Resources

In organizational life, values determine what is cherished and important and how an organization is shaped and managed. The human body operates on blood; an organization operates on values, whether good or bad. Ideally these values are thoughtfully conceived and clearly stated in a document that can be read by members of the organization and recipients of the organization’s service. Sometimes the real functioning values of an organization are in conflict with the advertised ones. So the process of getting people to clarify what values are actually operating and what values should be foundational is one of the most important exercises that can be undertaken in organizational life.

My Paddle’s Keen and Bright: A Reflection on Canoeing in Canada

R. Paul Stevens is Professor Emeritus of Marketplace Theology, Regent College. He is married to Gail, who canoes from the bow, has thee married children and eight grandchildren.

My paddle’s keen and bright,

Flashing with silver,

Swift as the wild goose flies,

Dip, dip and swing.

At an international party outside Lijiang, the ancient cross-roads of the Silk Road in Yunnan Province China, each person was asked to sing a song from their homeland. Will we sing our national anthem? (A cartoon once showed Canadians singing the anthem with the first line in bold large type and then trailing off in smaller and smaller type until there was nothing coming out of their mouths!) Gail, my wife, and I decided, after a brief conference, on a canoeing song. “My Paddle’s keen and bright / Flashing with silver / Swift as the wild goose flies / Dip, dip, and swing.” The song itself, which we both learned at Pioneer Camp in Ontario as young teenagers, has a rhythm that is evocative of the spiritual journey. It was at that camp that my love for the Canadian canoe and canoeing was birthed. There I learned the “J” stroke, the draw, the circle stroke and the Indian stroke. Now, to be politically correct, it should be called the First Nations stroke—it is a marvellous twist of the paddle so you never remove it from the water enabling you to move forward soundlessly. This amazing craft opened up our vast land of rivers and lakes. One forty pound canoe can carry two adults and a load of gear, and can be portaged over the head by one person with paddles lashed to the thwarts to rest, uneasily to be sure, on the shoulders of the canoeist.

Is There a Biblical Definition of Economic Justice?

Ronald J. Sider

How do we as Christians discern the nature of economic justice?  Whether or not we realize it, some normative system of values partially determines every economic decision we make.  The Bible provides norms for thinking about economics in two basic ways: the biblical story and a biblical paradigm on economic justice.

THE BIBLICAL STORY

The biblical story is the long history of God’s engagement with our world that stretches from creation through the fall and the history of redemption to the culmination of history when Christ returns.  This biblical story offers decisive insight into the nature of the material world, the dignity and character of persons, and the significance and limitations of the historical process.  For example, since every person is made by God for community, no one will ultimately be satisfied with material abundance alone, or with material abundance kept for oneself.  Since every person is so important that God became flesh to die for her sins and invite her to live forever with the living God, economic life must be ordered in a way that respects this God-given dignity.