Sermon: "Dressed for Action" (Luke 12:32-40)

After a 4-week mini-sabbatical, I returned to preaching this week. Here's the transcript...

The other night, Ginger and I were out for an evening walk, enjoying the cool breeze, and catching up on things after I was gone for most of July. Two young men on bicycles – both wearing white button-down shirts and ties – saw us and greeted us. They were friendly – a little shy – and they started asking us about our faith.

When I said I was a Christian pastor, one of the young men smiled and said, “Doesn’t it feel good knowing you and your family will be together for all eternity?”

“Yes, it does,” I said.

Then he asked me what I teach at my church. I said that much of my teaching centers on living our lives as Jesus taught us, working to make this world a better world, following the beatitudes and living in the fruits of the Spirit… that sort of thing.

Then I changed the topic. “Where are you two from?” I asked. One said he was from Utah, and the other said he was from Arizona.

“And you’re on your mission for the LDS church?”

“Yes,” they said.

I told them that, the week before, I met a young man at boy scout camp who did his two-year LDS mission in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.

“Wow,” they said.

And I said, “Yeah; but hey, at least the two of you didn’t have to learn Portuguese for your mission.”

“True,” they said. “Very true.”

Then we said good night, and Ginger and I continued our walk.

The young man I met at boy scout camp, who did his two-year mission in Brazil: when I talked to him, I told him that I had just been to Brazil. He smiled and said he loved it there, and wishes he could go back.

I said I feel the same way.

Now is not the time for me to talk about my summer adventures. Now is the time for me to preach the gospel. And as my conversation with the two young men on bicycles the other night shows, people do have different ideas about what, exactly, is the gospel.

In today’s scripture, Jesus tells his followers to be dressed for action, ready to greet the master, who comes at a time you don’t expect him.

People have different ideas about what, exactly, this means.

Some read this and think of the parousia. Parousia is a greek word that means arrival or appearance. Theologically speaking, it refers to the 2^nd coming of Christ, at the end of the age.

Is that what Jesus is talking about here?

Those who lived immediately after Jesus walked this earth, the earliest followers who lived in the years after his crucifixion, believed that Jesus would return in their lifetime. Time was short, they thought; the parousia was imminent. The apostle Paul wrote letters instructing believers to expect it any day.

2,000 years later, we’re still waiting. Paul and the other early Christian believers were wrong.

In every generation since, there have been those who believed that Jesus’s return would happen in their lifetime. In every generation, leaders have declared that the end times are upon us. Therefore, we must be ready. We must be dressed for action.

For many, this is the gospel. This is the good news. Be ready. Accept Jesus into your heart, so that you can be ready for when he returns. He’s coming any day now, and when he comes, he’ll take you with him to live in heaven.

The thing is, I’m not so sure this is what Jesus meant. And I’m not sure we’re always interpreting scripture right when we place all our emphasis on the 2^nd coming, on accepting Jesus so that we can be assured of a place in heaven.

Because when I read the scripture, Jesus’s focus seems to be centered more on earth than in heaven. His focus seems to be centered more on this life than on the life to come.

In seminary I learned that the “eternal life” Jesus talked about is better translated as the “life of the ages,” and it means a life of wholeness which does indeed transcend time, lasting forever; but it starts right now. It begins in this life.

And when I read the Bible I see Jesus healing people, restoring them to physical health. I see him criticizing and condemning those who oppress others or deny justice. I see him speaking out on behalf of the poor and those who are mistreated. I see him feeding people who are hungry.

These are all physical, earthly things in this life.

And one time, Jesus told his followers that he is found in the least of these. When you feed a hungry person, he said, you feed me. When you clothe a naked person, you clothe me. When you visit someone who is sick or in prison, you visit me. When you give a drink of water to someone who is thirsty, you give it to me.

Even in today’s passage, he says to his followers: “give to those in need.”

