan’s book The Last Week which I had read a year or so ago. I suddenly saw a parallel between Jesus’ Rome and 21^st Century America.

Borg and Crossan paint a Palm Sunday picture of Caesar’s army coming into Jerusalem from the West at the same time Jesus’ procession was coming in from the East, and the authors contrast the goals and methods of these diametrically opposed ‘armies.’

We can see the contrast as “the powers” of the Roman government vs. the anarchy (non-power) of Jesus’ radical new approach to life.

Rome, and each of its successive emperors, believed that the only way to have security and peace was through the “Pax Romana” – peace and security through force, thus guaranteeing a long and cushy reign for the emperors and the reigning elites. Rome believed in taking what they wanted and in a world order that would keep things that way. That order was tightly managed everywhere in the empire to be sure that the pax would not be threatened. All of society’s institutions including the religious infrastructure were forced or seduced into dancing to Rome’s tune.

Jesus’ radical way, however, was not ‘against’ the power of Rome, but was rather for demonstrating a way of living that was loving, instead of warring; caring, rather than manipulating; acting compassionately, rather than accumulating wealth.

It was a way of living that did not use force, power politics, self-aggrandizement, or wealth-accumulation. Jesus did not believe in, or use Rome’s power tactics and zero-sum games in confronting them. He did what they did not expect and in a way that did not further inflame the world but pointed toward peace, freedom, and real security.

Today, “the powers” would have to also include our massive consumer culture and its globalized corporations, factories, and outlet malls, along with the governments, worldwide, that support and enable it.

Our empire’s government is founded on the same notion of security as Rome’s, we just try to be more subtle about it and at least make a big show of negotiating with others, but when that fails, as it often does, we very quickly bring out the military to settle the matter. Once in a while that even works – but mostly not, now days. Maybe, as some have proposed, our empire is already in eclipse.

One difference between us and Rome is that multinational corporations play the tune and western governments dance to it in order to keep their power and money flowing. Perhaps even worse, all the elements of the consumer system conspire to brainwash us into believing that the best life – nay, our very survival – is in consuming more and more. Our entire culture, our governments, business and industry, educational institutions, and (gasp!) churches participate in the structuring of every facet of our lives to support this brainwashing.

So today in our Jerusalem, we have military and business armies entering our lives on one side in order to control our ‘good’ behavior and keep the good times rolling, while on the other side Jesus is entering on his borrowed donkey with his motley crew of fishermen and mal-contents.

He wants us to look deep inside ourselves, our neighbors, and our enemies, and see the humanity in each – that they are us and we are them – and begin to treat each other with compassionate care, equality, and justice rather than wasting our time, money, and, indeed, our lives accumulating and throwing away useless junk that merely serves to keep our “empire of junk” running, but which also distracts us from our real reason for living.

So Palm Sunday is really what Christian Simple Living is all about, and we need to find ways of implementing Jesus’ message about what’s really important in ways that do not use our culture’s abusive, disingenuine, and controlling tactics.

We need to be Christian anarchists (not using the tactics of The Powers) while helping our world to see our better way.

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admin March 1st, 2010

Another Post in an Occasional Series on Christian Anarchy

As I noted in my February 2 Post “The Perils of Prosperity” and Christian Anarchy, the term ‘anarchy’ does not mean ‘against’ or ‘anti’ authority or government. The ‘an-‘ prefix actually means ‘un-’ or ‘not-’ and ‘archy’ comes from ‘archos’ meaning ruler, therefore anarchy means “no ruler” or “no government.”For the secular anarchist this means being autonomous or being governed only by oneself.

Christian Anarchy

“Christian anarchy,” however, defines the term as having little or no faith in, or being unimpressed with or skeptical of, any organization or principle that claims to have authority over us or some portion of our lives or our society. That would certainly include government of all types, but other organizations as well, including retail stores, manufacturers, banks, schools, churches, fraternal organizations, peer pressure, fads and fashions, as well as psychological and sociological theories. These arkies (to use Vernard Eller’s shorthand term) attempt to govern or control us in some way – usually for their benefit rather than ours – although at times they may benefit us as well, even if that isn’t their intent. The trick is to not pay attention to what they say their intent is, but rather what their actions show their real intent is.

