Sermon, August 5, 2001
9 Pentecost – Proper 13, Year C
The Rev. Lowell E. Grisham
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, Arkansas

Gospel – Luke 12:13-21 The Parable of the Foolish Rich Man

I’ve said on many occasions that the primary task of the Spiritual Life is to dismantle all of the false garbage that we’ve collected during the complicated process of growing up, and replace that with reality. The shorthand language for that is to dismantle the False Self and embrace the True Self. Those of you who have sat through long Sunday School classes about the our exaggerated demands for security, esteem and power recognize that theme.

Essentially, we’ve been brainwashed. Brainwashing is the term that emerged out of warfare to describe a process of breaking down a person’s core values through a constant barrage of messages in an environment that separates the victim from basic reality. For our entire lives, we’ve been subject to a sophisticated process of brainwashing. Unless we consciously recognize that process and intentionally dismantle it, we’re going to live in a world of falsehood.

I met someone interesting this week, and as I talked with him, another part of me observed how I was relating to him. What I saw in myself was the product of a lifetime of being brainwashed.

First of all, I noticed that he had an unusual look in his eye. Instead of looking straight at me, he looked at me from an angle. A bell deep in my subconscious said, "Here’s a strange one." Thirty years ago, I would have retreated from this conversation quickly. Happily I’ve outgrown my adolescent fear of being strange or different.

Another bell went off inside. He wasn’t dressed..., well, what would the politically correct word be? ...Appropriately. He wasn’t dressed the way one would expect him to be dressed for this occasion. A small kernel of judgment began to bubble inside of me. Then we began to speak together. He was quick, bright. I liked that. Strange, but smart. He had my curiosity.

But then the conversation lulled, and I asked "the question." It’s funny how involuntarily "the question" came out of my mouth. I didn’t really think about it; I didn’t really reflect about the best way to proceed further in what had been an interesting conversation. There was a blank space, and I filled it up with what my subconscious told me was the most natural question in the world: "What do you do?"

What an odd question that is. We all know what I was asking. I was asking about his job, of course. "What do you do?" It says volumes that all of us, including him, know what is meant by that incredibly vague question. Only in a culture that assumes that your essential value is in your doing more than your being could that be the first question that pops up during a subconscious lull. Only a culture that assumes that your job is the most important thing that you do could translate that question so seamlessly. "What do you do?" I asked him. And he answered immediately. He works as a clerk in a chain store.

Do you know the clicking sound your computer makes when it is processing a lot of information. It was like that inside my brain as I reevaluated all of the input from the conversation in light of this new information. Cultural messages that I’ve picked up from the atmosphere started going off. One message said, "Oh, he’s a loser." Then a higher part of me wrestled with that basic message telling me, "Don’t judge. He’s probably been through some tough times."

I won’t go further except to say, the whole conversation and relationship was impacted profoundly inside of me by his answer to that loose question, "What do you do?" And once again I discovered that I am an idolater. I worship a false god. You probably do too. We’ve all been born into it, and this false god is reinforced by nearly every message in our culture. My friend Jay McDaniel who spoke last year for one of our Tippy McMichael Lectures calls this false god "Consumerism," and he says that Consumerism is the dominant religion of our planet.

Consumerism tells us that appearance, affluence, and marketable achievement are the central organizing principles of our lives. It tells us that being compulsively busy is a sign of healthy and productive living. Having a successful career is most important. Depression can be cured by shopping. The most important thing in life is "to have my needs met." The god of Consumerism is economic growth; its evangelists are the advertisers who display the products of growth, convincing us that we cannot be happy without them; and its church is the shopping mall. The earth is real estate to be bought and sold in the market; plants and animals are mere commodities for human use. And its doctrine of salvation is that we are saved or made whole by appearance, affluence, and marketable achievement. (from Jay McDaniel)

That is a religious message that has been pounded into your soul from the moment you saw your first television commercial. It is a message that offers a false symbol of happiness: "I will pull down my barns and build larger one, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘You fool!’"

To some degree, all of us are fools of consumerism. We carry the deep imprint of our cultural values. In biblical language, we are idolaters. What can we do about that?

The first step is to become aware. Bring awareness of your conditioning toward consumerism into your active consciousness. Unless you recognize the forces and values that motivate you, you can’t deal with them. The next time I begin to ask someone, "What do you do?" I want bells to go off in that fraction of a second before I speak. I want to stop and think, "Do I really want to ask that question?"

The second step is to replace the values of consumerism with the values of God. Replace the honor you give to appearance, affluence and marketable achievement by giving priority to wisdom, compassion and inner freedom. Speak back to those voices that tell you You are what you wear; You are what you earn; Your worth depends on your performance. Say "No!" to those voices again and again. Strive to honor wisdom, compassion, and freedom.

The third step is to cooperate willingly with God to reverse the influence of consumerism in your life. Jay McDaniel makes three suggestions: (1) Lifestyle simplification, (2) obedience to a disciplined spiritual path of prayer and meditation, and (3) a regular offering of our time, energy and action in service to others. Simplify, meditate, serve.

And there’s one more message from our culture that needs to be corrected. That’s the message that tells us You can have what you want right now. Dismantling the brainwashing of consumerism will not be a quick fix for you. Be patient with yourself. You didn’t learn that false religion overnight, and you won’t replace it with wisdom, compassion and inner freedom by walking down the aisle and giving your life to Jesus. It will take time, perseverance, and most of all, the grace and energy of God helping you to resist the voices.

If you want to go further, pick up and read Jay McDaniel’s book Living from the Center: Spirituality in an Age of Consumerism. Or, better yet, let the radical alternative vision so succinctly spoken in today’s epistle to the Colossians become your vision:

As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another, ...forgive each other. ...Above all, clothe yourselves with love... And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts... And be thankful. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Colossians 3:12-17

Thanks to Jay McDaniel for many of the words and ideas in this sermon.