Surprisingly or not, the Bible says a good deal about economic booms and busts, principally in terms of how believers are to behave in a way that commends the Christian message whatever their personal circumstances.
Listen to, or read for yourself, tomorrow's passage from St Paul's Second Letter to the Thessalonians, which deals with some church members who had decided the end of the world was so near it wasn't even worth stirring out of bed in the morning to catch the Macedonian equivalent of the DART.
The apostle, at the start of the third chapter, has been upbeat about the progress of the Gospel, though realistic about opposition from "evil men" (v.2) and behind them "the evil one" himself (v.3). This was spiritual warfare and it had to be fought with spiritual weapons. Paul had to preach and the Thessalonians had to pray, while behind them stood the faithful Lord watching over the whole enterprise.
However, on the downside, the abandonment of any commendable work ethic by a disloyal group in the church had already brought one warning from Paul, who was following the tradition of church discipline taught by the Lord Jesus in Matthew Chapter 18.
Presumably the four steps the Lord laid down had reached stage three. First, there had been a private confrontation; second, other church members had been brought in to make an appeal; third, the wider church fellowship had been told.
Now, Paul says that if there is no obvious repentance the culprits are to be excluded from church privileges altogether.
It all sounds authoritarian as Paul now "commands" three times what action is to be taken if the church is not to be tarnished publicly when the economy suffers because some Christians have lapsed into ungodly lifestyles.
What was behind the apostle's severe approach, however, was his awareness of the futility of his spreading the word in the world if it was not being obeyed in the church.
There is something fundamentally anomalous about Christians who share the word of the Gospel with others while disregarding it in their own lives.
The well-being of the church, universal and local, in the 21st or the 1st century, depends on believers listening to Jesus Christ and obeying him as his word comes to us through his apostles in the New Testament.
Leaders, particularly, must be accountable and be seen to accept discipline, whether they be bishops, archbishops or cardinals. If they have damaged the Gospel by indiscipline of lip or life, it is necessary that both the church and the world know how that has been dealt with.
Praise be, then, for the Anglican Bishop of Manchester, Christopher Mayfield, who repented last week of his failure to sign the 1998 Lambeth Resolutions on human sexuality and told his diocese and the church: "I was wrong." His standing as a man of God has never been higher, even his critics agree.
It is that kind of practical, transparent Christ-likeness the apostle sought in Thessalonica. If the wheels did come off the economy, believers must be in the vanguard of caring for the needy, but meanwhile even Paul is paying his own bed-and-breakfast at Jason's place (Acts of the Apostles 17:5-9) to avoid nasty talk about freeloading preachers.
Which is why, on the DART the other morning, it was great to meet a young banker en route to face monetary gloom reading Mark Greene's frequently reprinted Thank God It's Monday (Scripture Union publication), probably the most helpful practical guide on being a Christian in the workplace.
St Paul's word from Second Thessalonians to him and the many Christians in Ireland like him would appropriately be: "May our Lord Jesus Christ himself...encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word."
G.F.