Jesus talked of people who did just that, people who saw a hungry person and gave him food, or a thirsty person, and gave her water; people who saw a stranger, and welcomed him; people who saw someone who was shivering, and gave them a coat to wear.

Jesus said that the people who did these things did it to him. “To you?” they said. “When did we see you hungry or thirsty or shivering?” And Jesus said, “when you do this to any of the least of these, you do it to me.”

They didn’t expect to meet Jesus. But they were ready. They were dressed for action.

And when Jesus arrived, they were ready to serve.

On another occasion, two disciples were walking down a road, journeying from Jerusalem to a city called Emmaus. They were sad, because this was just after Jesus, their leader, was executed by the Romans.

A man came alongside them and started walking with them. There is safety in numbers, so they welcomed him. This man asked them what they had been talking about.

Well, they had been talking about Jesus and his crucifixion. They were surprised that this man hadn’t heard about what had happened, so they told him.

When they reached Emmaus, it was late in the day. The man who had joined them said goodbye and started to walk on; apparently he still had some distance to go.

But these two followers insisted that he stay the night with them. It wasn’t safe to travel at night, especially by yourself. “Eat with us,” they said. “Stay the night, and continue your journey in the morning.”

So the stranger joined them for dinner. And as they broke bread together, awareness dawned on the two followers, and they realized that this stranger in their midst was actually the risen Jesus!

Fortunately, they had been ready. They had been ready to welcome the stranger. They had been ready to show hospitality. They had been ready to offer kindness and compassion and love to a traveler who still had a long way to go.

And because they were ready, they saw Jesus.

Be ready. Be dressed for action.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is good news for this life and the life to come. The word “salvation,” the way it’s used in the Bible, refers to a life of wholeness in this life: freedom from captivity, healing from all kinds of maladies…

Near the beginning of Luke’s gospel, Jesus says his mission is to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, and to liberate the oppressed. That’s a very earthly mission. Yes, he assured his followers of a life after death, but most of what he talked about concerned this life right now.

Be ready. Be dressed for action.

When Christians spend all their time focusing on the life to come, life in heaven – what we often call “eternal life” – they often lose their focus on this life. They try to get people to accept Jesus into their heart, but don’t notice that they are hungry or thirsty or suffering.

Gandhi once said, “There are people in the world so hungry that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread.” Jesus knew this. If people were hungry, he gave them bread. And fish.

If they were thirsty, he gave them water.

If they were sick, he restored them to health.

If they were oppressed, he set them free.

When he asked Peter if Peter loved him – and Peter said yes – Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. Feed my sheep. Feed my sheep.”

Three times he said this to Peter.

And like so much of what the Bible says, there is more than one meaning here. There is a spiritual meaning… but there is also a real, concrete, physical meaning.

Feed my sheep. If they are hungry for bread, give them bread. If they are hungry for the word of life, give them the word of life. In whatever way you can serve them, do it.

Be ready for that. Be dressed for action.

One time, a man wanted to follow Jesus. He wanted to follow Jesus, but he wasn’t ready. Jesus came by and said, “Follow me,” but the man said, “OK, but first, let me go take care of things at home. Let me put things in order. I have my own things to take care of first, and then I’ll be ready to serve and follow you.”

But that didn’t work. He should have been ready. He should have been dressed for action.

Last week at boy scout camp, on Wednesday night, our scouts walked the “honor trail.” There were twelve stops along the way, one stop for each point of the scout law, and one final stop for the scout oath.

One of the twelve points of the scout law says “a scout is helpful.” There is also a line in the scout oath that says “help other people at all times.”

But to help other people at all times, you have to be ready to help. You don’t know when that moment will come, that moment when someone will need help. It could come at any time.

So you need to be prepared. You need to be ready… dressed for action.

You need to be ready to help. You need to be ready to serve. You need to be ready to offer kindness, compassion, hospitality.

You need to be ready to stand up for those who are vulnerable, those who are being oppressed.

