For Hard Economic Times

Let's start this blog entry off with one quick, simple assertion: compared to wealth and want as known in Christ's time, we are, all of us in America, filthy, stinking rich. I don't care how badly you have it here, if you are reading this, you would be considered wealthy by first-century standards. So, throughout this post, you should read "rich" as "me." Capice?

Hard economic times are here. I know so many people who are on the verge of losing hearth, home and health. Fuel and food costs are through the roof and moving higher. Jobs have wandered off to places around the globe that pay slave wages and dump waste at will. Tough times, right? Right.

Now I can't help thinking of the whole idea of trickle down economics: the idea that you give the richest folks breaks and the benefit trickles down to the poorest through investments, job creation, service industries, etc. It's crazy, but it just might work. Trickle down theory hinges on one principle: GENEROSITY. The rich get richer and they spread it around to the rest.

But there is an equal and opposite theory which states: put more money into the hands of the middle and lower classes and they -- the major consumers -- will spur the economy. If tax breaks to the wealthy are trickle down strategies, then breaks to the not-so-rich might be seen as capillary action strategies. Whatever. The central point is this: like theory one, this second theory also hinges on GENEROSITY.

So the deal is all our best economists on the left and right are suggesting the same thing: The only way to recover from communal and personal want and hardship is to give away what you have...share it with the rest of the community. Sounds like Christ to me.

St. Basil, the 4th century Bishop of Caesarea, was recently quoted extensively in Sojourners magazine. Interested in the economic recovery? Check this out:

"Isn't it true that you fell off the womb naked? Isn't it true that naked you shall return to the earth? Where is your present property from? If you think that it came to you by itself, you don't believe in God; you don't acknowledge the creator and you are not thankful to him who gave it to you. But if you agree and confess that you have it from God, tell us the reason why he gave it to you...

"He who strips the clothed is to be called a thief. How should we name him who is able to dress the naked and doesn't do it? Does he deserve some other name? The bread that you possess belongs to the hungry. The clothes that you store in boxes belong to the naked. The shoes rotting by you belong to the bare-foot. The money that you hide belongs to anyone in need. You wrong as many people as you were able to help [but didn't]."

Now is the time to share what you have with those less fortunate than yourself. Not only is this, your Christian duty, good for the soul...turns out it's good for the economy, too!