Absence

I haven't posted for a couple of weeks as the preparations for International Christmas took over my life together with a number of other events. But this is on my heart.

The Purpose-Driven Life has a lot to be responsible for in this world both good and bad. The worse is that it encourages task-driven people to be even more task driven. The problem for task driven people is that the task frequently takes priority over being loving and being just. I am constantly challenged and saddened by the lack in supposedly Christian organizations, especially churches. I continue to be find heartache listening to cruel and unloving behaviour in the face of the command to love our neighbour as ourselves. Why do you, we, behave so badly?

There are two judgments or sorting into eternity. I like CS Lewis' image in The Last Battle where all come to Aslan and those who recognize him carry on through a door to a new Narnia while the rest cannot see this new country. This is the sorting of those who know God and don't know God. The second judgment is an accountability of what has been done with and in life. Those in authority with power or influence are more accountable than those with little or no resource. This second judgment is not really based on what we have successfully achieved but more on our faithfulness. Have we cared, fed, given shelter, visited etc? It is about our heart response to situations.

As we head into 2009 I really do pray that in a time of recession we find even more love for those around us. Treating people as valued by God and not things or tools or resources.

Zimbabwe, a human tragedy

In a country with the terrible distinction of having the second highest proportion of orphans in the world — one in four children has lost one or both parents — the closing of schools and hospitals is hitting these most vulnerable children mercilessly. Celia W. Dugger New York Times

A few weeks on and cholera continues to spread and more human suffering. Cholera victims are expected to pass 60,000 and travel to neighbouring countries. Sadly the Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu called the cholera outbreak as a "genocidal onslaught on the people of Zimbabwe by the British". Meaningless words casting blame and no action.

Inflation officially hit 231 million percent in July, soldiers rioted because their wages were useless. Teachers have abandoned their jobs to find food. Hospitals are closed for lack of supplies etc. There isn't enough clean water to treat sick patients. Zimbabwe is being described as turning into a "failed state". "The situation is truly grim. One man and his cronies - Robert Mugabe - are holding this country hostage," Mr McGee US Ambasador.

What is a failed state? Well some criteria are as follows.

• a state whose central government is so weak or ineffective that it has little practical control over much of its territory,
• legitimate authority to make collective decisions has been eroded,
• reasonable public services can not be provided,
• widespread corruption and criminality,
• refugees and involuntary movement of populations,
• sharp economic decline,
• failed interaction with other states.

The Fund For Peace's Failed States Index is very interesting for 2008. Zimbabwe is third behind Somalia and Sudan. The Uk is 160th, USA 161st and Canada 167th.

It is interesting that much of repentance and Faith involves the admission of weakness, failure and need for strength and resource beyond self. This is the realm of faith. looking into transcendence. Here religious leaders say pray that Mugabe step down, Mbeki former South African Prime Minister asks to a power sharing and in the waiting more die. Is there any point when a nations sovereignty can be violated because that state has failed in it's care of its citizens. I don't know but how can I avoid meaningless words. Perhaps people like Bonhoeffer had a better idea?

The elders

The signing of the 15 September agreement raised hopes in Zimbabwe and around the world, but the failure to implement it in good faith and create a workable power sharing government is leading to despair and accelerating the crisis. Regardless of the challenges in implementing the agreement, all parties should now make the welfare of the people their first priority and put an end to the unnecessary suffering of millions. Jimmy Carter - Elders in South Africa

The Elders, former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, former United States President Jimmy Carter and international advocate for women's and children's rights Dr Graça Machel have completed their assessment even though denied entrance to Zimbabwe itself. My own struggles pale into nothingness when I read and follow the reports.

We knew when we planned this trip that the situation in Zimbabwe was serious. What we have learned in the past few days is shocking. It is not just the extent of Zimbabwe's humanitarian crisis, but the speed of deterioration in the past few weeks that is most worrying. The scale, depth and urgency of the situation are underreported. Kofi Annan

It seems to me that if things could take a turn for the worse they have. The basic infrastructure is now collapsing so sanitation and safe water are no longer available and cholera is looming as an epidemic. Perspective is such an important thing for me. A global vision is essential to put often our petty little worries into an appropriate scale. Our backyard should be the world. We don't need anymore more proof that people's greed and hunger for position and power is always bad. I still wonder what happened to government as servant of the people.

