Years ago, I watched a documentary by
Bill Moyers, Joseph Campbell and the
Power of Myth. Joseph Campbell was a
mythologist—a person who studies myths and how they impact the world in which
we live. In one segment Campbell spoke
about how one could tell what was the most important to individuals,
communities, and cultures. He stated
that all one must do to determine what was most important was to see what took
up the most space and time.
For example, he said to look at the
largest buildings in cities. He pointed
to Salt Lake City as a prime example.
When the community first started, churches were the tallest buildings .
. . then came the government buildings which were taller . . . and, then,
eventually, financial institutions and businesses. If you have ever been to Salt Lake City, you
know what he is talking about.
When living in Nebraska we saw this even
in the small rural communities we lived in.
Looking at the size of the buildings in the towns, I could easily see
how things stacked up by the tallest structures . . . churches were pretty
large, but they were usually dwarfed by the government’s structures, which were
then dwarfed by the biggest business in the area. Know what the biggest structures were in
rural Nebraska? Grain elevators. It was not difficult to see what drove the
community in rural Nebraska.
I was so fascinated that by what
Campbell was suggesting that I thought I would translate that into individuals
and families. Whenever visiting folks in
their homes, I took note of what was the largest thing in their house. What do you think I discovered? Televisions.
I was amazed at the size of televisions in people’s homes. The bigger the television, odds were the more
time spent in front of them.
There is the old saying about where the
heart is there lies the treasure.
According to Campbell—flipping the axiom, where the treasure is, there
lies the heart. This is where our time,
energy, and resources go. Where we spend
these is where our hearts really lie.
This is what consumes us.
We live in a consumer society. It does not take much to see this. If you turn on your television or radio you
will be flooded with commercials shouting at you to purchase this or that. Commercials mesmerize is into consumption . .
. buy this, buy that to have the best of life.
It becomes a way of life as we pursue having the “good life”. It is where we put all our time and
energy. In its seduction, it consumes
us.
In our scripture reading this morning,
the author is concerned with what it is that consumes the faithful’s
lives. The author wants to know where the
people are really putting their time and energy . . . wants to know whether or
not it is in following in the footsteps of Jesus. The author wants them to be consumed with the
life and teachings of Jesus. The author
writes: “. . . serve one another in love.
The entire law is summed up in a single command: ‘Love your neighbor as
yourself.’” In the writer’s
heart-felt opinion this is what should consume the hearts and lives of those
who follow Jesus.
As we listen to the writer of this
letter to the Galatians, the question becomes for us the readers . . . what
consumes our lives? Where is it that we
are putting our time, energy, and resources?
Where is our consumption? Is it
in following the words and life of Jesus, or is it somewhere else?
Well, I can tell you this . . . I’m not
wading into that. I’ll let you answer
that question for yourselves. I’ll let
you answer that question for yourselves because you are the only ones who can
answer it. But, as I allow you the
privilege of pondering that question, I will say to you that it will not be
that difficult to answer. It won’t be
difficult because, as a follower of Jesus, you have the Spirit to guide you in
that discernment. The Spirit will challenge
you . . . the Spirit will show you the way.
The writer tells us that in following
Jesus, that “the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” In what
consumes our life we hold up the fruit of the Spirit and determine how we stack
up. And, what do we discover?
We discover that we are constantly being
challenged. Challenged in the way that
we live our lives daily to “love our neighbors as we love ourselves.” As much as we desire to follow in the
footsteps of Jesus, we all know that we fall short of living up to those
“fruits of the Spirit” that the author speaks about.
As I have entered the last third of my
life, I can honestly state that there have been periods in my life where I have
been consumed in things less than the desires of Jesus. There was the period when I got caught up in
the Beanie Baby fad. It consumed my
time, energy, and resources as I sought out strike it rich in the commodity of
little stuffed animals. I even fooled
myself in believing it was a worthwhile pursuit because my children were
interest in it. Needless to say, . . .
I’ve got boxes of worthless stuffed animals if anyone is interested. I also got swept up in sports cards . . . got
lots of them too. I can honestly say
that neither of them has gotten me any closer to the gates of heaven at this
point in my life.
Basically, they were distractions.
In C.S. Lewis’ book, the Screwtape
Letters, he affirms the purpose of such consumption. If you have never read the book, I recommend
that you do. The book is about a junior
devil named Wormwood who is assigned his first individual on earth. His task is to either convert his individual
to the dark side or to at least keep him away from Jesus. Having an uncle who had previously served up
on earth, Wormwood attempts to use his uncle to give him advise and
guidance. His uncle’s name is Screwtape.
The greatest advice that Screwtape can
give his nephew is to distract the individual.
Get the individual interested in everything but Jesus and his teachings
and life. He gives him all the usual
vices . . . politics, religion, work, the other sex, money, and so on down the
line. If Wormwood can succeed in keeping
the individual’s heart and mind off Jesus, then it is a victory whether the
person goes to the dark side or not.
A simple definition of sin is that which
separates a person from God . . . separates the individual from fully living in
that intimate relationship with God. The
author of this letter to the Galatians names the obvious ones, but we can name
the others. The Spirit has a way of
piquing our hearts about whether our lives are in step with Jesus and his
teachings. We are not ignorant on the
subject . . . we know.
Thus, it is that the author admonishes
those who are reading this letter to get in step with the Spirit . . . to have
love, be full of joy, to seek peace, to be patient, to be kind and good, to be
faithful, to be gentle, and to control themselves. The author wants the only
consumption of our lives to be grounded in that one single command . . . that
one thing that Jesus lived and taught . . . that we “Love our neighbor as yourself.” Nothing else matters.
And, the reward for such a lifestyle is
freedom. Freedom to discover who God
created you to be . . . freedom to embrace others . . . freedom to live. Jesus came to set us free. As the author states: “It is for freedom that Christ
has set us free . . . the fruit of the Spirit is love . . . and, since we live
by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” In simplest of terms, the writer calls us to
be consumed with Jesus.
May we all discover that which guides
our hearts . . . and, may it be in the footsteps of Jesus. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment