Consumerism is a Problem?

Romans 12.-9-21

⁹ Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. ¹⁰ Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. ¹¹ Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. ¹² Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. ¹³ Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

¹⁴ Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. ¹⁵ Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. ¹⁶ Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.

¹⁷Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone.  ¹⁸If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. ¹⁹Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. ²⁰On the contrary:

“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;

if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.

In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”

²¹Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

When I was 16 I went to the Yukon Territory. My sister lived in Dawson City and I wanted to visit her and see what held her captive to that wild and untamed place. I went with one of my siblings and it was an adventure. We flew to Whitehorse and then rode a bus 8 hours to our destination. The gravel road was rough and there were no rest stops or fast food turn offs. There was a toilet n a cubicle at the back of the bus.

And once we got to Dawson finding my sister was also an adventure. She didn’t meet us at the bus because she was busy with her kids and besides everyone knew her and pointed us in the right direction. We found her, had tea with her friends and then went to her place. A one room cabin about 350 square feet in size with a cook stove in it. That stove was at least 80 years old. It supplied heat, hot water and that’s where the food was baked or cooked. No plumbing of any kind. Water came from a stream. The outhouse was 50 meters away. Oh, and the cabin was 50K from Dawson, there was no electricity or telephone of any kind.

Over the week we found out what life there was like. The closest neighbour was at least an hour walk away. Food and supplies came from the south, in bulk. Once or twice a year my sister would order a drum of flour, sacks or sugar and some canned goods. Fresh vegetables were grown in the yard and stored in a cellar. At the time a tomato cost $5.00 a pound. Forget about buying meat. We ate the bear my brother in law shot. Along with squirrels, rabbits and fish from the river.

Over the week I realized that she lived differently from the rest of her family. And the biggest difference was not the lack of technology or the price of consumer goods. The biggest difference was that she needed her neighbours, her community, to survive.

Dawson has longer winters than here and colder. A medical emergency – say a broken bone could result in death if the weather was bad. Even in the summer an animal attack was a real possibility. And help was not 911 away. In that place at that time people needed each other and they accepted each other regardless of personal habits, appearance, work they did or anything else.

To hold a grudge up there was to be isolated and in risk of disaster. No one could make it on their own. No one.

Now, to be very honest, I realize that since my time in the Yukon I have seldom if ever felt as dependent on people for daily survival as they did.  At least in the physical sense. You and I live and I suspect most of us have lived all our lives in abundance. Physical material needs have been provided for us or by our own effort since birth.

We are, to use the term, consumers with an unlimited supply of cheap, available goods. The grocery stores are full; the clothing stores are full and the farm equipment yards are full. Our cupboards for the most part are full. And so too the banks eager to lend money to keep it all going round.

Be clear consumption is normal and good; everyone has to consume to stay alive, but at what cost the level of consumption we see today? Let’s talk about that.

The text we read addresses consumption positively. First, it’s inviting us to make good decisions.  It’s just as right to say hate what is an evil habit, say pornography as it is to say hate cheap goods that fall apart so fast. Why is it that buying a new stove is cheaper than fixing an old one? That’s waste and unnecessary waste is sinful. So the text says cling to what is good. That 80 year old wood stove is now over 100 and still churning out biscuits and hot water.

Next the text points us to the reality of generosity or at least sharing what we have with others. “Share with God’s people who are in need, practice hospitality.” Not repeating the same idea, it’s saying: share with God’s people in the church and everyone else who isn’t in the church yet.

So, last, when it comes to big ideas in this passage we start with “Love must be sincere” and end with “overcome evil with good.” The middle shows the way how: by living in harmony with one another, by not being proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. (v. 16) Which is just what I saw going on in the Yukon.

Those words are simple, aren’t they? And we know too, I think, it’s hard to live that way, in harmony, without judgment. Isn’t it?

Relying on this text, I want to explore what could be a reason people struggle with texts like this.

First thought: I believe that consumerism is the greatest threat to community we face today. Our culture of media and advertising tells us to be dissatisfied with every possible product possible. Everything from the food we eat is suspect to the cars we drive or clothes we wear. Confused? Well, isn’t it true that companies that make breakfast cereal tell us that theirs is best, which must mean that the other guy’s is poison? And so it goes. Driven by fear and uncertainty many  people try one product after the next to see if finally they can get the tractor that works best or the jeans that don’t show a muffin top, yet still look stylish. The messages are endless along with the search.

