Session 2: Praise God from whom all blessings flow

After our opening prayers, we watched Eric Law's Who Am I? video on YouTube.  He invited us to think of 3 things that others in the group might  not know about us.  How easy it is to stereotype people by their appearance, their employment, their age and gender!

Our lives flow with the currency of God's surprises!  Law shares a story of his parents and how they started a music school in their home, with pianos in every room, local children and music teachers coming together to share in a modest economy of exchange.  It never made his parents financially rich, and yet it was viable and life-giving on many levels. 

Even in situations of scarcity, we can have a spirituality of abundance:

            IF everyone has work that they value, IF they are sharing until there is no hunger.

 

In Cantonese, the word for water is the word sometimes used for money. 

            If it flows… then there is a sense of wealth created.

            If it doesn’t flow… the result is stagnation, or rot.

 

 3 POINTS:  about the cycle of blessings.       

- only valuable as things flow;

- all 6 are needed – Law makes the observation that sometimes mainline churches focus too much on internal relationships, and the system stops flowing;

- the cycle must be replenishing, circular, in constant transition.

 

 

Of the 6 currencies:

 – Which resource do you trust the most? 

 - What would you be willing to pay for, invest money in?

When it comes to money, there is a lot of distrust – we don’t trust anything that involves money at risk, but we also don't trust anything that comes to us free of charge!

 Where have you seen 6 currencies blocked? Where have you seen them flowing?             

 

1.      Time and space 

2.      Leadership

3.      Relationship:  Internal/External

4.      Truth

5.  Wellness 

6.      Money

 

In Chapter 2, Eric Law does some storytelling about his family dinner table and how they dealt with leftovers - they were offered to each family member as a way of affirming their worth, but each one would refuse and offer it as affirmation to another member.  Eventually the leftovers would be transformed into another meal.

 

Law talks about this as a demonstration of how the Christian faith involves “doing more with less”, or even giving until you have less.  A radical notion in this time of materialism.  Even the cross is a symbol of Jesus' giving until he had less, even nothing.  This develops a “spirituality of abundance” that gives us hope and compassion, even in a time of scarcity.

 

As closing, we read: Matthew 25:14-30 - the parable of the talents. 

Jesus was passionate about letting the blessings of God flow!