There are those who are the elder statemen and women who have in their latter years maintained honour and service such a Annan and Carter and those who just want to hang onto their own little territory like Robert Mugabe.

Why do the wicked live on, growing old and increasing in power? Job 21:7

Declutter and clean up

You're a very busy packrat - you don't enjoy living among clutter, but you're just too busy to deal with it. You can't delegate the job to someone else you're the only one who knows what needs to stay and what can go. Swamped Stockpiler Kijiji declutter day

kijiji has declared today National Cleanup Day in the US. Doing the quiz I confirmed that I am 'swamped stockpiler' and the description is highly accurate. I'm however a slightly happier one. After a really difficult September and October, I finally met with my spiritual director after a 5 month break as she was traveling extensively. I do believe I 'm a bit depressed and probably Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) though normally this doesn't happen until February. But this summer was pretty rainy and a lot of other things this Fall have compounded things to make life pretty difficult and definitely dark for me.

Strange though once you know you're a bit depressed things are a little better because I found I wasn't living in the emotion as much. Also I had quite a few of the symptoms:

• A change in appetite, especially a craving for sweet or starchy foods
• A drop in energy level
• Fatigue
• A struggle to go to bed and a tendency to oversleep
• Difficulty concentrating
• Irritability and anxiety
• Increased sensitivity to social rejection
• Avoidance of social situations and a loss of interest in the activities you used to enjoy

Anyhow I've increased my meat intake and I'm eating more spicy food. I also noticed how dark my apartment was because I hadn't replaced burnt out light bulbs. I bought one daylight full spectrum bulb for the light fixture above my desk where I spend 90% of my awake time at home. I feel a little better but this maybe placebo effect, anyhow I probably need even more of those special light bulbs.

Bill Hybels wrote the book with a classic title Too busy not to pray. I know to my cost that getting the praying bit right is important and got back to journaling in October, and Spiritual Direction this past week. The prayer life of a person or a community is a thermometer of health. The individual's personal time with God and communal time with others. With the latter I am not merely talking about corporate sunday worship, nor fellowship but the need for another human being who listens and prays with us. I am currently mourning the loss of my Tuesday evening biweekly prayer meeting and at the same time pleased to have my spiritual director back.

Today I struggle again to clean up, to assert order in the aspects of my life. To bring light back into the dark corners. Back into the fray called life.

Remember him [Your creator]—before the silver cord is severed, or the golden bowl is broken; before the pitcher is shattered at the spring, or the wheel broken at the well, and the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. "Meaningless! Meaningless!" says the Teacher. "Everything is meaningless! Ecclesiastes 12:6-8

health and health

It's the curse of modern life. We eat too much and don't take enough exercise to burn off the calories. ... If this trend continues, by 2050 nine out of 10 adults and two thirds of all children will be overweight or obese. ... Obesity is the biggest health challenge we face. British Health secretary Alan Johnson

Over 2.4 million Canadians suffer from diabetes and up to six million more have prediabetes. If not treated one quarter of the six million will have diabetes within three to five years. In the UK it is predicted that by 2050 , 90 percent of adults will be obese. Physical health is linked to spiritual health. Laziness is both a physical and a spiritual one. Spiritual gluttony and physical gluttony are real problems, in fact sin.

In an earlier posting I pointed to John Cassian who mentioned gluttony as a problem for monks but spiritual gluttony is also an issue. St. John of the Cross, in The Dark Night of the Soul tackles spiritual gluttony. He explains that it is the disposition of those who, in prayer and other faith acts are always in search of sweetness, which we might call the emotional high. Spiritual gluttony occurs when people do spiritual or religious things because of some consolation or delight they get from the activity and so the pleasure becomes the end of the action instead of God. The greatest issue comes with novelty and newer is better thinking because the assumption is that the new thing gives more pleasure than the old.

