Communion

Today, we take communion.

I am of the camp that would love to take it every week like "DoC" or everyday like Catholics or Orthodox. But here at my church we receive the elements just once a month. It is so easy to take these rituals for granted. When it becomes something we just do, we have missed the point of it all together.

I want to share with you one of my favorite communion meditations. It was written by Charles Wesley in 1745. If I ever do get to make an album, this will be one of the tracks.

O the depth of love divine, the unfathomable grace!
Whe shall say how bread and wine God into us conveys!
How the bread his flesh imparts, how the wine transmits his blood,
Fills his faithful people's hearts with all the life of God

Let the wisest mortals show how we the grace receive;
Feeble elements bestow a power not theirs to give.
Who explains the wondrous way, how through these the virtue came?
These the virtue did convey, yet still remain the same.

How can spirits heavenward rise, by earthly matter fed?
Drink here with divine supplies and eat immortal bread.
Ask the Father's wisdom how: Christ who did the means ordain;
Angels round our altars bow to search it out, in vain.

Sure and real is the grace, the manner be unknown;
Only meet us in thy ways and perfect us in one.
Let us taste the heavenly powers, Lord, we ask for nothing more.
Thine to bless, 'tis only ours to wonder and adore.


That about says it all.

Aid vs. Debt Relief

Shortly after my last post, I had a brief dialog with one of my good friends, and he brought a distinction to my attention. He reiterated to me that dollar for dollar, the USA gives more aid worldwide than any other nation. This is commendable! But in my last post, I wasn't talking about aid. I don't think it should be our government's responsibility to send more money or more food around the world. As my friend mentioned, "giving is best done from the private sector." It is our duty as Christians to remember the poor, in our prayers & in our pocketbooks.

However, the previous post didn't reference aid, it referenced debt-relief (Jubilee). It is well and good that we send aid so that those in abject poverty can eat, but it doesn't negate the fact that decades of debt is keeping them in that same poverty. And I know that It's not just America! We as Christians should be calling for a Jubilee from all the world's nations.

Perhaps I am naive. I'm ok with that.

Jubilee

This is burning in my heart, and I don't know if I will be able to fit it into one post. For the past several months I have felt a stirring in me a heart for social justice. Perhaps I've been hanging around democrats too long. My republican friends and family may cringe, but I am slowly becoming an advocate for third-world debt relief.

I grew up with Rush, and more recently Fox, and I know some of the economic repercussions that would come with such an action. But I honestly don't care about how it may effect the U.S. economy. Now, now, that's harsh, I know. But think about this. We as Christians are instructed to tithe (yes, it is in the New Testament too!) and it doesn't seem to make sense for personal finances. But the truth is, God honors the obedience. The months where I have tithed, even when I couldn't afford it, I always had enough to make it to my next paycheck. It was the months that I kept that ten percent for my own bills that my money disappeared. I believe the same will be true for American Economics.

I hear the scoffing, "Obedience to what?"

The phrase "the poor" appears one hundred and thirteen times in the English standard version of the bible, and each time is a warning not to oppress them, a promise that they will be taken care of, or a praising of those who have looked after them.

When Paul the apostle met with Peter, James, and John, "All they asked was that [he] should continue to remember the poor, the very thing [he] was eager to do." These three closest friends of Jesus thought that this was the most important thing for their fellow apostle to remember.

From the very beginning God ordained that every fiftieth year should be a year of Jubilee. Even God understands how difficult it is to get back on top financially. He prescribed that every fiftieth year every debt would be canceled (it must have wreaked havoc on their economy!) If an Israelite had sold his property to another Israelite, it would return to his family at the next Jubilee. Their real estate prices varied depending how far the next jubilee was. God made a way for the cycle of poverty to not overtake his people, but when was it obeyed? It is true that we are not under law, but under grace. But as we read the law of God we see where his heart is. His heart is for the poor, the oppressed, the homeless, the dispossessed, the alien, and the stranger.

Where is your heart? Where is mine? Am I eager to remember the poor? Are You? We Christians have the ability to stand and encourage our leaders to act. We have done it with the abortion issue for years! Why is it that when it comes to money, we get a little more squeamish? Morality is an easy thing to take a stand on. We are called to the more difficult task of standing for justice. So let's forget our concerns for our economy, and trust that God thought of the economic issues when he issued the command.

Let's stand together with the world, and care for the poor, let's make abject poverty history.