The Spiritual Root of the Economic Downturn

At a recent board meeting of the clergy association for my denomination’s metro Washington diocese, several board members were lamenting how many congregations were having trouble meeting their budgets through member giving. 

“Things are really tight for all of our congregations,” one board member said. “Because of the economic downturn, there’s not as much money out there as there used to be.”

My gut told me there was something amiss about his statement, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it at first. Then it hit me and, as usual, I blurted it out.

“That’s not quite true,” I said. “Actually, there’s even more money out there than at the beginning of the downturn—much more, since the stimulus. It’s just that it’s still in everyone’s pockets. And they’re not spending it because they THINK money is scarce.”

Perhaps it’s just the preacher in me, but I’ve always thought that this downturn of ours is more of a spiritual problem than a monetary one.

One of the ways I think about “sin” is the inability to see both ourselves—and the world around us—the way God does. Human beings tend to look at the world as a fixed pie, a zero-sum game: whatever anybody gets comes at someone else’s expense.

So we are primed to think of the economy in terms of scarcity. From scarcity, it’s not a long leap to fear. And when we mix a feeling of scarcity with the emotion of fear, we move very quickly into a downward spiral.

Years ago, when I worked in human services, a field that was constantly plagued with a sense of scarcity and an intense competition for resources, some colleagues and I conducted an experiment to see if it might be possible to change the paradigm.

At a conference in which hundreds of our members were present, we used one of the plenary sessions to play a carefully structured game. We divided the participants into about two dozen groups of eight to 10 people each. Each group was given a bag containing random amounts of four different colors of poker chips and a piece of paper containing the number of each colored chips the group needed to “win.” (Note: the numbers of chips required by the cards and the numbers of chips they had in the bag did not match.)

The participants were given general instructions. There were to be three 10-minute rounds of play, each with slightly different ground rules that would be shared at the beginning of each round. Those who accumulated the designated amount of chips by the end of each 10-minute round would “win.”

What the participants did not know is that there were exactly enough chips for everyone to "win” if distributed effectively.

Then the first round began. Ground rule? Everyone look out for yourselves. No one can help any group but his or her own. You can ask for what you need, but you cannot offer to help.

Then the second round. Ground rule? Quid pro quo. You can only make even trades with other groups.

Then came the final round. The ground rule in this group? You are to make sure every group you come into contact with succeeds.

What were the results?

In the first round, after 10 minutes, out of 20 groups, 20 groups lost. Nobody “won.” Many groups had an overabundance of certain color chips, but nobody had the right amount of all of them.

In the second round, after 10 minutes, two of 20 groups had “won,” each with an overabundance of certain color chips.

In the third and final group, 20 out of 20 groups won, each with the exact amount of chips required.

So what does this say about the economy? The bottom line is, “We get what we expect.”

When we act out of a sense of scarcity, we create scarcity. If each of us seeks only our own economic well-being and no one else’s, everybody loses.

That is analogous to what happened to the economy in 2008. Since then, we first pumped a lot of money into the economy, then we started cutting expenses, but we have yet to face and overcome our fear of scarcity. And until we do, things aren’t going to get a whole lot better.

For those of us who are part of the household of God, there is something else to learn from this.

I use the term “household” intentionally. In the original language of the New Testament, one of the words used to collectively describe those who follow Christ was the oikos (or "household") of God.

Oikos is also the root of the word we use to describe an organized network of transactions and exchanges of value: an economy.

In the economy of God, as with Jesus and the loaves and fishes, there is always enough to go around. It is only when we seek the good of others above our own good, that we make God’s economy manifest.

It is paradoxical but true: When we seek the good of all others above our own good, everyone “wins.”

And a little prayer wouldn't hurt...