St. Paul’s United Church Sunday, February 6, 2011

Enough Already! Rev. David Mundy

Exodus 16:9-21 Luke 12:13-21

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Two weeks ago a report was published by the inquiry into the financial crisis of 2008 which sent the economies of the world into a tailspin. Canada fared reasonably well although those of you who lost jobs or saw your savings and investments eroded may feel otherwise.

In some respects the report was a “day late and a few trillion dollars short” to paraphrase the old expression. The conclusion was that the financial nightmare was avoidable and that many people in positions of trust bear a great deal of responsibility.

These conclusions have already been explored in a number of books and in a documentary I saw recently called The Inside Job. I don’t know that I would have watched it except that it was available on the plane as I flew home from Victoria recently. It’s a good thing they don’t give us food on flights anymore because I would have ended up with a serious case of indigestion, I was so indignant. How’s that for finding a silver lining?

The film poster shows a man in a business suit standing atop a mountain of money. His back is to the viewer with his fingers crossed, a clever image for the investment bankers, the supposed regulators, and even politicians who either willfully looted the financial system or turned a blind eye to what was unfolding. Names are named in the film and stories are told. One of the bankers managed to squeeze out four hundred million dollars in personal compensation over the course of seven years leading up to the collapse. Other CEO’s actually bet against their own faltering companies for their financial gain.

The unbridled greed and disregard for the “little guy and gal” are shocking. Why does any extremely well paid executive need to benefit from the misfortune of others, to the tune of tens or hundreds of millions of dollars? Obviously they couldn’t care less about the deadly sin of greed or avarice. Avarice is the insatiable desire to hoard riches. Enough already!

When is enough enough? Today in the fourth of a series of messages on the Lord’s Prayer we will consider this really important question in the phrase “give us this day our daily bread.” This is a rather quaint prayer request, wouldn’t you say, at least for most of us. There are places in the world and even in this country where people struggle to put food on the table. The United Nations tells us that there is a global food shortage and that prices are rising everywhere. There have been riots in poorer countries because there isn’t enough to go around. But for most of us, our challenge is to push ourselves away from the table, not finding enough to eat. But is this phrase really about getting sufficient daily bread to slip under our peanut butter, or more directly about knowing when there is “enough already?”

You will have noticed that we are not reading one of the two gospel versions of the Lord’s Prayer every week of this series. Instead we listen to what I hope are passages related to the theme of each message.

One of our readings today is about the “bread from heaven” which God gave the people when they were on the long and winding road from Egypt to the Promised Land. The Israelites supposedly wanted freedom from slavery under the Pharaohs but kicking around a desert for years on end is not much fun. As we heard, people began to grumble about their grumbling stomachs and so God provides for them. Who knows what manna actually was. Actually, the word manna means “what is it?” What parent hasn’t heard that from a six-year-old, complete with sneer; “what is it?” But along with the quail it was enough to keep them going. The “catch” was that it had a short shelf-life – just one day. They had to be people of faith, to rely on God to give them what they needed. When the people of Israel eventually get to the river Jordan, Moses told them not to get so “fat and sassy” that they lose their memory about God’s provision.

The gospel passage is a parable of Jesus, one of those “sneaky smart” stories Jesus told to invite listeners into a deeper relationship with God. This is one of the more ominous parables, with a less than happy ending. A crowd gathers around Jesus, as was often the case, and someone asks him to settle a dispute about a family inheritance. Jesus tells the brother that this is a no-win situation for him, so he tells a story instead.

This is often called the Parable of the Foolish Rich Man. It is about a rich guy who gets richer. He has a great year with his wheat crop, the stuff from which bread is made, that he tears down his barns and builds bigger ones. Then he kicks back and counts it all. You might think that Jesus would wind this story down by saying, well done, you have your retirement fund in order! Instead Jesus says that the wealthy farmer “kicks off,” dying in his sleep. Surely this parable is the inspiration for two sayings: “eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow you die” and “you can’t take it with you.” Jesus finishes up by saying that we need to be aware that life isn’t always what we expect and that rather just fretting about our RRSP’s we should be rich toward God, presumably by being rich toward others.

