Don’t Buy Into These Lies: Five Mis-Messages of Spending and Their Opposing Truths

“Don’t hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or – worse! – stolen by burglars. Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it’s safe from moth and rust and burglars. It’s obvious, isn’t it? The place where your treasure is, is th place you will most want to be, and end up being.”

                                               

                           – Jesus according to Matthew 6:19-21 (in The Message//Remix, a para-translation)

Make a plan to save & you will!
Start small & learn to save big! 

According to July 2014 statistics*the average 50 year old in the U.S. has less than $45,000 saved up for retirement. To give you an idea of what that means, retirement is now about 18 years for most people. The average cost of healthcare for that same period of time is $215,000! That’s about five times more than the average 50 year old has saved, and that’s just healthcare alone!

We are not a nation of savers. In fact, 36% of all Americans don’t save anything for retirement and 25% of American families don’t have any savings whatsoever. On the other hand, the average American household has $118,000 in debt. It seems that what we are is a nation of unhealthy spenders and borrowers.

And it is no wonder. After all we are given some very interesting messages about money. Here are five false messages we are told:

1) Spending money is patriotic and our civic duty.

We are told that our economy is built on our spending, that a stable economy requires us to constantly be purchasing things. And we all want a stable economy – it benefits us and others (True.) – so we must go out and shop more (False!). In a democratic republic like ours, an informed and civically engaged person is a much better patriot than a spend-thrift. The quality of our nation is not built upon the purchase of its citizenry but upon the quality of its citizens.  

Know the difference:
'Needs' vs.'Wants' 

2) You save money by spending money.

“Buy two and get another at half off!” Logically, if you need two, a third item still costs more, even at a discount. But we think we are being wasteful by not purchasing that discounted third item. Or take your rewards credit card, the more you spend the rewarded you are! In actuality, we save money by using it to buy only what we need, no more and no less. It’s a simple, uncomplicated truth.

3) More is always better.

   Super-size, bottomless, and unlimited are now frequent words in our purchasing parlance. We are told, “Buy in bulk and save” so we buy quantities we don’t use or in quantities that encourage us to be wasteful. And our national epidemic of obesity (eating too much of non-healthy foods) is driving us to spend more and more on diet plans, exercise, and healthcare.  It is becoming common knowledge that our environment and our bodies cannot sustain our consumptive wastefulness. Prudence, not ‘more’, is always better; having too much leads to our misery and demise.

4) Time is scarce! [But money isn’t.]

“Hurry! Sale ends soon!” and “Don’t miss out on this incredible deal” are familiar slogans. We’ve created a whole genre of cuisine that is based on time and convenience, not nutrition. We call it “Fast Food.” In addition, the use of credit cards, leads consumers to spend 12-18% more than cash users. And though paying at the pump or online with a credit card is often faster than using cash, McDonald’s reports that credit card users spend an average of $7 per meal, while cash users spend only $4.50 per meal. Instead, lets slow down. Lets choose wisely. God provides enough time and money to do what God calls us to. Truly, happiness isn’t to be found in the harried race for efficiency.  

5) You NEED this! You DESERVE this!
Advertising is not necessarily a bad thing. We need to know what is available to us. But far too many advertisers presume too much. One assumption is knowing what we need. What we need is basic - water, shelter, food, companionship, health, safety. What we want is much more complex - success, ease, happiness, admiration, popularity, surplus. Becoming content and happy, and being a good steward requires becoming content with having our basic needs met. Our wants are just frosting on the cake! And as for what we deserve, who but God can tell us that!   

From these five mis-messages you can see we are taught, told, and even commanded to spend money in ways that are not according to our heart’s desire. We are told to spend money in the way that benefits the self-interest of others. And that’s where Stewardship comes in.

Stewardship is NOT just another person telling you to spend money the way they want you to. Stewardship is learning to use all our resources – time (schedule & energy), talents (skills), and treasure (money & assets) in ways that match God’s good priorities for your life and for the lives of others. It is God saying, “Let me show you what to do with what I’ve given you so that you can by joyful, generous, free, and constructive people! Let me show you abundant life!”  Stewardship is just training to be the kind of person we want to be and the kind of people that God calls us to be.

