I have moved three times in 16 months --- I know all about being ruled by possessions.  We have given stuff away and given it away, but still, right now in my basement, there are two walls lined with cardboard boxes holding treasures, or at least that is what I think is in there.

          If you read the four gospels, you will discover that what Jesus talked about more than any other topic was money and possessions.  I used to find it a little ironic that call committees would want to make sure that they knew where I, as a pastoral candidate, stood on issues of sexuality and the ELCA, but no one ever asked, so, how do you spend your money?!  Our money is our sacred ground, and usually when the church talks about money, it's because we don't have enough of it, but when Jesus talks about money, he is talking about the danger of having too much.  He is talking about greed.

          Let me give you some numbers to ponder --- One in four Americans wants at least a three-car garage, one in five new homes is larger that 3,000 square feet.  Fourteen million households own four or more TV's, the average cost of a luxury kitchen remodel is $57,000 --- the average cost for a Habitat home in Appalachia is $36,000.  One in six people worldwide lives on less that $1 a day.  Satisfying the world's yearly sanitation and food requirements would cost 13 billion, that's the amount people of the United States and the European Union spend annually on perfume.

           So, does Jesus talk about money and possessions just so that we can all go on a big guilt trip, but then come back to business as usual?  How many times when we hear the story of the rich fool do we think --- well, that's talking about those REALLY rich people, like the Donald Trump's of the world? Actually, when we look at ourselves in comparison to the rest of the world, if anyone is talking about rich, they are talking about US.

          Jesus talks about money and possessions because too often that is where we think our security lies.  If we just have "enough", then we will be secure, but we can't ever quite figure out how much is enough.  The minute you buy something, they come out with a bigger, better version, or in the case of electronics and technology, a smaller, better version.  If you get 10 dollars, you think 20 would make you feel a little better.  We never know when the rainy day will come, so we better hang on. Our stuff is not really the issue --- it is our dependence on our stuff, our reluctance to let go, our thinking that if we just had a little more, than all would be well with the world.  When we think that our security is in our possessions, when hanging on to them becomes our biggest concern, then it is impossible to put our trust in God.  It is impossible to see that our blessings are so that we can be a blessing to others.  If we have more, more is required of us.  And we in this country have more.  Jesus words are meant not for those we see on "The Rich and Famous", they are meant for us.  It is real easy for me to watch a program on tv about some bride who spends one and a half million dollars on her wedding, or about some guy who owns four homes and eight cars and think how ridiculous that is.  But, I am the one with boxes lined up in my basement.  I am the one with the attachment to too many things.

This is an Ekkeko doll.  The belief is that this Andean God of Abundance from Southern Peru will provide its owner with any item which is attached to the doll in miniature form.  I don't know a lot about this particular culture --- but I got this in a shop in Phoenix because I thought it was a great visual of how easy it is to get attached to things.  This one is loaded down with money, car, house, TV, true love, and other examples of abundant life.  Ekkeko is a pretty good reminder of how impossible it is to really live and move when you are loaded down with desires.  Where we get into trouble is when our hearts and minds are so heavily invested in those things that we cannot really see the bigger treasure.

          To live fully, to be the people God has created us to be, we need to let go, give back, we need to unload.  Having things is not the problem, being attached to those things, finding our security in those things, never thinking enough is enough, and being afraid to give of what we have --- that is when we have lost our way.  To be a steward of God's gifts is to know that all we have comes from God, and that we are responsible for giving so that others will also have.  When I was in the first grade, Doris was one of my classmates.  She lived out by the power plant, across the Little Muddy River in a rundown area that we, in all our political correctness called the slums.  Doris never looked too good, or smelled too good.  She drew my name in the annual Christmas gift exchange in our class.  We were supposed to spend one dollar on a gift for the person whose name we drew.  When the day of the party came, I opened my gift from Doris and it was one little hair barrette that even looked a little used.  I got a little weepy, the teacher apparently felt sorry for me and gave me some other little thing to go with it.  When I got home, I told my parents about it and my dad said, "Get in the car."  We drove out to Doris's house.  Dad said, "This is where your friend Doris lives.  When her dad reached into his pocket for the quarter or whatever your present cost, there weren't very many quarters in that pocket.  When I gave you a dollar to buy something for your gift exchange, there were lots more dollars where that came from.  Now, who do you think really gave the bigger gift?"  That was one of my first lessons on giving from what you have been given, stewardship, being blessed in order to be a blessing to someone else.

This is why we serve meals at Our Saviours shelter, why we take our kids to Feed my Starving Children in order to make food packets for the world's children.  This is why we collect food for the local food pantry each Sunday, and why we give 10 percent of our income to the work of the synod and other agencies that serve those in need.  This is why we think we can do even more --- because we have more.  You shouldn't be giving until it hurts, give until it feels great!   When our hands are empty, they are open to receive more --- when they are tightly hanging on to whatever we can get a hold of, there is no way that we can receive anything more.  It's as old as the story of the Israelites in the wilderness, trying to gather up enough manna to last for several days instead of trusting that God would keep the promise to provide enough for each day.  The manna rotted.  Our hearts can rot too if they simply become storehouses of things we cannot bear to let go of, and that is not the abundant life that God wants for us.

If you have more than you need, give some away.  If you are afraid you don't have enough, give some away anyway and see what happens.  If you have more stuff than you know what to do with, ask yourself how much you really need to keep, and why?  If me and mine, or taking care of our own becomes our main occupation, it's time to re-evaluate.  In the kingdom of God there is no one who is not "our own".  When we talk about mission in this congregation, when we talk about resources, let's do it with enthusiasm and excitement for all that might be possible.  Let's open our hands and let go, give til it feels great and see what God might have in mind for us.  A friend of mine who was dealing with clean-up after a flood, said, "You know, your treasures are your burdens."  They can be burdens when our whole focus on life is to hang on to them.  They can also be a source of great joy when we share them.  I for one am going down to that basement and see what is really in all those boxes --- what are those treasures I have been hauling around all these years?  I don't need a bigger storeroom, I need to let go of my attachment.

AMEN