Instead, Christians are ultimately responsible to the rule or governance of God, “The Arky of God”, rather than human institutions or value systems.

This does not mean that we can ignore our government, or that we should never participate in any of the other arkies. As both Jesus and Paul pointed out in different ways, we must give government its due for the sake of good order, and sometimes we have a legitimate need for the others arkies as well.

It does mean , however, that we should have little faith in these institutions and we should not expect them to save us from ourselves or anything else. As we all-too-painfully know, human institutions are sometimes effective but they are also just as often not, therefore they are not to be trusted or depended on and we should not invest a lot of energy in them, because they can slowly, unobtrusively, take considerable control over our lives. And sometimes we don’t even notice the takeover until we’re past the point of no return. That’s how we become addicts. It sneaks up on us.

“The Archy of God”

For the true follower of Christ (or the faithful Jew or Muslim) there is only one arky – The Arky of God – and no other arky is to be allowed to take precedence over it. That was true for the law as well as for the New Testament. So Christians are to be ruled or guided only by God and not by human organizations, simply because our organizations are extremely fallible and ultimately always let us down – not infrequently disastrously. Human organizations have a way of misleading us in the service of the organization’s own goals which all too often, are at odds with God’s intent and sometimes their own founding principles, mission statements, and good intentions.

Simple Living, Christian Anarchy, and Lent

From a simple living perspective this would certainly be true for manufacturers and retailers.  These human arkies constantly push us to consume, throw away, waste, or play trendy fashion games in order to make their living (and then some).

Nothing wrong with making a living or a profit, but there is something very wrong with making either by pushing people to buy what they don’t need, can’t afford, and what might be harmful to them, the environment, or society at large. This is a good example of a dysfunctional human organization that is busy destroying itself and us along with it, thereby proving Christian Anarchy’s point. God said “Don’t do that!” but our human institutions do it anyway, blind to the broad long term effects. And they are not doing these things because they particularly care about our well-being. They’re doing it to make money.

Now here’s an anarchist’s golden example of the contrast between the world’s arkies and The Arky of God, perhaps better known as the Kingdom of God:

During Lent we are asked to “give up” some of our ego-driveness and be a little introspective and penitent for the things we have messed-up in our lives and with our brothers and sisters. For instance in last week’s post I described the carbon fast our congregation is undertaking during Lent to, in a tiny way, ameliorate the damage we have done to creation and society.

Meanwhile, as we plan to address some of our wrong-doing, both the arkies of business and industry, along with the arky of the Federal Government and the arkies of the major political parties are pressuring us to consume still more in order to “get the economy moving again.”

But from the point of view of Christian Anarchy, we all individually and as a society, created this economic mess by caving-in to our personal ego needs in the first place. To a greater or lesser extent (I of course leave it to you to be honest with yourself about the extent of your own involvement) we bought into the notion that we can and should have it all regardless of the cost. Thus we fell in love with and demanded more and more from the world’s  arkies:

• Manufacturers, for more high-end, high-tech toys, labor saving devices and lifestyle ‘enhancements;’
• Retailers, for more stuff of all kinds at far lower prices, and
• Banks, to lend us more and more so we could have all of the above;
• Investment firms, bigger returns faster on our investments t help fund our wants;
• The real estate market, so our homes would be worth much more, so we could take out the money to buy still more stuff.
• Government, whether it was for more freedom, less government, or lower taxes, or more freedom to make money any way we want , or subsidies, or social, economic and health programs of many types, and finally for big bailouts.

We fell under the spell of the secular arkies. We believed virtually everything they told us about who we are, where we should be going, and what we should be doing.

Our Internal Dialog About the Archy’s

“Oh, but not me, or at least not much…” you say.

Wrong. We need to be honest with ourselves.

We have built a huge perpetual motion machine, the “Grand Perpetual Consumer Arky”, that all of us now have to keep in motion by running as hard as we can in our little hamster cages (since, as it turns out, the Machine really isn’t running itself perpetually) until we either collapse from exhaustion or the whole machine collapses in on itself with us inside.

