Written by: gfesadmin on March 9, 2013

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One of my favorite movies in High School was Brother Son, Sister Moon about the life of St. Francis of Assisi. It is the story of a traumatized warrior who came back from the Assisi-Perugia war. His father was a wealthy textile merchant who wanted his son to take over the family business. Francesco, finds healing through nature and a renewed relationship with God. Francesco, not wanting to go back to his prior life, decides to reject his inheritance and walks away from his family life to embrace a life of poverty, helping the poor and sick and sets out to rebuild the broken chapel of San Damiano.

What impressed me was Francesco’s complete dedication to and dependency on God for his life’s purpose and work. Francesco gave up his worldly wealth for a dedicated relationship with God. Many lives have been transformed by the example of St. Francis of Assisi.

 www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRDxpmV27p8

On the other hand, in the book the Rebel Sell; How the Counterculture Became Consumer Culture by Heath and Potter, they propose another answer to curtail harmful consumerism (competition).  Heath and Potter call for political policies based on the model of an arms control agreement. Examples of such policies range from a reduction in tax-deductibility of advertising expenses and a defense and increase of progressive income tax (p.350).

Heath and Potter argue that counterculture themes are not the answer to combating capitalism but in reality have effectively merged. He cites numerous examples of how being rebellious, cool and counterculture have been marketed to make money; the very thing counter culture is to combat. A good example is when Adbusters magazine, one of the main journals of the anti-capitalist movement began selling its own brand of trainer tennis shoes in competition to “un-cool” Nike.

Jesus was a counter culture revolutionary who has an answer and got to the heart of the matter. Jesus did not see the answer to man’s problem as political but as a heart issue. In one story, a rich young ruler came to Jesus and asked what good thing he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus asked him if he obeyed the commandments. He said he had since he was a boy. Then Jesus said “there is one other thing you must do, sell all you have, give it to the poor and follow me.” The boy went away sad because he was very wealthy (Matt. 19:16-22). Jesus saw beyond the bottom line and saw the rich young ruler loved his possessions more that following God. Jesus confronted his heart and the ruler was unable to part with his wealth.

The Christian leader can learn from this parable to help solve the global consumer problems that exist. The answer of consumerism does not lie in setting up new rules and laws for people to follow but the answer is found in a transformed heart. The Christian who has chosen to follow Jesus and has chosen to use personal property to help others can help to solve the global distribution of resources to those who have need. The “below the bottom line” issue is found in ownership. If God owns all resources and Christians are called to be good stewards, then property will be used to help others in need. If the individual owns the property, then greed can be a barrier to following God and others who have needs may not be helped.

The Christian leader can develop critical thinking skills to keep asking why and what for, to help discover the deeper root issues at play. Heath and Potter only got to the bottom line. Jesus went beyond the bottom line and got to the heart. May we all have hearts that follow St. Francis of Assisi and give God the use of all of our personal resources.

Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter, The Rebel Sell: How the Counterculture Became the Consumer Culture, West Sussex, England: Capstone Publishing, 2006.

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