It seems the bishop has no problems with living a materialistic, luxurious life, just with letting hoi polloi in on it via social media. Maybe he has a point, and it's certainly safer not to flaunt wealth on Facebook, but it sounds rather superficial - cosmetic. I'm not in favor of mandatory vows of poverty and Mennonite-style living, but I dont care very much for the well-off pretending they're "just folk," either. Surely the problem isn't that the have-nots are going to be made to feel bad by seeing the haves gallivant around Hawaiian golf courses, but the wide and increasing gap between those two groups in the first place.

I honestly struggle with Jesus' injunction to the rich, young ruler to sell everything he has and give it to the poor.

Instead of asking us to censor our Facebook postings, maybe Bishop Smith--and other bishops, priests, and deacons in the Episcopal Church--ought to be calling on us to make REAL sacrifices and take Jesus at his word?

"We are a Christian denomination which has always advocated for the poor and for a just economy,..."

From what I understand of our history this sounds blatantly inaccurate (or at least an exaggeration). Weren't we once known as the denomination of the rich and elite?

-Cullin R. Schooley

After reading this article, I popped over to my Facebook profile to see the types of things I post there. The five most recent, and fairly indicative of the types of things I post:

Sharing the news of my kids' school fundraisers in case any of my friends wanted to contribute

A post about feeling good when the kids liking something healthy I made

A photo of homemade chicken soup in progress

Two links to blog posts I had written about eating healthier

Extravagant? My friends (most of them Christians) tend to post photos of their kids, videos from youtube, political opinions, favorite quotes. Yes, there are occasionally vacation photos, but I would hardly describe most of the vacations as "extravagant".

Perhaps the Bishop might take a closer look at the type of people he hangs with. Facebook is what you make it, and I think the type of things you post there reflect the type of person you are.

"And can we include in our public boasting our quickness to broadcast photographs of our beautiful grandchildren, or gatherings of our huge number of happy wine-drinking friends, or our designer wardrobe? It is likely that those of our acquaintances who don’t enjoy such gifts will either be hurt, or simply envious, and envy is one of the seven deadly sins we don’t want to be responsible for engendering in others."

It's likely they will be hurt or envious?? Likely? I love seeing my friends and family share the joys of their lives--it's one of the things I love about Facebook. I think, "How wonderful for them." If someone is hurt or envious of someone else for posting a photo of their grandkids, that person needs to get their head on straight. Sharing our joys is not "bragging."

If someone in my friends posted a bunch of photos about their designer wardrobe shopping spree (note: none of my friends would post stuff like this), I wouldn't be envious. I quite often shop at Goodwill for my "designer" clothes, so I would think, "Man, that's a lot of money to pay for clothes. That dress is kind of cute."

I think the Bishop's mistake is focusing on the wrong issue. He is worried about the types of things his rich friends (and sometimes he himself) share on Facebook, when instead he should be wondering why he and his friends feel the need to live in such big houses, in such exclusive neighborhoods, and take so many trips to London. He's concerned about what people see about him and his friends via Facebook and what they might think of that rather than if the life he is living truly reflects his principles. The outside of the cup rather than the inside.

In conclusion, he writes:

"Let’s “share” the things that really matter."

to which I say:

Let's LIVE the things that really matter. That way, what we share WILL be the things that really matter.

I keep thinking of the painting "The Wedding Feast of Cana" by Murillo, on Facebook and placing a caption on it....

"Hey! Went to an awesome wedding this week. They ran outta wine. I fixed it."

I, too, have a problem with the good bishop's comments. The circles he describes are not the circles I revolve in...that, and, well, can we be a bit TOO scrupulous about these things? I mean, is there not a via media between extravagance and hair shirts? Jesus went to parties, too.

Just askin'...

Kevin McGrane

'Now when Jesus was in Bethany, at the house of Simon the Leper,
There came unto him a woman with an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head, as he sat at meat.
But when his disciples saw it, they had indignation, saying, To what purpose is this waste?
For this ointment might have been sold for much and given to the poor.
When Jesus understood it, he said unto them, Why trouble ye the woman? for she hath wrought a good work upon me.
Nevertheless, let us keep the matter strictly between us, and noise it not abroad;
Above all, tell ye not the poor of this, nor indeed of this dinner party itself,
Because you know what begrudging, envious crybabies those people are.'

;-)

@Bill

:)

@Bill Dilworth! Clap, clap!

@Amy, here, here!

Facebook is no more a platform to encourage boasting than the printing press was. Blaming Facebook for a person's boasting, if in fact posting a photo of my "happy, wine-drinking friends" is such, is technophobia, pure and simple.

It's also incredibly judgemental. Maybe that bottle of wine my friends are enjoying came from Trader Joe's and cost $4.99?

Far worse is the priest who lunches at the Country Club but DOESN'T post a picture, because they don't want their congregation to know about it.