August 12th

Five Minutes on Friday #36

RON SIDER

An advocate for faith expressed in action. A white, male evangelical who embraced the voices of the marginalized and made abundant room in leadership for new generations and for people of color. A champion for peacemaking both when wars were popular and when they were unpopular. A scholar who didn’t flee to the suburbs but raised his family in one of Philadelphia’s less privileged neighbourhoods.

The consensus of many friends and former colleagues is that Ron Sider, who died July 27 at age 82, lived what he professed. The founder of Evangelicals for Social Action (now Christians for Social Action) and professor of theology and public policy at Eastern University was one of the most prominent public faces of a progressive evangelical movement that saw no daylight between evangelism and justice.

Sider’s most famous book, Rich Christians in an age of Hunger was published in 1977 and went through six editions.  I remember reading it as a college student and being profoundly influenced by his call to simple, Jesus style living.  Perhaps its most challenging (and controversial?) idea was that of the ‘graduated income tithe.’  

The graduated income tithe entails giving away a greater portion of one’s income as it increases, whether to the church or other organizations serving God and neighbor. It is a challenging, important invitational model for expressing the love of God and neighbor via one’s budget,  

Sider and his family began experimenting with a graduated income tithe in 1969. After a few permutations, they prayerfully grew into giving away 10% on a “base” amount of their income to cover what they deemed necessities. Then for every $1,000 in income they earned beyond that base, they would increase what they gave away by 5% (for example: give away 10% of the first $25,000, then 15% of the next $1,000 earned, then 20% of the following $1,000 earned, and so forth). With inflation, incremental brackets of $1,000 in 1969 equate to roughly $7,000 today. According to Sider, though, what constitutes one’s base number and graduated increments beyond it can vary, as things like medical expenses, retirement savings, food costs, housing costs or transportation costs play different roles depending on one’s circumstances.

When considering a graduated income tithe, Sider encourages people to prayerfully:

• Discern as a household what would most faithfully provide a manageable base and incremental donation brackets;
• Decide where the donations would go (to relief efforts, community development efforts, justice efforts, mission efforts or some combination thereof);
• Write your graduated income tithe plan down with specificity for the coming 12 months; and
• Share, discuss and solidify your plan with a “committed Christian friend or couple” likewise drawn to implementing a graduated income tithe.

In other words, it’s not easy to live this way but through prayer and the support of others it may be possible.

Sider is also renowned for his 1984 speech at a Mennonite World Conference in Strasbourg, France.  His call to ‘active peacemaking’ led directly to the formation of Christian Peacemaker Teams who, forty years later, are still active around the world.

Tony Campolo, an old friend and colleague mused about Sider’s legacy.  In a telephone conversation they had—the last one before Sider’s death—  Sider told him. “If Christ is not risen from the dead, nothing else matters. If Christ is risen from the dead, nothing else matters.”

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WILLIAM MacASKILL

William MacAskill is a twenty-eight year-old who teaches philosophy at Oxford University.  He’s the public face of a movement called ‘Effective Altruism.’  EA  takes as its premise that people ought to do good in the most clear-sighted, ambitious, and unsentimental way possible.   For MacAskill this means living on about $40,000 (Canadian) a year and giving all of the rest away. 

You can read more about EA at the link below, but I thought of Ron Sider and his ‘graduated income tithe’ as I read about this secular movement to do good in the world.   (EA also raises some other moral questions but you can read the article on your own).

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/08/15/the-reluctant-prophet-of-effective-altruism?utm_source=nl&utm_brand=tny&utm_mailing=TNY_Daily_080922&ut

SUNDAY – 2 Kings 6.8-23 

This week we continue our series on FOOD AND FAITH (2) with a reading from the OT book of Kings.  In the story the king of Aram sets out to arrest the prophet Elisha who is continually thwarting his war plans.  Elisha’s home is surrounded by hostile troops and his servant cowers in fear.  Elisha, however, assures his servant that ‘There are more with us than are with them.’ 

The poor servant is bewildered because he can count; surely the prophet’s arithmetic is out of touch with reality.  Nevertheless the servant’s eyes are opened and he sees that the Arameans are surrounded by ‘horses and chariots of fire.’  They will be safe.

And then the clincher: The Israelite kings wants to kill these invading enemy soldiers but Elisha insists they throw a feast instead.  Arameans and Israelites eat together and war is averted.

See Paul’s counsel to Christians in Romans 12:

        ¹⁷Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. ¹⁸If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. ¹⁹Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’ ²⁰No, ‘if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.’ ²¹Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

REFLECTION

Can you remember an example from your own life where food unexpectedly brought people together?

What meal would you prepare if you were hosting someone you had strained relationships with?