How much is enough?

Scripture Texts for Sunday, September 18th:

Exodus 16:1-8, 14-20

Matthew 20:1-16

Sermon

I love the stories of the Israelites wandering through the desert.  Though some of the stories are hard to believe at times and I don’t know if things happened exactly as they were recorded, I think that there is tremendous truth in the stories.  The motif of wandering through the desert is so apt I think for our modern day spiritual lives.  We feel like we are headed toward some promised thing, something we can’t envision; something that we have never seen but that we believe is beautiful beyond belief; some place we earnestly desire to be but haven’t a clue how to get there.  Is it just me, or do you all find some affinity with the idea that we are wandering through some spiritual desert?

Even better, I think, is the particular wilderness they are wandering through in this story.  Did anyone catch the name?  Sin!  Yes, they are wandering through the desert of Sin, seeking earnestly to follow God but not quite sure where to go.  That’s such an amazing image.  It certainly describes my life!!!!  Even in the midst of the wilderness of Sin, God is still there, still seeking to guide us, still seeking to form us.  In fact, I would argue that it is only through the wilderness of sin that we can become spiritual mature, strengthened to follow God into the promised land that has been proclaimed.  Remember, before Jesus even began his ministry, he spent 40 days wandering in the desert being tempted by Satan.  It is only after having experienced that hunger, thirst, and temptation, that Jesus is ready to begin his ministry.

Of all the desert stories, I think the story of God providing manna in the wilderness is among my favorites.  When we enter into the story, the Israelites realize they have a real problem here.  They have been in the desert for about a month and a half.  They took many provisions with them out of Egypt, but by now their shelves have to be getting pretty bare.  Even worse, they seem to be still wandering!  When they left Egypt, surely they thought it wouldn’t take so long to get to the promised land.  I mean, has any one seen a map of the middle East?  Isn’t Israel right next to Egypt?  Even on foot, I would have thought they’d be there by now.  I guess Moses didn’t have a Garmen.

Anyway, they are wandering in the desert of Sin and they are low on food and water.  So, they begin to complain.  “Hey Moses!  How is this plan working out?  Your promised us freedom, you are giving us death!”  

You have to picture this.  God, through Moses, has just freed the people from 400 years of slavery.  So, they are freed from the Egyptians, the Red Sea has been split, the world’s most powerful army defeated, they are led by a pillar of flame and a cloud of smoke, and yet they still complain that God doesn’t provide enough for them and doesn’t care!  It is literally at the end of chapter 15 when they are saved.  So they made it all the way to chapter 16 before complaining again.

Can you believe the nerve of these people?

Well, yea, duh.  Of course we can believe them, because we are them!  We live in such a prosperous society.  Compared to many people in the world, compared to people throughout the history of the world, we are near the top of the charts in wealth, food, technology, travel, etc.  You would think with the vast abundance and wealth that we have, that we would be tremendously grateful!  And yet, do we exhibit this as a society?  As a people?  Are we as Americans, or we as Christians, known as the most grateful people on earth?  I don’t think so.  Why not?  Let’s hold off on that question and get back to the story.

So, despite all that God has done, the people are grumbling and complaining.  Let’s be honest here-  we would be doing the same thing.  And they do have a real problem-  they face the acute prospect of starving to death in the wilderness.  Here is where God’s unbelievable grace comes in.  

The amazing, stunning thing in this story, is that despite the people’s grumbling, despite their lack of faith, despite their outright rejection of God, God provides.  Their divine liberator does not respond by striking them down, by abandoning them, by doing what might have seemed most natural for a god to do.  I mean, come on, if you were this very powerful being, how long would you put up with these peons?

God is literally giving them bread from heaven.  Even better than that, God provides a mandatory vacation day.  He enforces it by giving more than enough on the 6th day, and making the manna last an extra day, just because he cares so much about them that he wants to give them rest.  Imagine that, a God who leads them out of slavery, who provides food free of charge, and who even gives them paid vacation!  God’s one heck of a boss (or Moses is a really good union negotiator). Money is literally growing on trees here.  And so, when God says, I’m going to give you all this stuff out of thin air, but I need to put a few conditions on it, you’d think the people would be ok with that.  And yet,  the story ends with Moses being upset that the people have broken the few little rules that were set.

So, what was the condition that Moses announced? 