There is also a very real danger of spiritual obesity or spiritual diabetes for this generation. In the obsession of worship and prayer with emotional highs and pleasure and it's associative newer is better we are in danger of being consumed by our own sugaryness. Richard Foster suggests in Freedom of Simplicity rather than going into worship in a place one rather should bring worship into life. "Have you ever tried to live out your day so that you fill each moment with the thought of God? I do not mean you cease normal activity. Oh No! Just the opposite. bring God into each activity, infusing it with divine Light." We need to take both our physical and spiritual lives seriously. Even eating can become a spiritual activity, one of worship.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sister, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Rom 12:1

Packrat or Hoarder?

I follow a couple of key sites which keep me uptodate with a lot of things. I'm a great fan of Lifehacker.com which introduced me to a few special deals and offers available. Some of my productivity tools were introduced to me through their entries. Check off is a todolist which syncs with my iPod. Google calendar synced with iCal which in turn also syncs with my iPod but also Using Pagepacker I produce a tiny little booklet based on one sheet of paper which includes my weekly events plus monthly calendars, a quick phone book and a myriad of productivity sheets.

Today I was reading my other favourite Apartmenttherapy.com. A post called help my husband is a packrat caught my attention. Of course I had to read the appeal for help and the 23 comments/advice. I know I'm a packrat because it's genetic - all my uncles and aunts are and most of my cousins are too. I hope this isn't libelous. Well thats until I read one comment which suggested there is a difference between packrats and hoarders.

Packrats [and those hoarders who don't have severe illness]can sometimes be convinced to sort and store their possessions in an organized fashion, as long as they don't have to get rid of their stuff. ... An organized hoarder or packrat is someone I could negotiate with, but dirty habits (unwillingness to throw away real garbage) are issues that ultimately ruin relationships. I hope yours is just a hygenic packrat!

Now I'm not sure whether I'm packrat or hoarder. I hate waste and things thrown away. The borderline is when someone's garbage is really your treasure or is it still garbage. I can get rid of things and give things away. In fact I collect things like bikes to give away and collects things towards projects in the future. But the problem is When am I really collecting garbage? For example my computer monitor speakers came out of the garbage. Well actually the last 3 sets have. The best set are a pair of Roland MA8's which work perfectly and have real depth and clarity but I have given away numerous sets rather than hoarded them.

But as a new immigrant I do have hoarder tendencies. With the recession round the corner these tendencies are likely to become more pronounced. I'm pleased that I can ride pass interesting things on the curbside and also turndown certain offers. I have started casting an eye over things regarding quality, value, usability, and condition as part of the consideration but it's still difficult.

Living life more simply has it's challenges and whether it is packrat or hoarder they are real challenges. It's not the collecting, rather whether we use them. "Packrats that collect or hoard for no good reason might need therapy. Packrats that collect for love or investment or other real reasons may need a reality check or storage or organization help, but it doesn't automatically make them mentally ill."

I wonder about our spiritual practices. There can be a danger that we simply collect them and do them and they fail to lead to good habits and ultimately virtuous living. They are the ends rather than the means to an end. In a review of authors lists of spiritual disciplines which I did, I was surprised to see journalling in several lists. I recall reading something by Kenneth Leech author of the classic Soul Friend. In the article, he critiqued the idea that spiritual direction should become a profession and also the idea that journalling is a spiritual discipline. I'm inclined to agree with his issues especially as journalling becomes a discipline instead of one method or a device to aid the Examen, which is a review of the presence and absence of God in daily, weekly and monthly life. The device has become the end not even the means which is concerned with the Spirit.

This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: 'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the LORD Almighty. Zechariah 4:6

Opinions and authenticity

Do you remember the James, Brother of Jesus Ossuary box? It did a bit of a world tour! It was proclaimed as a first century a limestone bone box that could have contained the bones of James, the brother of Jesus. On one side of the ossuary was carved “James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus.” We have to note all these names are common James (Jacob), Joseph and Jesus (Joshua) were all fairly common among Jews at the turn of the era.

