Early in the lockdown I expressed hope that the difficulties we were going through were sparking a new level of altruism. This is part of what I wrote: The most striking aspect was seeing how many others had the same idea as us. We found that the neighbors helping our efforts had done their own …
Category: Dishonest Wealth
Navigating the many pitfalls inherent in stewarding God’s wealth wisely in a broken world.
“Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own? No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” – Luke 16:10-13
Distribution
The night streets are empty during lockdown, but I duck through back alleys to avoid checkpoints and prying questions. It's past curfew and I don't have a pass. I reach a home cobbled together from bamboo and discarded plastic and peek in a doorway. "I know times are hard for everyone, I want to help." …
Who is my neighbor in lockdown?
Love; it will not betray you Dismay or enslave you, it will set you free Be more like the man you were made to be There is a design, an alignment, a cry Of my heart to see The beauty of love as it was made to be "Ah," said the lawyer, wanting to win …
God vs. Man
If you've been reading this blog more than a year (or any other blog I've authored) you know I think American Christmas is a flashpoint for our greatest societal dilemmas. Will we put our faith in God, or will we trust in wealth and possessions? Which one do we celebrate? If an alien being observed …
The less you have the more you give
I was gonna write something else this week but this one is stuck on my heart. Our dear friend Aslam was recently diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer. The shock came just a year after he got married, a month before his son was to be born. The news has been a roller coaster - the …
This is what interest does
I consider the following statement by economist Silvio Gesell, made on the eve of the Armistice Agreement (the end of World War I), to be one of the most prescient assertions in published history. “In spite of the holy promises of people to banish war once and for all, in spite of the cry of …
Usury and the Church
For centuries the Church spoke with strength against usury. Then society changed so much that the message could no longer be heard. The transition from abhorrence to acceptance is best demonstrated by a letter of St. Francis Xavier, the famous 16th-century Catholic missionary and co-founder of the Jesuits, writing to a priest. When in the …
In whose interest?
Basil the Great, among the most renowned of the early Church fathers, states: When the prophet wished to describe in words those who have attained perfection, those who are about to attain to everlasting life, he reckoned among their noble works the following: “They do not lend money at interest.” This sin is denounced in …
Mountains Beyond Mountains
Dèyè mòn gen mòn. Beyond mountains there are mountains. HAITIAN PROVERB ...And right action is freedom From past and future also. For most of us, this is the aim Never here to be realized; Who are only undefeated Because we have gone on trying… T.S. ELIOT, “THE DRY SALVAGES” Mountains Beyond Mountains is …
Unintended consequences
I posted about my friends' loss of their fathers because I was thinking about Danish. He left the slum two weeks ago to work in Saudi Arabia. He will be gone two years. Away from his home, his family, his country. They saw it as the best option for Danish to begin to help the …
Stranger in a Slum 