I am learning more and more about the abundance of grace that is everywhere present in everything which reveals that we are actually immersed in abundance all the time. We just have to have eyes to see it.
Happy Birthday to the The Cottage! I am truly grateful to have found this new home of such richness of thought, ideas & spiritual vitality!
My thought about Jesus and the poor. I believe Jesus wanted to raise our conscienceless around money & power.
The word “Abundace “helps me to give up the notion of scarcity. Yes, we must help the poor but this is something else. It’s wisdom to believe in ourselves as a nation. We can do better. We can feel abundane & wisdom working hand to hand to come up with solutions. Creative ideas get born,like what we are doing to not rely on Russian for energy & not to rely on China for semiconductors. Now we have the this abundance of ideas to fix the scarcity. Of course, there’s the by product of helping climate change too! Lastly , don’t forget about “Miracles” that can happen too.
I think this is abundance & wisdom working together and allowing our collective creativity to flourish. Amen.
thank you for focusing on abundance. This parable is often preached at just what I call level one, and doesn't deep dive. Another group I'm in talked together about the line, "take care" and that Jesus starts his answer with the word, "Friend". For us, who try our best to practice "God first", we know we need each other to "take care". I see this with the little pantries (take/give) popping up and even replacing the 'little libraries". On a practical note, we reflected that when making our budgets, we do the "give to God" first. Yet, we need each other in order to 'take care'.
Here in lies one of the problems we Americans have with scripture. We are not the heros of the story, but yet we live in a society that wants to portray itself as always the hero. In context of wealth and the fact most of us are wealthier than nearly everyone else in the world, our praxis must be humility, gratitude, and sharing.
hi there. always enlightening - most times confirming - to read your 'musings'. only issue i had today was with the possibility of someone misunderstanding your relating that Jesus "...said that wealth yields nothing, earthly riches are little more than targets for theft, and warned that “gaining the world” forfeits the soul." certainly true. but then you wrote "He sent away a rich young man seeking to follow him." as i recall from that passage, Christ says "“If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me” (Matthew 19:21). The man was not willing to follow the Lord, if that meant he must give up his wealth.
hmmm, is that the same as being 'sent away'? ah, but...perhaps i'm making too subtle a distinction?
Thank you for this morning's musing. The way that I think of the topic of money vs. wealth is within the framework of a choice. Is our worldview based on scarcity or abundance? It seems that we have increasingly come to view the world through a framework of scarcity. Using this lens - we strive for acquisition of both material items and capital wealth (banking instruments etc.). Many of the measures we use in contemporary American society (e.g., you credit rating) are directly based on the construct of consumption. But, as you point out, wealth is something else entirely. It is the outworking of an inward wisdom that draws a line in the sand where one has "enough". Abundance can become a sort of sacramental existence where overconsumption or the focus on material acquisition becomes not only unnecessary, but contrary to the Kin-dom which I believe that Jesus outlined for us as an alternative model of society. We have had many voices which have called us to this alternative choice (Jesus, Dorothy Day, Rachel Carson and others) but we seldom seem to listen....
Thank you, Diana; I woke up this morning, thinking about church. I hope the sermon contains at least a shred of the wisdom that is embodied in this essay.
Thought provoking. I’m new to the cottage. A paid subscriber after hearing you on the Heretic Happy Hour archives and wanting to hear more of your perspective on the changing landscape of religion and your discussion of Freeing Jesus on Soul of the Nation. I love your focus on Wisdom, having just read thru the summer sessions on the Wisdom literature. I’m so glad j found you. You’ve helped me to find a place to continue my spiritual journey and my love of Jesus and the women who supported him on earth. What better place to join The Cottage than with an uplifting embrace of Wisdom, together.
Happy Birthday. To Cottage !! 🎂🎊
These times have be so meaningful to me.
I tell you Dr Dianna Butler Bass I wish I had enough money and influence to make it possible to appoint you to be Chapin of congress. 👍
I tried to contact the present one. No luck, but I did find out he was part of “The Family.” ( a documentary series on Netflix
about the rise of CWP and started the Prayer Breakfast.)
Thanks you for reminding us where our priorities need to be focused.