Then the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) appointed a panel by a unanimous vote claimed that it was forgery, something faked. Now some 5 years later it finally came to trial in Israel and now we find there is original ancient patina in the word Jesus and that it wasn't an unanimous vote. Firstly several simply did not vote , they abstained and others voted on the basis of another scientist's expertise which they did not have the skills to assess. The verdict is still out but the accusation of forgery is much weaker.

Authenticity is something very precious but at the end of the day it's based on evidence and opinions. It is provisional awaited better evidence or refuting evidence and even then it remains opinions. There is a lot of taste and see to it all.

I'm currently rereading Richard Foster's Freedom of Simplicity and today it seems a very different book to that which I read over 20 years ago and even 5 years ago. It tastes very different because I'm different. I am searching for simplicity, order out of my personal chaos. The insights are much sweeter and more sour. Avoiding living a legalism and not confusing poverty and simplicity. Perhaps a significant thought from it is this -

God is not the author of confusion ... when we live out of the divine Center, thoughts and decisions flow from the Fountainhead ... We will have no need to reverse our decision if the winds of opinion change, for we have spoken out of a deeper reality than the latest Gallup poll.

It's a matter of having God at the centre and being attentive. It is less "God coming into us to our coming into God." Whether a life lived in attentiveness to God is good and satisfying eventually boils down to opinions. But these opinions need to be rooted in personal validation.

Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the person who takes refuge in him. Psalm 34:8

sometimes you wonder

THE PEACE OF WILD THINGS

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
— Wendell Berry

Our world, our environment , where we live and what we eat affect us. A recent US study found autism rates were higher among children who experienced higher rainfall in their first three years of life. This research is based on child health and weather records from three US states, California, Oregon and Washington State, but British autism experts are quite condemning of the conclusions. This seems a strange correlation to put it mildly. Does this mean that everyone in the UK has a very high risk of autism? or people from the rain forests are more likely to be autistic? Perhaps its less about rain and more about West Coast life and environmental quality!

A more interesting piece of correlation research suggests that though there are significant differences in health related to income and social deprivation, when you live near a park, woodland or other open green spaces the differences are reduced. Sometimes you wonder what really makes sense and what doesn't. Rain and clouds make you emotionally depressed however autism is not an emotional condition. But an authentic association might be that green spaces have far reaching effects environmentally and emotionally.

I do believe increasingly that studying has its limitations and studying indoors at a desk or table has a deep implication. Philosophers and theologians have spoken of God's "two books." Bonaventura called them the liber naturae and the liber scripturae. Later Francis Bacon called them "the book of God's Words" and "the book of God's Works." The primary lesson of the book of nature is to convince us that God exists. God's second book, the Bible, then gets the picture of God into a greater sense of focus. However both are about thinking with the mind, lived lives and a sense of peace rooted in trust and divine relationship. A healthy way of living is to look at both, to experience both, and know that God created both.

When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what are mere mortals that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? Psalm 8:3-4

Green and green

One way to put the question that I want to answer here is this: why was it virtually impossible not to believe in God in, say, 1500 in our Western society, while in 2000 many of us find this not only easy, but even inescapable? Charles Taylor A Secular Age

Side effects isn't only a problem with drugs and pharmaceuticals. Being green has its side effects for example the new fluorescent energy saving bulbs contain heavy metals and require alternative disposal. The targets for the development of biofuels means diverting food and in particular grains and especially corn from human consumption to fuel production. This supposed trust in technology continues to frustrate me and is a residue of a human aspiration that human progress and technology will ultimately solve all problems. or perhaps even worse maybe humans are ostriches hiding their heads in the sand of denial of a problem.

Something a little more base has come up in our attempt to green things, fungi. In particular a Patagonian rainforest tree fungus naturally produces a mixture of chemicals that is remarkably similar to diesel. Not only that it doesn't use the valuable sugars and starches but cellulose which is that fibrous part of plants such as stalks and sawdust which we throw away. Strange it was more about going and finding than creating and having science or technology being involved. I suppose it is part of the older scientific tradition of collecting, observing and sampling - which is associated with wandering and wondering about the the world. I am reminded of the quotation attributed to Johannes Kepler.

