6th Sunday at First Congregational, Rock Springs, WY

Commitment to Justice
By Rev Steven R Mitchell
Amos 5:6-7, 10-15; Hebrews 4:12-16; Mark 10:17-31
October 11, 2009


In many ways I am a product of my generation. We have come to be known as the Baby Boomers, yet I recall another name that we carried for many years, “The Silver Spooned” generation. And it was descriptive of those between 1946 and 1964 in general; especially when compared to the economic climate that our parents had come through.
My parents generation is referred to by sociologists as “Depression Babies”; meaning that they were born during the time of this nation’s Great Depression. They grew up in a time when a new pair of shoes from the store, often hinged on the sale of a farm animal at the beginning of the school year and those shoes were to last you a whole year! It was a time when you rarely had “ready to wear” cloths, but rather hand sown at home. There was no such thing as eating out at the restaurant two or three times a week, just because you didn’t feel like cooking.
My parent’s generation also grew up during the Second World War and experienced daily life with ration booklets. There was no longer the lack of money to buy things that you needed, let alone wanted, rather there was nothing available to purchase, because all the natural resources were going toward the war effort, leaving only limited items that were necessary to survive on.
With the close of the war, America emerged a world power. With the dawn of the 1950”, America was entering into her zenith. A nation who had lived for several decades with very little was now poised to give its children all the things that they were denied. Unprecedented housing development erupted with the return of our young men and women from the war; freeways were built to expedite commerce and travel; the government worked at providing electricity to rural areas, where once chargers were hooked to windmills providing power so families could listen to their favorite radio programs by lantern; With plenty of electricity to every home, two or more T.V. replaced the single radio; families grew into a two car household; Children were told to chose the job that made them happy, instead of having to work at one that paid the bills but didn’t provide self-gratification. Consumerism became the new religion and the phrase “conspicuous consumption” was coined to describe the mindset and lifestyle of where we, as a society have arrived.
The story of the Rich Young Ruler is often associated with Stewardship drives. We generally think about stewardship in terms of Dollars and cents, but stewardship is so much broader than just the “church budget”. There are areas that we all need to be looking at, such as our talents and gifts that can be utilized not just here at church but in our community; there is stewardship of our natural resources, not just here in the United States, but world wild; There is stewardship of our environment; There is stewardship of human rights and dignity which we call Social Justice.
You are probably thinking right now, that this is the first sermon of many to come on stewardship, and just how much money does the church want from me this year, but you would be wrong, at least from the perspective of money and the church. The story we read about where the young man comes to Jesus and is asking what more must he do to be insured “eternal life” is about stewardship, but not about the “externals” but rather about the “internal” wealth of this person.
From time to time, I get asked the question of, “How did I receive my call to ministry?” It’s an honest question and usually asked by search committee’s. My story goes something like this: “Even though I grew up as apart of the ‘Silver Spooned’ generation, my family was pretty poor. However, because of the general affluence within our society, I was able to utilize many of the advantages that were available with respect to educational opportunities. I had vowed to work hard and accumulate the wealth that I didn’t get to experience as a child. It just so happened that I married into a family that was very secure financially and not wanting to be referred to by my peers as a person who received his wealth the “old fashioned way” meaning I inherited it, I worked hard at creating my own financial security.
While in my twenties, I worked hard, went to college, saved, invested in real estate successfully, and by age 27 had accumulated a very handsome looking portfolio. I was well on my way in achieving my goal of financial independence. Yet, I found myself suffering from insomnia. I had been pledge by this condition from the start of college. I assumed this was a condition that comes with being a student, but after graduation with my accounting degree, it seemed to worsen. Being the “goal” oriented individual that I am, I had realized that I had accomplished my entire short, medium and long-term goals by age 27 and for the next three years floundered in trying to gain some new meaningful goals.
By this time, I had discovered that I really didn’t like working in the accounting field and found my way into management with a convenience store chain. I also had become the chairperson of “the No-longer Strangers Task Force” at church. This task force was responsible in working with World Church Services and helping resettle Southeast Asians who were trying to immigrate into the United States. I was finding satisfaction in helping these people resettle in this country.