Those men who rescued that woman who was trapped in her car during the flooding back east – did you see that? They were ready. They saw her, and they rescued her. The flood was about to sweep her away, and they didn’t say, “wait there, we need to get ready.” They were ready.

What do you need to do to be ready? What do you need to do to be dressed for action?

Are you ready to show love to a stranger? Are you ready to help? Are you ready to show compassion to the “least of these,” whenever they might appear?

Because the person who needs your help, your love, your compassion: that’s Jesus. You don’t have to wait 2,000 years or more for Jesus to appear. Every day, Jesus appears. Every day.

The question is: are you ready? Are you dressed for action?

Rich Toward God (Luke 12:13-21)

[Today's sermon began with a reading of The Table Where Rich People Sit, a picture book written by Byrd Baylor and illustrated by Peter Parnall.  It is not included here due to copyright, but I highly recommend this wonderful book.]

Jesus told a story about a man who Jesus called a “fool.”  The man in the story had everything that Mountain Girl wanted:  he had wealth.  He had clothes that weren’t torn or patched up.  He had a fine table, I’m sure, on which were many numerous plates, beautiful plates, piled high with food.  He had the means to travel wherever he wanted, whenever he wanted.

And yet, Jesus called him a fool.

On August 27, 1967, Martin Luther King, Jr. preached a sermon about this man at Mount Pisgah Missionary Baptist Church in Chicago.  And King said: “There is nothing in that parable to indicate that this man was dishonest and that he made his money through conniving and exploitative methods.”  That’s not why Jesus called him a fool.  This man was a fine, upstanding citizen who earned his money honestly.  As Mountain Girl would say, he had ambition.

But then King said this:  “The other day in Atlanta, the wife of a man had an automobile accident. He received a call that the accident had taken place on the expressway. The first question he asked when he received the call: ‘How much damage did it do to my Cadillac?’ He never asked how his wife was doing. Now that man was a fool, because he had allowed an automobile to become more significant than a person. He wasn’t a fool because he had a Cadillac, he was a fool because he worshiped his Cadillac. He allowed his automobile to become more important than God.”

The same is true for the man in Jesus’ story:  he worshipped his money.

Barbara Brown Taylor demonstrates the foolishness of this in a sermon she gave at Lake Junaluska in North Carolina.  In that sermon, she talks about the happiness she got from buying a new set of cookware.  But then she says:  “When I wake up in the middle of the night and cannot go back to sleep for all of the fears that are taking turns sitting on my chest, it never occurs to me to get up and bring my 13" frying pan into bed with me.”

The same can be said for everything material that we value, can it not?

I once had a church member say to me – not here, of course; you would never say such a thing to me – he said: “You know, if our church runs out of money and we have to choose between having a church building and having a minister, I’d pick the building.”

So, trying to figure out what to say to comfort him, I said:  “OK. When you are going through a hard time and you wake up in the middle of the night filled with fear and anxiety, and you call me up, I’ll go over to the church, pull up a floorboard, and drop it off on your front porch and then leave, and you can go out and grab that piece of wood and crawl into bed with it and let it comfort you.”

OK, I didn’t really say that;  but I thought it.

In another congregation, I once heard the laments of members who wished they could give more to the church.  They really wanted to support their congregation!  But they were sad because, as they put it, they were retired and lived on a “fixed income.” 

Now, most of them lived in very nice houses, with two or three or four bedrooms, even though most nights only one bedroom actually had anybody sleeping in it.  And they had nice furniture and nice cars.  And I understood that their homes had become familiar to them, and had sentimental value to them.  I get that. 

But it seemed to me that their homes were more important to them than doing what they said they really wanted, which was to live more fully for God.  They were so attached to their homes and all the things in their homes that they couldn’t give as much as they wished they could give.  They couldn’t be as generous as they wanted to be.  And that made them sad.

