SOCIAL
PRINCIPLES #4 – THE ECONOMIC COMMUNITY
I am continuing my weekly blogs
talking about the United Methodist Social Principles. I have discussed The
Natural World, The Nurturing Community and the Social Community sections.
This week is The Economic Community
section with sub-sections of:
- ·
Property
- ·
Collective
Bargaining
- ·
Work
and Leisure
- ·
Consumption
- ·
Poverty
- ·
Foreign
Workers
- ·
Gambling
- ·
Family
Farms
- ·
Corporate
Responsibility
- ·
Finance
- ·
Trade
and Investment
- ·
Graft
and Corruption
- ·
Public
Indebtedness
When we talk stewardship, we talk
about being stewards of what God has given us. And if the first stewardship
scripture is “In the beginning God created,” then everything is God’s. We don’t
own any of it. We use it (hopefully well); we care for it (hopefully wisely); and
we share it (hopefully generously). So, then, everything we have is God’s.
Thus, it makes total sense why all these categories and economics becomes part
of a community, a community of which we are all a part. Individuals must act as
good stewards, but so much governments and communities, companies and churches.
This isn’t new. John Wesley had many
opinions that are summarized in his “Political Manifesto”. This was shared in a
series of blogs in mid-2020. Feel free to go back and review them. As an
ordained Deacon in the United Methodist Church, I am ordained to compassion and
justice. The Economic Community speaks to compassion and justice, and it can’t
be limited to just deacons. We can be compassionate and feel sorry for someone,
but unless we’re willing to do something to make a chance, justice won’t
happen. We obviously need to be compassionate, but we also need to work for
justice. May it always be so!
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