Dear Friends,

 

The arrival of autumn brings with it a slowing of my usual pace. I've started taking leisurely walks on cool evenings, conscious of the daily color change and the musty smells of leaf-covered grasses. I've pulled out the cookbooks and am baking bread, simmering soups, and concocting other cool weather favorites - the slow foods that take hours to make and fill the house with rich aromas. I've picked up where I left off on last winter's crocheting project, an afghan I'm making for a family friend.  With sweatshirts and comforters recently unpacked, I now settle into the sofa a couple of evenings a week with a good read and Chicago Blues playing in the background. As autumn begins the slow transition into winter, so have I.

 

There is a movement growing around the world called The Slow Movement. It encourages a slowing down in everything from cooking food to communication to transportation to careers. As I understand it, it is about making real connections instead of moving at warp speed in everything we do.

 

I've heard that there is even a Slow Money Movement gathering steam. The connection to our money, to our daily financial transactions becomes lost in our haste. Rarely do we take a moment to consider an exchange of resources - what it is, with whom, how it might affect others, and if we in fact should be making it at all.

 

Humans need connections, it's how we're built, it's what we're made to do - with ourselves, God and others, both near and far. It is so easy for us in the affluent world to forget this important fact, yet deep human connection is what makes travel in the Two-Thirds World so meaningful and life-giving for those with an opportunity to experience it there. Most MoM pilgrims returning from a trip speak about the experience of life at a slower pace, the obvious interdependence of people, the gracious hospitality shared and the spirit of generosity among people living in community. We miss it, we want it, but we seem to have forgotten how to let it happen here at home.

 

I laughed at recent television ads showing adults buying donuts, purchasing plants or standing in line at a food court. Everything is clicking along nicely, happy music and smiling customers, when all of a sudden some backward oaf (who looks like you and me) pulls out his checkbook or cash to pay for his item instead of using a debit card. All of a sudden the snappy music stops, the clerk and other customers grimace and growl, and the quick clip of payment activity comes to a standstill. God forbid someone say "Hi, how ya doing?" to the cashier or the person beside them in line. There's no time for that kind of nonsense. Just swipe the card and move along with your purchase!

 

There is also a new advertisement for an updated Monopoly Game. Instead of the cardboard 'bank' with the various multi-colored denominations stacked neatly in their assigned slots, the new game has an ATM-type machine in which you swipe a card to buy or make payments on properties, or to get out of jail. A quick swipe and it's done. No learning to count money. No addition or subtraction skills needed. No slowly counting your stash while pondering if you've enough to take an action. No asking to borrow a few bucks from your sister. No having to hand the bills over to the bank or another player. Swipe and go. I bet the game moves much more quickly now than when I was a kid!

 

We've lost our physical connection to money - the flow of resources moving through our hands and into others'. We've lost the relational aspect of money, the sense of money being for our common good, the give and take that keeps us all afloat. So much of our financial dealings now happen with card swipes and online submit buttons. Money movement has become invisible, and therefore, it often happens without a lot of thought.

 

We have enough time, you know. It's a lie from the culture that we don't. Maybe money haste is good for banks, merchants and accountants, but it's not good for those of us trying to live with any kind of intentionality.

 

So this week, strive for connection. Pay in cash a few times. Cook something from scratch - with real ingredients, not pre-packaged microwavable foodstuff. Write a letter instead of sending an email. Better yet, have a face-to-face conversation. Play a board game using paper money. Ask the clerk about her day as she returns your change.

 

Jan Sullivan, Co-Director

 

PLEASE NOTE: I am reverting back to my maiden name following my recent divorce. I'll now be using just Jan Sullivan, instead of Jan Sullivan Dockter.

FROM SECULAR EFFORT TO SABBATH EASE

Personal peace and global justice are both rooted in economically stable households.  Given the relative affluence and freedom of many North Americans, new options are now becoming possible.  At this time in human history, you and I have multiple claims on our time and know of multiple ways to use the resources entrusted to us.  Multi-ethnic and multi-religious perspectives abound, revealing varied ways of loving God, self and neighbor.  

Ched Myers introduced The Sabbath Economics Household Covenant in 2001.  A theological animator, author of Binding the Strong Man and Who Will Roll Away the Stone?, Ched teaches biblical literacy and social analysis, assisting groups in working for peace and social justice.  Sabbath renewal provides the center and circumference of the seven-fold Covenant.  It invites us to pay balanced attention to three money issues of giving, investing and debt and to three lifestyle issues of consumption, living green and solidarity with people on the margins of society.  

The Sabbath Economics Household Covenant can guide us in choosing more responsive ways to use our time, talent, treasure and tenderness.  Myriad households and communities have tested the seven-fold practice of Sabbath Economics and found it worthy.  The covenant experience of countless good people can support us in exploring more balanced ways of working, resting, playing and serving with others to create a better world for all.

FROM LEARNED LABOR TO ORIGINAL REST

TGIF!  How many of us have heard or said "Thank God it's Friday!" as we left the work place? TGIF! has become a widely-shared expression of relief in our culture. Thank God, the work week is winding down!  Yet, does the pace of public and private life ever really slow down?  How many of us are accustomed to enjoying life at a Sabbath's pace?