What Mountain Girl discovered is that true wealth is following your passion, finding meaning and purpose in life.  Even the old, rough, hand-built table becomes precious and valuable to her.  It becomes a symbol of the life her family lives, a life spent together in the place they want to be, doing the things that make their hearts sing for joy.

And that, I think, is part of what it means to be rich toward God.

I read an interesting article recently about Greg Long, who is one of the best surfers in the world.  Born and raised in San Clemente, he travels around the world searching for the biggest waves on the planet.

He’s also participated in his share of professional surfing competitions.  In 2008, he won the Mavericks competition in northern California, one of the most prestigious surfing competitions in the world, a competition that includes a lot of prize money. 

But Greg Long knew that if he started surfing for money and endorsements and sponsorships, the joy he got from surfing would be diminished.  To always worry about making an impression on others, and organizing his life around what his sponsors wanted – well, that wasn’t what he wanted.  That wasn’t what would bring him satisfaction.

After winning the Maverick’s Surf Contest, Greg Long split the prize money with the other finalists.  Who does such a thing? 

Someone for whom the riches of money are not as important as the riches of living a meaningful life.

It is my goal over these next four weeks, as we experience our annual stewardship campaign, to help you find a life that is meaningful, a life that is worth living.  And yes, you will be encouraged to give to the church, and even to give more than you’ve given in the past … and yes, part of the reason is that the church needs the money. 

But that’s the secondary reason.  The main reason is that I don’t want you to be sad, like those people in their nice houses.  I don’t want you to put all your energy and all your resources into things that, in the dark night, fail to give you comfort. I want you to discover the joy that Mountain Girl eventually discovered, the joy of living a life that is rich toward God, and rich toward the things that matter.

Why spend four weeks on this one topic?  Well, as we establish patterns in our way of living, in the choices we make day in and day out, habits develop; Roger Wolsey says that these habits are like “deer trails” in the brain.  The more you do something or think a certain way, the more those “deer-trailed neuro-pathways become widened to become neuro-superhighways.”  We have been trained in living a certain kind of lifestyle, and it’s hard to break away from that.

What Jesus does is show us a new path, a new way of living.  It’s hard to break from the well-worn paths on which we travel day after day after day,  but perhaps, given enough time – and if we are willing to work on it, day-by-day, moment-by-moment –  we will not only step foot on that alternative pathway, we will begin to take some steps, and start moving toward a more abundant, generous, joyful life, a life that is filled with meaning, a life that is rich toward God.

"Life's Greatest Task" (Ecclesiastes 4: 9-12; Luke 12:13-21)

The title of today’s sermon, you may have noticed, is “Life’s Greatest Task.”  That’s actually the shortened version of the title.  The full, original title for today’s sermon is, “Life’s Most Persistent and Urgent Question.”

However, I was told by those in charge that this was too long.  I mentioned that it met the requirements of my seminary preaching professor, that sermon titles be seven words or less. 

Count them, I said:  “Life’s. Most. Persistent. And. Urgent. Question.”  That’s only six words.

I was told it would take up too much room in the bulletin, and that it would never fit on the sign out front…

I know a preacher who once preached a sermon titled, “How to Deal with the Guilt of Sexual Failure for the Glory of Christ and His Global Cause.”  Some of you are trying to count the number of words on your fingers and are having difficulty, so I’ll tell you:  it’s eighteen words.  I don’t know how he ever got away with that.

Someone who didn’t know better thought it was the title of an emo song.

Anyway, the real title of today’s sermon is “Life’s Most Persistent and Urgent Question.”  Some of you will recognize that I did not come up with this phrase all on my own.  You’ve heard the phrase, “life’s most persistent and urgent question” before.  You recognize it as being part of a quotation by Martin Luther King, Jr.; and possibly you even remember what is, according to the quote, life’s most persistent and urgent question.

But just in case you have forgotten, let me share with you the quote in its entirety:  “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is:  What are you doing for others?”

