Questions to Consider:

When have you come face-to-face with your own privilege or

position of authority? How did you use it to your advantage?

When have you been in the out group or ostracized? What was your response?

How have you fallen victim to the sin that power and privilege

may bring?

Points to Ponder:

A prison cell, in which one waits, hopes – and is completely dependent on the fact that the door of freedom has to be opened from the outside, is not a bad picture of Advent.

–Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Christ [was born,] died and was raised, not to prevent us from grieving, but so that our brokenness would be redeemed, our faults would not define us, and our sadness would not be the end of the story.

—Matthew Rawle

Points to Ponder:

"No space of regret can make amends for one life's opportunity misused. Why did I walk through crowds of fellow-beings with my eyes turned down, and never raise them to that blessed Star which led the Wise Men to a poor abode? Were there no poor homes to which its light would have conducted me?"

—Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol

"When we fail to see…the false belief that souls are worth more than others, the chasm that separates us one from another is indeed impossible to cross."

–Rev. Matthew Rawle

Points to Ponder:

There is no joy without gratitude. -Brené Brown

It is only with gratitude that life becomes rich. -Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Gratitude is acknowledging the goodness in our lives as life exists today, not as we wish it to be. -Jennifer Dukes Lee

In a society that has you counting money, pounds, calories and steps; be a rebel and count your blessings instead. -Lisa Heckman

Questions to Consider & Points to Ponder:

Scholar N.T. Wright noted a helpful rule of thumb about money in Hebrews 13:

“When you love something or someone, you make sacrifices for them. When you find yourself making a sacrifice of something else in your life, simply so that you can follow where money is beckoning you, regard that as a danger signal.”

What relationships, activities or values would you never give up,

never sacrifice just to be able to pursue more money?

Questions to Consider

What are my earliest memories of hearing that God loves me?

Who has helped me see and believe in God?

Who am I encouraging to deepen and expand their faith? How?

Questions to Consider:

1. In spending this money, am I acting like I own it, or am I acting

like the Lord’s trustee?

2. What Scripture requires me to spend this money this way?

3. Can I offer up this purchase as a sacrifice to the Lord?

4. Will God reward me for this expenditure at the resurrection of the just?

- John Wesley’s questions regarding expenditures

Dare we care at all about current fashions if that means reducing our ability to help hungry neighbors? How many more luxuries should we buy for ourselves and our children when others are dying for lack of bread?

- Ronald J. Sider, Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger: Moving from Affluence to Generosity

Howrichami.givingwhatwecan.org

www.givewell.org

In his book, How to Be Rich: It’s Not What You Have, It’s What You Do with What You Have, Andy Stanley describes 3-S Givers and 3-P Givers.

3-S Givers are spontaneous, sporadic, and sparing.

3-P Givers make giving a priority, decide in advance what percentage they will

give, give progressively (continue to grow in our willingness and desire to

partner with God).

Which type of giver am I?

Which type of giver do I aspire to be?

Are there changes God is calling me to make?

Questions to Consider & Points to Ponder:

How much money would you need to secure your future against all imaginable eventualities? When our hope begins to migrate towards our finances, then wealth becomes a substitute for God.

We need to make some dramatic, concrete moves to escape the materialism that seeps into our minds via diabolically clever and incessant advertising. We have been brainwashed to believe that bigger houses, more prosperous businesses, and more sophisticated gadgets are the way to joy and fulfillment. As a result, we are caught in an absurd, materialistic spiral. The more we make, the more we think we need in order to live decently and respectably. Somehow we have to break this cycle because it makes us sin against our needy brothers and sisters and, therefore, against our Lord. And it also destroys us. Sharing with others is the way to real joy.

- Ronald J. Sider, Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger

givingwhatwecan.org

www.givewell.org

Points to Ponder:

Three Side Effects of Wealth:

1. Rich people confuse BEING rich with feeling rich.

How much margin do we have?

2. Rich people are plagued by DISCONTENTMENT.

The more we have, the more we want.

3. Rich people suffer from a MIGRATION OF HOPE.

Over time wealth becomes a substitute for God.

- Andy Stanley, How to Be Rich: It’s Not What You Have,

It’s What you Do With What You Have

howrichami.givingwhatwecan.org

www.givewell.org