A Pastoral Strategy for an Economic Crisis

As the polls and media pundits have pointed out, many Americans are angry about this financial crisis, angry about a rescue plan that seems to bail out Wall Street more than them, and frustrated with the lack of clear solutions being offered by politicians. But underneath the anger, there is a deeper level of fear in America right now. I am hearing that fear across the country. How will this affect me and my family? What will happen to my retirement funds, to the college account for my kids, to the value of my home? Am I going to lose my home or even my job? Last night on CNN, a financial consultant reported that some of her clients are already living in their cars! I could feel the fear gripping many Americans. A friend of mine, who is also a financial planner now engaged in intense conversations daily with his families, just left me a simple voicemail--"Pray for me."

It's not often that most Americans are feeling the same thing at the same time, mostly talking about the same thing, and all worrying about the same thing. The last time might have been just after 9/11. But it is increasingly clear that most Americans are focused on the same thing right now. The collapse of Wall Street, the deepening economic recession (the biggest economic crisis since the Great Depression, everyone keeps saying), and the clear threat of another depression now looming have become the overriding foci of the election -- so much so that even the dirty politics of the final stages of this campaign seem not to be working. Every other issue than the economy is perceived as a distraction.

And for Christians, there is a second question, or maybe one that should be the first question: What is a Christian response to a deepening economic crisis like this? What should people of faith be thinking, saying, and doing? What is the responsibility of the churches to their own parishioners, to their communities, to the nation and the world? And where is God in all this?

What does the Bible say about all the issues now being raised? What does our theology tell us about money and possessions, wealth and power, credit and responsible financial choices, economic values vs. family values, lifestyle and stewardship, generosity and justice, and both personal and social responsibility? What can Christian economists tell us about economic philosophy, the role of the market, the role of government, the place of social regulation, the spiritual consequences of economic disparities, the moral health of an economy, and the criteria of the common good?

What do pastors, lay leaders, activists, and practitioners say about creative opportunities and new solutions that could come out of all of this: like the possibilities of mutual aid, congregational and community credit unions, and new cooperative strategies for solving problems like health care, housing, and even jobs? Pastors will need help with preaching resources for a time like this, and local congregations will need adult Sunday school curricula on money and all the related issues of this economic crisis.

And what about pastoral care in a time of economic crisis? How do we listen to people, just be present to them, comfort them, and perhaps help them to re-examine their assumptions, values, and practices? This is already a time of great anxiety for many. But how could it also be a time of prayerful self-evaluation, redirection, and even new relationships with others in our congregations and communities.

Sojourners is going to take up that challenge. We want to turn the God's Politics blog, SojoMail, and our sojo.net Web site into Christian forums for a wide-ranging discussion and collective discernment of the issues of this economic crisis. We are already planning cover stories and articles for Sojourners magazine and a new Sojourners study guide on all of the above issues. We will be doing wider media messaging, interviews in television and radio, and op-eds in newspapers, while also making the economic crisis a focus of my own writing and speaking.

We will be asking Christian economists to address the fundamental issues of economic philosophy and policy. We will be seeking the best thinking of many theologians on the biblical and moral issues at stake. And we will ask pastors about the realities now facing the members of their congregations and what Christian formation means in a moment like this. We will together seek a pastoral strategy for an economic crisis.

And we want to get our Sojourners constituency and wider community talking, praying, and acting in this time of challenge and opportunity. We want to hear your stories. Prophetic action will be called for, and pastoral care will be needed, so we will begin a far-ranging conversation with you on the shape of both.

Let's start by making the God's Politics blog a public Christian forum on how we, as people of faith, should respond to this historic crisis. With the wisdom we can gather from many voices, the practical support we can offer each other, the creative solutions we can help forge, the prophetic leadership we can offer, and the care for each other that we can provide, we will try to act in the best tradition of the extended community that has been Sojourners for more than three decades. So we invite you to join the discourse and the discernment. And let's pray that we can learn together what it means to be faithful in a time such as this.

Jim Wallis is the author of The Great Awakening, Editor-in-Chief of Sojourners and blogs at www.godspolitics.com.

Click here to get e-mail updates from Jim Wallis

Comments

[Dianethegardener]

Perhaps the McCain/ Palin campaign can be contacted and asked to tone down the dangerous attacks on Obama and start focusing on the economy.

It's getting ugly out there. Discuss it at the debates. End it then.

