7-28-22 - All That We Can't Leave Behind

You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here. 

And love is not the easy thing
The only baggage you can bring
Is all that you can't leave behind.  – U2,Walk On (All That You Can’t Leave Behind)

This song comes to mind as I reflect on Jesus’ parable of the rich man who is so focused on acquiring and storing his many assets. This fictional fellow thought he’d guaranteed his security – but think again!

“Then he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’"

Whose will they be? What will be left of our legacy after we’ve gone – whether it’s changing jobs, moving from a beloved community or leaving the planet for good? What good will all the things we invest in, material and otherwise, do us when we’re dead? Perhaps a rich person's children will inherit, and sometimes carry on the good – and often they’ll turn out lazy and self-indulgent, expecting hand-outs. Can we secure our future and that of our descendants?

The invitation here, as always, is to put our trust in God, not in our financial security, and to live our lives on a daily basis, not in five-year increments. All the things we put our trust in can fail us – people, machinery, the very earth sometimes. We go through life assuming elevators will not snap their cables, or roads collapse, or partners become unfaithful (or Supreme Court decisions be upended…). We’re pretty sure banks won’t fail – but every recession or precipitous drop in the markets reminds us that financial “security” isn’t always so secure. What will it take for us to truly put our weight on the provision and power and love of God?

Here’s a thought exercise: is there any possession or amount of money you would fail to offer if it would save the person you love the most in the whole world? If you needed to be emptied in order to receive the greatest gift, on what might you loosen your grip? That time will come when our grip is loosened for us, and then we will all part with our riches. What if we started to live in that kind of freedom while we’re still alive in this world?

Leave it behind
You've got to leave it behind
All that you fashion
All that you make
All that you build
All that you break
All that you measure
All that you feel
All this you can leave behind

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7-27-22 - Storage

You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here. 

Why do I have shelves full of books I’ll never read? Cabinets of china and glassware and linens I rarely use? Kitchenware of all sorts, shoes, sweaters, closets full of clothes? I have too much stuff. But there is a limit: I will never resort to putting my stuff into a storage unit, just hoping I’ll use it some day. Therein lies insanity – and given the number of storage facilities disfiguring our landscapes, there seems to be a lot of insanity around.

Jesus begins his parable about the pitfalls of greed by talking of storage units: 

Then he told them a parable: “The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, ‘What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’ Then he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.’”

Building bigger barns. There’s a metaphor for acquisition fever. Many of us go through life acquiring things and then needing larger houses in which to store it all. The name for that is not success or prosperity – the spiritual name for it is greed. Greed can be defined as having more than we need and wanting more still.

So, are we all greed-ridden? I suspect most of us reading this this have more than we need, and we can all come up with more things that we want or think we need. Such is the human condition. How then are we to receive such a teaching? Hanging our heads in despair and walking away from the Gospel altogether, because we’re not the kind of disciples who leave it all to follow Jesus? That kind of resignation only leads us deeper into the worship of stuff, because then we need stuff to stuff down the feelings of guilt and inadequacy. What might we do instead?

We can put Jesus first, every day. Give God the best part of the day, when we’re freshest and our spirits are most open. As we grow in relationship with God, our priorities inevitably shift. We may still enjoy the abundance we have, but with less fear of losing it and more joy in sharing it. The more we give it away, the less we worry about how to store it.

When the “Purpose-Driven” media empire took off, Rick Warren and his wife decided to "reverse tithe" - to live on 10 percent of those earnings, and give away the other 90. The math works at that level of wealth. Our incomes may be smaller, but If we give away the biblical standard of 10 percent of our income (gross or net, you choose), we still have 90 percent to play with. That’s a lot!

The antidote to greed is generosity. As we excel in giving, we will delight in God’s grace. No need to sock that away - it never runs out.

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7-26-22 - Greed

You can listen to this reflection here.

In our gospel story for Sunday, Jesus is approached by a man whose brother has received their father’s full inheritance and isn’t inclined to share it. And just as he refused to get pulled into a sibling conflict with Martha and Mary, Jesus displays clear boundaries here. He’s not as interested in whether or not the younger brother gets his share of the legacy as he is in his priorities and the health of his soul:

But he said to him, “Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?” And he said to them, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.”

What if that verse were plastered all over the financial centers of the world, and tony residential neighborhoods, and on shopping sites? Why, the world economy might come crashing down upon itself. (But wait, doesn’t it often seem close to doing that anyway?) How many people do you know who live as though accumulating possessions and securing their financial future is exactly what life consists of?

I’ll hold the judgment, for I make more than I need and am invested in securing my future too. Looking around, I am keenly aware of the abundance of my possessions. Sure, I give away a fair amount, but that’s not the point. The point is where our deepest priorities lie. How much of our time and energy go into acquiring things and keeping track of what we have? What would we let go of if someone we loved needed it? How much money would we part with? How many possessions? How simply are we willing to live?

