1998 CBC Family Camp 3
Sunday Morning, Program Session, 10:00-11:30
Household Economics.
Group Work.
Gather either in family groups or small groups. Take a piece of paper and draw a picture of your house. This can be a floor plan or if you are really talented, a three-dimensional sketch showing your rooms, doors, nooks and crannies.
Locate your front or back door. Does this door symbolize whether your home is a “private home” or a “planet home?” How much do you interact with others? What is the meaning of hospitality for you and your household?
Next locate the room or place that “most activities” happen. This can be the family room or the kitchen or the living room. Maybe it is the backyard where the kids play and you BBQ. Is there “cumber” or too much busyness in these rooms? How much that you do everyday can be eliminated so that you can live more simply?
Share in your small groups. Are there any surprises that came to you while you were sharing?
Oikos.
The word, economics is rooted in the Greek word, oikos. Other words from this root are ecumenical and ecology. Economics means household and signifies the management of the household—arranging what is necessary for well-being.
It is almost safe to say that none of us have ever received any formal training in household economics. We know that no CPA or accountemp can audit your books without first training and passing exams. How do we manage our households? How well do we do this?
To live as families today, what do we need to do to rearrange our lifestyle for well-being?
- What is “abundance” and “enoughness?”
To be faithful is not to be utterly poor and uncomfortable, but to move from materialism to Spirit-dwelling. How is God’s Spirit dwelling within what we have and what we do with what we have?
In your house diagram, where and why do you spend most of your resources?
- Where is simplicity?
To be faithful today, we need to rid ourselves of things that are not necessary. Shedding the cumber enables us to perceive the divine order in our lives. Now I should talk… When we moved, we had over 250 boxes of stuff that we thought we would need! I see that for myself, I need to eliminate more of the cumber that crowds out what God thinks is more important.
- What is right labor?
There was a talented Quaker business man named, John Woolman (1720-1772). He was troubled by the practice of selling on credit to poor people. He challenged his fellow Quakers about low wages of laboring men and the women who spin in factories. One time when it was becoming popular to send letters by stagecoach, he refused to do this because he learned that the night travel sometimes meant that the poor postboys froze to death, people were run over in the dark, and the horses were so overworked that they, too, met untimely deaths.
What are some “right labor” issues facing you and us today? Wages, layoffs, employee benefits, immigrant exploitation, animal rights, industrial toxins, the correlation of rates of unemployment and incarceration with certain groups.
- What is right technology?
How do we deal with the swirling rapidity of modern technology in our lives? What should or should not be watched on TV? And where should the TV be located that might enhance community in our households? Some churches have in their Sunday bulletins, a reminder for worshippers to turn off their beepers and cell phones. How can we balance the benefits of technology with the understanding that a good talk over a cup of Earl Grey can be life-giving?
Too many evocative questions with few answers. To figure all of this out requires that we join hands together. Trusting and confiding in each other with honest confidence begins to open up discussions over some very difficult life questions.
And imagine this: the purpose of Family Camp and all of the fellowship groups that CBC has to offer are ways that we can figure this out with others.
Small Groups.
What is one thing you would like or plan to change that will reorder and rearrange your household economics necessary for well-being? Write down your action step on the spot in your house drawing that mostly pertains to your household economics.
To close, read Deuteronomy 6:4-9.