Enough is enough. Enough already! Can we make the connection between these passages and that prayerful phrase “give us this day our daily bread? I have been quoting each week from John Dominic Crossan’s insightful book, The Greatest Prayer and he points out that this phrase is redundant “give us this day, our daily bread.” I hadn’t notice that before, but he’s right, isn’t he? Why not just say “give us our daily bread?” Why the double reference to the present day? Perhaps it is a quiet encouragement to trust that there is enough to go around, enough to share, enough to ease our anxieties and worries, and we need to say it twice for good measure. When we pray these words, they create an awareness that God provides.

Do you believe this? Do you trust that God provides enough, our daily bread and more, so that we have the wonderful privilege of generosity?

Unfortunately it seems that the wealthier a society becomes, the less need it has for God, or least that’s the way folk see it. As we become more affluent, we are less likely to heed Moses’ warning about the dangers of living in the Promised Land, or to listen to the parable of Jesus which essentially tells us that we can’t take it with us. Even though for the most part we say that we still believe in God, it is not a God who has much influence in our lives. But this is not the case everywhere.

At times I have talked to you about the steady decline of the Christian church in our Western culture, the countries of Europe and Canada and now in the United States. I should point more often that worldwide the church of Christ is growing by leaps and bounds. In Africa and Asia (including China) and in Latin America the church is thriving. We might wonder why this is. We could conclude that it is because we are more educated and sophisticated. But it may just be because we fool ourselves into believing that the stuff we pile up around us makes us independent from God and insulate us from death.

And when we are less willing to acknowledge God as our provider, we are less likely to share what we have with others. It’s ours after all. So we don’t spread it around. We build our version of bigger barns.

Every once in a while when we are asked to dig deep in response to natural disasters the media trot out the phrase “compassion fatigue” to describe our reluctance to give more. It sounds a little like chronic fatigue syndrome doesn’t it – “I’m sorry, I really want to give but I’ve been diagnosed with “compassion fatigue syndrome.” Honestly it doesn’t mean anything. The other day I had lunch with one of my daughters who was celebrating her twenty sixth birthday. Somehow we got around to the example of good people, and I told her about an act of generosity on the part of one of our members who wanted no recognition for what she had done. She thought about it for a moment, and offered that isn’t so sure that her generation will be as generous as previous generations. I hope this isn’t so.

Well, the good news is that we are gathered here as the Christian community and we have prayed “give us this day our daily bread.” In a couple of the other versions of this Abba Prayer, this Prayer of Jesus, we have said it a little differently:

Give us today the bread we need.

With the bread we need for today, feed us.

Do you understand that this isn’t about guilt, which tends to come and go? We get toughened up to guilt in a hurry, and learn to protect ourselves. The people who brought down the international banking system still aren’t feeling guilty about what they did.

This is about being centred in our relationship with God on a daily basis and renewing our commitment to the life of faith with the beginning of each new day. Rather than an exasperated “enough already!” which is the cry of a cynical world, we exclaim “enough already!” and act of praise and appreciation for all that God has provided.

When we say “give us” it is not “gimme!” It is a request to God for a different mindset, a different way of seeing the world. We can hope that this will translate into a contentment which sees life as a blessing that doesn’t depend on more and more of everything. Some of the unhappiest people I have ever met have the wealth we often think we desire. They have “won the lottery” in many respects, but somehow they just aren’t cashing their ticket.

Conversely, some of the most contented people I have known are folk who to my mind have no business begin at peace. Somehow in the midst of illness they count each day as a gift of grace. Or they have figured out how to be hospitable and open to others despite not having much in the way of material wealth. This coming Friday we will have another Gathering Place meal here at St. Paul’s which is open to everyone, although most of our guests are people in our community we would consider to be poor. I am regularly struck by how friendly and grateful so many of these folk are for every act of kindness.

So, where you are this morning? Can you say “thank you God” with your full heart and mind? When we are satisfied spiritually, filled up by the living Christ, we can appreciate when “enough is enough.” Enough already!