These questions are intertwined, for living simply can be a choice we make because we realize someone else needs our stuff more than we do, or because we want to lower our overhead in order to release more funds to people who need them. We get to the point where we’re willing to part with our stuff not only for people whom we love, but for people we don’t even know.

It comes down to what questions we’re asking of ourselves: How much do I need to feel secure, or how much can I release to feel free? Am I living by fear or living by faith? Greed and faith cannot occupy the same space. As much room as we give to one, the less there is for the other.

Or, as I once read in an interview with the actor John Heard, “When you’re living by fear, you’re always looking for security. When you’re living by faith, you’re always looking for freedom.” It is for freedom God has made us free.

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12-7-21 - Greed

You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here. 

How many coats is too many? Sweaters? Shoes? Cans of tuna? Does it count if the coats are old? Where is the line between thrift and greed? I fear John the Baptist would say I crossed it a long time ago.

In response to his harsh words about the judgment to come upon those who do not “bear fruit worthy of repentance,” John’s listeners were perplexed – and anxious:  

And the crowds asked him, “What then should we do?” In reply he said to them, “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.”

I like stuff. I like accumulating it, and I must like storing it and moving it, because much of my stuff has been with me awhile. In fact, I look forward to one day getting some of my mother’s stuff! (Happily, she’s still enjoying it at 96…) And yet I’m also burdened by it, and deeply moved by the need of so many in the world. I suspect I’m not the only person who squirms in that cognitive dissonance.

Greed is not hard to define. It is keeping more than you need, and not sharing it with people who do need it. Almost everyone I know is complicit in a system that fosters greed, even encourages it – after all, buying things is our duty to keep the economy going, right? Except that we could as well keep the economy going by buying things for other people, people who are not related to us, who do not have the resources we have.

Part of my problem, when I am reminded of the hold greed has on me, is that I go to the “all or nothing” place. I’m not ready to downsize to a 300-square-foot tiny house and a 20-item wardrobe and give everything else away, so I guess I just stay greedy until I’m ready to change, right?

Maybe not. Maybe we try the incremental approach. Maybe we figure out some strategies to slow down our rate of accumulation and accelerate our giving to others – and by others, I mean people in genuine need, not gift-giving to our loved ones.

What if we commit to buying one item for a homeless family for every two gifts we buy this Christmas season? (Or buy a gift for a youth in foster care as part of my church’s Giving Tree… click here for the list.) What if we make an equivalent donation each time we buy something for ourselves that is not strictly needed? Even beginning to evaluate our purchases would go a long way toward making us more aware of how much we have relative to so many others. And I suspect linking our accumulation to giving would help us release a lot more.

Am I trying to take all the joy out of prosperity? No. I just think it's possible that John – and Jesus, and St. Francis and thousands of other saints over millennia – had a point. If our joy is located in our prosperity, we’re not ready to dwell in the Life of God. And when our joy is located in the Life of God… we're apt to redefine prosperity.

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11-2-21 - Hypocrisy

You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.

Last week we explored the story of an encounter between Jesus and one of the temple scribes, who’d asked him what he considered to be the greatest commandment. Compared to many of Jesus’ confrontations with religious leaders, their conversation was quite cordial, and the scribe affirmed Jesus’ interpretation of the scriptures and his insight. But shortly after this encounter, Jesus speaks of the scribes with withering condemnation:

“Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets! They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”

Ouch! Maybe this is why I always cringe a little when accorded honor simply because of my position as a clergyperson. It is as easy for “religious professionals” to fall into the trap of wanting respect and goodies and good seats as it is anyone else. Long-winded prayers trip easily off our tongues, and we Episcopalians particularly need to watch out for the lure of walking around in robes and fancy vestments!

These trappings of position are not necessarily bad in themselves – but if the appearance is masking behavior that is indifferent to or even exploiting the poor and vulnerable, look out. This is the most serious charge Jesus lays at the feet of these temple functionaries, that they “devour widow’s houses.” Presumably this refers to religious leaders’ demanding offerings or insisting on temple “taxes,” even at the cost of a widow’s meagre estate. This predatory greed, cloaked in the name of Torah, was actually a perversion of the Mosaic Law, which commanded care for orphans and widows, resident aliens and Levites – even if that was to be after the tithes to the temple had been fulfilled.

There are plenty of predatory religious leaders dunning widows for donations in our time. Mainline clergy tend to operate with more compassion and flexibility – but we are also generally privileged economically. Does a good pension plan and housing allowance put us in the “hypocrite’s” camp? That is ever something we need to guard against – not just clergy, but congregations in general as they set their spending priorities. When is a new carpet or landscaping essential, and when does it take resources away from mission? Every spending decision needs to be weighed against the church’s mission – or more properly, God’s mission through that church.

The antidote to hypocrisy is humility – seeing oneself clearly, as neither more nor less important than we really are. Humility leads to authenticity, which is arguably the most important quality a religious leader must possess. Seeing ourselves clearly before God, repenting for the ways we fail to make Christ known, invites us to polish our lanterns so that Christ’s light shines through us more brightly. That is our truest vocation, to have less of us, more of Jesus shining through.

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