At the same time, I became aware that many of my customers through the convenience store seemed to be discussing unidentified yearnings for something greater in their lives; something that would give them a deeper satisfaction and a sense of greater self-worth. Over time I grew to understand these to be “Spiritual” issues and I recognized that my own lack of goal setting came from “Spiritual” longings that were inconsistent with my previous mindset of finding “wholeness and security” through the amassing of wealth. Once I connected all the dots and realized that going into parish ministry was where I needed to go, my insomnia stopped immediately. Then came the wrestling over personal wealth and the desire to accumulate more, because we all know that being a minister is not the road one takes to get on the list of the Fortune 500.”
Today’s questioning by the rich young man is really very similar to many of us. Here is a man who has it all. He was secure financially and was by all rights a very moral man; he followed and never strayed from the commandments – he hadn’t committed murder, he hadn’t committed adultery, nor did he steal, lie or cheat and he honored his father and mother; yet there was something missing in his life. If he had been satisfied, he would have never been asking Jesus the question, “what must I do to get eternal life?”
The answer of: sell everything and give it to the poor, was not just devastating to the young man, but also to the disciples of Jesus. “What do you mean give up your wealth and that it’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get into the kingdom of God? What type of nonsense is that Jesus?” “After all Jesus, we all know that it is those with the most wealth that are most blessed by God; for our riches come from God through right living. So if this man who has held up all the laws and is obviously greatly blessed, if he can’t get into heaven then what hope is there for the rest of us?”
One of my favorite authors from the 80’s and 90’s is Tony Campolo, who was a Baptist preacher and professor of social sciences at Eastern University as well as an adjunct professor at Eastern Baptist Seminary. In his book, “Seven Deadly Sins”, Dr Campolo addresses the chapter on Greed this way: “Our society has built its economy on the production of things that people are conditioned to want, but do not really7 need. Many of the consumer goods we spend so much to buy did not even exist a generation ago. We buy these things because we have been manipulated into wanting them through advertising and peer pressure.
We are willing to work two jobs in order to satisfy these artificially created wants. We are willing to take time from our families so that we can buy those things which we are assured will express our love to our loved ones more than our mere presence ever could. We are willing to reject biblical principles of living in order to buy the consumer goods which the media prescribes as essential for the “good life.” And when there are threats to the affluent lifestyle that has become synonymous with America, we stand ready to fight and if need be, to die to protect it.
If our greedy consumption of oil is challenged by the OPEC nations, we do whatever is necessary in order to keep the oil flowing into our tanks. If totalitarian dictatorships or oppressive racist regimes promote policies which help us sustain our overly consumptive way of life, we support those dictatorships and tolerate those oppressive racist regimes. Our greedy materialistic way of life drives us to compromise principles of justice, yield on the canons of morality, and even to lose our souls.”
The rich young man went off saddened because he could not release the reliance of security and follow Jesus. This person, who knew that there was something missing in his life, was unwilling to let go, so he might live life more fully.
When St. Francis of Assisi, challenged the church of his day with the same issues as the rich young man who came to Jesus had; and as do we as Christians face today; that of reliance on possessions; of money; even on traditions, and sensing that there was more to life than just these, he was seen as insane. St Francis was a man of great wealth in a time when the church valued great wealth. When he gave all his wealth to the poor and lived as a beggar, rebuilding a church and providing a meaningful existence with very little, those in religious leadership couldn’t understand Francis actions. I want to share a scene when with you from “Father Sun, Sister Moon”, where Francis comes to the talk with the Pope about what he might have done wrong to have had the local Bishop close the church that Francis had rebuilt and where peasants were going to worship.
It isn’t the matter of giving our wealth away and living like beggars that is the lesson here. The lesson is stripping away the baggage that keeps us from reaching out to God, in the innocence of children to live by God’s call for justice. The lesson for us is not to rely on external possession to make us happy, but rather to rely on the inner piece that comes through our relationship with God, with Christ’s teachings as a model. For it is in our true poverty that we gain our true wealth; that of the love of God and our ability to share that love with others. It is in our poverty that we are able to free ourselves from the sin of consumerism and greed. Come, let’s follow God! Amen.