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Live simply and be rich toward God
We don’t know the circumstances of the story we have just heard. I wonder what was going on between those two brothers. Was it a case of all the parents’ money being left to the elder brother, whose responsibility it was now to look after his younger siblings? Was he keeping it all for himself? Or was the younger brother just envious? We don’t know.
But Jesus saw something in the situation that smacked of greed. He knew the powerful force that greed has in our lives, as did Paul. In the second reading today, Paul lists a set of earthly things that Christians should put to death, the last of which is greed, which, he says, is idolatry. Greed can replace our allegiance to the things of God, and as we serve this idol, it never delivers what it promises: satisfaction and peace of mind.
Somehow Jesus saw that this was the issue for these brothers: the way in which we are betrayed by our allegiance to materialism. And so he told a story to illustrate it. A rich man had some barns in which he stored his crops every year. One year the land produced much more grain than usual. Instead of thinking about how he might share his abundance with others, his mind turned to an extreme and very self-centered solution. He decided to tear down his barns and build bigger ones.
He then sat back and imagined that he would be comfortable for many years. He could relax, eat, drink, and be merry. He imagined that he would be satisfied and at peace. But that peace would not come. For he died suddenly in the night.
He died an empty and deluded man. He had placed all his hopes on something that only disappoints. As Jesus said, he stored up treasures for himself, but he was not rich toward God. He was spiritually empty. He had neglected the things of God, and instead, put his trust in material goods, which pass away in the night.
This is the problem with the idol of materialism. It is so seductive and it is so all-consuming that it robs us of our ability to be rich towards God. Then, once we’ve attained material abundance, it doesn’t even deliver what it promised. We end up empty and alone, without either God or the ability to relax, eat, drink, and be merry.
This is the time for summer vacations. I remember a particular family vacation many years ago when we camped our way through the Rocky Mountains, all the way up to Canada. We went through spectacular country and many tourist towns in the mountains. My family has a corporate memory of those towns, and we joke about it sometimes.
Hordes of tourists moved in and out of their air-conditioned, tinted-window SUV’s, eating pizza and ice cream, buying knick-knacks in cute stores, and wandering down the sidewalk with bored and empty looks on their faces. They seemed lost. And all the while, they were surrounded by breathtaking beauty, the trails and wildflowers only steps away. They had, as St. Paul said in our second lesson, set their minds on things of the earth and neglected to look to the things that were above. It was a kind of idolatry.
We are a culture that has given itself over to the idol of materialism. As anyone who is old can tell you, one of the greatest changes in their lifetime is how everything now is so aggressively about money. Bigger closets for more clothes, more expensive toys and less garden space, newer and bigger cars with huge monthly payments, longer work hours and more pressure to produce, calendars that are filled up with the consumption of experiences, and everywhere we turn, the siren song of marketing that lures us to buy, buy, buy.
Consumerism is a jealous, voracious, and ever-expanding idol. It is destroying our planet, our healthcare system, our concern for the poor and the suffering around us, and our foreign policy. But even more dangerously, as we chase after the idol of money, we leave our souls behind. We are becoming empty toward God.
It is not easy for any of us to turn the tide that we face. For we are living in a time where we have learned, as never before, how to effectively manipulate one another’s money, attention, and time with the very powerful and attractive force of consumerism. So in order to keep our minds on the things of God, we have to swim against the tide and be counter-cultural. How do we do this?
I think that it has to do with simplicity. For simplicity protects our time, our focus, and our resources so that we have room for God, room for a spiritual life. Greater simplicity is the only thing that will turn back the tide of environmental destruction. And paradoxically, simplicity helps us to appreciate the beautiful and pleasurable things of this world, rather than using them up quickly and throwing them away.
Here is my prescription on how to live a simple, countercultural life that creates room for a spiritual life. It works.
Get rid of any clothes you don’t wear. Empty your shelves and your garage of anything you haven’t used in the last year. Keep your car until it no longer runs, no matter how old it gets. Be generous; give away 5 to 10 percent of your income every month so that others might have hope. For a month or for the season of Advent or Lent, fast from purchases; don’t buy anything that isn’t absolutely necessary. Pay attention to all those tips on energy efficiency and recycling; there are many things each of us can do.
Don’t eat out too often; take a lunch to work and make your own coffee for the road. Eat simple and healthy foods. Indulge yourself once in awhile – not every day – so that you can really savor it when you do. Only watch television shows or movies that feed your soul, and use the mute button for every advertisement. Take vacations where you can rest and experience beauty.
Say no to any commitments – however good or valuable they may be - that will take you away from home more than 2 nights a week and one half day a weekend. Don’t work too many hours; preserve time for dinner with loved ones, for prayer and reading that edifies you and gives you joy. Spend a sabbath day every week or two where for 24 hours you don’t ride in the car, or turn on the TV or computer; just go for walks, read, and talk to loved ones.
All of this is counter-cultural, and it takes awareness and discipline to live this way in our world. We have to swim against the tide. Simplicity requires that we say “no” to some good things, so that we can say “yes” to even better things. Simplicity leads us into a spiritual life that St. Paul said is hidden, and to live this way, we must die to a more visible, worldly life. It is a kind of fast, a self-denial. So why would we do this?
Because the alternative – a busy, external, superficial life that is greedy for the consumption of things and even experiences - will leave us empty and alone like an old man who has nothing but full barns. And because a simpler life makes us rich toward God.
Living more simply, we have time to open our hearts to friends and family, to nature, to prayer and meditation, to stories and music and art that illuminate life. Living more simply, we contribute less to the destruction of our environment, and we have an abundance left over to share with others who are less fortunate. Living more simply, we have the space to value and enjoy the beautiful and pleasurable things of this world. Living more simply, we become rich toward God.
