READING

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal.

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

"The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

"No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?

And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe youCyou of little faith?

Therefore do not worry, saying, "What will we eat?' or "What will we drink?' or "What will we wear?'

Many simplicity gurus urge us to become "tightwads" as the true path to a simple life. But voluntary simplicity and frugality are not really the same thing. To be sure, frugality is a vehicle for achieving simplicity, but the driving force is a vision, a philosophy, a world view.

If life were a poem, simplicity would be the poet, frugality the line and meter.

If life were a painting, simplicity would be the artist, frugality the paint and brushes.

If life were a building, simplicity would be the architect, frugality the hammer and boards.

Voluntary simplicity is about freedom. It's about owning your own life. Frugality is living with less of what money can buy. Voluntary simplicity is wanting less.

Soon after beginning our partnership more than 25 years ago, we made a revolutionary discovery. It changed our lives then and it continues to make us "different" now. You've heard it before: "time is money." What we discovered is that's not true - time is better than money!

This revelation has allowed us to be content in our work or to change that work when it no longer satisfies. It has permitted us to spend less time acquiring things and more time acquiring experiences, insights, and relationships. It has encouraged us to lend a helping hand in our community, whenever the need arises, because we can make the time to do it. It has given us freedom and control of our lives.[1]

SERMON

I was having trouble figuring out how to focus today's sermon topic until I found the words written by Clay and Judy Woods I just read for the centering. I have strong feelings about responsible consumption in lots of different areas. My moral sense was forming as the ecology movement was being born. Living simply in an ecologically friendly way using appropriate technology has been a passion for me since I was young. I remember vividly the Oil Embargo of the 1970's and the call by President Jimmy Carter to energy independence. An experimental solar house went up at the University of Delaware that fired my imagination as I toured it. I've wanted to live in eco-friendly, energy efficient housing ever since.

The state of earth is perilous today and I don't think I need to spend much time frightening you with scary statistics to persuade you of this. Our lifestyle is completely intertwined with non-renewable fossil fuels being furiously pumped and mined out of the ground. The clothes we wear, how everything moves over the surface of the earth, our food and so much of what we consume is either based on, or refined using fossil fuels. Add in global warming, ozone depletion, deforestation, mass extinction of species, desertification, top soil loss, and radioactive and toxic waste disposal (waste of all kinds for that matter), and the crisis stares you right in the face. None of us are ignorant of these problems, I hope. The question is, how to respond.

I bring the issue of responsible consumption to you today because the Unitarian Universalist Association General Assembly passed a "Study Action Issue" last June for us to begin discussions in our congregations about this topic toward drafting a statement of conscience on the issue at GA. GA is the place we articulate Unitarian Universalist identity and values as an Association. The resolutions passed at GA become more meaningful with broad participation by our congregations. Study Action Issues are the latest method for the UUA to make public statements that have broad support in our congregations and become the basis of collective action. I feel strongly that we as a congregation should actively engage in this process too. Fred Borealli, our denominational affairs representative and I have set aside time after the service today for a discussion on this topic that we can then feed back into the Study Action Issue process for GA. I hope you can come.

So, we as congregations are charged by the UUA to examine this issue:

Irresponsible consumption endangers our future as it wastes raw materials and precious resources, depriving people in other countries as well as our own future generations. Can Unitarian Universalists and their congregations influence people to become more responsible in our consumption of resources?

Thankfully the issue is simple this year and to me the answer is obvious. "Yes" The challenging part, of course, is becoming specific and turning specificity into action.

In talking about this subject, I must begin by confessing I'm thoroughly enmeshed in our consumer culture. I have been diagnosed with affluenza[2], a disease with these symptoms:

1. Stress, overwork, shopping and debt caused by dogged pursuit of the American Dream.
2. The bloated, sluggish and unfulfilled feeling that results from one's efforts to keep up with the Joneses.
3. An unsustainable addiction to economic growth.

One reason for my consumption is being a parent. Those of us with children will recognize how they become seduced by consumerism and come to us begging for more stuff. Andy has a treasure trove of toys and a great Lego collection. When I think a 100 years ago he would have had maybe a top, a ball, a knife and perhaps some books I want to shake my head.

