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Wednesday Prayer Meeting - the Beatitudes of Buylessness

May 16th, 2007 by Vicki Baker

I wanted to post this sermon on Sunday, but it was Mother’s Day and my family had other plans for me. So today’s Wednesday Prayer Meeting message is brought to you by Rev. Billy of the Church of Stop Shopping, by way of Burrow Magazine

Beatitudes of Buylessness

Blessed are the Consumers, for you shall be free from Living By Products.

Blessed are the Lonely Believers, for you shall transcend all media and dance in the streets. Blessed are those stumbling out of branded Main Streets, for you shall find lovers not downloaded and oceans not rising.

Blessed is the ordinary citizen who holds onto a patch of public commons, for you are the New World.

Blessed is the artist who isn’t corporate sponsored, for you shall give birth to warm fronts of emotion and breakthroughs of Peace.

Blessed are those who confuse “Consumerism” with “Freedom,” for you shall be delighted to discover the difference.

Blessed are the advertisers and commercial celebrities, for you have been waiting for the remarkable restfulness of honesty.

Blessed are the neighborhoods flown from and shuttered, for you children shall illuminate the dark economy.

Blessed are the workers in the supermalls, for you shall no longer be surrounded and domed, the town your employers’ killed will come back to life full of memories of you, jobs for you and love by you.

Blessed is the breadwinner with out-sourced dreams who sits wondering in stopped traffic, for you shall find inside your own mind more stories than Hollywood, Bollywood and Babel.

Blessed are the teenage girls in sweatshops, for the real value of what you make will fly you in magic evening gowns to the City of Light.

Blessed are those of us who are pinned under the gaze of supermodels, for we shall escape to accept the radical freedom and infinite responsibility of making love without buying it.

Blessed are those who disturb the customers, for you might be loving your neighbor.

You can hear the mp3 with full gospel choir here.

rev-billy-2.jpg
Don’t worry Rev. Billy, they arrested Jesus too.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 16th, 2007 at 8:06 pm and is filed under American Culture, Consumerism, Culture, Uncategorized, Whimsy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

One Response to “Wednesday Prayer Meeting - the Beatitudes of Buylessness”

  1. Erich Vieth Says:
    May 16th, 2007 at 10:54 pm

    The “Church of Stop Shopping?” I love it! Here’s one of my favorite features: the “Brown Dress Project.” Here’s how Alex Martin describes her project:

    So, here’s the deal - I made this dress and I wore it every day for a year. I made one small, personal attempt to confront consumerism by refusing to change my dress for 365 days.

    In this performance, I challenged myself to reject the economic system that pushes over-consumption, and the bill of goods that has been sold, especially to women, about what makes a person good, attractive and interesting. Clothes are a big part of this image, and the expectation in time, effort, and financial investment is immense.

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