Perhaps I shouldn’t rise to these things but you may have read the story of Tim Jones who is the priest of the St Lawrence and St Hilda church in York. According to the BBC News he ‘advised his congregation to shoplift if they find themselves in hard times.’

I confess my first reaction was that if someone in our church family was in such financial difficulties that they had felt prompted to shoplift I would be horrified at our failure to have known about their situation. If we had known about it and not acted to support them it would not be a church family!

I’d have been interested to know what text his homily was based on. Given the examples in Acts and the letters of different church families supporting those in need, either supporting individuals (such as widows) or the whole church in Jerusalem with no mention of stealing from rich people, it’s a challenge to think on what basis Tim Jones was teaching.

Perhaps his advice was to those outside the church? Does that make it any better? Perhaps he was thinking that shoplifting is the modern equivalent to the laws in Leviticus 19:9-10.

'When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the LORD your God.'

It’s difficult to see how that might be the case, though. In the case of Israel, the farmers are to deliberately leave things for the poor and the alien to collect (combining immediate charity with the dignity of self-help for the disadvantaged).

I hope that Tim Jones isn’t surprised if low income countries hear his homily and apply it by coming and stealing from our enormous wealth – as we note in our forthcoming book Free To Live, someone on UK minimum wage falls in the top 11 per cent of the richest people in the world and even someone on benefits falls in the top 15 per cent.

Churches, my own included, should be doing more to help those in need. Putting those in need at risk of a criminal record by teaching them things contrary to the Bible is headline-grabbing but reckless.

Perhaps the last word belongs to the very next verse in Leviticus 19? Verse 11 says, as the commandment, 'Do not steal.'

Have a generous Christmas!

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