March 28, 2017
Lenten Devotions – Swimming Against Cultural Impulses

“Then God spoke all these words: I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant, or his maidservant, or his ox, or his ass, or anything that is your neighbor’s.” Now when all the people perceived the thunderings and the lightnings and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled; and they stood afar off, and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will hear; but let not God speak to us, lest we die.” And Moses said to the people, “Do not fear; for God has come to prove you, and that the fear of him may be before your eyes, that you may not sin.” Exodus 20:1-2, 16-20

“We Americans are people who spend money we don’t have to buy things we don’t need to impress people we don’t like.”

We have built our whole Western economy upon this and similar principles, and it is out of this culture of conspicuous consumption that Christian stewards must function. We must swim against the stream of every cultural impulse in our society if we are to function as Christian stewards today. The Ten Commandments provide a clear and understandable way to define relationships between people and between people and God. Moreover, the first verse places the commandments within the narrative story of Israel and its liberation from oppression. The context speaks of liberation from Egypt, but it gestures toward liberation from the other things as well – including our culture of conspicuous consumption. To covet simply means to lust after that which belongs to another. Moses is explicit about possessions that tempt: “your neighbor’s house …; your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.” If God reveals a higher purpose in life than our having more and getting more, then Christian stewards apprehend a revelation of authentic life. Clearly this is no easy task. A step toward bona fide Christian stewardship concedes that our battle to obtain more and more material possessions is little worth the struggle.” (Lenten Devotional Stewardship Principles, We walk together as stewards in God’s church, ELCA, 2012, March 11)

“A step toward bona fide Christian stewardship concedes that our battle to obtain more and more material possessions is little worth the struggle.” I couldn’t have said it any better. It takes swimming against the cultural impulse to gather, hoard and covet if we are to live the Christ-like life. When Moses received the Ten Commandments, it was clear that G-d knew human nature so well –which is no surprise since G-d created us. So G-d laid out some difficult rules – do not lie, do not murder, do not steal, and do not covet, just to mention a few. We don’t have to look too far to see these being lived out in our communities, our neighborhoods, and our churches. That is why G-d didn’t just suggest these rules, G-d commanded us to live by these rules, suggesting that if we did, we would be better off as a people of faith. Of course, we also know that “keeping the commandments” becomes an impossible task – but remains a sure guide for our lives. And so while we know that material possessions will eventually be worthless to us, yet we still wish to have them. And there is the rub. We covet, but we wish we were happy with what we already have. We hoard, but we wish we didn’t. The only way to change our ways is to know our weaknesses – and to seek the Holy Spirit’s power to help us live differently – in the name of Jesus.

This week please collect a tube of toothpaste each day for Trinity’s Table and bring them into church on Sunday April 2.

Pastor Dave