Does consumerism have a cost?  We could talk about the environment. We could look at the UN’s recent study that showed, between 1954 and 2004, 80% of the world’s population became poorer, and 20% became wealthier. We could look at Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and how marketing always pushes consumers to the two lowest levels of need (safety and belonging), and then wonder about how that constant push messes with our minds, our faith, and our relationships. In Evangelical circles, “spiritual warfare” is often defined as God blessing us with stuff (“God blessed me with a new car!”) and the Devil busily taking stuff away (“I’m being attacked! I’m going to lose my house!”). We pursue oil in Iraq to fuel our SUV’s, as part of a moral crusade (“battling Evil”).

                Consumerism has taken more than resources. It has driven war around the world, perpetuated racism, and pushed our values into the toilet. Yet, I have this hope.  The body of Christ will wake up and decide enough is enough. We won’t be defined by our car! We won’t attend a church that only “gives us what we need.” We would begin to serve others and live in a way that is honest, biblical, and engaged with the entire community we live within, including our global community. I don’t think this will be easy. I think it will be incredibly hard. We are going to have to get rid of stuff, give up the culture’s values, be thought of as foolish and radical. At least we’ll be in great company.

                We are on this journey. My wife and I have chosen the Christian mission statement over the one that focused on shareholder’s wealth. We sold our home with the fenced backyard and moved to a smaller place. We turned down the money and took a role that paid less, but impacts more. We have cut back Christmas, don’t buy new cars, and try to give away clothes if we get new ones. But we are still terribly consumerist. It’s a daily battle, to give more away and keep less. To disconnect what I drive from who I am. I still can become terribly self-conscious in my battered 12 year-old Honda, as I sit next to the sharp young guy in the gleaming BMW.  I don’t mind that he has a BMW, but I’m disturbed by how much it bothers me that I don’t!

                So it’s a journey, right? I don’t expect to reach Nirvana and be freed from material things, as great as that would be. I also don’t want to be become a nut who believes everything with a label on it is evil. I want to walk with God in the midst of a culture that has lost its way. The Christian culture, that is. I don’t know that we can expect more from secular culture, but followers of Christ are here to be salt and light, bringing vitality and truth. Tragically, we have grown to distinguish ourselves by how loudly we yell and how deeply we hate. The current economic crisis may be a beautiful opportunity for the Kingdom of God to become visible, distinct, beautiful. A community that has moved beyond what has dragged us, and the rest of the world, into such dark places. Life in the Kingdom. May God give us grace.