Friday's Quotation: Black Friday Edition

Today is Black Friday, a day when people get up at ungodly hours to buy the things that they think they need.  I have quoted Eleazar Fernandez before, and I believe there is another nugget from him that is worth a read on this Black Friday.

"The solution to beoredom in a consumeristic society, especially when the communal bond is weak, is to consume.  This statement sounds simplistic, but it says a lot, and it is true to the experience of common people.  If one is bored, one may engage in the act sonsumption by watching (consuming) a movie and munching (consuming) something while watching.  Or, one of the majoy ways in which people address boredom is to "shop around" (consume)."

"The more one buys and consumes, the deeper one falls into bondage to the job in order to pay the bills, Eventually, a second job is needed.  But the second job leaves less time for the family, with whom to enjoy life.  Just as one has something to pay for the monthly mortgage for the cabin by the lake and a boat to enjoy on weekends, one has to work during weekends to pay for the bills.  It is an irony that mnay people live everyday."

"John B. Cobb, Jr., offers a critique of the religious metaphysics of this global market.  Economism is the name of this religion and its god is endless economic growth.  The priests are the economists; evangelists are the advertisers; and the laity are the consumers.  The shopping mall is the cathedral; virtue is competitive spirit; and sin is inefficiency. "Shop 'til you drop" is the only way to salvation."

-Eleazar S. Fernandez, Reimagining The Human: Theological Anthropology in Response to Sytemic Evil, pgs. 86-87

In thinking about this small section from Fernandez's book, I was talking with someone in our community who was telling me about a large boat that they had purchased to take out on excusions on the ocean with.  This person was all excited about the boat and told me all the amenities that the boat had, how fast it could go, and how many people it could hold.  Then the truth came.

This person hadn't had a day of in weeks because they needed all the money possible to afford this luxary.  The very thing that was to bring their family together through rest and relaxation was pushing them further apart as he had to work more and more hours to afford this lifestyle.

Are we not missing something here?  The Beatles sang that "You Can't Buy Me Love," and that is true, but you also cannot buy happiness.  Material possessions do not make us happy.  Material possessions really do not make our life better if we sacrifice our family and relationships in order to have them.

As we head into Advent and the Christmas Season, check out the website for Advent Conspiracy for ways to combat consumerism/materialism this holiday season.

Friday's Quotation: Matt Redman on Worship

"God imparts to us His heart for restoration, and a burning desire to see His love and justice heal the nations. But if we're really to have integrity in our worship, somewhere along the line this desire has to turn into action: share our food with the hungry, clothe the nake and satisfy the needs of the oppressed. We cannot be worshippers who simply walk by, ignoring the realities of this broken world. God longs to bring us to the place where we ache so much with His heart that to do nothing is simply no longer an option."


Matt Redman
In The Unquenchable Worshipper

Friday's Quotation

"Brokenness in God's kingdom is always redemptive.  Jesus takes bread, blesses it, breaks it and gives it.  Once we've been taken and blessed, we must be broken before we can truly be given."

Christopher L. Heuertz in Simple Spirituality

**Simple Spirituality is a very challenging book.  Heuertz chapter on brokenness was my favorite.  If your not familiar with Heuertz or Word Made Flesh, go and check out this book!

Friday's Quotation: Eleazar S. Fernandez

"Liberation from want is a fundamental necessity in the restoration of one's humanity.  No one can be fully human in a situation in which one's basic needs are not being met....as Robert McAfee Brown argues, 'as long as children are growing up in a society where their parents cannot get jobs, so that children grow up undernourished, as long as people cannot get decent housing or education and health care for their children, human rights are being violated.'"

-Eleazar S. Fernandez
Reimagining The Human: Theological Anthropology in Response to Systemic Evil

In light of Pelosi's health care bill, what do you think of this quote?  Would you go as far as Fernandez to say that a person's human rights are violated when they cannot provide the necessities for their families?  What does it mean to be fully human?  Talk it out below. 

Fernandez on Economy

"Econmics is not simply a matter of production, but one of care: care for the overall well-being of both human beings and the rest of creation.  Care is a basic element in the oldest definition of the Greek word oikonomia or economy.  Our conception of economics must recover this dimension."

                                 -Eleazar S. Fernandez
                                Reimagining the Human: Theological Anthropology in Repsonse to Systemic Evil