Rev. Dr. Bary R. Fleet - Pastor
August 5, 2007 – 10th Sunday after Pentecost
Hosea 11:1-11
Colossians 3:1-11
Luke 12:13-21

Where Your Heart Is

Leisurely. Large. Loaded . That’s the less-than-flattering snapshot of today’s average American taken from the Statistical Abstract of the United States for 2007. This 1,300 page report describes statistical trends across numerous aspects of our lives, and – in short – we live a “Super-size Me” life.

We are media saturated. We will spend nearly 10 hours a day either watching TV, surfing the Internet, reading books, magazines, newspapers, or listening to music. I remember Bob Ketchum (a.k.a. “Captain Kangaroo) being asked how he got so much done and he replied, “I don’t watch TV. Clearly, there is nothing wrong with any of those activities, but how much of that time really adds anything to our lives … really? Ten hours – it adds up quickly.

We are fat. Foreign travelers are stunned when they visit the United States and see us … Two-thirds of us are overweight, and one-third of us are medically obese. When we compare that to the rest of the planet, the World Health Organization estimates that 1/3 of the world’s population is well-fed, 1/3 is underfed and 1/3 is starving! Assuming we drink our coffee black, we use a day and a half’s worth of our calories just on our beverages.

We're rich. Half of American households own stocks and mutual funds … compared to one in six people world-wide who live on $1 / day. In 2000, our average net worth was $144,000 … compared to the average Indian or Indonesian whose assets totaled $1,100 or $1,400 respectively.

In 2004, we bought 2.1 billion pairs of imported shoes – or an average of seven pairs for every American!

When was the last time you honestly could not afford something you NEEDED? … not wanted, but actually NEEDED?

Jesus admonished us to be on guard against all kinds of greed … our appetites get us in trouble, in that they lead us away from God! The problem with greed and accumulation is that rich fools (us, perhaps) forget that blessings are intended to be used to bless others. That’s why God gives them to us.
We are loved – so that we might love.
We are given to – so that we can give.
We are forgiven - so that we can forgive.

How many times have seen the Bumper Sticker “God Bless America!.” I would challenge us to realize that America had ALREADY BEEN BLESSED by God … and it is time for us to think about how we can be a blessing to the rest of the world … through our choices.

The spiritual question here has to do with our fundamental value system. It is whether we are about getting or giving … whether we are about accumulating or sharing …

What would our respective lives be like if we decided to go a year buying only what we needed … and every time we chose to pass up one of those “wants” we consciously chose to think about how God has already blessed us?

In a recent survey, a number of women on welfare were asked what they would do if they won the lottery tomorrow. The person conducting the survey got all kinds of answers, but the one that struck him – and stayed with him – came from a quiet woman sitting in the corner of the room. When asked what she would to with a million dollars, she never hesitated: “I'd buy comfortable chairs for us to sit on in the Laundromat I go to.” The man couldn't believe that’s all she wanted.
“No, really, what else would you buy?”
“That’s all,” she said. “That’s all we need!”

Here’s a woman whose heart is in the right place.

NOTE: Much of the above sermon is credited to the July / August 2007 issue of Homiletics, Vol. 19, Number 4.
The last story is from Proclaim from Parish Publishing, New Canaan, CT., August 4, 2007.