We were not created to live isolated, independent, or even self-sufficient lives.  You’ve heard the phrase, “God helps those who help themselves, and probably thought it was from scripture.

It’s not.  That’s Ben Franklin, not scripture.

The scriptural version (if there was one) would be more like: “God helps those who help one another.”

It is not good to live or work only for yourself.  Two are better than one.  If one falls, the other can help lift that one up.  (And don’t we all fall down from time to time!)

A group is even better; a community; a village.  A threefold cord is not quickly broken.

You’ve heard the story of the rich man who lived only for himself.  His land produced so many crops, he didn’t know what to do with them all.  Never mind that, just beyond his field, there were rows of dwellings, and in each dwelling was a family.  Many in those families worked hard in the fields owned by the rich man.  They worked hard to make the rich man rich.

Each evening, in each of those dwellings, a single piece of bread was broken – a single piece of bread – divided into two; and then it was divided again; and a third time it was divided, until each piece was not very big. 

But even so, the one doing the dividing, the breaking of the bread, gave thanks.

Meanwhile, the rich man was trying to figure out what to do with all his grain.  “I know!” he said.  “I will tear down my barns and build bigger barns!  Then I can store all my grain, and it will last for years and years; and I can eat, drink, and be merry for the rest of my life.”

But life’s greatest task isn’t to store up riches for yourself.  Life’s most persistent and urgent question isn’t, “What have you done for yourself?”  Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, “What are you doing for others?” 

An old Chinese proverb shows the truth of this:  If you want happiness for an hour, take a nap; if you want happiness for a day, go fishing;  if you want happiness for a year, inherit a fortune.  If you want happiness for a lifetime, help someone else.

There is a deep, deep, very deep need in the human heart to live for someone else, to give of oneself to another.  This is what makes life meaningful.  This is what makes life worthwhile:  living for someone else.

And we know this, deep down inside of us.

Why else would anyone ever choose to become a mother?

A mother’s heart belongs not to herself, but to her children.  Everything she does, she does for them.  When they cry, she is there for them.  When they rebel, her heart breaks for them.  When they do well, her heart dances for joy.  She lives her life for someone besides herself.

Now, we do hear, all the time, admonitions to do just the opposite.  Day in and day out, the message we hear from society, from the media, from the world around us, is this:  live for yourself.  Indulge.  Build your mansion.  Live your dream.  It’s okay to be selfish, at least once in awhile.  Just take off, do your own thing, leave everything else behind.  This is America, after all, where you are free to live your own life.

The rich man in the parable would have done so well in 21^st century America.  Probably, he’d even be rewarded for the choices he made in life with a big tax subsidy, making him even richer.

Do you know that in Japan, the average CEO makes 11 times as much money as the average worker?  In Canada, the average CEO makes 20 times as much as the average worker.  In Mexico and Venezuela, the average CEO makes about 50 times as much as the average worker.

In the United States, the average CEO makes 475 times as much as the average worker.

The result is a huge difference between the rich man’s mansion, and all those dwellings out beyond his field. 

Social scientists know that getting everything you want does not lead to a “happily ever after.”  That is a myth.  There have been studies which show, consistently, that lottery winners are no happier over the long term than anyone else; and no happier than they themselves were before winning the lottery.

What social scientists have discovered, though, is that the secrets to happiness are gratitude, generosity, and genuine, caring relationships.  Being thankful, and living with and for others – that’s the key to a life of happiness.

Benedictine sister Joan Chittister, in a new book on happiness, writes that “happiness comes from discovering what the world needs that we can give it, from finding our purpose in life and living up to it.”

Mothers know this.  Mothers give thanks for every little blessing in their child’s life.  Mothers give themselves completely to their children, sacrificing their own desires for their children’s sake.

It’s amazing, really, that women still choose to become mothers in our modern society, seeing as it requires so much sacrifice, so much giving of oneself to another.  But they do.

