About the Project
This Lent, explore ways to recover and renew economic imagination with daily reflections, videos, and other resources. Produced by the Theology Committee of the House of Bishops in partnership with Forward Movement, Repairing the Breach: Discipleship and Mission in a Global Economy examines the causes of economic injustice and our role, both personally and corporately, in unsustainable patterns of consumption and self-interest. The project also highlights specific practices where the Spirit of God is moving in local congregations and communities to bring new life.
As members of the Theology Committee of the House of Bishops, we have studied, prayed, and explored together the issues of discipleship and mission in a global economy. Together we have crafted a paper, “The Economic Crisis and God’s Economy,” that digs deeply into the theological principles of economic justice. We also offer daily meditations and invite Christians to join us in prayerful self-reflection on our economic life.
As you move through this calendar, you will see that each week in Lent is devoted to one particular aspect of our economic life, ranging from employment and consumerism to food and the environment. Every day moves through a pattern of reading, watching, reflecting and praying. We invite you to use the passage from Isaiah 58, one of the readings for Ash Wednesday, as a guide through your Lenten journey, and our prayer is that together, with God’s help, we will become repairers of the breach, helping to shore up the foundations of many generations.
If you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday. The LORD will guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in parched places, and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail. Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live in.
– Isaiah 58:9b-12
Authors
The House of Bishops Theology Committee partnered with Forward Movement to present this deep study of our economic life. Forward Movement is a ministry of The Episcopal Church committed to inspiring disciples and strengthening evangelists. The Theology Committee consists of bishops and academic theologians of The Episcopal Church who represent diverse theological viewpoints. Members include:
The Rt. Rev. John C. Bauerschmidt
The Rt. Rev. Larry Benfield
The Rt. Rev. Tom Breidenthal
The Rev. Dr. Sathianathan Clarke
Dr. Stephen E. Fowl
Dr. Charles T. Mathewes
Dr. Joy A. McDougall
The Rt. Rev. Wayne Smith
Dr. Kathryn Tanner
The Rt. Rev. G. Porter Taylor
The Rt. Rev. Michael Vono
The Rt. Rev. Pierre Whalon
Ms. Jackie Winter, Staff
Meditation authors
Stephen Fowl
Stephen is a professor of theology at Loyola University in Maryland.
Larry Benfield
Larry is the Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Arkansas.
Joe Burnett
Joe has served as bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Nebraska and as an assistant bishop in the Diocese of Maryland.
Becca Stevens
Becca is an Episcopal priest and founder of Thistle Farms, a community of women who have survived prostitution, trafficking, and addiction.
Teresa Mithen Danieley
Teresa serves as a priest in the Diocese of Missouri.
Debra Morris Smith
Debra coordinates communications with and travel to the Diocese of Lui in Sudan for the Diocese of Missouri and is a member of the board of the American Friends of the Episcopal Church of Sudan.
Ralph McMichael
Ralph is a priest in the Diocese of Springfield.
John Bauerschmidt
John serves as the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee.
Porter Taylor
Porter serves as bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Western North Carolina.
Kevin McGrane
Kevin is a deacon who serves at St. John’s Episcopal Church in St. Louis, Missouri.
Resources
“The Economic Crisis and God’s Economy” is a foundational paper for these Lenten meditations. Written by three members of the Theology Committee, the paper explores patterns of behavior that have led us to “believe and behave more as consumers and investors than as Christians.”
In addition to resources listed at the close of some of the reflections, longer videos were developed to shine a light on local communities of faith taking action and being prophetic voices for God’s economy.
Borderland Ministry
Epiphany: Ministry with the Poor
Interfaith Power & Light
What the Church should know
Alternative Economics in the Episcopal Church: The Ways of God
Alternative Economics in the Episcopal Church: Question 2
Alternative Economics in the Episcopal Church: Founding Stories
Forward Movement
Inspiring disciples and empowering evangelists around the globe every day, Forward Movement has been producing excellent, innovative resources to encourage spiritual growth in individuals and congregations for more than eighty years. Growing out of a determination of The Episcopal Church’s General Convention in 1934, Forward Movement brought new life to the church after a period of decline. Our “forward movement” was charged to “reinvigorate the life of the church” and since 1935 we have been offering discipleship and evangelism resources to encourage spiritual growth.
Best known for Forward Day by Day, a daily devotion providing meditations on scripture readings, we continue to build on our history of encouraging discipleship and evangelism. Today we offer books and ebooks for small groups, individual study, and prayer, Christian formation courses, leadership events, Spanish and bilingual resources, pamphlets, downloadable resources, a daily podcast, apps for your smartphones or tablets, and online engagement opportunities.
Forward Movement donates over 100,000 resources for Bible study, daily reflection, and spiritual nourishment each year to prisoners, hospital patients, and nursing home residents in fifty countries around the globe. Our ministry is made possible through generous donations and through sales. Click here to donate to our ministry and mission.
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