Enough, Stuff, and Enough Stuff

Kristi and I attended the "Through the Consuming Fire" conference in Indianapolis this weekend at the Englewood Christian Church. We found out about the conference through our friends Kurt and Katie Williams and the four of us all were able to go! The conference theme was "Economic Faithfulness in an age of Consumerism", and "Community and Creativity in resisting Consumerism."

The main speakers were Shane Claiborne, Kelly Johnson, and Will Samson. The conference was designed to challenge our consumeristic mindset, as well as think creatively about how to be producers. We read Will Samson's book Enough in preparation for the conference, and here is an excerpt:

"One day, Jesus was walking down Main Street on his way out of town, and a rich and influential young lawyer came up to him and asked him: "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

And Jesus replied, "Give what you can to the synagogue. Ten percent is a good rule of thumb, but whatever you do, don't be a legalist about it. And make sure you have enough left over to contribute to the economy. You know, 'Give to Caesar...'

And the man went away very happy, because that was exactly what he was already doing."

Each of the first several chapters of Enough starts with this scene, with the young lawyer coming up with all the excuses that us Christians come up with when confronted with the difficulty of selling everything. The book challenges the reader to ask the question, is Christ enough? So often we get caught up in the consumption of material goods that we find ourselves not thinking that Christ is enough for us. The book also asks us the question, did God create enough on earth for everyone? If so, why (according to a 2000 United Nations report) are 1 billion people in the world suffering from over-nutrition, while 800 million suffer from malnutrition? I would recommend this thought provoking, easy to read book, and not just because its the only one I've read this year (and I'm still not completely finished...).

A way of life introduced (at least to me) is known as The New Monasticism. Kristi and I have had a lot of thoughts similar to this way of living the Christian life, and it was good to learn about an established 'ism', if you will.

With all the topics, sessions, speakers, and ideas discussed this weekend, the strongest suggestions to us were to start a garden, and eat with others. It almost sounded too simple, too boring. So often we think so radically and globally that we forget to think practically and locally. I was personally challenged by thinking about how much I consume compared to how much I produce. I really don't produce anything, except for various forms of body odor.

Although they weren't specifically mentioned at the conference, here are a couple other quotes that relate to the topics addressed.

"The Christian faith has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult and left untried." - G. K. Chesterton

"The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand, we are obliged to act accordingly." - Soren Kierkegaard

Blessings to all of you as we approach the season of American Consumption known as Black Friday and Christmas. We are challenging ourselves to consume less, and produce more, and challenge you with that as well.

Here are a couple of great videos about consumption if you are interested:
The Story of Stuff
Advent Conspiracy