We have shot ourselves in the foot by saving too little, spending too much, and having too little thought or respect for God’s world and His people.

But those are just the outcomes. The real problem is the emotional and moral calculus that each of us carries out in the secret recesses of our minds and souls each day:

“I do like what the Grand Perpetual Consumer Archy is telling me about myself. It’s a really great arky! I really do want those things. I do want to look like that. I like the pleasures and conveniences they give me. I like my social and economic status and I don’t want to give up any of it. This is a nice life!

“But… I feel guilty about it. I know other people are suffering. I know the planet is a mess. I know what Jesus taught us about money and possessions and the needs of others, after all I do go to church (that counts for something doesn’t it?) But it would be so hard to do as he said and give up much of it – or even a little of it.

“OK God, how about a little compromise. Let me do just enough (but not too much!) to get rid of some of my guilt. Or better, tell me it’s OK to have what I already have while doing the little I do for others so I can continue living this way, or… please, maybe let me have just a little more. After all I don’t have as much as the guys on Wall Street! That must make me better already… and deserving of just a little more, right?!

“If you don’t strike me dead with a bolt of lightning on my way to work this morning, I’ll take that as a ‘yes’.” OR,

“OK, OK, I’m not even going to ask. I’m just going to let the whole business lay there for a while – maybe you’ll forget about it, huh?”

We all do this calculus, some more, some less: you, me, the whole lot of us.

We have substituted the perverted logic and power of the Grand Perpetual Consumer Archy and all its sub-arkies in place of living in God‘s Archy – because, like Moses’ people, we thought we could do better by sculpting that golden calf all by ourselves!

And it is raising hell with our souls.

This is what we should be penitent about this lent!

More to Come on Christian Anarchy

“Which arkies can I trust, or merely use in this world? Any of them?”

“What does Christian Anarchy mean for me as a practical matter day-to-day?”

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admin November 11th, 2009

Now here’s a really interesting dilemma – there’s nothing like the threat of death to focus the mind!

The health care reform debate has raised a lot of issues for us, but one of those issues has been bothering me for some time. It’s a little reminiscent of the divisive and bogus ‘death panels’ issue, but it is very real for me.

I retired several years ago, and since then I’ve been plagued by a series of medical issues, all of which required very expensive procedures and hospital stays. When I was growing up in the late ‘40’s and early ‘50’s, none of these procedures existed and so, of course, there was little expense associated with them compared to today’s costs – and average life expectancy was somewhat lower than it is today – approximately 67 years in 1950 versus 77 years in 2001. Consider that in the mid-1800’s it was only about 50.

The more high-tech medical devices, procedures and medications are developed, the higher treatment costs go, and of course, the more we use these treatments, the more we all pay which is really the key driver for rising health care costs. It isn’t so much that doctors or pharmaceutical companies charge too much (which they sometimes do) it is that each incremental technological advance costs more than those before it, and unfortunately there is often a steep decline in the cost benefit ratio of these new technologies as each yields less and less improvement in our overall health status and life expectancy. So we are, in effect, paying more for less!

I should point out here that I worked for a number of years for a health care service delivery research agency, so I have at least a passing familiarity with the evidence base on these issues.

It is you and me causing this to happen. We can’t blame anyone else. We love these new treatments: anything to keep us alive longer, looking better, and as pain-free as possible! As with everything else in our consumer world, we want it all, and we want it now, preferably for free. So the medical device manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies know they can make a fortune off our desire to live forever as we search for the fountain of youth. They won’t stop until we stop.

So here’s the thing: I know that God did not design me to live forever, nor did he ever promise that I would, at least physically in this world. He never even promised I would have a pain-free or disease-free life, and as everyone knows, he didn’t promise that I would look good either – Robert Redford relax! He made us to die and sometimes suffer, as distasteful as that may sound. Think of Jesus’ crucifixion – very gruesome and not uncommon at the time – and He was God’s son!

I also know that there are many people who cannot afford decent health care at all because costs for insurance and treatment are so high, a fundamentally immoral situation for practicing Christians. Christ, after all, was a healer and told his disciples to go out and heal.