“Gather as much of it as each of you needs, an omer to a person according to the number of persons, all providing for those in their own tents.” ’ The Israelites did so, some gathering more, some less. But when they measured it with an omer, those who gathered much had nothing over, and those who gathered little had no shortage; they gathered as much as each of them needed. And Moses said to them, ‘Let no one leave any of it over until morning.’ (Exo 16:16-19, NRSV)

So, no matter what they gathered, they always had just enough.  And the one real condition seems to be that they shouldn’t try to keep their leftovers.  I mean, is that so hard?  And yet, scripture tells us that “they did not listen to Moses; some left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and became foul.”

So, first let’s start, why would God put conditions on this bread?  Why produce something that spoils overnight?  Is God anti-leftover?  Did I miss the thou shalt not doggie bag commandment?

In verse 4, God says that he has put conditions as a test to see whether the people will follow his instructions or not.  So is this just some arbitrary test to see if people will comply?  I don’t think so.  I think God is concerned about a couple things.  God wants to make sure that they eat enough.  If they can store things away, they might be tempted to refrain from eating all they needed so that they can save it for a rainy day.  I think its also to prevent the problem of relative greed.  If the Jones’ begin to store up their manna, they become relatively more wealthy and disrupt this fragile society.  Finally, I think God wanted them to learn to trust.  When they emerged from the desert, they would experience tremendous wealth.  Could they learn to continue to be obedient, even when they had the means to disobey?

This is what I love most about the story-  what happens when they try to sock some away, in direct defiance of what God asked?  God does not strike them down for being insolent, instead the natural consequences of their own action to allowed to take place.  The food that they squirreled away, either because they were cheap, or because they were greedy, or they didn’t trust God, spoiled and became wormy.

What would our reaction to this be?  It would be do apply some American ingenuity, and to figure out how to preserve the manna, rather than accept that it is a fleeting thing that we only need so much of.  We would figure out a way to stockpile, to hoard, so that we wouldn’t have to be reliant on God.  I mean, isn’t that the absolute worst condition, to be reliant on someone else?

We operate and live sometimes like there is never enough.  Despite our relative affluence as a nation, we live in constant fear that there isn’t enough to go around or that others are getting something that they don’t really deserve.  If we thought we truly were overflowing with abundance, would we be so concerned about whether people deserve our help?  It is scarcity speaking when we worry whether someone deserves food stamps, deserves adequate shelter, deserves meaningful employment or meaningful pay.

I don’t think God is going to strike us down because of this propensity toward scarcity.  But, just like with the manna, I think there are some natural consequences coming from our desire to hold on tight to our possessions.  Just as the manna rotted, bread worms and became foul, I think our souls can do the same thing when left with unchecked wealth.  

In an article discussing “What not to do when inheriting wealth,” an financial advisor at ePricefinancial advised that “Inheriting wealth is not all that it’s cracked up to be.”  In fact, he advised that upon receiving inherited wealth, most people experience the following-  grief, guilt, anger, inadequacy, and conflict with their spouse in family.  Sounds wonderful, doesn’t it?  In talking specifically about anger, the writer comments that

 “anger can arise when someone doesn’t receive as much as they thought they would or that they thought they deserved. They may feel there is an unequal or inequitable distribution among multiple heirs, including siblings. Heirs sometimes measure the benefactor’s love by the size of the inheritance. Ironically, some heirs get angry because they received more than they thought they would, thus questioning why they had to live a financially “deprived” life all these years.”

Measuring their loved one based on the size of their inheritance?  What an awful prospect.  And yet, I can see how it comes to that.  The gift of wealth becomes a curse.  It eats at the soul of the individual and gnaws away at the bonds of family.

Don’t we see this in life?  We could all name our favorite celebrity or rich child whose wealthy life has been the seeds of their destruction.  Andrew Lloyd Webber, for one, acknowledged this problem and said he would not leave his $1.5 billion dollar estate to his children.  “I will give them a start in life but they ain’t going to end up owning [my company].'Instead of funding the high life for his children, Lloyd-Webber wants to put his millions back into the community to help struggling singers and composers.

And thus, the curse becomes a blessing.  Now, there are some who can argue that this type of charity, or welfare or other public aide has the same type of problems associated with it-  money given without necessarily being earned.  I will grant that there are certain risks here.  But note, when the Israelites were faced with starvation in the desert, our God wisely and compassionately fed them rather than insisted they learn their own way.  In some ways, the people were right to tell God you got us into this, help us out.  

