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    Climbing the Sycamore Tree: A Study on Choice and Simplicity
    Climbing the Sycamore Tree: A Study on Choice and Simplicity
    Climbing the Sycamore Tree: A Study on Choice and Simplicity
    Ebook186 pages2 hours

    Climbing the Sycamore Tree: A Study on Choice and Simplicity

    By Ann Hagmann

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    About this ebook

    Warning: This book could change the way you live.

    "Although I've experienced what it's like to get overextended, I've never been poor without options or help," writes Hagmann. "My faith tells me that being a Christian must affect who I am and how I behave with my wealth. Christ has something to say about the way I live my daily life, from how I treat others to how I spend my money."

    Do you make everyday economic decisions that reflect your Christian faith and values? Or are you "living large" in a material world?

    Using the story of Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-9) as its inspiration, Climbing the Sycamore Tree is a 6-week study of faithful stewardship.

    Hagmann uses both scripture and consumer statistics to show how our buying habits often marginalize certain people and perpetuate systems that contradict good stewardship and love for God's creation. Following the experience of the tax collector Zacchaeus, the study seeks to deepen the link between the faith we profess and the lifestyle we live.

    Designed as a study for individuals or groups, Climbing the Sycamore Tree

    • provides insight into how our economy functions and the connection between how we spend our money and spiritual formation
    • asks provocative, discerning questions about our daily choices
    • calls us to a path of simple everyday living that's in harmony with our Christian beliefs

    The study is divided into three sections of two weeks each. Each week's readings consist of five lessons and a group session that includes scripture, discussion questions, guides for reflection or activity, and prayer.

    Open yourself to transformation that more clearly reflects the daily living of the faith you profess!

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherUpper Room Books
    Release dateJun 1, 2001
    ISBN9780835812979
    Climbing the Sycamore Tree: A Study on Choice and Simplicity
    Author

    Ann Hagmann

    Ann Hagmann is a chaplain for Hospice Austin (Texas) and the founder of Whispering Hope Ministries for Healing and Wholeness. Hagmann served 10 years as a United Methodist Church pastor. She holds a BA in psychology from the University of Arkansas and a DMin from Perkins School of Theology of Southern Methodist University.

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      Book preview

      Climbing the Sycamore Tree - Ann Hagmann

      PART ONE

      —INFORMATION—

      CLIMBING THE

      SYCAMORE TREE

      Your word is a lamp to my feet

      and a light to my path.

      —Psalm 119:105

      WEEK ONE

      READ THE FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE

      PASSAGE EACH DAY THIS WEEK.

      Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.

      —John 8:12

      DAY ONE

      CULTURAL CHRISTIANITY

      Scripture: Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.

      —Matthew 7:21

      Most of us are cultural Christians. We do not behave economically with any clear understanding of God’s biblical instructions to us as followers of Jesus Christ. Rather our lifestyles are shaped and conditioned by our culture, and if the truth be known, most of us worship first the god of mammon, the god of wealth and possessions. It is a blessing for us to be rich; what is wrong is to spend our money as though our faith has no impact on our stewardship.

      Two scriptures help inform my economic faith lifestyle, and I believe the overall witness of the Bible supports their importance as a guide for us all. The first is Luke 12:48: From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required; and from the one to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be demanded. By the world’s standards you and I are wealthy people. We have been entrusted with much, and consequently much is going to be expected of us. The heart of our stewardship lies in delighting God by balancing what we have with how we spend it. Responsibility comes with blessings.

      One of the realities about Zacchaeus’s money is that it was blood money. I realize that part of our money is tainted too. In a very real sense it is blood money because it is obtained at the expense of other people. We can easily get mixed up with blood money today and not even realize it. Let me give you an example. As a United Methodist minister I invest in a pension program. I have six investment options for my personal contributions: the Diversified Investment Fund, the basic United Methodist pension fund investment portfolio; Domestic Bond Fund, fixed-income securities such as bonds and mortgages; Domestic Stock Fund or International Stock Fund, equity-type securities such as common stock; Money Market Plus Fund, short-term securities such as certificates of deposit; and Balanced Social Values Plus Fund, which includes all types of special funds invested only in companies with a positive approach to social issues, companies that strive to enhance the quality of life. In the last fund, money is invested only in life-affirming companies and corporations, in contrast to the other funds in which money is invested in companies and corporations whose primary goal is making money. Any company that does not meet the life-affirming requirements of the Balanced Social Values Fund probably is not going to care how what they do affects the local people. Their chief concern is to make money; money is more important than people and nature. And so I say that the money I would receive from investments in any of the funds except the Social Values one is tainted with blood.

