Why more is never enough

A TV commercial years ago asked: “Who thinks more is better than less?” The answer was that of course more is better.

Image

It made the Rev. Dr. Becca Ehrlich uneasy in ways she couldn’t pinpoint, but she went on to write ”Christian Minimalism: Simple Steps for Abundant Living.” She delivered the message at the combined plenary and closing worship Sept. 24 at Stewardship Kaleidoscope in New Orleans. The annual conference is presented by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

It was a truly New Orleans-flavored service, with up-tempo renditions of “I’m Gonna Live So God Can Use Me” and “Shall We Gather at the River?” on keyboard and trumpet. The Rev. Dr. Alonzo Johnson, coordinator for the Presbyterian Committee on the Self-Development of People program in the Interim Unified Agency of the PC(USA), also led worship.

Not a new problem

Ehrlich, an ELCA pastor, is executive director and founder of New Breath Spirituality Center within First Presbyterian Church of Albany, New York. She said more can be detrimental. Even those who do not have the mental illness known as hoarding typically have way more stuff than they need, she said. The average American home has 300,000 things in it, and it’s not unusual to think acquiring more items, with bigger homes to fit them in, is a good thing.

“No matter how much we have, we always feel like we need more,” she said.

That’s been a problem for a while. Adam and Eve lived in a literal paradise with everything they could ever need, but with a snake’s encouragement, they wanted more — the knowledge God has. “As we know, it didn’t end well for them.”

Then there was the successful farmer in Jesus’ parable who decided to stockpile all the food and supplies he could, building bigger barns to hold it all.

“But then God is like: Guess what? You actually die tonight. What’s going to happen to all that stuff?”

Friends or family will spend days or weeks sorting it out. He could have left more memories instead.

On a treadmill

We’re always looking for the next thing, Ehrlich said.

“We innately know what’s most important in life, but our consumer society hijacks our sinfulness so that we perpetuate this consumer cycle,” she said.

When we start making more money or buy that bigger house, we may be happier at first, but that quickly levels out. We start chasing more again and it becomes harder to be happy with less. It’s a process known as the “hedonic treadmill,” she said.

“Luckily, Jesus tells us there’s a different way to live,” she said — as he told his hearers, one’s life does not consist in an abundance of possessions. Only God can fill our deepest needs and desires.

Acknowledging this, we can receive forgiveness and do better, Ehrlich said.

Strength in contentment

So many of us cite Philippians 4:13: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” But look at the original context, Ehrlich advised.

The letter Paul wrote from prison to the believers in Philippi affirmed that, having had both little and plenty, he’s learned to be content with whatever he has. “So Paul’s famous words about Christ strengthening him in all things is actually about being satisfied with how much or how little one has,” she said.

“God helps us to put our focus on those things that are most important, rather than our stuff,” Ehrlich said. “God is calling us to use the resources entrusted to us to the glory of God.

“How is God inviting you to live a life of enough?”

As part of the offertory, participants were invited to write down one obstacle keeping them from doing that. Then they could come forward and drop the slip of paper into a baptismal font.

The service concluded in even truer New Orleans fashion with “When the Saints Go Marching In.” Worshipers marched around the room singing, waving handkerchiefs (and at least one parasol).