"I was merely thinking God's thoughts after him. Since we astronomers are priests of the highest God in regard to the book of nature, it benefits us to be thoughtful, not of the glory of our minds, but rather, above all else, of the glory of God."

Perhaps what we have essentially lost is our wonder. That the natural world can actually give a sense of awe and wonder. What went wrong? Why can't people find motivation to change their attitudes and lifestyles? Charles Taylor continues in A Secular Age:-

…the salient feature of the modern cosmic imaginary is not that it has fostered materialism, or enabled people to recover a spiritual outlook beyond materialism, to return as it were to religion, though it has done both these things. …it has opened a space in which people can wander between and around all these options without having to land clearly and definitively in any one.

We're in real trouble, aren't we? The side effect of losing God and recovering a new spirituality is a new space and a new freedom. The trouble is we lost the freedom to think and the freedom to choose. Taylor see this as the Age of Authenticity where “each one of us has his/her own way of realizing our humanity, and that it is important to find and live out one’s own, as against surrendering to conformity with a model imposed on us from outside, by society, or the previous generation, or religious or political authority.” The rise of a new individualism and a new spirituality which is reactionary against traditional religion. Being true to oneself and authentically oneself in style and practice.

I'm left with wondering even my own spiritual practices are actually an expression of this movement in culture. Perhaps even yours or the abandonment of them? What can happen in our search for authenticity in this age of the individual self is lostness and the inability to truly commit. perhaps this is the source of my own acedia?

And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, Deut 10:12

All Saints and All Souls Days

[Word Studies are ] “to try to understand as precisely as possible what the author was trying to convey by his use of this word in this context.” Gordon Fee

Having been explaining what Halloween is (All Hallows Eve) for a few days - I've become sensitized to the difference between All Saints and All Souls. Strangely Sunday one service celebrated both All Saints on All Souls. It felt strange though I understand some churches have merged the two. So you don't understand? All Saints' Day (also known as All Hallows' Day) is a feast day on November 1st to remember all the saints (literally Holy Ones) and martyrs throughout history. All Souls remembers all the faithfully departed this life especially those who have passed a way recently, while All Saints looks to those who inspire and model the faithful life to us. Therefore the two events are contrasted by mourning and living life fully. We ought to understand the words and events in their contexts.

Joey whose blog I follow has been posting about the meaning of Biblical words with particular emphasis on context. He comments about Duvall and Hays comment that "we should always keep in mind the distinction between determining the meaning and discovering the meaning." He notes key issues from Duvall and Hays' book. Namely English-Only Fallacy - languages do not translate exactly on a one to one basis, Root Fallacy - dismantling a word doesn't give its meaning rather its context does (just think about aweful), Time-Frame Fallacy - the modern word doesn't really point to the original word (thus the greek word dynamis doesn't mean dynamite), Overload Fallacy - over using other usages to determine the meaning rather than firstly studying the context of use (different human writers were involved) , Word Count Fallacy - assuming studying word is a complete understanding of the subject, Selective-Evidence Fallacy - only using verses that support our position instead of recognizing verses that challenge or present an opposite (Paradox and tension are integral to faith).

But there is more when using a Christian author's particular point of view. Thinking changes positions over a life time and we may adopt an understanding which the author has altered or even recanted. One only has to realize that Rick Warren, the writer of The Purpose Driven Life has publicly confessed a major omission in his understanding of the church, i.e. that of justice and poverty. Also Bill Hybel of Willow Creek noting their lack of attention to discipleship. Probably most interesting change is the ultimate individualist philosopher Jean Paul Sartre not only became a convinced socialist but there remain rumors he became a Roman Catholic (But never proven).

It seems to me we necessarily are called to think and continue to think. To judge and weigh things and make decisions that lead to actions. People of faith need to study and think and to be constantly open to discovering meaning in the divine human relationship.

