By Martha Martin
St. Andrew's United Church, Halifax

Too Much Stuff

Luke 12:13-21; Colossians 3:1-11

I’m going to do something a bit different this morning – I’m going to play one of my favourite songs to begin the reflection time. It’s called “Too Much Stuff” by a blues singer Delbert McLinton … if you listen closely, you will also hear John Prine, and Lyle Lovett singing verses of the song. Now, a warning - you may not be able to sit still in your seats during the playing of this song … Too Much Stuff – by Delbert McLinton

Too Much Stuff. I have a confession to make. I have too much stuff. Anyone else have too much stuff? There was a time, thirty-seven years ago, when I spent eight months in Britain and Europe, and everything I owned fit into a large red knapsack. But somehow, over the years, as my means increased, as I became a homeowner, as Pat and I raised a family, I have amassed a lot of stuff. And, if I am to make a personal confession here, I often succumb to buying more stuff. I am particularly susceptible to purses and shoes … oh, and earrings, books, pens … not so much shoes anymore since I had to get orthotics this past spring – that kind of stopped the shoe shopping. But I have been heard to remark lately that I think I need a twelve step program for the purse thing.

I come by it honestly ­ my mom was a great shopper in her prime … whether she could afford it or not. I think it was her therapy …how she made herself feel good in times of stress, times of low self esteem. And, if I’m honest with myself, I see some of that in me.

Two years ago at Maritime Conference Youth Forum, we used today’s gospel reading as the basis for our theme. We explored issues of consumerism, particularly as it relates to the environment and the sustainability of our planet. We watched The Story of Stuff, a 20 minute video by Annie Leonard, who has now published a book by the same name. You can watch the video online at http://www.storyofstuff.com/, and I would encourage folks to do that. It explores the route that “stuff”, for example, clothes, electronics, toys, household items, etc. take to get to the shelves in our stores. They most often originate in countries in what we would call the South, or the developing world, and end up in the North, for those of us who are the largest consumers in the world.

Going back decades, the video also explores some of the intentional psychology behind the consumer culture in which we live. It’s quite an eye-opener, and the video is full of good information that is documented and well referenced.

Now, I loved this video, and would encourage everyone to watch it. And I don’t dispute for a minute that things seem to be more out of whack than ever before as far as priorities, our disposable society, our constant craving for more stuff ­ you know all this. Who here hasn’t been frustrated by trying to find a place that will fix a small appliance or electronic device, only to be told that it would be cheaper to just buy a new one. We are all caught in a crazy system, and we are all looking for ways to make it better.

But Jesus told this parable because it would hold meaning to the people who were listening to him over two thousand years ago. So, we can assume that too much stuff is not an entirely new problem.

The story starts with a man who approaches Jesus to settle an argument between he and his brother about their father’s inheritance. And Jesus first asks “who gave me the right to settle a dispute between you and your brother?”, and refuses to get caught in the middle of the dispute. He does, however, give advice. “Don’t be greedy. Having a lot of stuff will not make you happy.” Then he tells the parable about the rich fool.

Now, many scholars suggest that Jesus’ parables come from real life situations. One resource I came across suggested that this story might even have been an incident in Jesus’ early life. Perhaps a man came into Joseph’s carpentry shop and said “Joseph, I need bigger barns, come and tear down my old ones and enlarge them.”

Barns of that region were actually holes in the ground lined with stones and having a stone stairway spiraling down to the bottom along the side. The top was always of wood and sod, much like the roofs of the homes. So enlarging the barns meant removing the stones, digging the hole to a larger diameter, then replacing the stones, adding new ones, and rebuilding the stairs.

So imagine that before Joseph got the job completed, the man’s widow comes in saying “My husband died last night. Can you carve out a tomb for him in the nearby hills?”

Whatever his inspiration, Jesus is telling this story to address the question of value, of what we value, and of our own value. In this story, he tells us that we are valuable in God’s sight, just as we are. Some translations of the last verse say “This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich towards God.”

What does it mean to be “rich towards God”? It is not the rich man’s wealth that is the problem. It is not a sin that he has an abundance of crops. It’s what he chooses to do with his wealth that is the problem. The illusion of the rich fool is that he thinks his wealth will ensure his own personal welfare, that it will ensure some kind of control over his life. It is pointed out that this is the only time in the Gospels where God actually speaks in a parable. Presumably, God is outraged by the fool’s blatant disregard for God’s role in his life.

One commentator points out that the rich man uses the first person pronoun “I” or “my” eleven times in this short story, and never uses the more communal “our” or “their”. The rich fool mistakenly thinks that he can store his wealth instead of using it for the common good. In the Jewish tradition abundant crops were a gift from God for sharing with the poor. So this is not necessarily a parable that warns about private greed, but outlines a way of living in community, that in God’s economy, we are called to live in community, and how we do that shapes our inheritance.

So if Jesus told this story from his own experiences and observations, obviously this obsession with material possessions is not a new phenomenon. It is tempting to think that our society is only recently out of control with consumerism, aggressive advertising, and free market capitalism. But that kind of thinking suggests that the problem is outside of us ­ it points to something, and someone that we can blame for our sorry state. Alexis de Tocqueville, in the 1830s, commented about Americans by saying … “Americans cleave to the things of this world as if assured that they will never die …” If we realize that the love of stuff is not merely a modern affliction but an enduring addiction, coming from inside each and every one of us, then it encourages us to take up practices of self-examination of our own heart-felt desires. Of course, this is not an either/or situation … there is truth in both points of view.

