Dave Walker

Challenging blog post from @RichardJMurphy

"The Christian message at Christmas is one of radical economic reform. Why doesn't the Church say that? Is it just too embedded with the proud and the mighty it's meant to be pulling down?"

https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2022/12/23/the-radical-economics-of-christmas/

#ChurchOfEngland #Magnificat #JustinWelby #ArchbishopOfCanterbury #Church #Economics

The stock market is failing according to the CBI. So why don’t we just let it go?

I posted this on Twitter this morning: https://twitter.com/RichardJMurphy/status/1942861045426516103 My point is serious. The CBI is saying that the situation with regard to the UK stock exchange is getting desperate, because it is losing out to overseas markets and not attracting sufficient business. The question that needs to be asked is, why is that?...

Funding the Future
Dec 23, 2022 at 11:42amWeb
Show threadRuthSmartDec 23, 2022
@davewalker @RichardJMurphy
Interesting blog, thank you for the link.
Recently I gave a week's wages to a young mother whose partner had just left, taking all their money with him.
She promised to return the money as soon as she could.
My reply was that the money was a gift from God, if she wanted and was able to repay the money then to donate it to the church or pass it on to someone else in need.
Was I helping those in need as Jesus taught or was I paying tax ?
#ChurchOfEngland
Show threadPersephoneDec 23, 2022

@davewalker This is where I am in my journey right now. I'm not in the UK, so the specifics are different, but in general I think the Church has been too entwined with imperial/colonial/capitalist power, for a long, long time.

I'm clergy. I love the church. But sometimes I want to overturn some tables.

Show threadDave WalkerDec 23, 2022
@nicedragon I can’t disagree with you, but I don’t know how one even begins to think how it might seriously change.
Show threadPersephoneDec 24, 2022
@davewalker I'm still feeling my way through that. Right now, I'm focused on finding where God is at work on the margins, among people people who don't fit well within the church system.
Show threadJulieBDec 24, 2022
@nicedragon @davewalker I too hang out on the margins, with those deemed to be on the outside, on the outs, on the list of the unapproved. They are my people far more than those who have access to any inner sanctum. I've had people question my faith or my godliness because I remain on the fringes, but then I look at Jesus & how He lived and He was the fringiest. I love the person in front of me. Full stop. Will I ever be part of an organized faith group again? God only knows. Until then, love.
Show threadChristina WaltonDec 24, 2022
@JulieB @nicedragon @davewalker
For almost two years, we've brought church (and a hot breakfast) to a homeless camp each week. Some of our partners are from our small group but many are other Christians from all walks of life we've met in the field, drawn to the same mission.
Show threadPersephoneDec 24, 2022
@ChristinaWalton @JulieB @davewalker That's great. I wrote a little under the hashtag #HolyAnarchy about wanting to see more of this kind of thing.
Show threadJulieBDec 23, 2022
@nicedragon @davewalker Me too. Well, not clergy. Love the church, like His people, but struggle with the organization. And I suffer from the same temptation. *looks sheepish*
Show thread🔥 The Quirky Pastor 🔥Dec 24, 2022
@nicedragon @davewalker “sometimes” I want to overturn some tables? Every dang day I want to just start flipping sh*%. Church structure is such, however, that when you start flipping things, esp the economics, you become more like Jesus than you might like to be.
Show thread🔥 The Quirky Pastor 🔥Dec 24, 2022
@nicedragon @davewalker I don’t think any pastor actively serving can effectively make these changes as long as we rely on the church for a salary & benefits bc your church will lose all the $$ it relies on to survive once you alienate the people with $$. Ask me how I know this… 😵‍💫🙃
Show threadPersephoneDec 24, 2022

@quirkypastor I hear you. I'm actually not actively serving a congregation (I retired early due to disability), but I've seen how wealthy families can dominate a congregation.

For a time, I sort of specialized in temporary service to struggling churches, and being there on a temporary basis gave me some "outsider" leverage to question the norms. But you're right, being enmeshed in the system can make change seem impossible.

Show thread🔥 The Quirky Pastor 🔥Dec 24, 2022
@nicedragon I keep looking for other supplements to my income so I’m not reliant on the church. The problem is ministry work really is a full time job so no matter what I’m working on on the side it doesn’t pick up the difference enough to be all “sure cut my salary in half I don’t care… I can still pay my bills…” 🙃
Show threadPersephoneDec 24, 2022
@quirkypastor True. Even "part-time" ministry tends to be full-time, just paid less. (and, not entirely unrelated to this thread, that's also where I see the highest concentration of female pastors)
Show threadJason GoroncyDec 23, 2022
@davewalker @RichardJMurphy ‘The Magnificat foretold [Jesus’] mission was to declare radical economic transformation by liberating poor people from debt’. Yep.