Avoiding Materialism

Work all you can, save all you can, give all you can. (John Wesley) If everyone demanded peace instead of another television set, then there’s be peace. (John Lennon) It is the preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else that prevents us from living freely and nobly. (Bertrand Russell) When you are in ministry one of the biggest issues is getting people in the American culture to focus on Jesus instead of focusing on stuff.  And this is a big problem, a difficult problem and a problem that has been plaguing Methodism from the beginning.  John Wesley ran into this problem as he worked with people in poverty and developed education, health care and life sustaining work that led to these same people rising above poverty. What he found then is what we still see today. As people pass from generational poverty into middle class they start wanting more and giving less.  This is a difficult thing to battle in every congregation.  And when you work at the crossroads of middle class and generational poverty it is particularly difficult. What generally happens around holiday time is a flood of calls from well meaning, faithful (middle class and upper middle class folks) asking if we know a family “that could use help.”  These folks are looking for an event or a reason for one time generosity. More often than not these are caring parents trying to teach their kids about generosity or trying to help their family have a less “it’s about us” focused Advent.  And, while motivations are great, application is more difficult. Because in the midst of the Holiday season we encourage folks “in need” to dream about “what they want.” Wouldn’t it be better if we were in relationship all year long?  Wouldn’t it be better if God used our relationship with one another to help us all want less?  In our neighborhood where childhood obesity is a problem and where we are fighting diabetes all the time, we decided that we weren’t going to give the kids candy at Easter.  This made a lot of folks really mad.  That anger came from an understanding that these kids don’t get much and now we were going to “cheat” them out of treats that other kids would be enjoying.  It was like folks felt like we were punishing our kids for being poor.  But now that obesity is reaching epidemic proportions in the US (see HBO’s “The Weight of the Nation” for excellent well-researched information about this), we felt like giving the kids candy in our neighborhood was the equivalent of giving them drugs or alcohol.  We need access to better food and just going along with the American cultural candy glut on Easter was harmful to our kids.We decided to have an Easter Egg hunt and to make a big deal of it.  We decided to put money inside the Easter eggs. We also decided to allow the kids to give part of their money back to ministry in other countries (giving them the opportunity to learn about and practice generosity).  We had a LOT of kids on Easter morning running all over the church grounds looking for eggs.  The kids had a great time. There was not one disappointed face in the crowd. (Turns out the kids liked the event and not necessarily the candy.)  And every kid gave at least some of what they found back.  We sent about $100 overseas to help plant a garden. That’s pretty good considering we hid a total of a little less than $300. I am sure that some of the kids ended up buying candy with their money. I am equally sure that the kids used their money for other things as well.  I am grateful for the church’s willingness to step outside the American tradition of candy and greed at Easter to try something new.We are working hard to fight the culture of the United States that says that what you have defines who you are. We believe that our baptism marks us as beloved and that’s the only identity that counts.  If you want to learn more about what’s going on at Parker Lane UMC or donate to the church you can visit us at www.parkerlane.org.