Those who honor the Sabbath are in a minority these days.  It has become rather quaint to set aside a day of rest to rejoice in the Holy Presence.  Most 21st-century folks seem to work most of the time.  Time is money, or so we say, a handy cliché to justify the restless pace we keep. Working hard to consume pre-packaged leisure activities, many of us miss the spirit of Sabbath.  Body and soul get depleted, along with heart and mind.  Forgetting the lightness of being, we remember the weight of our obligations.  Neglecting to take our imaginations out to play, we risk becoming confused and bereft of creative ideas.   Busy-ness prompts us to hurry past deeper emotions like joy or sorrow.  Taking the time to savor a musical moment or to sit with a memory from a friend's funeral seems as outdated as a porch swing.   Deprived of Sabbath, personal egos get no rest, turning time into a monorail upon which to rush from one place to another.  


Read the Entire Article . . .

 

By Mark Nepo, "Facing the Lion, Becoming the Lion", Conari Press, 2007

 

There is an old Hindu story. In it, there is a boy who wants a drum, but his mother can't afford a drum, and so, sadly, she gives him a stick. Though he doesn't know what to do with it, he shuffles home and begins to play with the stick. Just then, he encounters an old woman trying to light her chulha, her woodstove. The boy freely gives her the stick. She lights her fire, makes some bread, and in return she gives him half a loaf. Walking on, the boy comes across a potter's wife whose child is crying from hunger. The boy freely gives her the bread. In gratitude, she gives him a pot. Though he dossn't know what to do with it, he carries it along the river, where he sees a washerman and his wife quarreling because the wife broke their one pot. The boy gives them the pot. In return, they give him a coat. Since the boy isn't cold, he carries the coat until he comes to a bridge, where a man is shivering. Riding to town on a horse, the man was attacked and robbed of everything but his horse. The boy freely gives him the coat. Humbled, the man gives him his horse. Not knowing how to ride, the boy walks the horse into town, where he meets a wedding party with musicians. The bridegroom and his family are all sitting under a tree with long faces. According to custom, the bridegroom is to enter the procession on a horse, which hasn't shown up. The boy freely gives him the horse. Relieved, the bridegroom asks what he can do for the boy. Seeing the drummer surrounded by all his drums, the boy asks for the smallest drum, which the musician gladly gives him.

 

This story serves as a good example that, underneath our trouble, the true nature of generosity is only fully visible if we let the story - whatever it is - unfold. If we limit the old teaching story to the boy asking for one thing and his mother bringing him another, we have a lesson in not getting what we want, but accepting what we are given. If we end the story when the boy gives the woman the stick, we have a moment of altruism or sacrifice, depending on how we look at it. If we end the story when the woman gives the boy half a loaf of bread, it becomes a lesson in barter and fair exchange, trading what's timely and of use. But if we let the story take its full and natural course, we are given something quite different. For the longer we let relationships unfold, the more we see how everything goes together and how answering the needs of others depends on how we accept what we're given as unexpected medicine, even it it's not what we want.

From American Public Media

The Consumer Consequences Game is an interactive game designed to illustrate the impact of our lifestyles on the Earth. It's part of American Public Media's^™ special series, "Consumed," which explores whether the modern American lifestyle is sustainable in the long run.

Consumer Consequences will ask you a series of questions about your lifestyle, and as you play, it will show you how many "Earths" of natural resources it would take to sustain all 6.6 billion humans ... if everyone lived like you.

Keep an eye on the background graphics of your in-game world as you play. They'll slide across the screen like theater scrims as you answer questions to illustrate what your "world" of consumption would look like. They'll reflect the waste you produce ... the infrastructure (commercial, residential, industrial and transportation) you require ... the energy (fossil, nuclear, and renewable) you consume ... and how your lifestyle impinges on forests and other undeveloped land.

Consumer Consequences lets you compare your lifestyle with other players and gives you a chance to modify your choices and reduce your footprint.

 

From Coop America, Fall 2007

 

Garbage.  Americans produce more and more of it every year, when we need to be producing less. 

Even the most waste-conscious among us can feel overwhelmed by the amount of household waste that goes beyond what municipal recyclers and compost bins can handle. 

That's why our editors have spent the summer investigating the state of waste management in our country, and putting together information for you, our Co-op America members, explaining how we can get serious about the three R's - reducing, reusing, and recycling. 

1.  Appliances: Goodwill accepts working appliances, www.goodwill.org, or you can contact the Steel Recycling Institute to recycle them. 800/YES-1-CAN, www.recycle-steel.org.

2.  Batteries: Rechargeables and single-use: Battery Solutions, 734/467-9110, www.batteryrecycling.com.
 

 

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October 11-12, 2007

Ministry of Money Board Meeting

Wellspring Conference Center, Germantown, MD

 

Pilgrimage of Reverse Mission to INDIA

Trip Leaders: Jan Sullivan and Joe Yacinski

Cost: $4,300   TRIP FULL!!!!

Contact Jan Sullivan

(717) 642-1262 · email: jansd@ministryofmoney.org

Download Trip Flier

 

There may be scholarship funds available for people needing financial assistance to participate in Ministry of Money Retreats and Pilgrimages. Contact Harriet at the Ministry of Money office for more information: (301) 428-9560 or by email at harriet@ministryofmoney.org