The Church and Consumer Culture

     Dear Friends,

     This past week was the beginning of a sermon series entitled, "What's Going on Out There and What's Going on in Here?"  This is part of the Missional Transformation journey we began in May of 2011.  For a refresher of where we have been and where we are going on this process, please see http://www.fpcmicity.org/MissionalTransformationTimeline.

The following is the scripture and sermon from this last week.  This evening, I will post discussion questions and topics.  Respond as you will.

“The Church and the Consumer Culture”

July 14, 2013

Genesis 2 and 3, 11, selected verses

In the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground,^* and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being. ⁸And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east; and there he put the man whom he had formed. ⁹Out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. ¹⁶And the Lord God commanded the man, ‘You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; ¹⁷but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.’  Then the Lord God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner.’ he made into a woman and brought her to the man. ²³Then the man said,
‘This at last is bone of my bones
   and flesh of my flesh;
this one shall be called Woman,^*
   for out of Man^* this one was taken.’ Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, ‘Did God say, “You shall not eat from any tree in the garden”?’ ²The woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; ³but God said, “You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.” ’ ⁴But the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not die; ⁵for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God,^* knowing good and evil.’ ⁶So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. ⁷Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.

Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. ²And as they migrated from the east,^* they came upon a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. ³And they said to one another, ‘Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.’ And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. ⁴Then they said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.’ ⁵The Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which mortals had built. ⁶And the Lord said, ‘Look, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. ⁷Come, let us go down, and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.’

            For this morning’s sermon, we are looking at the second creation story (which was actually written second) and the tale of the tower at Babel.  And looking at them together, we get a glimpse of human nature, and perhaps learn more about ourselves and the world around us.

            Genesis 2 and 3 tells of a giving and generous God who found it fit to share in the beauty and life which was within nature and character of God…found it fit to share this with the world and even to create human beings and to offer them the gifts of the world, the nurture of the land, the ripe vegetation that grew on the trees, the cool of the evening, and each other, with whom to create equal and meaningful community.

            And this God was not only a giving and generous God, but a God of boundaries, knowing that excess and overindulgence would ruin and take away the splendor of the gifts of the earth for the humans.  But, you know the rest of the story.  It wasn’t enough.  What they were given to eat and to enjoy…it wasn’t enough and they needed more.  Tempted by the serpent, being told that they will reach the status of the divine, the woman and the man stepped over the boundaries that were given, and thus lost the glory of the life in paradise.

            Skipping forward to chapter 11, we find a similar story.  The people are restless.  They build a city, but it’s not high enough, they too are tempted by reaching the status of the divine, wanting to build a city that actually reaches to heaven, they too end their tale in ruin, finding not the divine, but even more confusion in their language and certainly, I imagine, their souls.

            The world around us, and certainly the advertisers around us, would have us to believe that what we have is not enough.  And I don’t mean to say that for those of us who are living in poverty or who have lived in poverty, that there isn’t or wasn’t a time when there was not enough. I know all too well the pain of struggling to find the funds for the electricity bill or to make it through the week with these groceries because I can’t afford another trip to the store until next week.

            I’m not talking about that.  I’m talking about the fact that advertisements for cars, for clothes, for shoes, for that “must-have-item,” well these sell…they will always sell, even when all of us have a car or two, even when all of us have a closet full of clothes, several pairs of shoes, and many of those must-have-items, because what advertisers want us to believe is that we don’t have enough. And really, what we begin to hear in this message, is that WE are not enough.  Why, it’s really uncanny, even in children’s story books, the back cover is often marketed to kids in order for them to tell their parents that they need more.  On the back of Hannah’s favorite book, Olivia, are the pictures of three more Olivia books, and at 2 years old, she began to make the connection, and each time we would finish the book, she would remind me which books we didn’t have and which books we NEEDED to buy.  As I said, I’m not talking in this sermon about the moments in our lives when we simply don’t have enough, to feed our children, or to pay the bills.  What I mean is to say is that the human nature, even when it has enough, wants more, and we live in a culture that feeds that tendency.  When in all actuality, statistically, as research has found, while happiness does increase to certain point with income, once one has reached a certain moderate income level, happiness does not increase from that point.  So, what we are being sold is just not true.  Happiness will not come with having or buying or acquiring more and more and more. 

            This week begins the first of a sermon series entitled “What’s Going on Out There and In Here.”  You can find the subjects of the next four sermons in the tri-fold included in your bulletin.  This is part of our Missional Transformation program, as we together, as a congregation, discern our call, and begin to define our vision for the ministry God has given us.

            What’s going on out there is that we are consistently being given the message that we don’t have enough, that our desires are insatiable…we don’t have enough, and essentially, WE are not enough.  And it can be draining.  Draining to get to the end of the story book only to find out that you don’t have three of the books that must be needed to be a good 2 year old or a good mother of a two year old.  Draining to see the advertisements in the magazine or the television with all of those people with perfect smiles have something that we need because we’re not smiling that perfectly or with as much gusto.  Smiling with such gusto, they must have a taste of the divine. And we seek after that divine in the same way Adam and Eve did…and the same way as the builders of the tower of babel did, as well. And like in the story of Eve and Adam and of Babel, in the search for more and more, we only become more and more ashamed and confused…and we search then for more and more.

            And what’s going on in here…in the body of Christ formed in this congregation, is an opportunity not to fill and fill ourselves with more and more things and stuff, until we are overwhelmed…what’s going on in here is a place where you are actually given an opportunity to empty yourself…give of yourself, serve in the soup kitchen, serve in the Men’s Shelter, give of your resources to further the nurturing of bodies and souls within and without of these walls.

            What’s going on in here is that, through the power and love of God, the good news of the gospel is shared here…and it is that, in Christ, you ARE enough.  Just as you are.  Whether wearing designer labels or not.  Status and rank in here is are not dependent upon social standing, but leadership is servant leadership, as we follow the model of Jesus Christ, as it is written in the book of Philipians, who, though he was in the form of God,   did not regard equality with God   as something to be exploited, ⁷ but emptied himself,   taking the form of a slave,   being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form, ⁸   he humbled himself”

            And what’s going on in here…is that through Bible study, small groups, 3B, vacation Bible School, worship experiences and service experiences, is that you can be filled up with that which is satisfying, that which is lasting, that which WILL sustain you, that which, as we all desire it, a connection and knowledge of…a relationship with the Divine, with our God, with our creator.

            So, if you have been searching for the right words to say when you invite your neighbor to church next Sunday…tell them, that  you’d like to bring them to a place where they ARE enough, where they might have an opportunity to lay down the weight of the things of the world, and even empty themselves…that you’d like to bring them to a place where they might be filled with the sustaining love and power of God.  Because that is what I found going on here 2 years ago when I arrived, and that is what I still experience, by that grace of God, going on here now.