And then spend the rest of the campaign telling us how either side will help us out of this economic crisis and deal with health care, rising fuel costs and how to save our environment.

[Paul]

1. Invest in mass transit - a good mass transit system will remove the necessity of owning (and going into debt for ) a car.

2. Those with sub-prime mortgages pay 40% of their income to the mortgage - whatever that is, but the time is extended to 60 years or until the loan is paid. Lenders - tough luck.

3. Illegal immigration must cease.

4. Bring home the troops from iraq, Afghanistan - downsize the MIC 50%.

5. Invest former defense $ to repair US infrastructure - it will generate jobs and is a better investment than weapons systems.

6. Nationalize healthcare. Everyone is covered, one payer. No more insurance company inefficiency and waste.

7. Write laws that keep American jobs from going overseas.

8. Write laws that keep a company that is generating value from being taken over and looted.

In short, get the government working for the people again, not the capitalists who have created this fiasco.

Socialism - the way forward.

[TommyMcCarthy]

The last couple of weeks...I'­ll confess (no pun intended)
....I've been musing on what the rigid, punishing God of my youth...
makes of the Wall street shysters who have managed to steal the pensions of millions of working people....­....and the corrupt politicians who helped them do it......

.....And maybe secretly taking a little solace in what kind of "Golden Parachute" he has in store for them
tm

[Overd0g]

"It's easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than a rich man ascend to heaven". Unfortunately, we're all rich by Biblical standards, so we should happily go live in poverty now and forgo worldly pursuits. Amen.

[Xysea]

What was is about the Pharisees again?

[ga4ry]

what is the christian responce? Easy, there is pie in the sky by and by. All religions respond to crisis in the same manner, drop to your knes, speak to the sky and wait for his or her holy priests, rabbis, ministers and mullahs to tell you what its answer is. Odds are its answer has something to do with a second collection this week.

[OtayPanky]

The mindset of having a "Christian response" or a "Jewish response" or an "atheist response" to a crisis is ...well...­mind numbing.

We'll do a lot better if we content ourselves with having a HUMAN response, and recognize that everyone else is having a HUMAN response, too.

[happytrails]

Maybe, but I won't hold my breath, the religious response to what is going on will be an awakening to the fact that Ronnie's credo, "Greed is Good" is a vile, self-serving, HUMANITY-hating trail which leads us all to where we are now. Maybe it will lead to an awakening that the "religious" hypocrites who have distracted people by trumped-up "social" issues have done this country enormous harm. And just maybe it will end, at least for a few years, the attempts of the right wing to privatize social security.

[bobsmith]

Jim. Please. Get off your pedestal. You're an American citizen - just like the rest of us. You're trying to manufacture some meaningful role for your religion where there is none. This is a citizenship issue - not a religious one. In fact, organized religion helped to get us into this mess by supporting right-wing politician­s...not you, I know, but you have to be a little tone-deaf to be suggesting that religion will be a significant player in fixing a crisis religion had a major role in creating.

Organized religion is, first and foremost, a money-making machine that, historically, has caused much more harm than good. As long as that fact remains, religion remains a very dangerous and untrustworthy enterprise. When you present yourself here under the auspices of organized religion, any good ideas you have will be suspect. Come back as a citizen and you'll probably get a better reception.

[LiarLiarIraqsOnFire]

Jesus threw the MoneyChangers from the Temple of his religion, we should follow his example and throw the MoneyChangers from the Temple of our democracy.

Peace be unto you.

[Overd0g]

Jesus also asked why God had forsaken him, while he was being nailed to a cross. I think we might do well to avoid his example.

[Meteor]

A few basic principles need to be understood. When stock market graphs slope downward we are looking at the erosion of confidence and trust.

Money is a medium of exchange. The exchanges must be realistic and fair and supported by that same confidence and trust.

So the value of money rests on spiritual value. Without love, compassion, even common decency that confidence and trust slips away and the value of our money slips away. Confidence and trust sustains the value of money. A confident hope for tomorrow sustains the value of money for tomorrow.

We each carry the value and the future of our economy around with us in our minds and hearts.

The love we can each express today in that simple helpful act of kindness, which may look like patience, a word of confidence or an act of caring and compassion is worth far far more than that 700 billion dollar$ that has fixed our attention. We each have that Source of Wealth within and more.

This is a spiritual view; it is not just a Christian view. In fact many Christians do not have a spiritual view, but it is an ancient spiritual view and the reality of it abides in everyone. This is a good time to discover it.