But Jesus saw something in the situation that smacked of greed. He knew the powerful force that greed has in our lives, as did Paul. In the second reading today, Paul lists a set of earthly things that Christians should put to death, the last of which is greed, which, he says, is idolatry. Greed can replace our allegiance to the things of God, and as we serve this idol, it never delivers what it promises: satisfaction and peace of mind.
Somehow Jesus saw that this was the issue for these brothers: the way in which we are betrayed by our allegiance to materialism. And so he told a story to illustrate it. A rich man had some barns in which he stored his crops every year. One year the land produced much more grain than usual. Instead of thinking about how he might share his abundance with others, his mind turned to an extreme and very self-centered solution. He decided to tear down his barns and build bigger ones.
He then sat back and imagined that he would be comfortable for many years. He could relax, eat, drink, and be merry. He imagined that he would be satisfied and at peace. But that peace would not come. For he died suddenly in the night.
He died an empty and deluded man. He had placed all his hopes on something that only disappoints. As Jesus said, he stored up treasures for himself, but he was not rich toward God. He was spiritually empty. He had neglected the things of God, and instead, put his trust in material goods, which pass away in the night.
This is the problem with the idol of materialism. It is so seductive and it is so all-consuming that it robs us of our ability to be rich towards God. Then, once we’ve attained material abundance, it doesn’t even deliver what it promised. We end up empty and alone, without either God or the ability to relax, eat, drink, and be merry.
This is the time for summer vacations. I remember a particular family vacation many years ago when we camped our way through the Rocky Mountains, all the way up to Canada. We went through spectacular country and many tourist towns in the mountains. My family has a corporate memory of those towns, and we joke about it sometimes.
Hordes of tourists moved in and out of their air-conditioned, tinted-window SUV’s, eating pizza and ice cream, buying knick-knacks in cute stores, and wandering down the sidewalk with bored and empty looks on their faces. They seemed lost. And all the while, they were surrounded by breathtaking beauty, the trails and wildflowers only steps away. They had, as St. Paul said in our second lesson, set their minds on things of the earth and neglected to look to the things that were above. It was a kind of idolatry.
We are a culture that has given itself over to the idol of materialism. As anyone who is old can tell you, one of the greatest changes in their lifetime is how everything now is so aggressively about money. Bigger closets for more clothes, more expensive toys and less garden space, newer and bigger cars with huge monthly payments, longer work hours and more pressure to produce, calendars that are filled up with the consumption of experiences, and everywhere we turn, the siren song of marketing that lures us to buy, buy, buy.
Consumerism is a jealous, voracious, and ever-expanding idol. It is destroying our planet, our healthcare system, our concern for the poor and the suffering around us, and our foreign policy. But even more dangerously, as we chase after the idol of money, we leave our souls behind. We are becoming empty toward God.
It is not easy for any of us to turn the tide that we face. For we are living in a time where we have learned, as never before, how to effectively manipulate one another’s money, attention, and time with the very powerful and attractive force of consumerism. So in order to keep our minds on the things of God, we have to swim against the tide and be counter-cultural. How do we do this?
I think that it has to do with simplicity. For simplicity protects our time, our focus, and our resources so that we have room for God, room for a spiritual life. Greater simplicity is the only thing that will turn back the tide of environmental destruction. And paradoxically, simplicity helps us to appreciate the beautiful and pleasurable things of this world, rather than using them up quickly and throwing them away.
Here is my prescription on how to live a simple, countercultural life that creates room for a spiritual life. It works.
Get rid of any clothes you don’t wear. Empty your shelves and your garage of anything you haven’t used in the last year. Keep your car until it no longer runs, no matter how old it gets. Be generous; give away 5 to 10 percent of your income every month so that others might have hope. For a month or for the season of Advent or Lent, fast from purchases; don’t buy anything that isn’t absolutely necessary. Pay attention to all those tips on energy efficiency and recycling; there are many things each of us can do.
Don’t eat out too often; take a lunch to work and make your own coffee for the road. Eat simple and healthy foods. Indulge yourself once in awhile – not every day – so that you can really savor it when you do. Only watch television shows or movies that feed your soul, and use the mute button for every advertisement. Take vacations where you can rest and experience beauty.
Say no to any commitments – however good or valuable they may be - that will take you away from home more than 2 nights a week and one half day a weekend. Don’t work too many hours; preserve time for dinner with loved ones, for prayer and reading that edifies you and gives you joy. Spend a sabbath day every week or two where for 24 hours you don’t ride in the car, or turn on the TV or computer; just go for walks, read, and talk to loved ones.
All of this is counter-cultural, and it takes awareness and discipline to live this way in our world. We have to swim against the tide. Simplicity requires that we say “no” to some good things, so that we can say “yes” to even better things. Simplicity leads us into a spiritual life that St. Paul said is hidden, and to live this way, we must die to a more visible, worldly life. It is a kind of fast, a self-denial. So why would we do this?
Because the alternative – a busy, external, superficial life that is greedy for the consumption of things and even experiences - will leave us empty and alone like an old man who has nothing but full barns. And because a simpler life makes us rich toward God.
Living more simply, we have time to open our hearts to friends and family, to nature, to prayer and meditation, to stories and music and art that illuminate life. Living more simply, we contribute less to the destruction of our environment, and we have an abundance left over to share with others who are less fortunate. Living more simply, we have the space to value and enjoy the beautiful and pleasurable things of this world. Living more simply, we become rich toward God.
End Document — St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church