A lot of people have been asking me how the Church is responding to this economic recession.
It seems to me there are at least three levels of response.
The first is that of offering immediate practical support to those who need it in these troubled times. Christian social service agencies and local congregations can share in this task.
The second level is that of political advocacy. On 8 April, leaders from the Anglican, Baptist, Catholic, Methodist, Presbyterian, Assembly of God and Salvation Army churches met with Prime Minister John Key and Minister of Finance Bill English to discuss practical responses to the local social impacts of the global economic crisis, especially on lower-income families, and to shape some priorities that can be supported by Churches and their social service agencies. We said that it is just as important for New Zealand to emerge from the recession with a robust society as it is to emerge with a robust economy, and that to achieve this we will need policies that have a long-term focus. We left the meeting confident that a purposeful dialogue has been entered into with the government. The Prime Minister said that he welcomes the Church’s ongoing feedback and input.
The third level consists of theological reflection and critique. What is the real nature of this crisis? Is it just economic, and therefore fixable through economic policies, or is it something more? What are the deeper questions we should be asking?
In this regard, it seems to me that from a faith perspective, the current economic order fails to account for three significant truths about our humanity. The first is the possibility that our humanity might have a higher purpose than the pursuit of individual happiness. The second is the possibility that freedom might consist of something more than the freedom to acquire and consume. The third is the reality of sin.
When the Westminster Catechism defines the chief end of our humanity in terms of knowing God and enjoying God forever, it implies that our humanity has a certain directedness about it, which we deny at our peril. Our ultimate desire or appetite should be for God. But two of the consequences of sin are the redirection of desire towards lesser realities and the forging of idolatrous loyalties. Our insatiable appetite for consumer goods, and the consequent failure to distinguish between wants and needs, is a sign not of our freedom but of our captivity.
From a faith perspective, the notion of “retail therapy” is nonsensical. Like other forms of self-indulgence, it constitutes nothing more than a temporary distraction; an expression of modernity’s narcissistic tendencies and ultimately unsustainable lifestyles. As the prophet Isaiah asked so many years ago, why spend your money on, and labour for, things that will not satisfy?
The current economic crisis provides us with an opportunity to reflect on these kinds of realities, to ask questions about the nature, sustainability and consequences of the current economic order, and to ponder what a different ordering of our priorities and commitments might look like. I have no doubt that we will find considerable support for this task.
When leaders from the world’s 20 biggest economies met in London recently, tens of thousands of people took to the streets in Britain, France, Germany and Italy to protest about the economic crisis and urge world leaders to act on poverty, jobs and climate change. The protest gave voice to a deep sense of unease that many people around the world feel in relation to certain aspects of globalisation and the current global economic system.
Through the Bible and a rich heritage of theological reflection and alternative patterns of living, it seems to me that the Church is particularly well placed to offer the kind of thinking and critique that is needed at this critical time.