      Our temptation is to ignore this kind of association of our money with less-thanethical uses and go on investing money as though we have a responsibility only to ourselves. That attitude reflects the belief I am blessed to be blessed rather than the Abrahamic conviction that we are blessed to be a blessing (Genesis 12:2-3). Luke 12:48 informs me that while I have been richly blessed, God expects me to be generous to others with those blessings. This understanding is amplified by the second key scripture, 1 Timothy 6:17-19:

      As for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty, or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life.

      This text abounds with rich ideas such as: we are to set our hope on God and not riches; God provides us with everything for our joy; we are called to be generous with others; and following Jesus reflects the way that really is life.

      As a citizen of the U.S.A., I know that my country is a wealthy one and that it has grown wealthy in part from the labors of those who enjoy few freedoms and who suffer economically. Even with all our wealth, we do not seem joyful or happy as a nation. Rather many in my country are morally and spiritually bankrupt. Is this bankruptcy the result of not being grounded in gratitude to God and generosity to others? Have we lost touch with our heart and our soul? Could we fail to appreciate what we have? Could we have a gnawing emptiness at the center of our lives?

      I fear that most of us are claimed more by our culture than by the faith that we espouse. Even as Christians, we tend to be greedy like everyone else and oftentimes are known by our possessions. I have seen fancy sports cars whose license tags read: PRAY4IT and ASK GOD. Now that sort of faith statement may be fine until a person drives by and says, Many of us prayed that my sick child would get well but she died. Is God more interested in providing a car than sustaining life in a child? As responsible Christians, we must seek to understand both God’s relationship with humanity and God’s position toward wealth and poverty. A significant part of this workbook seeks these understandings.

      The link between the faith we profess and the lifestyle we live is crucial. Today the whole world may depend upon a reversal in economic trends from self-centeredness to faithful stewardship. As Christians, as living witnesses in a secular world, no longer can we believe one thing and act a different way. The faith that truly guides us is reflected in our lifestyles. More often than not, that faith is secular or idolatrous. No longer can I speak of faith apart from the reality of how I live. Faith must inform my thoughts, actions, and behaviors. For all of us, faith must be the central core of our being. We must live our faith in all of our life and not limit our discipleship to particular times or areas.

      Reflection: Where in your life does your faith affect your lifestyle? Write your reflection here.

      Prayer: Loving One, help us to delight you with our stewardship of our life’s resources. Amen.

      DAY TWO

      THE WORLD AROUND US

      Scripture: Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.

      —Romans 12:2

      We are living in a quickly changing world. Think about some of the momentous global changes in the last fifteen years of the twentieth century. In the political arena we have witnessed the collapse of the Soviet Union; the end of the Cold War; the reunification of Germany; the election of democratic governments in some Eastern European states; the end of apartheid in South Africa; the rise of an Armenian nation; the brutal and devastating ethnic wars in Bosnia, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Kosovo; as well as the present-day efforts for peace talks between Israel and the PLO and Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland. In the economic arena we have witnessed the emerging world market, the rise of giant multinational conglomerate corporations, and the explosion of communication via the internet. Isn’t it astounding? It’s enough to make your head spin!

      Having been born in 1948 I was under the impression that I had lived through the ages of technology and communication. But I have come to realize that the changes taking place this very moment are far broader than technological changes. They are core human changes—changes in the cultural, moral, and spiritual fiber of who we are. It is an exciting and a frightening time to be alive! I think people sense this time of earth-shaking change. Many Christians speak to me about our being in the end times, and no doubt we are closer to it today than yesterday. They are reacting to—and trying to interpret—the massive change taking place in every area of our lives.

      A 1995 book by Howard Snyder projects eight global trends over the next thirty-five years: the coming of an instant-access culture, global economy, new roles for women, the environmental revolution, new scientific understandings of matter, the computer culture, the internal decline of Western society, and the power shifts in global politics. Appropriately titled EarthCurrents: The Struggle for the World’s Soul, Snyder’s book states that we are living in a time of global revolution. Likening our time to a hinge of history, Snyder reports that most cultural analysts see epoch change, unparalleled in history, happening

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