But I don't want to blame Andy. I must also take responsibility for my reckless consumption too. I drive more than I should. We find it convenient, but not necessary, for both Philomena and I to have cars. I like fast computer stuff, books, traveling, eating out and attractive ties. Much as I'd rather be self-righteous about this issue, I must begin confessing my failure and appeal to a higher power for help. And the higher power that will help me and us move toward more responsible consumption is here in this congregation today.

The solution most talked about in response to the problem of over-consumption is something called "voluntary simplicity." The article in the fall UU World on responsible consumption took aim at this solution: offering examples of how Unitarian Universalists are finding ways to hold on to their cars longer, shop in thrift stores, clean out the clutter in their lives, reduce, reuse and recycle. As I read that article, I got the impression this was a limited, tightwad's view of voluntary simplicity. As Clay and Judy Woods put it, voluntary simplicity is about something much larger. It's about freedom.

There is no shortage of religious teachers who have advocated for voluntary simplicity. Jesus asked his followers to sell everything, give their money to the poor and follow him. It is a time-honored tradition in India for a man who has completed his working life to give away his possessions and retreat to the forest to pray. The focus of Islamic life is devotion and surrender to Allah. Theravadan Buddhist monks take a vow of extreme poverty as they dedicate themselves to realizing the Buddha's teaching. The world's prophets knew that the material world offered limited satisfaction and directed us to look beyond it.

Two of the great advocates of simplicity in our Unitarian Universalist heritage were the Transcendentalist's Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. The early to mid-1800s in America was a time when their Transcendentalist views flourished. The Transcendentalists believed that a spiritual presence infuses the world and, by living simply, we could more easily encounter this miraculous and vital Life-force. For Emerson, the Transcendental path began with self-discovery and then led to "...an organic synthesis of that self with the natural world surrounding it." The Transcendentalists had a reverential attitude towards nature and saw the natural world as the doorway to the divine. Nature was seen as the most fitting place for contemplation and receiving spiritual inspiration. By communing with nature, Emerson felt that people could become "part and parcel with God," thereby realizing the ultimate simplicity of oneness with the divine.[3]

Even though Henry David Thoreau is the American patron saint of simplicity, I'd like to direct your attention to a couple who pioneered a simpler way of living in the 20^th century, Helen and Scott Nearing. I heard Helen, now in her 90's, on the radio in Florida and was impressed by who she was and what they were able to do together. During the Great Depression in 1932, they moved from New York City to Vermont. At a time when society was rejecting pacifists, vegetarians, and collectivists, they chose to strike out on their own. Highly principled people filled with a sense of responsibility as teachers and members of the human race motivated to respond to the rise of fascism and injustice, they wanted to model a way of living based on:

an independent economy which would require only a small capital outlay, could operate with low overhead costs, would yield a modest living in exchange for half-time work, and therefore would leave half of the year for research, reading, writing and speaking.[4]

They modeled together the popular icon of living the simple life by returning to the land. They built their own home, grew their own food and developed a cash crop, maple sugaring, as a source of economic income practicing a kind of self reliance that would make Emerson nod with approval. They followed a nutritious vegetarian diet that yielded excellent health for both of them. In their time of ease, they enriched their souls and offered their example to the world.

Laudable as the example of the Nearings is, I don't think you or I are ready to move further upstate and grow cabbage and carrots. While the rural path has much that is praiseworthy for the reclusive person, the social person would have a hard time. The Nearings admit that the one big failing of their project is the development of a social community.

The Nearing's retreat to the farm and other back-to-the-land type movements also don't address the problem of involuntary poverty. Underlying the resistance to simplifying our lives can be the fear of slipping into poverty. Poverty isn't a simpler life and it isn't voluntary. Duane Elgin, in his book, Voluntary Simplicity, can help us understand the difference between the two. In his words:

As I worked side-by-side with [fine migrant farm workers on my father's 40 acre farm] over the years, I saw that poverty has a very human face--one that is very different from "simplicity." Poverty is involuntary and debilitating while simplicity is voluntary and enabling. Poverty is mean and degrading to the human spirit where a life of conscious simplicity can have both a beauty and functional integrity that elevates the human spirit. Involuntary poverty generates a sense of helplessness, passivity and despair where choiceful simplicity fosters a sense of personal empowerment, creative engagement, and opportunity.

