Too Heavenly Minded and No Earthly Good?

Where do we begin? For an idea so absurdly ambitious as The Jubilee Project this question makes me feel like I have writers block for visionaries. It is dangerously easy to write thoughts and ideas, and an altogether monumental leap to take abstractions and make them concrete. I guess that's why I am writing this, because I need your collective genius to get this idea off the ground. There are so many aspects to consider, for example because this idea is, in part, a business, we need a business plan. A strategic and concrete way of conducting ourselves in the market. We also need to know which expirement we will do first (clothing, publishing, music...?). We also need to establish a some sense of how this will progress, i.e. first x then y then z or first a then b then c... or whatever. That is why I have talked to each one of you and asked you to contribute, because each of you in your own unique way can contribute to each of these; be it the strategizing, the planning, the expirementing, or the growing parts of this Project.
It seems to me that we do need to clarify the abstract so that the abstract can be a light along our concrete sidewalk, if you pick up the metaphor. How do we do this? These are important questions because if these don't happen, this Project will belong to the colossally huge information wastebasket that is the world wide web. So my dear companions, how now shall we proceed?

A Robin Hood Complex and Band-aids Over Cancer

It is not love to give someone clean water yet and fail to proclaim the gospel, "for what does a man profit if he gains the whole world yet forfeits his own soul?" We could do many good things for people, but without telling them they are dead in their transgressions, are perilously close to damnation, and that there is been provided a way out from under the wrath of God by Jesus Christ, we actually would do them a severe disservice. Who cares if their lives are better but their souls shall perish apart from the knowledge of God? To do this would be to place a band-aid over cancer. But clean water is a sign of love that points to the perfect love of God in Christ. Perhaps those who recieve the water (or whatever good work) would look along the sign to what it points to, perhaps they would cling to God and not to their water. We must consider, if ever we give what we have recieved, that all the good we could do is but a sign; for us to cling to the good we do as if it made us something is likened unto the foolish hiker who holds fast to the sign pointing to the summit of Half Dome thinking that the signpost is "really great!" and misses out on the staggering splendor of the Yosemite Valley. What is worse is if we were to gather others to "come see our sign!" How silly! All we do is but a sign pointing to the Majestic God to whom we are but the metaphor. So we must seriously ponder any good we do, and if God grants, any momentum given to this Project.

In addtion to this I feel deep in my heart an affinity for Robin Hood. The Christian story is a story that has as part of its narrative a preferential treatment for the poor. Throughout both the Old and New Covenants God admonishes His people to be mindful of those who are in need. America is an empire of emperors, and kingdom of kings, who to our great shame have hoarded our wealth in vast gilded storehouses and we have not heeded the commission given to the kings of Israel not to multiply gold and horses (see Deuteronomy 17:14-17). Here also we must heed the admonition of Wendell Berry who articulates the nature of a global economy and its damage to the earth, "The name of our present society's connection to the earth is "bad work"... All of us are responsible for bad work, not so much because we do it ourselves (though we all do it) as because we have it done for us by other people... Living as we now do in almost complete dependence on a global economy, we are put inevitably into a position of ignorance and irresponsibility. No one can know the whole globe. We can connect ourselves to the globe as a whole only by means of a global economy that, without knowing the earth, plunders it for us (Sex, Economy, Freedom & Community, pg. 36-37). Is this any way for kings to conduct themselves? Do we as Solomon expand our wealth to our shame? Or can we, in responsible, generous ways reverse the damage our society does to its world? Can we steal from their wealth and contribute to the needs of others, especially our brothers and sisters scattered among the nations? Let us remember Paul's admonition to "let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith." In so doing, it is clear, that this will bring great glory to Christ and to His gospel.

Turning Stones into Bread?

So for those of you who have asked me, I will unveil to the degree that it is possible the plans for the Jubilee Project. I begin this with a relatively high degree of ambivalence, because I, in my own heart of hearts am so tempted to turn stone into bread. I am tempted to use my powers/gifts to make life happen for me, to provide for myself. I am also tempted to do this thing "for God" and so step off the pinnacle of the temple and presume there will be God's holy angels waiting to swoop me up and make this "thing for God" to work. And I am also tempted to go on a search for glory, and have power by means of this Project, and yet in attaining this power I would bow and worship the tempter and not the Beloved Son of God. Maybe some of you feel the same ambivalence, maybe some of you feel with fiery conviction that this is the thing for us to do.

The Jubilee Project began as an idea spawned from Jesus' words in Luke 4 wherein He proclaims that the Kingdom which He is ushering in is the substance which cast its shadow as the Jubilee Year (found in Leviticus 25). It is a time of reconcilliation, liberty, justice, and reparation. It is the re-ordering of the now decayed worldly order. Thus the Jubilee Project was an idea centered around liberty, justice, and reconcilliation as functions of the Kingdom.

It has morphed a number of times, and I am sure will continue to morph if God wills. But as I surveyed the group of people that sorrounded me I thought to myself, "surely this is no coincidence!" Gifted people, friends. So the idea was the The Jubilee Project would be a sort of Board of Trustees all mutually committed to the Values, Goals, and Purposes of the Project, who would in turn oversee a multiplicity of expirements. These expirements would include things like a music label/recording studio, a clothing company, a publishing company (including online and paper publications), perhaps cafes, art studios, reading rooms, etc... Each of these expirements would be overseen by a member of the Board of Trustees, and would not by name be attached to the Jubilee Project. These expirements would, if God so willed, generate profits, the profits would then be collected by the overseer and turned over to the Board of Trustees. This Board would then decide how to allocate these funds in such a way as to fulfill the values, goals, and purposes of The Jubilee Project. In other words these funds would be used to contribute toward the purposes of the Kingdom. This could be anything from supporting Sudanese Pastors and freeing women from African slave trading (yes it still happens!), to building wells for clean water in impoverished areas and supporting evangelists who work in the Muslim world. Literally anything that can be legitimately be shown to fulfill Kingdom purposes.