And the only reason I can think of is that deep down, they sense that their life will only have meaning if they can live for someone else, love someone else, give to someone else, devote one’s life to the nurture of someone else, and be there for someone else; someone who needs them, some other person besides themselves.

They may not all be able to verbalize this deep down feeling, this intuition.  They may not even be consciously aware of it.  But it is there, and they know, instinctively, that life is not worth living unless we’re living for someone else.

It seems appropriate to lift up mothers in this way on Mother’s Day, but you don’t have to be a mother to live for someone else, to love, care for, or nurture someone else, to do for others.  I don’t want anyone to feel excluded because they’ve never experienced parenthood.  There is a great need in our society for people who are willing to live for others, to serve others, to do for others acts of kindness and love and nurture.  There is a great opportunity for each and every one of us to answer life’s most persistent and urgent question, and to find meaning and purpose in life.

In the church, each and every one of us have a remarkable opportunity to care for one another, and especially, to care for the children in our midst.  One of the most remarkable things in the church is that all of our children belong to all of us.  They are all our children.

This is good for the children, to have a whole community of people who they know love and care for them.  And, this is good for all of us, because it allows us to find deep and genuine happiness by giving of ourselves to someone else, and living up to our life’s purpose.

Since it is Mother’s Day, I do not want to keep you too long, but there is one more thing I’d like to share with you…

It happens every once in awhile:  I get tired, and down, and disillusioned with ministry.  The challenges are never-ending:  it’s always struggle to find enough money.  Folks would rather leave early to get a good spot at the beach than come to church.  Other churches, where things are fancier and more high-tech, churches where things are more entertaining and more exciting, draw some of our young people away, which wouldn’t be such a problem except that too often the gospel they preach is based more on fear than it is on love…

It happens every once in awhile, when I think of these things, that I get really down.  And I think to myself, wouldn’t it be nice to do something else.

I spent one summer in Indiana – the summer Ethan was born – painting apartments.  The Chateau de Ville was a large, sprawling, upscale apartment complex on the northeast side of Indianapolis.  (As far as I know, it is still a large, sprawling, upscale apartment complex on the northeast side of Indianapolis.)  And one work day was just about enough time for me and a partner to put one coat of paint on the walls of one unit.

When the day was done, the job was done, and we could look at what we’d done and be satisfied in a job well done, a job completed and finished.

Ministry is not like that.  Ministry is like swimming upstream.  Sometimes you’re able to push hard and swim up a little ways, and sometimes the current pushes you back downstream; the net result is that, most of the time, you’re working hard just to stay in place.

It gets tiring.  Which is why it happens every once in awhile that I get down and disillusioned with ministry.

But as I look back at those times, I realize that they usually occur when I’m pondering what I can get out of ministry, or what I can get out of the church.  These episodes usually occur when I’m looking to see what ministry can do for me, or what the church can do for me.

When I stop focusing on what ministry or the church can do for me, and turn my focus on what ministry – my ministry, our ministry – can do for others, and what ministry is doing for others, and what ministry has done for others… then I am filled with a deep and abiding joy.  Then I recognize that there is, in fact, meaning in my life; purpose in the work God has enabled me to do.  And it all becomes worthwhile, because I’m doing it for someone besides myself.

When I consider what this church (of which I am a part) does for others, and how – by being part of this church – God can use me to do things for others…; when I consider that…, instead of what this church can do for me…, then my soul is lifted up.  My strength is renewed.  I am lifted up on eagles’ wings, and I can keep swimming, keep running, without becoming weary.

And that’s how I know that the question, “What are you doing for others?” really is life’s most persistent and urgent question.

Rich Toward God (Luke 12:13-21)

If I appear to be somewhat less than my usual talkative, peppy self this morning, it’s because I’ve had quite the busy week. Ginger was supposed to be home this week, but ended up filling a last minute vacancy on the counseling staff at Loch Leven, so she found herself spending the week there instead. I’m glad she went – I was the one who mentioned the vacancy to her – but because she was supposed to be here, I found myself trying to fulfill the commitments both of us had made this week.

