thoughts after class

I guess I have trouble articulating my ideas in class, but many things are crashing through my mind right now. One being that I see importance in the ritual practice of the Eucharist. Every week as I take part in confessing my sins, praising God, and then praying before, during, and after taking part, I am reminded of the gift of grace God bestows on us. I remember Christ's death and the physicality of His being on Earth for us. It is a sacred and holy time filled with wonder. I think that one can find holiness in the every day, but I find it easy to forget or get caught up in the everyday so that it become routine and not sacred or holy. The Eucharist shared in church is a very blatant reminder. Sharing a meal, even if we pray beforehand, and I am aware I am sharing out of Christian love, I don't know if I would necessarily be reminded of Christ's sacrifice or concentrate on my sins and ask for forgiveness, making my heart right before God and others, before partaking. It is good for one to take part in the breaking of bread with a community, but I think there is some real importance in the practice of sacraments within a church setting.

Another recurring topic that seems to come up within both books we are reading for class is that capitalism is evil, and real Christians should live out an economy completely separate/isolated from this world or one that is socialist in nature. (I know I am not backing these statements up with direct examples as I should. Maybe I am just picking up those vibes because I know the audiences the books are trying to reach.) It is the popular liberal economic stance; capitalism=evil, but no one seems to come up with a better, realistic, economic plan. Yes there is greed, sin, and corruption that happens, but that happens within any government and earthly economic system because we are sinful human beings. The thing is that with capitalism there is a free market. That means that there is a chance of bad things happening, but there is also the possibility for real good. Think of all the world crisis like in Rwanda, Haiti, in southeast Asia when the Tsunami broke, where private charities from America were able to come in with supplies and the Gospel and share it in a real way. The extremely generous charities of America are unique in their ability and size because wealthy people have given to these charities because they cared about the suffering of the world. There is a good side to capitalism. A free market allows for money to be made in creative manner to be spent in creative, and often generous, way.

Community living with a common purse is a nice idea, and it is wonderful that a small community has the freedom to choose to live that way (maybe a more Biblical model), but when it comes to a world of sinners with millions of people that do not have the same mindset or worldview it is hard to realistically say we should give up money all together or evenly distribute among the world's population. This is beyond idealism.

We have to be careful not to let money become our treasure, and it might be harder when you are part of the world, working and making money, to remained centered on God and always trusting Him for provision, but I think that is where our mind, reason, and funnily enough, or faith come into play. God has given us resources, minds, jobs, etc., to take care of each other. We are commanded to take care of one another, not necessarily to live with one another and share everything equally. (Even the early Christians did not live in a commune. They shared among each other, and broke bread together, but it never says they had a common purse.) Some make more and are able to be more generous. As a Christian we should use what God has given us, our mind, wealth, and His provision, to take care of the Body and the world.