Our challenge today, in 2010, is to understand our own appropriate boundaries of our consumerism. We do that individually, and hopefully we find ways to do that collectively in a supportive group. That’s what our passage from Colossians tells us. It tells us to set our minds on things other than material possessions. It tells us, in Paul’s usual convoluted and abstract way, that we are already good enough in God’s eyes. That we are already loved by God. That Christ is already in each and every one of us. That there is nothing in this world, no designations of ethnicity or class or culture, or physical appearance, or psychological behaviours … there is nothing that separates us from God because we are already in God, in Christ.

So, if that is really true, how might that change us, individually, and as a community of faith? Well, I guess it means that as Christians, we really are called to live an alternative lifestyle, oriented not towards the individual but towards the community. What does it look like if we as individuals and as a community live out of principles that put the community, not the individual, first?

Well, perhaps we would reject the escalating accumulation of stuff with which we are continually bombarded. We might resist getting in that lineups for the new iphone 4s … I just read yesterday that the Blackberry will be introducing a new operating system shortly … what does that mean for those of us who are quite happy with the old one? I think that the question we all have to ask ourselves is “How much is enough?” And, where do we personally want to take a stand?

Here are three stories of folks who are asking themselves that question.

Perhaps some of you saw the item on the news a few weeks back about the UBC students nominated for two Emmy nominations for their news documentary tracing the path of electronic waste around the world. The documentary is called Ghana: Digital Dumping Ground, and it is nominated for Outstanding Investigative Journalism and Outstanding Research. It aired on the PBS documentary series FRONTLINE last year. You can view the whole documentary on Youtube, and I would suggest that if that is an interest of yours, it’s well worth the 20 minutes to watch it. The class tracked the trail of electronic waste to Ghana, China, and India, and unearthed issues of public health, human rights, and national security.

Here’s Bill and Melinda Gates. After they amassed many billions of dollars founding Microsoft and creating Windows software, the two asked themselves what all this wealth was for. Building more houses, buying more companies, and creating more wealth seemed hollow. Then they met Bono, the lead singer for the band U2, who is well known for his advocacy work on behalf of the poor. Bono challenged the Gates to understand the facts of poverty ­ that people die for want of a $2 pill or because they live on $1 a day. This was enough to draw Gates away from Microsoft years before he intended to leave, and to shift from making money to giving it away. So, rather than continuing to amass more wealth, the Gates family began to give it away. With a foundation that is now worth over 30 Billion dollars, and with a generous contribution from Warren Buffet, the wealthiest man in the world, the fund focuses on ending poverty in the world’s poorest economies. The Gates saw wealth, not as an end, but as a means to an end, a way they can contribute to ending poverty in this lifetime.

Here’s another story of people choosing to act differently, at a very personal level. It comes from the Oprah show … I do learn amazing things from that show some time. This is Daniel, an optometrist, and Amanda, a civil engineer, who live in Nashville, and are Freegans.

I had never heard of the word “Freegan” … anyone heard that word before? These are folks, many of whom come from backgrounds that would surprise you, who live off of the things that businesses and stores throw away. One woman who was interviewed on the show left a job with a six figure income to become a Freegan. She just decided that she had enough, literally.

There are things called “Trash Tours” where folks in the know take groups of people to the spots around the city where food is thrown out ­ tons of perfectly good food daily. Boxes of cereal, fruit and vegetables, milk, eggs, meat, baked goods … I was shocked at the quality and quantity of recovered food..

Of course, you have to come prepared. This is Daniel, dressed for the hunt. Certainly it’s not for everyone, but it is a movement that is gaining popularity. Again, you can google Freegan, or the Oprah show, to find out more. The interesting thing for me about this story was that Daniel said that the choice to live this way came out of his Christian values, and from the awareness that in this part of the world we use much more than our share of the world’s resources. So, it was a very personal alternative lifestyle choice for these two young professionals. You can imagine Oprah’s bafflement at the whole story.

The story that Jesus taught is not a lesson saying that it is evil to have wealth. It is not a lesson meant to create guilt for those who have much. It’s a lesson about the questions that we ask ourselves about how we want to live our lives, how we want to use our resources. Do I really need that …. (fill in the blank here) … what do I have? What am I doing with it? What am I doing to help? What more can I do? Thinking about the lesson from the children’s story, we are called to fill the barn with light, not stuff. Because when there is less stuff, there is more light.

Two weeks ago, when I came home with a couple of new shirts, Alana said to me, “I thought you weren’t going to buy anything for a year.” Well, the fact is, I’ve probably been saying that for a year … inspired by some of the stories out there of people who have done just that. For me, this would be a huge challenge. So, in an effort to put more light in my barn, I am going to take up the challenge. I’m going to try to go for a year without buying stuff ­ clothes, electronics, purses, household stuff. I’m not saying I’ll become a Freegan. And, I’ll probably have to buy a pair of shoes that will fit my orthotics … but I will write down everything that I do buy, and in a year’s time, I will stand before you and tell you what I’ve learned about myself.

Now, this is my challenge ­ it may not be yours. I know some of you are already very good at not buying stuff. I also know that some of you are not in a position to buy stuff. Maybe there are other issues that challenge you when you ask yourself the question “How much is enough?” Maybe you can help us ask the question collectively, as a faith community, as two faith communities? Perhaps we can teach and companion each other on the way. Because in the eyes of God … I am enough … you are enough … we are enough … thanks be to God.