Thus it was a week of both sermon writing and volunteering at cub scout day camp. It was a week of newsletter articles and youth swim lessons. There were plays and auditions and doctor appointments to get to, as well as staff meetings and pastoral calling. There were meals to prepare and laundry to take care of , of course, although the laundry chore was a little less flexible than it usually is because of the fact that the cub scout day camp t-shirts (one for the camper, one for the volunteer) had to be washed each night, not to mention the towels and shorts for swim lessons. Then our landlord mentioned that someone would be coming Tuesday morning to look at the termites I’d recently noticed, and was it possible for me to be home then? It was possible, and I ended up writing this sermon in my dining room, but the termite person never came.

It was one of those weeks in which I began to lose track of days. Fortunately, I did remember that Monday was Ethan’s birthday, and so we celebrated by going to Downtown Disney to eat at the Rainforest Café and watch the fireworks.

Back home, when I noticed that we were getting low on a few essential household items, I headed down the street to Target. I have a habit, whenever I go to Target, of walking by the clearance rack to see if there are any good deals. As it turned out, there were some t-shirts that I thought I probably needed, and I almost bought one; good deals are hard to resist.

Later that evening, as I was folding and putting away the laundry, I was surprised at how many t-shirts I already had: about twenty in all. Four of them were given to me just this summer, including the already mentioned cub scout day camp t-shirt. I also bought one t-shirt, which makes five new t-shirts acquired in just the past six weeks.

Curious, I began counting ALL my clothes. Well, I got to one hundred articles of clothing, and then I stopped counting. There were still some sweatshirts I hadn’t counted, and I didn’t even open the drawers of socks or underwear, and I didn’t even look at my shoes.

Good grief, I thought; what in the world was I doing looking for clothes in the clearance section? The dresser drawers were full, the clothes hanging in the closet were crammed together… Perhaps if I had a bigger dresser or a bigger closet…

Earlier this summer, I went with Tristan to an Angels game. They were giving away garden gnomes, and somehow – I’ll tell you the details later if you like – we ended up with not one but two gnomes each. Add that to the garden gnome we already had at home, and that means we have five garden gnomes.

Sometimes it’s just so ridiculously easy to acquire STUFF. Just how many garden gnomes do I need, anyway? How many t-shirts do I need?

Strangely, being given the extra gnomes and the t-shirts made me feel good. Each time I received one, I thought, “Ooooh! A new THING!” There is a certain satisfaction to getting something new, especially if it’s a good deal…. And, hey, you can’t beat FREE. This seems to be true even if it’s something we don’t need. However, the satisfaction doesn’t last, because it’s not long before we want another new THING. And another. We want to accumulate more and more. And it’s not long until we discover that one dresser isn’t big enough. One closet isn’t big enough. One garage isn’t big enough. One barn isn’t big enough.

Some people just pack it all in. They’re pack rats. They accumulate and accumulate but never get rid of anything. In extreme cases it becomes a mental illness. Their homes become hazardous death traps, filled with every newspaper, every TV dinner carton from many years, stacked to the ceiling. Sometimes we hear about cases like this in the news, and often, the news is tragic: firefighters being unable to rescue a person trapped in his or her own house by the stacks of burning newspapers and other accumulated junk.

We wonder how on earth a person could live like that. Then we grab some items off the clearance rack, bring them home, and try to figure out where to put them.

A man came to Jesus upset because his brother refused to split their inheritance with him. Jesus refused to intervene. Why? Wasn’t this a case of justice being denied? Didn’t Jesus care about justice?

Jesus didn’t intervene, because he sensed that this man’s problem was much deeper than not getting his share of the inheritance. It just so happened that Jesus had been talking about fear and anxiety – those things that keep you awake at night – when this man came to Jesus. Somehow, a discussion on fears and anxiety made him think of the inheritance money that was due to him. If only he had that money, then he could relax and rest easy. If only he had that money, he would feel secure, and be free from any and all anxiety.