So when you hear talk of “stewardship,” think “priorities coaching” and “training the heart’s desires.” After all, Jesus says…

                What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccuptied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over [material] things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns are met.

-          Jesus according to Matthew 6:32-33 (in The Message//Remix, a para-translation)  

*Statistics are from statisticbrain.com  whose sources are U.S. Census Bureau, Saperston Companies, and Bankrate.  

Uploading: A Christian Path to Stress-less Centeredness

Every year I go back. Not to a place, but to a set of books – key books. Books that are so foundational to my professional life I need to marinate in them, ruminate on them over and over. There are several, but right now I’m thinking of Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen.

This year I’m struck by a concept in Getting Things Done (GTD), that of 'downloading'. Downloading is putting all one’s thoughts, all the reminders, ideas, and to-do’so, into a central, external system. We live in the Information Age where work and life are filled with thoughts we want or need to remember. “Feed the cat,” “Send the birthday card,” “Return the client’s call,” “don’t forget Margie’s name,” “Someday I want to hang glide,” and the list goes on. What's more, our brains frequently and repeatedly remind us precisely when we cannot do anything about them. This causes a great deal of stress and distraction. So GTD’s answer is to put whatever occurs to you – and I mean everything – onto an external system that you trust, like a planner or software program. Allen calls this ‘downloading’. Once placed in safe keeping your mind can let go, relax, and focus on the present. 

It’s a terrific concept that works. But recently I realized tasks are easily downloaded, emotions however are not. Productivity can screech to a halt after receiving tragically sad or amazingly good news, getting embroiled in a conflict, or having a bombshell of a problem dropped in your lap. I know if I don’t deal with my emotions they carry over into the next event, conversation, or relationship - and that can sometimes spell disaster. Psychologists use terms like ‘displacement’ and ‘transference’ to describe this very common phenomenon. So what is there to do when emotions and feelings trump the action items of life?

Upload. We often think of prayer as downloading. “God in Heaven, please give to me [down here on earth] this or that.” It might be success, help, safety, strength, money, forgiveness, a car, a relationship, and so on. We don’t always think of prayer as uploading. One prayer in the Book of Common Prayer (p. 831, #54) says, “Almighty God, we entrust all who are dear to us to your never-failing care…knowing that you are doing for them better things than we can desire or pray for…” (emphasis mine). This prayer is an example of ‘uploading’. Uploading is placing our concerns in God’s hands. Anything that fills our minds or hearts - joy, loneliness, gratitude, anger, worry, or silliness - can be uploaded into God’s love and provision. I Peter 5:7 says, "Cast all your anxiety on [God] because [God] cares for you."

 

If downloading our mental list of tasks is about efficiency, then uploading – giving God our laundry list of feelings - is about effectiveness. Tasks are what we do. Feelings, conscious or unconscious, known and unknown, frequently dictate how those tasks are completed. We can accomplish all our tasks and yet be completely ineffective because of the spirit in which we did them. Are we bland, calloused, dry, resentful, or angry in our work? Or are we known by the Fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control? (Gal. 5:22-23)

 So make some simple uploads in your daily routine. Make a prayer and offer your load of care to God. Write down in a letter to Jesus all that is distracting you and commit it to his care. Or visualize putting these things in a container and placing them at the altar of God or at God’s feet. Then discover what happens next.

Remember, it was Christ who said, “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matt. 11:28)

Holy Week and The Hard Work of Community

We are almost 15 years out from the publishing of Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community by Robert D. Putnam. You may remember this book. Back in 2000 this national best seller spoke prophetically about the decline of ‘social capital’ – the drop in personal interconnectedness, mutual support, and cooperation amongst America’s public. The book’s famous illustration is that while more Americans are bowling than ever before, they are bowling alone. Bowling leagues (along with all sorts of groups, clubs, and associations, not to mention churches) have seen their membership plummet in today's American society.

Today many seekers who come through church doors, including St. Peter’s, are longing for the kind community our society has lost. Yet there is a significant difference between what they are after and what we use to have. Today’s seekers want organic, not institutional community. They want belonging and acceptance, not membership and procedures. They are after true-to-heart conversations, not bureaucratic exchanges dominated by agendas and Roberts Rules of Order.

