“Who Gives a Crap”
The year 2020 changed so much about our current world and the way we see the world and even exist in the world. The toilet paper shortage of the lockdown is one that many of us will remember for a lifetime and in years from not will still be the memes the bring both laughter and terror. In other countries that have widely adopted the bidet the thought of TP was only one piece of the puzzle, In the states it was sheer panic. Thanks to companies like Who Gives a Crap our family safely endured the toilet paper shortage with regular deliveries of toilet paper that was doing good for places beyond our own home.
Impact Beyond Yourself
TOMS shoes was one of the first companies to have significant public success with the practice of companies offering to contribute to a cause on behalf of the consumers who purchased from them. Although the model had its flaws in the early days with a very western approach to addressing needs, the company was on to something that was worth exploring more. This idea that the consumer actually cared about the impact of the products they chose to purchase. This has been seen replicated in companies across the board from giving pack locally or globally, to investing in programs, to empowering local farmers and paying a living wage to employees across the globe. The Who Gives a Crap (https://us.whogivesacrap.org/) toilet paper is made from recycled materials and the company helps to fund sanitation resources to developing areas of the world. The Right to Shower (https://www.therighttoshower.com/) is a soap company who during the pandemic worked hard to provide mobile showers and hand washing stations to the homeless populations. Consumers are increasingly making choices in the market place to frequent companies that show they care and will contribute to the betterment of society.
What the Church Could Learn
In his book Consuming Religion Vincent Miller acknowledges that the church can not be blind to this cultural shift. He says “If the commodification of culture has its roots in our daily engagement with literal commodities, then theology must concern itself with mundane details of everyday commodification.”(Miller 182) As the church we consume many things for our worship one notable thing is the use of palm branches for Palm Sunday celebrations. The data indicates that “Palm purchases for Palm Sunday may be worth up to 4.5 million dollars/year.” (https://www.ecopalms.org/) Organizations like Eco Palms remind us that a living wage for the famers and gatherers of the hundreds of millions of palms branches collected each year for this holiday matter. Their lives are worth investing in too.
There are simple things that churches can do to step into this new mindset of living into our Christian beliefs in all that we do. “For example, buying fair-trade goods and obtaining produce from local family arms are certainly consonant with more authentically Christian economic vision. Setting up alternative economics whose rules better embody Christian notions of the good is a worthy task.” (Miller 183) The church sits in a unique intersection of culture and has the opportunity to live into change and impact not just the members in its walls but the ones who contribute across the world to the practices that allow for Christian worship to continue.
Wake Up Call From The Next Generation
The next generation has shown that it will not let the church sit ideally by and ignore the inequities that exist ad that the church in ways has contributed to. They are calling the church to stand in the gap and to use its resources and influence to make an impact. The way that the church engages in everyday practice and in missions locally and an around the world is a great place to start with healthy partnerships that acknowledge the God given talent and worth in all humanity while valuing what individuals can bring to the table and that dignity is worth the extra cost of a palm branch on Palm Sunday.
Miller gives indication that this is a practical direction for churches to engage and that the impact is beyond a simple gesture but involvement in engaging and redirecting culture. “When considered strategically, such practices seem insignificant symbolic gestures. When considered as tactical practices, however, they can be valued differently. Their success is measured not as minuscule enclaves amid regnant global capitalism but as meditative counter practices that provide means for forming believers’ imaginations against the logic of the commodity fetish , thus helping them swim against the broader tide of the commodification of culture that deprives religions of the power to inform a way of life.” (183)
What If…
I wonder if the church were to change how it engaged in consumerism and modeled a new way of engaging with culture and the economy, a way that resembles the value that Jesus had for all people; would the sermons we preach from the pulpit have a deeper impact? Would the next generation take us seriously, when we preached love and dignity for all humanity? What would it look like if we were willing to put the church money where our mouth is and invest in the local farmers and consume fair-trade products that invest in the communities and the people of the communities? What would the world look like, what could it be like?
“Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think” (Romans 12:2a).
- Vincent J. Miller and Vincent Jude Miller, Consuming Religion: Christian Faith and Practice in a Consumer Culture (Bloomsbury Publishing USA, 2005), 182-183.
- https://us.whogivesacrap.org/
- https://www.therighttoshower.com/
- https://www.ecopalms.org/
About the Author
Sara Taylor Lattimore
Sara is adopted, a wife of 17 years, a mother to 2 amazing children who give her opportunities to be a cheerleader, dress up like a princess, play soccer in the mud, and go on amazing adventures. With a Bachelors in political science and sociology, Sara worked for Child Protective Services as a legal caseworker before following a call into full-time ministry in 2008. During her time in full-time ministry Sara has served in medium to large size local congregations, as well as camp ministry. Sara has a passion for serving others, writing, and speaking. In 2016 Sara worked on a joint publication as a Curriculum Writer. Sara wrote the Intergenerational/Family & Day Camp Resources in “Beyond Belief” for InsideOut Christian Resources for Outdoor Ministry- Published by Chalice Press- Release Date 2018. Sara is looking forward to writing her own book next. Sara completed her MDiv from Iliff School of Theology in 2019 and is currently working on her Doctorate in Leadership and Global Perspectives from Portland Seminary. Sara currently serves as Lead Pastor of a local church in Southwestern Montana. She has previously served in ministry positions leading congregations in engaging globally in healthy mission and outreach partnerships, living life missionally, building innovative programs, and building relationships as the Director of Missions and Outreach, College Ministry Coordinator, Family and Children’s Ministry Director, Director of Christian Education, and Camp Program Director. She is an innovator and visionary who looks to find empowering and dignity restoring ways of building communities of belonging, while listening and partnering with others to find ways to also address the needs of the communities she is planted in. Beyond her work, Sara dreams of growing her family through adoption, kayaking with Orcas, going on pilgrimage on the Camino De Santiago in Spain, traveling in an RV across North America, and traveling internationally.6 responses to ““Who Gives a Crap””
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Sarah,
Great post with outside business examples. Well done!
Greg,
Thanks for the complement. We really do love some of these products and love that when we use them it gives us a reminder to pray for those who will be impacted by the support our purchase contributes to.
Sara – I appreciate your inclusion of the next generation in this blog. I have the sense that they are much more aware and sensitive to inconsistencies with what Christians say and how they behave. You offered some specific examples of how we can better align our priorities within the context of the capitalistic markets in which we exist.
Well done Sara. I love the call to action. What are steps you are taking as a pastor to pull the people you pastor toward a different way of living than consumer religion offers?
Sara well said. The suggestions you mentioned are all easy to comprehend and on the surface fairly easy to implement and I think would go a long way in changing culture and how Christians view one another.
However, because the suggestions are easy and if I may use the word ‘simple’ – I’m afraid they may confuse the wise. But that means you have hit a home run.
Well done.
Audrey, Thank you for your thoughts! you may always use the word simple! I think we over complicate things in the church way too often. Jesus kept things simple and I wonder where the church would be if we could learn a little bit more simplicity…