Is that why it’s difficult to pass by the clearance rack at Target? Am I In fact looking for a markdown on peace and security?... Is that why I found myself salivating this week over the new and improved Amazon Kindle, even though I already have a Kindle? Is it because I believe these things will bring calm my fears and anxiety, or at least drown them for awhile?

I suspect that this is the case. I’ve watched enough TV to get the message that unless I keep buying new things, my life won’t be worth much. And I don’t want to be like THAT GUY who doesn’t have the cool lifestyle as evidenced by all of his new THINGS. I’ve heard the advertisers’ message too many times to ignore it, the message that I’m worthless unless I fill my house with all these things; and if my house isn’t big enough, then it’s time to get a bigger house, or one of those storage units, where the first month’s rent is always free.

Well, I’m not knowledgeable enough about medicine or psychology to know whether or not this can be considered a mental illness. I did hear this week that scientists, according to an article about to be published in SCIENCE magazine, have found that people who buy things impulsively have excess dopamine in their brain. Excess dopamine has been shown to increase one’s risk for drug abuse and mental illness. Well, all I know is that when the fear and anxiety keeps me awake in the middle of the night, my t-shirts and my older version of the Kindle do little to comfort me. Not even the gnomes (believe it or not) can give me the peace and security I long for.

I’m also not very knowledgeable when it comes to economics. On NPR I do hear that growth is good, expansion is good, that consumer spending is good; but I also hear that a reckless pursuit of growth is what lies behind the Gulf Coast oil disaster, not to mention many other environmental and social problems.

I do try to be knowledgeable about the teachings of Jesus, although I must admit that being knowledgeable about his teachings doesn’t always make them easy to follow. I’ve been told that Jesus’ top two topics are 1. The kingdom of God, and 2. Money and possessions, and my own reading of scripture seems to confirm this.

I’ve been told that one out of ten verses in the gospels deals with money and possessions, and that seems about right to me. I also know that the parable of the foolish man who built a 2nd barn seems to contract the theory that growth and expansion is good. This man’s business was growing. He wanted to maximize his growth. And Jesus calls him foolish. Which means we have to choose: do we follow the advice of modern economists, or do we follow the teachings of Jesus?

The man in the parable isn’t foolish just because he built that 2nd barn, however. He’s foolish because he expects everything in that barn to provide him the peace and security he longs for. Remember, Jesus had been talking about freeing ourselves from fear and anxiety.

In fact, Jesus’ teachings show that wealth can be either a great blessing, or a great curse. Which of those two it ends up being depends largely on our attitude toward wealth. If we treat money and possessions as our savior – if we make them more important than our commitment to God’s kingdom – then yes, wealth can be a curse, and those who pursue it at all costs are indeed foolish. But if we use our money and wealth and possessions to benefit God’s kingdom, that’s not so foolish.

The foolish man – he’s not concerned so much with God’s kingdom. He’s not concerned with much at all, other than himself. To quote Barbara Brown Taylor: “He asked himself questions, answered them himself, then congratulated himself on his good sense.” Worse yet, “he had fallen for the cultural myth that accumulating stuff was a big enough purpose for human life on earth. He had watched too much television. He had actually believed that his soul was made to thrive on the things that he saw there.” Maybe it was the dopamine high, but dopamine levels fluctuate wildly, and after the new thing has been sitting in your barn for a day or two, the dopamine high begins to wear off, and then it’s time for another hit. So you go out and get another new thing, and it makes you feel good, but once again, the good feeling doesn’t last.

But being rich toward God … seeking a different kind of richness … finding a purpose that will truly satisfy one’s soul, a purpose that the soul knows is worthy enough and heroic enough for a human life … that is what brings lasting peace and security. That peace and security will come to you, if you seek first the kingdom of God.