Though I would never argue that the poor are all helpless victims that need out pity, the picture we have of the poor as simply being lazy or refusing to work is just as problematic. The reality is that so many people are poor because they are born into poverty.  Is it there fault they were born in a particular neighborhood, under particular circumstances?  Is it their fault they were born black when society had laws and strong social preferences for people born white?  Is it their fault they developed disabilities or medical conditions that prevented them from engaging in useful labor?  Is it this child’s fault that he identifies as gay and thus is turned out on the streets by his parents?

There is a famous statement that says-  Morality begins at 1,500 calories a day.  In other words, if someone can’t get enough food to sustain life, we can hardly expect them to make morally sound choices about how to survive.   God recognizes this- and provides the basics.  And God warns against the rot that happens when people take more than they need.

So, How much is enough?  Let’s acknowledge there are some that do not have enough.  Let us follow our God in seeking to provide sustenance to those who are starving in the desert.  We must of course provide charity, but we also need to work on empowerment programs; need to provide individuals better access to schools and the means to empower themselves.  We need to attack those systems that hold people back from getting enough.

But here’s the flipside to “How much is enough?”-  Too much corrupts us. It poisons our soul.  Too much can be the answer to providing others enough, or it can be the very thing that eats away at our soul.  I don’t think its a coincidence that the church is growing in areas we might call the third world while it declines here.  Let us regain the sense of just how blessed we are.  Let us become grateful for the manna provided.  Let us restore our trust in God so that we might see the true state of the world-  not one of scarcity, but one in which God’s abundance overflows.

Trust requires investment

Psalm 23

Acts 2:42-47

Sermon

If you are a member of the finance committee, I’d like to you to raise your hand.  I just want everyone to know who they are.  In light of today’s scriptures, that we can always trust God when we are in the shadow of death, and that the apostles shared everything in common, the finance committee is prepared to receive your car keys, deed to your home, life insurance policy, etc. just as soon as your ready.  

How come no one is moving?  You mean today’s scriptures weren’t powerful enough for you to give up all your worldly possessions and trust entirely in the fidelity of God and your brothers and sisters in Christ?  Well, I thought I could save you the sermon if we were all ready, but ok, I guess I’ll give one anyway.  But don’t let me stop you...any time you feel so inspired the finance committee is ready and waiting.

Ok, so in our contemporary culture, this seems like almost an absurd request.  None of us, I assume, are prepared to so radically turn over our possessions and our lives to one another for the purposes of care.  Is this just a radical cultural difference that we cannot wrap our heads around?  It is true that there were jewish sects present at the time of Jesus who lived in communal life.  These Essenes, as they were called, practiced asceticism, voluntary poverty, and abstinence from worldly pleasures like marriage.

So, at a certain level, we can acknowledge that this type of living wouldn’t have been as foreign to the early disciples as it is to us now.  We also have to recognize our difficulty in reading this passage with fresh eyes in light of our own culture.  We live in a society that greatly values individual rights, and individualism.  We want to be unique in our expressions and we do not want to be dependent on any other person to get by in life.  We are a “pull yourself up by our bootstraps” kind of culture.  Though this has always been a part of our american dna, I think this was made even more prominent in the last century.  First, because increasing wealth as a culture meant that we moved from inter-generational households to a culture where failing to live on your own as an adult is interpreted a sign of failure.  Second, because of the role communism played as a key fear and oppositional force in so much of our culture for generations.  For those born of my generation and younger, communism has always been a relatively faded relic.  But I know to many here, it was a living and breathing threat to our mortality.  How many of you ever had to practice hiding under your desks in a nuclear drill?  How many remember the Cuban Missile Crisis?  Or for whom the Vietnam war is quite formative.

So when we hear verses like “All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need.”, I recognize that this sets our cultural alarm bells on high alert.  So lets try to delineate between our gut reaction to this bible verse and the disciples actual position.  Communism, as experienced in the 20th century, took the form of a violent revolution led at the top levels of society.  The Jesus movement was non-violent and largely consisted of people on the margins.  Communism was largely imposed on the societies whereas the Jesus movement was voluntary and open to all.  Communism, at least in the form we are most familiar, was opposed to expressions of God whereas the Jesus movement was initiated by our living Lord God.