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 1 John 1:1

Please check your translation

"We must shift America from a needs - to a desires-culture. People must be trained to desire, to want new things, even before the old have been entirely consumed. [...] Man's desires must overshadow his needs." Adam Curtis quoting a US banker

Welsh is a difficult language in a country dominated by English however it is important to make sure your translation actually says what you think it says. Some local government officials in Wales wanted this notice translated as all signs have to be bilingual so sent an email request to the translation department and got this reply. "I am not in the office at the moment. Please send any work to be translated." They assumed that that what they got was No Entry .. etc. No-one checked.

In many situations we just don't check the translation. Whether it is spirituality, faith, studying the Biblical text, or what is our fundamental understanding of what exactly is the church and its purpose.

I having watched and thought about Adam Curtis' documentary series The Century of the Self has made this challenge even more focuses my thinking. Business and Politics use public relations to read and fulfill our desires to make products or speeches as attractive as possible to us. Curtis links this to Freud and the introduction of psychoanalysis to North American culture. Freud's identification of deep human desires have been developed into an out of control individualism. This is translated at its most dangerous into North American church culture in the meeting of people's need's (Here we should read human desires but not deepest.) Immediately we head towards advertising and programming and all the stuff that goes with individual wants. It is an externally imposed reinforcement of selfishness and self-centredness.

The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country.

We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized. - Edward Bernays

Edward Bernays, Freud's nephew saw happiness was more than just a way of selling stuff but it was also political way of control the people. By satisfying particular inner irrational desires people could be made happy and thus docile and controlled. In any case people have to consent to make democracy work and maintain a stable society. Therefore engineering consent is a good thing. The US government, big business, and the CIA developed ways to manage and create this consent. But then Wilhelm Reich, a pupil of Freud's, came to influence believing that the self did not need control but should be free for self expression. The freedom of the 60's was born except that this was hijacked and people now were encouraged to feel unique individuals and they needs things to express their uniqueness. Curtis contends that those with the power , whether Thatcherites or followers of Blair, felt they were creating a new and better form of democracy which responded to individual opinions. However these techniques were not developed to liberate people but a way of controlling them. The new left's appropriation nor translation does not remove the original issues. Curtis demonstrates this in both the rise to power of Bill Clinton and Tony Blair. In the documentary we are left with the real question of who is in charge. It seems like it is the power brokers. (first episode is here)

Israel was never meant to be monarchy. It should have been a theocracy but the people wanted to be like other peoples. They wanted security and political structures like the other countries around instead of living out an alternative counter-cultural position. The church as new Israel should not really be a democracy, nor an autocracy rather a people seeking the will of God as a theocracy.

When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, and the LORD will not answer you in that day. But the people refused to listen to Samuel. "No!" they said. "We want a king over us. Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles." 1 Sam 8:18-20

Prayer in a time of financial crisis

Does insecurity make me more self-seeking and less caring about the needs of others, lessening my humanity, clouding my sense that people matter more than money? Or does this worldwide turmoil strengthen my compassion? Poverty is not good in itself, but where it leads to a deeper dependence on God and coexists with generosity it can be a rare grace www.sacredspace.ie

Learning generosity in a season of financial insecurity is a real challenge. As a global recession dawns there seems to be an invitation to greater compassion. I am grateful for many from whom I have had the chance to learn about being grateful and then generous. To transition from being financially secure to being insecure has been a worry yet now I see people matter more. Friends in trouble and in difficulty count more. Fellow staff struggling in their own financial-support-raising bring from me not mere sympathy but a desire to be generous. Somehow over the years I have noticed the faith of those with less seems so much more authentic than those with more. I still struggle with the financial vulnerability even though I am not really poor but I am dependent on God and others to respond to his call. But I remain challenged by people like Wisnu, a fellow student, who insisted on paying for our lunch because that day he had 20 dollars.

People bemoan the lack of teaching on tithing but perhaps what we need is a greater prophetic voice to remind us that all we are and have is not ours but is held in trust. If we understand God as generous then perhaps we need to also live that out. That is the challenge of the parable of the talents.

'Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?' Matt 20:13-15