Elgin goes on to point out the key to working toward becoming a responsible consumer:

Historically, those choosing a simpler life have sought the golden mean--a creative and aesthetic balance between poverty and excess. Instead of placing primary emphasis on material riches, they have sought to develop, with balance, the invisible wealth of experiential riches.[5]

Why the Nearings and the Woods are remarkable is they have discovered and chosen to live the truth that satisfaction is not found possessing and consuming objects, a dangerous and culturally subversive idea to Madison Avenue. They have chosen to cultivate their souls.

I've learned this lesson in life at a meditation retreat. At a Vipassana Buddhist meditation retreat, life is simplified to the basics. The retreatant, spends their time alternating sitting and walking meditation. Along with time for meals, personal hygiene and sleep, that's it. All of the normal pleasures are removed: no talking, no alcohol, no smoking, no television, no sexual activity, no intentional distraction of the mind. There are no meals after noon. In that environment of great austerity, I experienced some of the happiest, most fulfilled moments of my life. I learned just how little my well being was dependent on those pleasures and that gave me a tremendous sense of freedom. My happiness and fulfillment wasn't found in what I consumed. It was already there, waiting to be uncovered.

That uncovering process, the journey of personal growth and discovery, reading and learning, relational and artistic activities are not primarily based on the consumption of materials and are the most satisfying human endeavors. Voluntary simplicity encourages us to move our spending toward these kinds of activities. Spending our resources on dance, theater, and music. Taking classes, reading books and joining discussion groups. Seeing a therapist, getting a massage, going to workshops, and working on personal healing and growth. Pursuing spiritual awakening.

This place is a center of these kind of activities. This very service is a great way for you to responsibly invest your money. The costume karaoke last Saturday! Silver Bay! Can you beat that for an entertainment value with a low ecological cost? Inspiration! Meaning! (This is turning into a canvass sermon.) Our religious community is a very sensible ecological choice for the responsible consumer.

I heard President Clinton say on Thursday night that the Information Economy can grow while we save our environment. The reason for this is that information is not dug from the ground, fished out of the sea or cut down and harvested. It comes from our minds, the source of the world's greatest treasure.

Becoming responsible consumers requires a change in values. Thankfully, we Unitarian Universalists already have our values in the right place. We know that SUV's and individually wrapped hot dogs and cheese slices are not necessary to our well being. We know that much of the clutter in our homes is unnecessary. We know creature comfort can coexist with careful consumption. There is a proper place for materialism when balanced with social and ecological concerns.

As usual, we have the right ideas. What we need to do is turn them into action.

So I encourage this congregation to consider how we can become a force, a higher power if you will, in our lives, our community, our state and our world, to move us toward becoming more responsible consumers. This issue is worthy of our attention.

Benediction

Probably the most satisfying experience of being alive
is giving and receiving love.
While material objects may be a conduit of that love,
they are not the message.
And as we all know, love is priceless.
Go from this place
Freed from any dependence on things for meaning
And open to the Spirit of Life
As a source of the satisfaction you desire.

[1] Welcome to Clay and Judy Woods' homepage. http://www.word-works.com/simple.htm
[2] from a PBS documentary with the same name
[3] Duane Elgin, Voluntary Simplicity Toward a Way of Life that Is Outwardly Simple, Inwardly Rich found on his web site at http://www.awakeningearth.org/VS_excerpts.htm
[4] Nearing, Helen and Scott, The Good Life: Helen and Scott Nearing's Sixty years of Self Sufficient Living, 1989, Schocken Books, New York, ISBN 0-8052-0970-0, p.4
[5] Duane Elgin, http://www.awakeningearth.org/VS_excerpts.htm