08046
January 18, 2008

It’s a soul issue

A message for the PC(USA) from the General Assembly moderator

by the Rev. Joan S. Gray
Moderator, 217th General Assembly (2006)

ATLANTA — We Americans seem to be drowning in our stuff.

I read an article recently in the Wall Street Journal that helped me see the situation more clearly. Entitled “The Struggle to Contain Ourselves” (January 4, 2008), the article talked about a University of California study published in 2006.

The study showed that there is “a storage crisis” in this country, in spite of the fact that Americans enjoy “the largest amount of private housing space per person in the history of urban civilization.”

What came to my mind as I read this article was a story Jesus told about a man who also had more stuff than he knew what to do with. The man in Jesus’ parable came to the conclusion that his problem was a storage problem.

“WRONG,” said God to that rich fool. The parable makes it clear that too much stuff is really a soul problem or a soul opportunity.

It should bother us that people in the world, some very close to us, are going without necessities while we continue to spend our money to buy and store unnecessary things.

Anyway, this “storage crisis” has started bothering me.

Since the first of the year is a good time to take a long look at ourselves and make adjustments, I have decided to grab hold of a small piece of freedom from stuff by not buying any clothing in 2008.

I’ve gone back through my records and added up the money I spent on clothes and shoes in 2007, and I will give that money this year to some Presbyterian mission project that helps and empowers poor people. Putting my bulging closet on a diet will not inflict great hardship on me. It’s a very small thing, yes, but it’s a start.

The bottom line is that God can lead us to see ourselves in new ways and to respond with actions that make the gospel visible in the world. I invite you to consider your own “barns” and see where you can push back against the stuff you really don’t need. Use the money freed up to further God’s agenda in the world.

It’s not really a storage issue. It’s a soul issue.