And I know that every time I go in for one of these expensive procedures, regardless of how much insurance I have, I am helping to substantially drive up the costs of treatment and insurance for all other people. We are all doing this to each other.

So if I am helping drive up costs and thus keeping others from getting even the basic care they need, then do I have a moral obligation as a Christian simple liver, to titrate my own dose of treatment – to go without myself to lighten the burden on others?

Before you jump to the all-too-common response of “Of course, you must take care of yourself!” think about it a bit.

I recently had a cyst removed from a finger. Not life threatening, not serious, just ugly. It cost $10,000 in an ambulatory surgery center – that’s TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS for a little cyst on a finger, and of course I didn’t know the cost until after it was done. AND this was one of the least expensive procedures I’ve had!

This has caused me a lot of grief. I think it’s unconscionable. It has really left me feeling very badly about my misuse of what God gave me. My cyst removal was just not worth literally taking away treatment from people with serious illness and little money.

It also makes me seriously wonder how I should deal with more serious medical issues. Can I get around well enough without the $39,000 hip replacement? Maybe so. Can I do OK without the stents in my heart? Maybe so, especially since their efficacy and cost effectiveness have been seriously called into question for conditions such as mine.

Sure my body isn’t going to feel as good; I’m going to move around slower; I might not look as young and energetic as I once did, but this is the way God created me. He created me to fall apart and eventually kick the bucket whether I like it or not.

If I am going to live simply and out of love for others, then I really do have to seriously consider these things.

One Buddhist principle is that since God made us to suffer and die (as well as find peace and joy along the way) we should consider those ‘negatives’ as positives instead – as a good and just part of maturing and living life. To run in fear from every ailment makes for a pretty miserable, distracted life that actually prevents us from living well from an emotional, spiritual perspective.

The parallel between this Buddhist belief and our Christian tradition is that Christ told his disciples (paraphrasing here) that if they are to follow him they should be willing to take up their cross, suffer and die. Since we are all asked to be his disciples, then we should all be willing to do that as well.

Perhaps in the 21st Century that suffering and dying may be in terms of buying less insurance and using less health care than we think we’re entitled to so that others might be able to get the care they need to merely live. Maybe this is part of what simple livers ought to give up along with all the junk piling up in our homes.

What do you think?

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admin November 6th, 2009

Over the summer and continuing into the fall, a small group of folks from our congregation have been engaged in a study of “Sabbath Economics” which has been an eye-opener for many of us in terms of how we view and use our money and other resources, as well as how we manage our debt.

Sabbath Economics is a term coined by Ched Myers. a theologian and educator, who has written a number of books and articles on topics related to discipleship, and is a staff member of Bartimaeus Cooperative Ministries, http://bcm-net.org/, based in California. He has authored a short book, The Biblical Vision of Sabbath Economics, which, along with a companion book by Matthew Colwell, Sabbath Economics: Household Practices, make up a very compelling Bible study on economic practices in the Old and New Testaments and how they can guide our faithful uses of ‘stuff’, money, debt, and human relationships today.

A thorough discussion of Sabbath Economics would take many pages in many posts, but to give you the gist of it, here is a part of the introduction from Ched’s book:

“At its root, Sabbath observance is about gift and limits: the grace of receiving that which the Creator gives, and the responsibility not to take too much, nor to mistake the gift for a possession. The economic implications of this tradition as it is articulated in the Bible can be summarized in three axioms:
1) the world as created by God is abundant, with enough for everyone – provided that human communities restrain their appetites and live within limits;
2) disparities in wealth and power are not “natural” but the result of human sin, and must be mitigated within the community of faith through the regular practice of redistribution;
3) the prophetic message calls people to the practice of such redistribution, and is thus characterized as “good news” to the poor.”

The two books together, explore both Biblical economic and social teachings and practices, as well as how they can translate into personal 21st Century financial and economic practices for us modern Christians, including what we do with our money, where we save and invest it, how we get into debt because of it, how we give it to others (or don’t), and how we can do all these things in loving, just, and equitable ways.

Let me tell you, it ain’t easy walking this talk!

