Week 14

This week's reading can be related to chocolate. Chocolate connoisseurs love to share, connect, and discuss good chocolate with other chocolate connoisseurs. Chocolate has been on my mind since Tuesday's Jesus at the Movies, Chocolat. In the movie Vianne is a chocolatier who is passionate about sharing her savory treats, uniting separated family, and discussing art of making decadent chocolate with her apprentice. She offers a sample of her tasty treats to all- the rich and poor, judgmental and crazy- and doesn't discriminate. She encourages her fellow uptight townspeople to indulge in chocolate, and live vicariously through a simple splurge. While reading The First Paul chapter seven, I couldn't help but to connect Paul's messages of living together "in Christ" with Chocolat. Paul's messages of living with Christ, shared communities, rich and poor, and gifts are the topics that stood out to me as relatable to the movie. Paul wrote about being "in christ", "spirit of christ", and "body of christ" in reference to discussing how to live life through faith. This is similar to Vianne offering her chocolate as a way to live through something daring, and also to connect the community like Paul does. Paul's encounter with the significant class divisions in Corinth, is similar to Vianne's encounter with the division between the outcasts (Josephine and the River Rats). Both Paul and Vianne try to seek a way to show the possibility of a disconnect between the competing groups. Paul and Vianne are also similar because the both help others to understand the value of their natural gifts. Paul wants people to understand spiritual gifts, and Vianne wants people to understand gifts of personal skills. I think this course has taught me to relate the Bible and religious figures to my daily life and the 21st century.