Invocation
O God, whose rivers of promise are true; we praise you, for you are life’s catchment spring, glorious rapids, meandering oxbow and it’s ocean destination.
Worship: Psalm 119:57-58
The LORD is my portion; I promise to keep your words. I implore your favour with all of my heart; be gracious to me according to your promise.
Reading: Rom 4:16-25
For the promise that they would inherit the world did not come to Abraham and Sarah or to their descendants through the law but through faith.
Silence
Reflection
Consider the etymology of the term ‘investment’; it means to clothe, to take naked money and put it into new vestments, something material, real and social, using it to nurture and protect other and the earth. Banking, in its sacred dimension, says, “I will help you find someone who can use your money beautifully.” I once shared this concept with a banker at a conference and tears came to his eyes as he recognised the spiritual essence of his calling. Present day investment bears not the spirit of the gift but its opposite: extracting wealth, not bestowing it. It benefits from the exclusive possession of a scarce resource. It says, “I will give you the use of this money only if you give me more in return.” But true investment requires selflessness, faith, vision and courage. There is no money to be made from sacred investments. Rather, they give freely and ask for nothing in return. They refuse to destroy the social and natural commons through interest bearing loans, but seek to protect and foster economies based upon mutual giving and sharing of gifts.
Summarised from CHARLES EISENSTEIN, 2011: Sacred economics: money, gift and society in the age of transition. Berkeley: Evolver Editions (p. 380ff.)
“The few who understand the system, will either be so interested from its profits or so dependent on its favors, that there will be no opposition from that class. While on the other hand, the great body of people, mentally incapable of comprehending the tremendous advantages…will bear its burden without complaint, and perhaps without suspecting that the system is inimical to their best interests.”—Rothschild Brothers of London communiqué to associates in New York, June 25, 1863
Questions
Not everyone agrees with Charles that money can become sacred (cf. Mark Boyle – Moneyless Man). What do you think?
How does this relate to Jesus’ warnings against serving the interests of money?
Do you currently have interest bearing investments?
Having read the Rothschild quote above, and in the light of scriptures’ outright condemnation of usury, how do you feel about the investments you have, ethically?
Let us assume you are convinced by Charles’ argument that the main driver of the destruction of natural and social commons is usury or interest: how would you divest your interest bearing savings, and in what would you invest instead?
Prayers for the earth, for the world, for my community and myself
Hymn
Dear Lord and Father/Mother of Mankind John Greenleaf Whittier
Benediction
We flow with and in the great river of life; gratefully dissolving all that is self, and merging with all that is Christ. Amen.