Just a reminder that John Wesley wrote a sermon on money, #50 in the standard sermons:
https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/gbod-assets/generic/Use-Of-Money.pdf
I think it's fair to say that, while Wesley himself seems to have used money in this way, most of his Methodist followers have never done so.
I am learning more and more about the abundance of grace that is everywhere present in everything which reveals that we are actually immersed in abundance all the time. We just have to have eyes to see it.
Diana,
Happy Birthday to the The Cottage! I am truly grateful to have found this new home of such richness of thought, ideas & spiritual vitality!
My thought about Jesus and the poor. I believe Jesus wanted to raise our conscienceless around money & power.
The word “Abundace “helps me to give up the notion of scarcity. Yes, we must help the poor but this is something else. It’s wisdom to believe in ourselves as a nation. We can do better. We can feel abundane & wisdom working hand to hand to come up with solutions. Creative ideas get born,like what we are doing to not rely on Russian for energy & not to rely on China for semiconductors. Now we have the this abundance of ideas to fix the scarcity. Of course, there’s the by product of helping climate change too! Lastly , don’t forget about “Miracles” that can happen too.
I think this is abundance & wisdom working together and allowing our collective creativity to flourish. Amen.
thank you for focusing on abundance. This parable is often preached at just what I call level one, and doesn't deep dive. Another group I'm in talked together about the line, "take care" and that Jesus starts his answer with the word, "Friend". For us, who try our best to practice "God first", we know we need each other to "take care". I see this with the little pantries (take/give) popping up and even replacing the 'little libraries". On a practical note, we reflected that when making our budgets, we do the "give to God" first. Yet, we need each other in order to 'take care'.
I have always thought that Jesus might be saying that everything belongs to God.
Here in lies one of the problems we Americans have with scripture. We are not the heros of the story, but yet we live in a society that wants to portray itself as always the hero. In context of wealth and the fact most of us are wealthier than nearly everyone else in the world, our praxis must be humility, gratitude, and sharing.
hi there. always enlightening - most times confirming - to read your 'musings'. only issue i had today was with the possibility of someone misunderstanding your relating that Jesus "...said that wealth yields nothing, earthly riches are little more than targets for theft, and warned that “gaining the world” forfeits the soul." certainly true. but then you wrote "He sent away a rich young man seeking to follow him." as i recall from that passage, Christ says "“If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me” (Matthew 19:21). The man was not willing to follow the Lord, if that meant he must give up his wealth.
hmmm, is that the same as being 'sent away'? ah, but...perhaps i'm making too subtle a distinction?
Thank you Diane and Happy Birthday to the cottage! I too love the difference/clarification between scarcity and abundance( real wealth).
Thank you for this morning's musing. The way that I think of the topic of money vs. wealth is within the framework of a choice. Is our worldview based on scarcity or abundance? It seems that we have increasingly come to view the world through a framework of scarcity. Using this lens - we strive for acquisition of both material items and capital wealth (banking instruments etc.). Many of the measures we use in contemporary American society (e.g., you credit rating) are directly based on the construct of consumption. But, as you point out, wealth is something else entirely. It is the outworking of an inward wisdom that draws a line in the sand where one has "enough". Abundance can become a sort of sacramental existence where overconsumption or the focus on material acquisition becomes not only unnecessary, but contrary to the Kin-dom which I believe that Jesus outlined for us as an alternative model of society. We have had many voices which have called us to this alternative choice (Jesus, Dorothy Day, Rachel Carson and others) but we seldom seem to listen....
Dear Diane. Your musing on Magdalene were
Wonderful. The research I have shared with many women who just loved it. So enjoy your writings/ worth a great deal. Thx and Onward!
Thank you, Diana; I woke up this morning, thinking about church. I hope the sermon contains at least a shred of the wisdom that is embodied in this essay.
Thought provoking. I’m new to the cottage. A paid subscriber after hearing you on the Heretic Happy Hour archives and wanting to hear more of your perspective on the changing landscape of religion and your discussion of Freeing Jesus on Soul of the Nation. I love your focus on Wisdom, having just read thru the summer sessions on the Wisdom literature. I’m so glad j found you. You’ve helped me to find a place to continue my spiritual journey and my love of Jesus and the women who supported him on earth. What better place to join The Cottage than with an uplifting embrace of Wisdom, together.