There are some hard lessons here, such as incorporating the story of the rich young ruler into our own lives. Now here is a scary story for middle class Westerners not to mention those among us with a lot of wealth!

Along the way we discussed whether or not our money is invested in places where it will be managed in a transparent and socially just way while at the same time doing good for others rather than just making money for ourselves. Most of us probably strike out big-time on these criteria because our economic system focuses only on how much money we can make, not on how we make it. If we invest in mutual funds, for example, the vast majority of them only give you a glimmer of where your money is and what it’s doing and to whom.

We also discussed our debt (groan), who we owe it to, and how ethical those institutions are in their lending practices, not to mention the issue of how we got in debt in the first place! The question then became, “Do we want to be indebted to institutions or individuals who do unethical things to others (and maybe us too), and is it an acceptable thing to be in debt at all according to the Biblical record?”

Well for me – and I’m going to name names here (and probably get into trouble for it) – I had to examine what my bank’s (Bank of America) practices are and how my mortgage company (Wells Fargo) operates, and what policies they use in running their credit card businesses.

You may have noticed that both of these organizations have been in the news virtually every day, so it didn’t take a lot of research to find out that Bank of America is the largest issuer of subprime loans in the country with Wells Fargo not far behind. I believe that subprime lending is a fundamentally sinful practice because of the way in which these loans are structured and sold. As is now abundantly clear, those companies did tremendous harm to thousands of people with malice of forethought. The kindest interpretation I could give to their actions is that they were negligently greedy, failing to think through in a fair and rational way, the potential harm their policies might do in order for the brokers and executives to make their billions of dollars in profits and bonuses. The unkindest interpretation would be that they were thieves. Take your pick.

In any event, as a Christian who would like to practice Sabbath Economics, how could I continue to do business with either of them?

So based on my “extensive research” into these institutions I decided that I simply couldn’t patronize them anymore… too much blood in the streets… around the world!

There are alternatives. We don’t have to feed the monster. We can live our financial and economic lives by using institutions that aren’t as ethically challenged as BOA and Wells Fargo. So I went looking and found that my Credit Union had mortgages available at a lower interest rate than Wells was charging, and they don’t indulge in subprime lending, and they aren’t in financial trouble, and didn’t take any of my tax money to stay afloat: moved my mortgage!

BOA charges high interested rates along with myriad unfair penalties on many of their credit cards (charging the highest rates and penalties to those who can least afford it) in addition to their subprime mortgage business: Time for the scissors! Got a credit union credit card at a lower interest rate instead. Now we’re getting ready to move our checking account too.

There’s probably a local bank or credit union near you too.

A side benefit for me in all this is that the credit union is a small local institution. The staff there know me by name, and actually call – even when they aren’t trying to sell me something! It’s like my drug store just a few blocks from my home – a small, independent pharmacy where they know me by my first and last names. They often see me walking down the street on my way to pick up a prescription and have it sitting on the counter for me when I walk in. You might not believe that, but it is true. Local is almost always better.

Gotta’ say, it feels a lot better to be rid of the giant financial institutions and the damage they do to many people – with my money!

A year or so ago I decided to look at my mutual fund investments. I had everything in Vanguard, which I believe is one of the better fund families because of its low management fees and ethical management principles. But still, I knew that some of my money was going into companies that are not socially responsible, and sometimes in pretty horrific ways. So I took most of my money out and put it into MMA Praxis funds (formerly Mennonite Mutual Aid) where it does not earn as much as the Vanguard funds, but it does rigorously practice socially responsible investing in a fairly diverse portfolio. MMA Praxis calls this “stewardship investing.”

Now I don’t have to worry about supporting questionable companies that are polluters (bye, bye Exxon), or that practice unjust management or unfair and inequitable local manufacturing operations (bye, bye Royal Dutch Shell in Nigeria), or that sell unhealthy products (Tah, Tah Philip Morris).

I still have to work on putting more of my money and time, to still better use, but our study group is continuing on, and with a little support, I may be able to take a few more steps toward living the Sabbath economics life style that Jesus preached along with the prophets of the OT.

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