Today’s seekers are also finding out the hard truth about community. Community is the fruit of arduous work and tough struggles. Knowing others and being known also means exposure to the faults, vices, and shortcomings of others. Perhaps more painful is facing our own faults when others have borne the brunt of them. It means confrontation, vulnerability, making mistakes, and asking for and accepting forgiveness. Given the pain of honest connection it is no wonder false decorum, various social rituals, and bureaucratic social systems exist! They may hide authenticity now, but originally their purpose was to soften the collisions of our personalities!

The Disciples (right) abandon Jesus 

Jesus was no stranger to the desire for and difficulties of community. Jesus wanted community. The Gospels show him gathering a community and binding them in love to each other and his Father. And Jesus knew the difficulties of community. When the going gets tough, the ‘tough’ were nowhere to be found! The 12 closest Disciples of Jesus abandon him. (Only the women disciples are to be found.) But the Gospels tell us Jesus already knew he would be abandoned (Matthew 26:31). He knew yet still celebrated the Last Supper, a celebration of community, in a most loving and intimate way. And then Jesus gave his life up for his betrayer, his denier, his failed disciples, for strangers, and not the least, his enemies also.

Christ knew that Christian community is a hard won fruit of the Gospel. It requires vulnerability, great sacrifice, and a death of our selfishness for the love of God and others. (Matthew 16:24-26)

Risen Jesus gathering again his disciples,
here shown on the Road to Emmaus (Lk 24:13-25)

But that is not where the story ends.  Jesus is resurrected to life, and appearing many times to his followers, he begins putting the community back together. Apparently Christian community is not just worth dying for, it is worth living for.

So begins our story, the story of disparate, bowling-alone people being made into God’s people. The story of people who, by their own power, cannot find community with one another and with God, now find it through Christ. It is a community mystically bound in the sacraments and Holy Spirit-ual experience, and tangibly bound together in worship, mutual care, and the Gospel mission of love for the world. Most of all, it is bound by its failings and its forgiveness for each other through Christ.

Are you looking for community? Then come journey with Christ’s disciples through Holy Week and Easter. Experience God’s call and power to be the Community of Christ, the as-yet-imperfect-but-already-Divine Family of God.  

Lent: Finding Joy in the Desert

                The 40 Days of Lent begin March 5^th, Ash Wednesday. It is a time of fasting, abstinence, and purging. Lent is a time to spiritually clean house with all the physical implications that come along with that. In Lent we often give up a favorite comfort food, perhaps something calorically dense, sugary, salty, and fattening. Why? The purpose is not first and foremost to lose weight, which is a noble goal yet still self-focused. Instead, as part of this season of Repentance, we use the disciplines of abstinence and fasting to turn us towards Christ. In the case of abstaining from a comfort food, we focus on leaning upon God, not food, for our comfort. And true, we will probably lose some weight in the process.

For those of us of a certain age (or those who haven’t come of age) abstaining or fasting from food may not be good for our health. And there are others who, for various reasons cannot fast or abstain. An alternative is to give up something else, replacing it with Christ. How about giving up a form of entertainment – TV, novels, or gambling? Or perhaps add something into your schedule – prayer, a random act of kindness, meditation, song, or thanksgiving. Sometimes adding more of Christ into our life crowds out other stuff, other behaviors we really don’t need.

            It is for good reason that Christ chose to go into the desert for 40 days to fast and prepare for his ministry. The desert removes many distractions from life. There Jesus could better focus on God. Of course, when all those distractions were removed what Christ found first was the Evil One, called the Deceiver (Devil) and the Accuser (Satan) because that is what he does.  And so Christ found a great deal temptation and trial. It’s likely in our own Lenten journey that when we pay attention to the deeper things of our spiritual lives, we too will be confronted with some significant unpleasantness. The desert is not a place of ease.

But notice what happens afterward. Once the Tempter and temptations have been vanquished, Jesus is attended to by angels. The desert is not merely a place of desolation, emptiness, and deprivation. The desert can be the place of joy and consolation, where we find some of our sweetest times with God. This is what Lent is meant to be - our Lenten hope - the blossoming of our souls in the desert by the grace and provision of God.     

The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad,

   the desert shall rejoice and blossom;

like the crocus it shall blossom abundantly,

   and rejoice with joy and singing.     

