Obedience Learning Lab
Last Sunday Damon and I started facilitating our Obedience Learning Lab and below is the information we handed out that first night.
Welcome to the Obedience Learning Lab 2007. We hope to inspire a new world by attempting to subvert and break our commitments to powerful economic systems and institutions that are often in opposition to the way of Love and to affirm our commitment to the kingdom of God.This will be a 4 week lab and each week builds on the previous. Thus, if you plan on fully participating we ask that you please make every effort possible to attend all of the sessions of the lab April 22, April 29, May 6 and May 13. If you are just visiting the lab you are more than welcome to participate and we ask that you please assume a humble posture and the attitude of a learner. Try and help those who are committed to the lab.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
In the era that Jesus came onto the scene the Israelite's were experiencing tremendous oppression not only from the Roman government but also from within their own government. Herod Atipas was leveeing heavy taxes on the nation and began co-oping with the Roman government. There existed a great divide between the wealthy and the poor and it was only widening with the advancement of technology and productivity. The everyday worker was left feeling helpless and lost amongst the drive for progress. Jesus came proclaiming the present reality of God's Kingdom and invited people to be participants in a Kingdom beyond what they knew. He came to proclaim a new way of living and invited people to take action to live into that reality. It was an invitation to live in obedience to a King that seeks justice, love, harmony and respect. Jesus came to challenge the people of his day about their allegiance and asked them to rethink how they live their lives and to which King they find themselves in service of.
THE STORY WE FIND OURSELVES IN
We live in a time where many corporations have as much or more influence and resources than most countries. The majority of these companies are driven by progress and growth. They have to continually return more value to their shareholders. The markets demand growth. Deep within our psyche and our culture is the idea that progress and growth will bring prosperity to all. That a “rising tide with lift all boats” as the cliché goes. But is this true? The gap between the rich and poor is as big as it has ever been. We are also waking up to the result of buying into infinite growth-- it is not sustainable. We are consuming ourselves to death. We are destroying the earth. We lead busy and hectic lives and we might be more isolated than ever. Is this the promise of prosperity? Think of the promises of infinite progress as a myth that resonates within our culture and shapes the way we see the world. There is also another myth that has captured our imaginations. Remember the 2006 state of the union address? Do you remember the solution that was proposed to solve our addiction to foreign oil? The answer wasn't initially intuitive and suggests another myth that we have bought into. The myth that science, technology and human innovation can solve all of our modern problems. In the state of the union speech, it was suggested that our dependence on foreign oil can be reduced or eliminated throughtechnology. We have great faith in promises of technology.I want to suggest that there is only one story that can keep its promises. Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures through all generations. The LORD is faithful to all his promises and loving toward all he has made (Psalm 145:13). As the psalmist says, His kingdom is everlasting and the promises that our creator makes are kept. We know that our creator's genesis-vision is good and trustworthy. The promises of infinite progress and technology are empty and false.We want to take a step towards OBEDIENCE to our creator's kingdom by identifying and severing our ties to the kingdoms of this world and inspiring our imaginations to a different reality and a different story. All of the days ordained for us have been written into the book of our creator's story (Psalm 139:16). We want to inspire our imaginations to dream of a different reality and move together onto the pages of a different story. EXERCISEWe want to live into the new reality that was inspired by the life and teaching of Jesus. You might say that myth is about the imagination and about truth. If we want to subvert the kingdoms and pledge your commitment to a different story, we need to move beyond criticism. We need to energize a different way. Living into the story that has been ordained for us requires the freedom to live and respond to the Spirit. This often requires some amount of financial freedom and detachment. If someone is burdened by debt, it can be recognize that the practice of lending at interest can be a form of exploitation and contributes to the wealth and prosperity of systems and institutions whose values are at odds with the kingdom of God (God forbid lending with interest. See Exodus 22:25-27, Leviticus 25:35-37, Deuteronomy 15:1-11,23:19,20). With the intent of breaking our commitments with these institutions and making a commitment to each other we will relieve some or all of the debt of one participant in this lab by generating a fund that will be used as an interest free loan. HOMEWORKThink about how you can start breaking your commitments by doing the following:1.Document what funds and companies you are investing in and what bank you use. Use the tools provided to inform yourself. 2.Journal about what you discovered and any changes that you need to make from what you found. Come prepared to share what you discovered in the next learning lab.
RESOURCES
http://www.betterworldhandbook.com/2nd/actions.html
http://www.globalethics.org/newsline/members/index.tmpl
http://www.bsdglobal.com/banking/sus_banking.asp
Submitted by peeps on April 30, 2007 - 8:30pm
