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God’s Economy LXX Psalm 103 (104);24 " O Lord, how manifold are Your works! In wisdom You have made them all,
It is hard to imagine life without the modern advantages of washing machines, cars and computers but there was a time even before farming, fire and metals. We can go back to a time when life existed before these fundamentals were discovered or invented. We think of the wheel as the basis of modern civilisation but evidence from archaeology of communities employing agriculture goes back some 7,000 years. Early human society began when our ancestors exchanged their nomadic existence for a settled way of life when language, writing and culture developed. With the settled way of life came also the ability and opportunity to observe and record God’s creation. Stonehenge is a testimony to man’s inquisitiveness, ingenuity, observation and application whatever the speculation one may place upon its" religious" significance. God called Abram from a nomadic existence to a settled way of life: "Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will show thee. "Gen. 12:1 The faith that Abram demonstrated was in a God who would lead him to a different way of life. Such faith required obedience and ingenuity (the capacity to reproduce God’s creative energy). Faith is the substance of our relationship with God and our reckoning of righteousness but this latter attribute of ingenuity is equally important. God gave to Abram the resources to be the person he had called him to be. How did our early ancestor make and control fire? How did they realise that it could be used to transform clay into pottery or a lump of metal into a spearhead? When God created man and woman in His own image he also gave them: …"dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth. "Genesis 1:28 From the beginning mankind was given stewardship over God’s creation whereby we were embued with authority and the wherewithal, the necessary creativity of mind and capacity to imitate the love, care and control of the Pantocrator for His Creation. God gave us the ability to think for ourselves and to make moral choices. Archimandrite Sophrony expresses this succinctly when he writes in "His Life is Mine": "In the beginning God creates our spirit as pure potential. What follows does not depend altogether on Him. Man is free to disagree, even to resist Him….Born as pure potential, our spirit must go on to actualise our being as hypostasis." This means also that man should exercise science (knowledge) and technology (application) according to the Divine pattern. We pray in the Lord’s prayer: "Thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven…" The "actualisation" of this must result from our co-operation with the Creator in His Creation. We may observe a lesson taught by God to the escaping Israelites in the wilderness when their greed and avarice concerning the provision of manna got the better of them. Exodus 16:17-21 The words of Christ our Saviour in the teaching of the Lord’s prayer allude to this event "give us this day our daily bread." Christ gives us the supersubstantial bread of life. He is indeed the very Bread of Life who feeds us for the eternal day of the Kingdom nourishing our bodies and our souls. I recall a monk on one occasion after being offered more food at table remarking, "I have had an excellent sufficiency!" The Greek word "autarkeia" conveys this sense of being satisfied with what we have been given. God’s economy supplies what we need rather than what we want. This economy which is rightly divided by generosity and sharing was brought home to me again recently on my visit to Romania. On an excursion through Transylvania our guide observed the relative richness of the area. He illustrated this, by pointing: "Look" he said, "there is a cow in each field" I asked:" Why is there only one cow in each field?" to be met with the answer " but that is more than enough for each household and their guests! The abuse and misuse of power finds an expression in ecological exploitation in today’s affluent society. Global warming, the ever-increasing demand for ever-diminishing finite fossil fuels requires humankind to re-evaluate their responsibilities, and to relearn and revise the scriptures teaching on stewardship. Modern man is arrogant about his technology. A little humility and an appreciation of creation such as our ancestors possessed would be useful. Along with obedience and temperance, ingenuity is required in our search for renewable, affordable, reliable energy resources that we can manage for the future generations. 1 Peter 4:20 "As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God." Fr. Jonathan |
