You’ve Got to Serve Someone

IV.    Vows of Voluntary Sacrifice

“We freely offer up our appetites, wealth, and pride to relieve the suffering of the world, for the sake of our neighbors and God’s joy.”

19. I will discipline my appetite for possessions through limiting acquisition of things to my true needs; through treating all my possessions and wealth as a trust from God for extending God’s blessings to the suffering in the world; through sharing generously with my neighbors; and through consuming conscientiously and simply so that I do not deprive others of the means to live.

("Money Chain" by Nina Helmer via Flickr)

Without looking very hard I can find evidence that my stuff can easily own me, control me and rob life from me. What’s a bit more difficult to see is that when I'm distracted by, anxious about, pursuing after and consuming all the stuff that has been marketed to me, I am much less able to live a life of compassion and reconciliation with my neighbor, devotion to God or peace with myself. My focus on my own desires and needs, the anxiety about whether there will be enough, my drive to protect what I do have from others, or the energy expended in the acquisition of the next thing (and paying off the last one)—all this takes great time and energy in our lives; time we can’t use to pursue God and serve our neighbor.  

Jesus must have been on to something when he said we can’t serve two masters, God or mammon!

It’s a tough saying: You serve God alone or you don’t serve God at all. Being mastered by God means that the rest of life, even if it doesn’t just fall away, no longer controls us. Everything that used to interfere with serving God (and our neighbor)—our jobs, our property, our retirement investments, our debts, our tuition costs, our taxes, our clothes, houses, food—these worries we are called to let go of. We are no longer their slaves.  As you consider today’s vow, consider this quote:

("Wishing Well" by Kayla Saywer via Flickr)

  
“We cannot begin to liberate others from economic injustice without liberating ourselves from our own materialism. Our own spiritual development is the foundation and essential starting place for building economic justice. When compassion becomes more important than our comfort we are off to a good start.”

– November 2011 Peace Memo, peacebuildinginstitute.org

Yet our efforts to be liberated from storing up treasures on earth are not simply a stalwart moral task, gritting our teeth and saying “No!” to money’s entanglements in our life. Our call is in life-giving terms: We are freed from our bondage to mammon by first saying “Yes!” to God and God’s kingdom, and by extension, God’s community of people. We still say “No” to the worrisome demands of money, but only insofar as we are provided for, energized, equipped, made ready by our new master.  We are only able to break free of the old and give it a confident kick out the door when we have searched first for God, our new leader, and committed a courageous “Yes!”

Let us seek God's kingdom with a resounding "Yes!" today as we practice this vow: “I will discipline my appetite for possessions through limiting acquisition of things to my true needs; through treating all my possessions and wealth as a trust from God for extending God’s blessings to the suffering in the world; through sharing generously with my neighbors; and through consuming conscientiously and simply so that I do not deprive others of the means to live.”

For Reflection and Action:

Find  a companion and read Luke 12:13-38 together.

Name all the moments in your life today that had any connection to money, property or possessions.

1. Which of those moments were life-giving for you? Which were draining?
2. Which helped you connect in healthy ways to people around you? Which ones got in the way of compassionate relationships with others, yourself, the creation, or God?
3. What financial and consumer habits, thoughts, desires or anxieties might God be calling you to let go of in order to better love God and neighbor? How is God calling you to strive for God’s kingdom today?

Prayer Focus

Providing God,

Thank you that you have created a world of abundance, of enough for everyone.

Forgive me for the ways I have consumed more than my share,

leaving less for the one in need,

filling my life fuller than is healthy,

leaving scars on an overburdened world.

Forgive me for the times I have cared more about my stuff than about my neighbor,

more about my financial security than about you.

Grant an end to my worries, to my greed

as I seek my treasure in you. Amen!