Let’s be honest, it’s not buying stuff that is so time consuming; it’s the shopping. Wandering around malls, stores and online, consumers wade through options until exhausted make a decision. Did you know that my car can be had in with about 16000 variations from body color to engine size to a light up ring around the centre speaker? Shopping all those options takes time and in the end every Kia Soul driver is driving the same thing: a car. Henry Ford once said you can have your model T in any colour you like – so long as it’s black. Buying was a quick decision. Lots of time for other things.

Other things that matter more.

Second thought and it might be surprising. It seems that because we have so much choice and because being different is so important to so many, can it be that the result is a deep conflict? The need to de different but also to fit in?  So, people buy cheap imitations of expensive brands hoping no one will notice. They’ll buy the right brand or car or tractor hoping it’s enough. They’ll try to wear the right clothes, own the right size TV. On and on. all the while feeling trapped. Others see all that and reject it – they’re the misfit of society. Ironically the people who are free.

Fitting in, some say is about looking around and becoming who you need to be to be accepted.  The trouble is that fitting in is all about us and them, the good and the better, the in and the out people. It’s like a clique or like speaking a different language in public places; the habit causes people without that language to feel left out, unwelcome, unwanted. They feel excluded and often harmed. Can that be sincere love?

Third thought and we’ll tie it all together. Love, so what does it mean to love?  Again, some will say that people will love or attach to something in life. That is to hold it first in their life. Jesus taught about it when he spoke and said no one can serve, that is love, both God and stuff. We attach he says to something, so we’d better make a good choice. Now here’s the thing, given all we’ve said so far.

Giving in to the urge of consumerism makes getting stuff more important than contentment. It changes the goal from having needed things to simply getting more things. This is not about whether things are good or bad; this is about what are things for? Consumerism is dangerous because in the end it disconnects people from using things to help themselves and others.

Stuff, like an iPad, after all is just stuff: a tool, a device to do work. And I use it that way at least most of the time. But, ask Norma, sometimes I forget that and it becomes a screen, a wall between us at coffee times. Keep that up and one day there may not be a partner to have coffee with.

Or take planting a field and harvesting canola. Lots of stuff involved, right? Machinery, spray, seed, fertilizer. But what’s it all for? For the farmer to make money, sure, and the broker and the processor and the store that sells the oil? Absolutely! But it’s also for me so that I can fry fish fillets and enjoy my dinner. So grow the stuff with the end in mind. No customers, no cash for canola.

Let’s embrace the big picture!

So let’s tie it together. If you don’t like economics or had a nap, it’s time to listen in again.

The text is teaching for love to be sincere it must mean, at least to see that we need each other just like the folks in the Yukon do. 

The people of God need each other but in more ways than just being nice, fitting in or buying each other’s products. The deeper need is love and belonging.

Love, true love, is a sacrifice. Not only does love ask us to put the needs of others first. Love asks us to be authentic. It’s something to work at to receive the benefits. This is from a book I’m reading:

We cultivate love when we allow our most vulnerable and powerful selves to be deeply seen and known, and when we honor the spiritual connection that grows from that offering with trust, respect, kindness, and affection. Love is not something we give or get; it is something that we nurture and grow. We can only love others as much as we love ourselves. Shame, blame, disrespect, betrayal, and the withholding of affection damage the roots from which love grows.

The Gifts of Imperfection: Brene Brown Ph.D.

The author here, the author of life says: to love is to let people know who you really are. But this can only be safe in an authentic community. A place of belonging. In that kind of place, belonging doesn’t require us to change who we are; it requires us to be who we are. And that takes courage, but it is possible. The truth is belonging is only possible to the extent a person accepts themselves.

More of Jesus words: Love your neighbour as yourself. Turn it around can anyone actually love their neighbour unless they love themselves? I don’t think so and besides it’s all born out of receiving God’s love first anyway.

So maybe that’s the place to stop for this morning. Maybe some of us shop and consume because they don’t love ourselves. Not thin enough, pretty enough; don’t drive the right machinery or have enough land. Maybe some of us are just trying to fit in and avoid being real. Share the problems we have because we’d be rejected. Or maybe just afraid to let our real selves show.  I have been in that place of trying to be what people wanted me to be – from childhood onward. Maybe some of you know that feeling of being unlovable and unnecessary. Be aware that safety produces anxiety, depression, eating disorders, addiction, rage, blame, resentment and inexplicable grief.

Christ is calling us to get real and be real. To get off the path of consuming to find happiness and on to the path marked by a living faith.  Too many of us are suffering from hidden hurts and painful situations. Christ is calling us to love one another by being and becoming a community that sees stuff for what it is and people for the great gift we are to each other.