That is a broad brush stroke, without many details, primarily because as of this moment there are no details. What do you think the Spirit of God is doing, is this something He is leading us to do, or is this something that we may be tempted to do "for God?" I don't know, I don't have peace, but I do have a group of friends I trust, and a group of friends I trust that the same Spirit is moving within. May He whisper in our ears, "go this way." And may we follow where He leads.

First Things First

We need to ponder the meaning of Plato's dictum "know thyself." The meaning wrapped within this little phrase is essentially look within to discover the answer to that primal human question "what shall I do." The Platonic worldview percieved the self as healthy or unhealthy based on whether or not it was congruent with the dictates of human nature. Being that human nature, when flourshing, was capable of "great" things, the ethic of Plato and Aristotle became to "know thyself." Once one was living consistent with his/her nature and began to flourish (i.e. each of the persons capacities began to be exercised regularly and were well-functioning) one could discover that when one exercised their capacities that they could create and do meaningful things... good things. This healthy self had particular trajectories, and the individual is to look within to discover in what particular way it flourishes within themself. Thus one may discover that they have the flourshing artistic capacity that others did not have, or at least in the same manner which they had it, and this person then, according to this flourishing capacity was to be "honest" and act according to their flourishing capacity. Thus the movement within Platonic and Aristotelian thought is to look within to discover what meaningful thing I ought to do. This is wisdom. It should sound relatively familiar to Christians, it is the wisdom of proverbs. It is basically the sow and reap principle, which for the sage was, if you sow certain acts in a certain wise manner you will reap a generally good life. This is the hoekma of our cosmos. It is the ordering principle that God used to set in order the disordered and chaotic "void" or "deep." "Get wisdom" is the admonition of the Proverbs and of Plato and Aristotle. It is not that difficult to discover what kind of life is a "good life" according to the natural law by which our cosmos was made. Yet we need to look deeply into the crown jewel of widsom literature, Ecclesiastes. This work is written in response to misappropriated "wisdom." The sage who discovers "a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands, and poverty will come upon you like a bandit" from observing a man who was a sluggard whose property had been left uncultivated, could also become the sage who works hard according to his abilities, creates a flourishing vineyard, yet does so apart from God. This sage had discovered a meaningful life by acting according to "wisdom" but the teacher says "this too is meaningless" because what this wise guy did in building his wealth will all be lost and forgotten anyway. What are we to do? Are we to do anything? I propose that the wisdom of "know thyself" is only a secondary and derivative wisdom. If one makes it first, which all cultures, cliques, societies, and civilizations do, they inevitably become an aristocracy which has aristocratic values (such as hard work, moral behavior, individualism, an entreprenurial spirit, self-reliance, to name a few American aristocratic values). Churchs can become like this, emphasizing family values, moralism, and the like and can become very aristocratic. These churchs are doing very "meaningful" and "good" things, moral things, just things etc... And these churchs (and organizations for that matter) become crystallized around these values, each parishoner mirroring back to other parishoners how "good" they are. These churchs are well on their way to becoming Plato's Republic with Christ knocking on the gate of the city pleading with them to buy salve from Him, and clothing, and asking them to recieve Him to their feasts. All cultures, societies, and civilizations are built around the wisdom of the sow and reap principle, and individuals within these structures discover a meaningful and good life by following the dictum "know thyself." To answer the question "what are we to do" one follows the wisdom of "know thyself." And wisdom it is, but secondary and derivative wisdom. Remember Paul's admonition to the Corinthians, "not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things - and the things that are not - to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before Him." Therefore I conclude with these final thoughts; first we tend to think of our calling in terms of what we are to do and thus often follow the wisdom of "know thyself," look within to discover who you are and then you will discover what meaningful thing you should do, but I propose we think of our calling primarily in terms of God's sovereign foreknowing call by which we come to Christ, and stand in Him, in the Beloved Son of God. We are called in the Beloved, and our whole selves are to be recollected to the truth of what it means to be "in Christ." For to the degree which we are not recollected in Christ is the degree which we will be tempted to use our knowledge of ourselves (our gifts, abilities, and talents) to create, according to Kierkegaard, a "world in which I did not live, but only held up to the view of others... [and be] left standing like a man who has rented a house and gathered all the furniture and household things together, but has not yet found the beloved with whom to share the joys and sorrows of his life." The Jubilee Project, or any other human venture of ours, if done primarily as an extension of "know thyself" will be an incredibly great expirement of human ingenuity, that will ultimately fall under the condemnation of Ecclesiastes. But, if perchance, it is done as an expression of Jesus' admonition "I am the vine, you are the branches, abide in me and you will bear much fruit; for apart from me you can do nothing." Then it will stand as the fruit of God, tested as by fire, and will have continuity with the new creation wherein we will hear, "well done good and faithful servant, you have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's joy!"

What is the Jubilee Project?

Though there has been much dreaming, pondering, and a few sporadic conversation, as of this moment the Jubilee Project is an amorphous idea in need of some shaping and developing. To this point it is primarily, as a dream, an incubator for creative ideas, speculative conversation, and genuine spiritual inquiry. It may one day morph into a counsel of friends who have been given talents according to their ability and who "immediately went and traded with them, and gained... more talents." It is to us that the question of St. Anselm comes, "What shall your answer be on that day when there shall be asked of you an account of all the time of your living, how you have spent it, even to the twinkling of an eye?"