So, lets just take a minute, breath in and out, and let go of some of our cultural alarm bells and try to hear the scripture again with fresh ears.

Acts 2:42-47

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

This was a community devoted to teaching, fellowship, breaking bread and prayer.  Sounds like a lot of what we try to do in church, right?  We try to share our knowledge of scripture and God, to enjoy one another’s company, to eat together, boy do we eat, and to share of the troubles of our souls and life our concerns to God.  Well, to a greater or lesser extent, we try to do all that.  But, then how come we aren’t ready to take the disciples’ next step and hold all in common?

I think in many cases its about a lack of trust.  We are afraid that if we fall down and are hurt, no one will care.  Or, maybe people will express sympathy at first, but if our pain continues for months on end unceasingly, that people will just avoid us rather than deal with our pain.  Or that we are struggling financially, and can’t see the bottom, but don’t feel like there is anyone we can turn to who will provide assistance without a large dose of judgment.  Or that we are lonely and sad, and see happy people and happy families, and assume that we can have no place in their happy little worlds.

And so, when we experience this pain, we have a tendency to withdraw.  To retreat into a small corner and hope to just outlast the dark time.  I think its one of the reasons Psalm 23 is such a comfort to people.  It speaks of a God who seeks us out in the darkness.  A God who walks with us in when we stagger through death’s dark valley, a God who stands with us when we are mocked by our enemies.

I want to affirm that God is there in these moments.  When we are at our weakest, God is there trying to care for us.  God’s love is ever-present.  And yet, and yet, in these moments we often don’t feel it.  We often feel as if everyone, even God, has abandoned us.  

So what’s the key?  How do we reconcile this ever-present God with our feelings of loneliness?  And how do we find this wonderful community that you can trust completely with all that you own and all that you are?

I think it begins with admitting our need for help.  That almost sounds cliche now-  the language is all around us in AA and other addiction programs.  But whether or not you have a substance abuse problem, the ability to admit that you do need to rely on others is the key first step to entering into and experience the wonderful community promised by God and the early disciples.  

Imagine that you are a sheep here for a second.  You just know that you have your life together and all is going well.  Eventually, you decide you are tired of all this bleating around you, and you are tired of the shepherd constantly watching you and dictating where you are allowed to go.  So you set off on your own and leave the flock.  It seems good for awhile, but then, on a dark night, you begin to hear howling all around you.  You’ve realized you’ve found yourself in danger and have very little chance of finding your way out.  You suddenly feel scared and alone.  Now- its not that the shepherd and the other sheep don’t care, they just are at such a distance that they can’t hear your call, can’t protect you with the crowd, and thus, you face the wolves alone.

Well, we can be grateful we have a God that is never satisfied in leaving us alone. In the last verse of Psalm 23, it reads “Your beauty and love chase after me every day of my life.”  Even in those moments of darkness, God is chasing after us.  And unlike the shepherd, God is guaranteed to find us, if we can stop running long enough for God’s love and beauty to catch up.

Its the same with that magical experience of this first Christian community.  They were able to share in each others joys and pains, but it required two things-

First, a community that was willing to show up and care.  Are we such a community?  When someone shares a need, do we rally to their cause?  When we notice someone in pain, do we seek to comfort them.  I’m happy to say I have heard many stories where this is true.  I remember Jane Kozdrone expressing how this community rallied behind her when her husband died.  But we must be vigilant about this.  It only takes one failure by a community when someone is in need for that trust to dissolve.

And second, we as individuals are called to do something crucial.  Each individual who came into the community brought with them everything they had- and they trusted to it to the care of others.  Are we willing to do that?  Are we willing to bring both our blessings and the darkest places of our heart, and share it with one another?  Because if we are not, its hard for the community to respond.  Unless we have invested something of ourselves in the community, how are they to recognize us when we have need?  If we almost never come, or if we slip in and out Sunday morning without sharing with one another, how are we to know when that day comes that you need a hand, or a shoulder to cry on, or our prayers?  We don’t operate as a quid-pro-quo organization, its not that you have to give something to receive any kind of care.  But its in the giving of yourself that you truly become part of the community.  Its in the giving of yourself that a true bond can be created.  And it is then, when we are in community, that we may praise God, have the good will of all people, and add to the number who will be saved.