[Overd0g]

We better start getting loaves of bread falling from the sky.

[bobsmith]

Bull. This is about greed and corruption among a few of Bush's "haves and have mores". "Compassion" isn't going to solve this problem or prevent its recurrence - it will only make it worse. This is a time to be angry and to make an example out of those responsible. Hunt them down. Conduct trials. Strip the guilty of all personal assets. Then deport them to some third-world country. And do it all very publicly. That will put an end to it.

The pious religious nonsense being spouted in this thread isn't the answer for this mess (or for much of anything).

[schatsie]

I think it is COMPASSIONATE to let the rich do their part to AMEND this crisis....­I for one am so sick of the meaningless words that drop from Bushes mouth.... We need amends, that is really meaningful changes to restore the balance...­. The rich have taken 1 trillion off the table in the tax cuts 'forced on them' by BUSH, so they can start doing their part by sending in checks for that amount.... Then we can talk about what needs to be done going forward as a society including jobs, education, infrastructure (Katrina- NEVER AGAIN), healthcare­...

We need to join the 21st Century!

[TRYKER]

Your Post was on the right track and inclusive. Your detractors seemed to miss your basic theme...th­at of gathering together to help one another through this coming depression. What could be wrong with that?
It is as good a time as any for Religion to re-define itself and turn its swords into plowshares.
They have gotten way off the path and been most destructive of the very thing they espouse, Christianity. For years they have saddled up and rode like the Klan through Mississippi, leaving grief and destruction in their wake, disillusioning the faithful with their greed.
We'll see how the religious community behaves when they see the poor and fallen... and see if they've turned the corner.
Good luck with your project.

[Overd0g]

What's wrong with that? The same thing that is wrong with erasing sin: it rewards evil.

[USAFree1]

Lookee folks. I'm a Christian and saw this coming when the financial wizards began home equity loans in the 80s. It wasn't and isn't and never will be a Christian value to live like most have over the last almost 30 years. Greed just ain't my creed. I can't believe that people with 1/2 a brain didn't know this collapse would eventually happen.

[Overd0g]

And now you will be stuck with the bill. Enjoy paying for your neighbor's home equity Hummer and Sea-Doo's.

[Xysea]

Yes, and the thing is almost 50% of still into the GOP, er I mean shameless greed and corruption.

[christianmama4change]

I strongly believe in the scripture that says some trust in chariots/power but we will hope in the name of God. A Christian response is to take a step back, take a deep breath and realize we are not defined by our finances or falling stocks. Decisions out of fear lead to disastrous results. We should recall other trying and difficult times in our lives where our faith has pulled us through. Research shows having a spirit of hope during illness speeds up the healing process. There's a gut instinct to panic and subconsciously stock the fires of uncertainty about the economy - it won't help us. We should calmly review our current financial options, downsize our spending to accomodate reduced income, take up a part-time job to supplement income and keep up a spirit of hope. Fear paralyzes, faith prompts.

[USAFree1]

I find it interesting that there have been tent cities on the west coast for almost a year as folks have lost their home to foreclosure. I've not seen anything or heard anything about that. God says that you reap what you sow.

[Overd0g]

Yes, if you reaped a home equity Hummer, you can go sow seeds for your dinner now.

[OutsideLookingIn]

People of faith are welcome to crowd into the Superdome with five loaves, two fishes and no working lavatories. The rest of us will work out what went wrong, ascertain what lousy aspects of human nature escaped the cage to make it go wrong, hopefully re-build the cage better and stronger and from there do our best to make a new and brighter start out of the pieces of the tarnished old.

I'm not aware of anything said in the Bible that isn't contradicted somewhere else in the Bible, and anyway the world view of a paranoid Bronze-Age tribal culture in a flat, square, patriarchal world of absolute monarchies and an even more absolutely unpredictable god who sends bears to rip children to pieces just for insulting a prophet's baldness (2 Kings 2:23-24), in which menstruation was a sin and in which the fastest thing was a camel, has very little relevance to my world.

[LiarLiarIraqsOnFire]

Kings is the Old Testament, as is Leviticus (the menstruation reference). Please stick with the New Testament when griping about Christians. Pseudo-Christians (Dominionist Deists) like to wallow in the Old Testament for purposes of Self-Righteousness, please don't stoop to their level.

Peace.

[Dave24]

Well if we stick with the New Testament only, then I guess we can ignore the Book of Genesis too, right?