(6) But godliness with contentment is great gain.
(7) For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. (8) But if
we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. (9) People who want to get rich
fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men
into ruin and destruction. (10) For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some
people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many
griefs. (11) But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness,
faith, love, endurance and gentleness. (12) Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold
of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the
presence of many witnesses. (13) In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of
Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I
charge you (14) to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord
Jesus Christ, (15) which God will bring about in his own time--God, the blessed and only
Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, (16) who alone is immortal and who lives in
unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever.
Amen. (17) Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put
their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly
provides us with everything for our enjoyment. (18) Command them to do good, to be rich in
good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. (19) In this way they will lay up
treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take
hold of the life that is truly life.
- I Timothy 6: 6-19
In 1841 Charles MacKay wrote a book entitled Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the
Madness of Crowds. It chronicles a variety of ways in which humanity has tried to pretend
we are immortal, to gain as much wealth as possible, and to know what the future will
hold.
One of my favorite passages is the tulipmania of the mid-1600's in which scores of
people from royalty to pauper thought they could make a fortune by investing and trading
in Dutch tulips. The tragedy, of course, is that they were wrong, and many lost everything
they had.
We no longer speculate in tulips, but the dot.com bubble, Who Wants to Be a
Millionaire, and the geometric increase in casinos and state-sponsored lotteries remind us
that we are still subject to the delusion we can get rich quick, and to the delusion which
lies beneath even that: that in financial wealth and material goods lie our salvation, our
security, and our immortality.
More money, more house, more car, more food, more things, and we have our own
non-academic Ph.D.: material goods Piled higher and Deeper. We think that if we become
king or queen of our own little mountain, we'll be happy. Like a marathon runner urging
herself on for one more block and then one more, we buy one more thing and then one more,
each time thinking we are closer to contentment and happiness.
I Timothy reminds us, "There is great gain in godliness combined with contentment;
for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it; but if we
have food and clothing, we will be content with these. But those who want to be rich fall
into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people
into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in
their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves
with many pains." (I Tim. 6:6-10)
Jesus Christ and the scripture tell us over and over that our salvation does not come
from our money or our material goods. Thinking and acting as if it does is a delusion that
leads us down false paths and pierces us with many pains as individuals and a nation. Our
true salvation comes from God: the anchor who holds us steady in the storm, the one who
lifts us like an eagle on the winds of the morning.
The United States of Americas is the wealthiest nation in the world. We have the most
powerful military and the strongest economy. We have built the highest mountain. When the
World Trade Center crumbled, it shook the ground inside each of us and in the soul of this
nation, largely because it shook our delusions of safety and security. If we look through
the eyes of faith, we can, with God's help, make the shattering of those delusions a gift
we use for good and God.
We acted, for example, as though we are safe from terrorism here, even though we knew
we are not. Our delusions have been stripped away. Now we can work in more effective and
creative ways against terrorism with countries that have been hoping we would see the
light for decades.
We acted as though we will always see our loved ones again and have another day to set
right what was wrong, another day to affirm a friend and speak a kind word to a stranger,
another day to reorder our priorities and focus on what is good, and kind and true and
faithful. Then we heard of 6,000 people who had no such chance. We listened in on cell
phone calls that reminded us that in the end love is most important and that there may be
no tomorrow. Our delusions have been stripped away. Like ground from which old leaves have
been raked away, our hearts are tender and vulnerable.
In our delusion as individuals and a nation, we acted as though wealth and power would
make us loved by the world and keep us safe for, after all, we give away billions of
dollars, and millions of people long to immigrate to the United States. On September 11,
our delusion was shattered. We have been reminded in a terrible way, that our wealth and
our pride in it, are rooted in greed that keeps nearly 90% of the world's resources for
less than 10% of the world's population.
In our delusion that we could have so much without a negative impact on our brothers
and sisters around the world, we have unintentionally fed wells of despair and suffering
that are easily poisoned with envy and hate, and become breeding pools for evil. Our
wealth does not keep us secure and it never can. The more tightly we hold it and the
higher we build our mountain, the greater the risk to our nation, our soul, and the world
we call our home.
If you have ever faced serious illness or death in yourself or a loved one, or in a
contemporary of your own age, you know how unimportant the irritations of every day
become. When you see how fragile life is every day, you realize that what is most
important are those things that are eternal. You know that what is most important are
relationship with other people and with God, and what you can do to leave a lasting legacy
for good with other people and the world. Everything else is like chaff in the wind.
That, I believe, is where we are as individuals and as a nation in the aftermath of
this tragedy. In the face of life and death, even the editorial staff of People Magazine
has realized that at least for a time, we don't want to hear about bad hair and irritable
directors.
Today there are just as many people as there were on September 10 whose current life
experience of grief and trauma have led them to reassess life and shuck off the trivial,
as there were on September 10, beside us in the pew and on the street.
What is dramatic is that beginning on September 11, millions of others are now standing
side-by-side with them, with our delusions of security and immortality stripped away, as
well. Together we are invited to hold each other's hand and seek guidance from one another
and God as we reassess what is important and what is not. A whole nation of people is now
invited by God to set aside the irritations and selfishness of our daily life so that we
might focus instead on binding up the wounds of people and recognizing that which is
eternal.
If I were to ask you to remember your moments of greatest satisfaction, you probably
would not name a particular cruise or fancy dinner or the purchase of a new car or dress.
You would remember the birth of a child, an evening spent with good friends, a night
around a campfire telling stories, or a time when you able to speak a word or give a gift
that was truly needed.
You know in your heart and from your own experience already, the truth of Timothy: "Those
who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful
desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of
all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the
faith and pierced themselves with many pains. But as for you, child of God, shun all this;
pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness." (I Tim.
6:6-10)
You have experienced already the truth of the prophet Micah who says, "What does
God require of you, of mortal? To do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly before
your God."
As we regain our balance from the tragedy of this month, this shaking of delusions
becomes a gift we can use, with God's help, to reassess where our security truly lies.
Maybe instead of trading the days and hours of our lives for a bank account that will
never be enough to make us safe, for clothing and ornaments that will never make us lovely
enough to be sure of being loved, and weapons in space that will never keep us safe from
rogue terrorists, we can trade them for warmth for someone out on the street on a freezing
night, and water for a village gone dry, trade them for all the milk a hungry baby can
drink, and comfort for those dying in the slums of Calcutta, trade them for homes for
street children in Argentina, and school books for children in Pasadena and Los Angeles.
Maybe if we drop anything from the skies over Afghanistan it will be food and blankets,
medicine and building supplies.
The God of Easter, whom we worship and serve, is able to bring good from even the most
horrible of circumstances. We serve God and honor the thousands who died when we bring
from this tragedy greater good in our lives, in our nation and in the world.
As new sprouts are visible when old leaves are raked away, new growth can spring up
from the very places where our delusions have been pulled away.
Thanks be to God who gives the growth, who is the anchor in the storm, the ground of
our being, the one who lifts us on the winds of the morning to fly like eagles, and the
only true hope of our salvation. Amen.
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