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A group of us have been leading a "Green Sunday School" class at church for a number of weeks and last Sunday was the day for a friend and I. I did a short introduction and Brian selected a few passages (from the many choices available) to discuss in relation to consumption. Here's the intro and the passages, although I didn't transcribe the discussion itself, which was good.

Welcome / topic: consumption

People are consumers at a certain basic level: we have to eat to live, we breathe

The tendency is for our consumption to become automated/automatic -- how often do we think about the fact that we are breathing? How often do we wolf our food down without much thought?

Ice breaker: go around room and say one thing that you have consumed already today, or in the last few days (why did you consume it? where did it come from? how was it made? where will it end up?)

Despite what our culture/political leaders/economists/corporations tell us, we are not primarily consumers (ie. that isn't what gives us worth, it is not our main defining characteristic)

The messages we get from our culture encourage the tendency to consume without thinking about it...to treat our wants as needs with no greater considerations. Imagine/contrast the words of Jesus with this mindset:

• Instead of "you need these clothes to be hip and fashionable" we have "Consider the lillies" and "Don't worry about what you will wear"
• Instead of economic stimulus packages so we can go out and buy things (our "duty")** we have "Sell your possessions and give it to the poor"

So we want to take a little time this morning, not to give you a list of pre-packaged answers, but to extend an invitation to ask questions, to examine some Scripture passages and to think about our calling as peculiar people in the midst of a culture of consumption.

Read Ex 16:14-20; 2 Cor 8:13-15
What values does God exhibit in these verses? do they apply to our consumption habits, and if so how?

¹⁵When the layer of dew lifted, there on the surface of the wilderness was a fine flaky substance, as fine as frost on the ground. When the Israelites saw it, they said to one another, ‘What is it?’^* For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, ‘It is the bread that the Lord¹⁶ has given you to eat. This is what the Lord has commanded: “Gather as much of it as each of you needs, an omer to a person according to the number of persons, all providing for those in their own tents.” ^17181920’ The Israelites did so, some gathering more, some less. But when they measured it with an omer, those who gathered much had nothing over, and those who gathered little had no shortage; they gathered as much as each of them needed. And Moses said to them, ‘Let no one leave any of it over until morning.’ But they did not listen to Moses; some left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and became foul. And Moses was angry with them.
...
¹⁴¹⁵I do not mean that there should be relief for others and pressure on you, but it is a question of a fair balance between your present abundance and their need, so that their abundance may be for your need, in order that there may be a fair balance. As it is written,
‘The one who had much did not have too much,
   and the one who had little did not have too little.’

Read Jn 6:1-14
What values about consumption does Jesus express in this passage? how is this story similar or different than that in Ex 16?

After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias.^*234567  A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick. Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near. When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming towards him, Jesus said to Philip, ‘Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?’ He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, ‘Six months’ wages^*8910 would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.’ One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, ‘There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?’ Jesus said, ‘Make the people sit down.’ Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they^*11121314 sat down, about five thousand in all. Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, ‘Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.’ So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets. When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, ‘This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.’

Read Num 11:4-6, 18-20, 31-34; 1 Cor 6:12; 1 Cor 10:23
Based on these passages how does God interact with us in regards to what we consume? how should we make decisions about what to consume?

(Numbers)  The rabble among them had a strong craving; and the Israelites also wept again, and said, ‘If only we had meat to eat! ⁵We remember the fish we used to eat in Egypt for nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; ⁶but now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.’
...
And say to the people: Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat; for you have wailed in the hearing of the Lord, saying, “If only we had meat to eat! Surely it was better for us in Egypt.” Therefore the Lord¹⁹²⁰ will give you meat, and you shall eat. You shall eat not only one day, or two days, or five days, or ten days, or twenty days, but for a whole month—until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you—because you have rejected the Lord who is among you, and have wailed before him, saying, “Why did we ever leave Egypt?” ’
...
Then a wind went out from the Lord³²³³, and it brought quails from the sea and let them fall beside the camp, about a day’s journey on this side and a day’s journey on the other side, all around the camp, about two cubits deep on the ground. So the people worked all that day and night and all the next day, gathering the quails; the least anyone gathered was ten homers; and they spread them out for themselves all around the camp. But while the meat was still between their teeth, before it was consumed, the anger of the Lord was kindled against the people, and the Lord³⁴ struck the people with a very great plague. So that place was called Kibroth-hattaavah,^* because there they buried the people who had the craving.

(1 Cor) ‘All things are lawful for me’, but not all things are beneficial. ‘All things are lawful for me’, but I will not be dominated by anything.
...
‘All things are lawful’, but not all things are beneficial. ‘All things are lawful’, but not all things build up.

**From CNN the other day: "You know what you are supposed to do with these stimulus checks, is stimulate," Bill Clinton told a group of his wife's supporters while campaigning Indiana. "Go out and blow it. Don't you dare pay down your credit card or save it," he quipped."

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Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved.