{"id":8086,"date":"2023-04-22T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-04-22T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/living-more-with-less\/"},"modified":"2024-12-09T17:16:09","modified_gmt":"2024-12-09T17:16:09","slug":"living-more-less","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/stories\/living-more-less\/","title":{"rendered":"Living More with Less"},"content":{"rendered":"

Remove far from me falsehood and lying;  give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that I need, or I shall be full, and deny you, and say, \u201cWho is the Lord?\u201d  or I shall be poor, and steal, and profane the name of my God. (Proverbs 30:8-9, NRSV)<\/em><\/p>\n

As I began to write these words, Cyclone Freddy was wreaking havoc in Malawi and Mozambique. As I thought about our congregations there, I was reminded of the words I heard from a participant in our last Assembly<\/a>: \u201cCreation care is a topic of interest to the churches in the north. We are more interested in spiritual matters.\u201d With that phrase, a leader from one of our churches stated his disagreement with how Mennonite World Conference included creation care as an essential theme in the 2022 global Assembly. <\/p>\n

Given the reality of climate change and the crises caused by it in recent years, such a statement surprised me. Climate issues have become another issue of political polarization in our societies. Amid fear and guilt, arguing about facts and fake news, is it possible to find hope and healing for a divided world? Can we speak of our call to care for creation as a profoundly spiritual issue that goes beyond the current climate crisis? <\/p>\n

Following the teachings of the Scripture, the spiritual disciplines of simple living and contentment have been a part of Anabaptist spirituality for many years. We can recall here the biblical ideas of<\/p>\n