The Gift Economy: Faith, Abundance, and Gratitude

I've recently prepared programs about The Buy Nothing Project to share with women's circles at churches. I'd refer to The Buy Nothing Project's website for information about them, but I wanted to share my words about why a gift economy and things like BNP are so meaningful to me.

The Buy Nothing Project Mission Statement:
BuyNothing offers people a way to give and receive, share, lend, and express gratitude through a worldwide gift economy network in which the true wealth is the web of connections formed between people. We believe that communities are more resilient, sustainable, equitable, and joyful when they have functional gift economies. (source: https://buynothingproject.org/about)

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Bloodroot on a hillside, April 2015

Why is a gift economy important to me as a Christian?

For me, it is important to my faith because scripture is full of passages about giving things away and making sure everyone is taken care of. In the Old Testament, we have instructions about leaving portions of grain in the fields for the poor. In the New Testament we have verses about organizing to take care of the needs of widows. So part of it is about sharing from our abundance so that everyone has enough. Jesus says in Matthew 6:19-21: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, but store up treasures in heaven. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” He says that on earth, moth and rust consume and thieves break in and steal. In other words, our stuff here on earth is not just meant to be hoarded where it does nobody any good and gets ruined and lost anyway. But while we have this stuff, we’re responsible for it, let’s use what we need and share what we can.

Jesus continues in Matthew 6:

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
“So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.” Matthew 6:25-34(NRSV)

This and other teachings of Jesus tell me not to be overly attached to my stuff. That I should be willing to let it go. God knows we need these things, and they will be given to us, and I think as a whole community the way that actually works is that we share and give to one another. Because among all of us, we have everything we need. I don’t need to worry about keeping stuff for my own security.

In Luke, Jesus sent the disciples to preach the gospel and heal the sick, and he said, “Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money—not even an extra tunic.” Later he asked them, “When I sent you out without a purse, bag, or sandals, did you lack anything?” They said, “No, not a thing.” 

It is the strength of my community bonds that ensure that when I am in need, I can call on others to meet my needs. And this has been my experience in life. We also must remember that all good things come from God. (James 1:17) God is the creator of the planet we live on, and everything that we use to live, make, sell, was first a gift from God. It’s grace–the word that means “unmerited favor”, or gifts given without being earned or with the expectation of repayment.

Diana Butler Bass wrote in her book Gratitude, “Grace reminds us that every good thing is a gift—that somehow the rising of the sun and being alive are indiscriminate daily offerings to us—and then we understand that all benefactors are also beneficiaries and all beneficiaries can be benefactors. All that we have was gifted to all of us. There would be no benefactors if they were not the first recipients of grace. In other words, gifts come before givers. We do not really give gifts. We recognize gifts, we receive them, and we pass them on. We all rely on these gifts. We all share them.” 

Another quote, this time from the founder of the Methodist movement, John Wesley, also reminds us that all we have comes from God: “We are now God’s stewards. We are indebted to him for all we have…. A steward is not at liberty to use what is lodged in his hands as he pleases, but as his master pleases…. He is not the owner of any of these things but barely entrusted with them by another… now this is exactly the case of everyone with relation to God. We are not at liberty to use what God has lodged in our hands as we please, but as God pleases, who alone is the possessor of heaven and earth and the Lord of every creature.” John Wesley, Sermon 51, “The Good Steward,” §II.1, Works 2:283-84

All of these teachings enable me to freely give from a place of abundance and generosity because I can play a part in sharing with and providing for my community.

Climate

Circling back to the origin of the BNP, which started out from the two founders realizing that the plastic pollution they were collecting came from us. Because the extraction and consumption that fuels our market economy is a major driver of climate change. The effects of climate change as well as the pollution that results from the extraction, production, and landfilling of all that we consume cause harm to the most vulnerable people, people we are called by our faith to be concerned about. Something we can do about that is lessening our own consumption of new goods. And participating in a gift economy like Buy Nothing plays a role in a very practical way. I can ask for an item that already exists before I go buy it new, and I can extend the life of things I’m not using by giving them to someone else. I can choose to lessen my own participation in a system of consumption that is harmful to human life.

Whether you use The Buy Nothing Project or not, use the lessons of a gift economy in your own way. Look for ways to be generous, ask for what you need, and be transformed by gratitude.

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Join Buy Nothing on Facebook or the App:

Buy Nothing Cedar Rapids (NorthEast)/Marion/Hiawatha, IA https://www.facebook.com/groups/908891845861111

Buy Nothing Cedar Rapids (West)/Fairfax, IA

https://www.facebook.com/groups/870608353764774

(Note: there is not yet a group for Southeast Cedar Rapids–stay tuned.)

If you're not located in Cedar Rapids, you can find a Facebook group here: https://bnponfb.org/find-a-group/
Buy Nothing App: search for it on Apple Appstore or Google Play.

Links:

Gazette article: “Buy Nothing Facebook groups help Iowa families through the pandemic” by Erin Jordan, Jan. 21, 2022. https://www.thegazette.com/people-places/buy-nothing-facebook-groups-help-iowa-families-through-the-pandemic/

Video: What is a gift economy? - Alex Gendler https://youtu.be/EaxjxICgahc

Video: The Story of Stuff https://www.storyofstuff.org/movies/story-of-stuff/

Book Suggestions*:

Grateful: The Transformative Power of Giving Thanks by Diana Butler Bass, 2018. (Available at Marion Public Library)
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer, 2013. (Available at the Downtown, Marion, and Hiawatha libraries and Overdrive)

The Buy Nothing, Get Everything Plan : Discover the Joy of Spending Less, Sharing More, and Living Generously by Liesl Clark and Rebecca Rockefeller, founders of the Buy Nothing Project, 2020. (Available at the Hiawatha Public Library and Overdrive.)

A Life Less Throwaway: The Lost Art of Buying for Life by Tara Button, 2018

*Disclosure: I am an affiliate of Bookshop.org and I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.