- Isaiah 35:1-2a   

Reading up on Spiritual Community

This article is in response to a request I received from two people during our recent All-Parish Annual Meeting. After giving a summary of my Sabbatical, it was asked if I could provide a summary of some of my study and some books I had read.

The Study

Fr. James at an off-the-grid clergy retreat near Riggins, Idaho, October 2013

My study during sabbatical centered on Christian spiritual community - that is how Christians successfully gather and live the Christian life of "worship, education, service, & spiritual development" together. Throughout history, when the Church has become irrelevant to the secular world (as it is becoming today in the U.S.), groups of like-hearted Christians have emerged, gathering together to form the Church anew by living the Gospel life in a counter-cultural way. Many of these groups we know as monastic orders, such as Franciscans, Benedictines, Dominicans, Jesuits, Trappists, Cistercians, Augustinians, etc. Others we know as movements (some of which became denominations), including: Quakers, Brethren of the Common Life, Shakers, Methodists, The Taize Community, Little Gidding, Northumbria Community, Holden Village, Simple Way, etc. All of these were (or are) looking to live a more vital, authentic, growing and life-giving, Christianity.

As I approached this topic, two of my questions were, 

“What would this kind of re-formation look like for me,” and 

“What would this kind of re-formation look like at St. Peter’s?”

Four Books I Found Helpful

Here are some materials that provided me with insight during my sabbatical.

Living Faithfully as a Prayer Book People by John Westerhoff. This book provides a concrete and concise perspective on Episcopal/Anglican Life. Great principles based upon the Book of Common Prayer. Few specifics on how we can actually make them work in our daily life together. This is a good starting point.

Organix: Signs of Leadership in a Changing Church by Bob Whitsel. Provides concise information on how leadership (and their communities) are changing in the 21^st Century. Overwriting the word “leadership” with “community” helps apply concepts to a larger audience. The charts in this book are fabulous. One example: 20^th cent. communities believe that healthy communities produce healthy people and focus on programs. 21^st cent. communities believe healthy people produce healthy communities and thus focus on discipleship. This book helped change and articulate my mental perspective.

Day by Day with St. Francis: 365 Meditations edited by G. Pasquale, OFM Cap. This book excerpts primary and secondary sources on St. Francis’ life including The Saint by Thomas Celano and Little Flowers of St. Francis by Ungolino di Monte Santa Maria. The life, ministry, and teachings of St. Francis give an excellent view of Gospel reform within an established Church full of religiosity surrounded by a society that pays the Church little real mind. It is helpful to ask as you read this, "Ho (Suitable for daily devotions)  

The Rule of Benedict: A Spirituality for the 21st Century by Joan Chittister. This book is the Rule of St. Benedict interspersed with commentary. It provides a great perspective on Christian spiritual community in the Benedictine tradition which is woven throughout our Anglican tradition. This book possessed more specifics. (Suitable for daily devotions)

So, there you are: four books. None of these alone have fully answered my questions. Each, though, has deepened my understanding and my thinking. I commend them to you. I also commend anything written by John Michael Talbot (Franciscan / Benedictine / General), Esther De Waal (Benedictine / Celtic), or Joan Chittister (Benedictine / General).  

In Christian community with you, 

Fr. James+   

 P.S.  Here is a further bibliography of my study, in case the above did not grab your attention.

FRANCISCAN PERSPECTIVES

Francis and Clare: The Complete Works. The Classic of Western Spirituality Series

The Lessons of St. Francis: How to Bring Simplicity and Spirituality into Your Daily Life, by John Michael Talbot with Steve Rabey

CELTIC PERSPECTIVES

A Celtic Model of Ministry: The Reawakening of Community Spirituality by Jerry C. Doherty

Celtic Daily Prayer: Prayers and Readings from the Northumbria Community by the Northumbria Community.

AUGUSTINIAN PERSPECTIVES

Our Restless Heart: The Augustinian Tradition by Thomas F. Martin, OSA

The Immitation of Christ by Thomas A’Kempis (Community of the Brethren who followed St. Augustine’s Rule)

EVANGELICAL/PROTESTANT PERSPECTIVES

Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

OTHER BOOKS

The Life of the Spirit and the Life of Today by Evelyn Underhill

Orthodoxy by G. K. Chesterton