For Sale

"The greatest crime of our industrial and commercial civilization is that it leaves us a taste only for that which may be bought with money, and makes us overlook the purest and truest joys that are all the time within our reach."

- Paul Sabatier, The Road to Assisi: The Essential Biography of St. Francis.

Has consumerism, materialism and capitalism bought the Christian faith and re-worked it into something that is more marketable and palatable to the masses.


Have we overlooked, "the purest and truest joys" that are within our reach?


Do we consult USA Today, Entertainment Tonight, or Oprah for words that will change our lives.


I am reading biographies of St. Francis of Assisi in an effort to journey on the "road through the past leading to the future."

St. Francis, was an interesting pilgrim...He was called by God in an epiphany, ostracized by family and friends, and led a group of fellow pilgrims in acts of piety which led to the founding of a holy order.


Embracing the vow of poverty, St. Francis sought to embody a faith and praxis that seems distant from pilgrims that I meet on my journey.


The Bishop of Assisi approached St. Francis one day and said, "Your way of living without owning anything seems to me very harsh and difficult."

St. Francis' reply is powerful.

"My Lord, if we possessed property we should have need for arms for its defense, for it is the source of quarrels and lawsuits, and the love of God and of one's neighbor usually finds many obstacles in it. This is why we do not desire temporal goods."


Then it hit me...


The faith that is up for sale on so many religious corners is the one that I am willing to let go of as I take steps on my spiritual journey. The faith that is being offered on television, radio and from many pulpits seems anemic.


Robert Webber in his book entitled, Younger Evangelicals, quotes David Di Sabatino who has served as the editor of Worship Leader.

"Silence every radio and television preacher, stop every evangelical book or tract from being published, take down every evangelical website from the net and simply ask Christians to show one tangible expression of Jesus's love to another person every day. We would be far better off." p.217.

St. Francis would say, "true that...."


What say ye?