Mammon, Outer Pieces

I'm really struggling with the "money piece" of Jesus' Way these days. I hope that trying to articulate some of it will aid a Spirit-led process of proper filtration. There's a lot at stake (methinks).

I'll try to use the method we use with Connor and his new dinosaur puzzles -- first take out the pieces that make make the outer border and begin to form a frame, then take the middle pieces out and put them in place one at a time:

When Anthony the Great (popular father of monasticism) heard "sell all your possessions and give them to the poor" he did it. He sold his substantial inheritance, made provisions for his sister, let the tenants on his parent's estate have the land, and gave the rest to the poor. He helped communities start little businesses, but the vast majority of the "profit" went back to the poor; not to financial security.

Working in a retail profession has definitely afforded me the opportunity to be "in the world." I've been right smack dab in the world's belly for nearly two years now, befriending those that the religious institutions have marginalized and trying to mirror their work rhythms as much as possible.

Retail work, though, by it's very nature, is in many respects the antithesis of the Gospel. Being reduced to a name that clocks in and out -- in order to help private or public owners or stockholders reap a disproportionate profit from mechanical labor is exploitive. Reinforcing the amoral principles of global capitalism, namely finding the place on earth where goods can be produced most cheaply and sending them to the place where they can be sold most expensively, is highly exploitive. Although many Christian friends and family may find this critique to be trivial and naive idealism to be dismissed with a cavalier brush of the hand, the God whose voice I am learning to recognize consistently whispers His desire for justice and righteousness to be part of my active worship to Him.

I can't work in retail and earn enough money to support my family's habitation in central Austin. More importantly, I can't provide my family with enough predictability in my working schedule for them to thrive socially. Knowing my weekly schedule 3 days in advance keeps my wife in a cruel jail sentence and places unnecessary strain on our desperate efforts at family and abbey rhythms.

There is New Testament evidence of persons being "sent" as apostles with financial support accompanying them in both formal and informal expressions. Paul eagerly tries to prick the church's conscience to joyfully give to those who sacrifice certain financial securities in order to focus their energies more fully on Kingdom formation. And yet Paul himself works extra hard to provide for his own needs, so that any money he helps raise can go elsewhere.

I've seen many people play the New Testament card (mentioned above) as a way to raise money for themselves to live a comfortable existence and have a lot of "free time." I don't have enough perspective to call this good or bad. It's just that I have grown increasingly uncomfortable with the idea of depending on the generosity of others for an unforeseeable period of time, especially without taking measures to begin providing for myself as much as possible.

The monastic ideal has always been to fashion a community in such a way that it can support itself financially. This, I believe, is easier to do in a rural setting than an urban one. It can also place a lot of energies on self-survival at the expense of spending time with others outside of the community.

I have an ongoing dream of starting a little business that can be an urban version of the monastic ideal. This brings up all kinds of scary realities: borrowing a lot of money to get started; having no business education; being more of a visionary than a detail manager; failing could be a financial catastrophe for my family; it could mean working harder and longer; it would put an even bigger strain on the fragile risk-taking balance we currently hold in our marriage, etc, etc.

I want to live simply, maintaining enough money for my family to live where we are called to be, to pay the bills, eat wisely, celebrate life occassionally, and to prepare for a future period of "retirement" and our children's education. On top of that, I want our money to be a blessing to those who have more desperate needs than we do.

Christ commands us not to worry about money, and to forsake it all for the sake of the cross.

There is another implicit nature in Christ for fathers to give thier greatest nurturing love and fidelity to their kin. Financial provision is certainly part - but not all - of this natural law.

Well, those are probably the biggest outer pieces. I think I'll stop here and study the frame for a while before I try to tackle the inner stuff. Please, by all means, tell me how you see the pieces fitting together...