Poking The Bear

Summary

The Rev. Dr. Fred G. Garry
“Poking the Bear”
Scripture Reference: Matthew 6.24

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.

 

I got in trouble a few years back.  I criticized the local fire department.  Only it wasn’t a comment in passing or a discussion in a board meeting; it was an article in the paper with a headline, a byline, a picture of me and my name.  I wrote for the paper quite often, sometimes there was controversy, sometimes not.  This time?  Just a bit.

My critique was about a labor dispute.  The firefighters’ contract had been in dispute for years.  The sticking point was something called minimum staffing.  The firefighter’s union believed the minimum should be set at 13-16 at all times; the city believed this was fiscal irresponsibility and unsustainable.  I made the point that given the rise of building codes and fire safety, the level of staffing should be lower and lower if the population of the city was flat or declining, and it was declining.

But the real point of the article was to warn of greed.  In order to inflate the role in public safety played by the fire department they adopted a “respond to every call” policy.  So if there was a 911 call, no matter what it entailed, the fire trucks rolled.  This was an attempt to say, “look at how busy we are; look at all we do.”  In truth, what it really did was create the impression that the city of Watertown, New York was engulfed in flames every day, morning, noon, and night.  But it was not.

My point in the article was to say, you are losing the confidence and trust of the people.  I illustrated this with something that happened at the church.  On the sidewalk, on a hot August day, an elderly woman fainted and hit her head when she fell to the ground.  We called for an ambulance.  As the EMTs were treating her, the hook and ladder truck rolled up with lights and sirens.  In the article I said, “a woman fell down and you brought a hook and ladder truck.”

This was not about public safety; this was about job security.  You can say, this was when I poked the bear.  Friends told me, “I hope your house doesn’t catch fire.”

I always hope my house doesn’t catch fire, but I wasn’t afraid.  I didn’t doubt the dedication of the firefighters or their training.  I had no concern they would put out a fire.

My concern was how the public perceived them and how they spent their day was falling to the ruin of greed.  When the sirens wailed, people rolled their eyes, grumbled about contracts, and generally felt disappointed that an esteemed public service had stumbled into foolishness for a little money.

In the end the firefighters got their contract renewed, the city manager got fired, and it was very costly in terms of lawsuits and litigation.  But the real cost was confidence and trust.  It was ruined.

Greed can ruin us.  This is not a mystery or bizarre thought.  We all know the morality tales: a little money goes to our head and all of sudden the joy and goodness of life is exchanged for possessions and power.  Ruin is never far behind.  We know this. And the firefighters, God bless them, were sacrificing a powerful place of esteem for a contract built upon falsity and job security.  That is ruinous.  But we know this.

Our teaching today is (yet again) a riddle about ruin and freedom.  This is a clue to follow so to escape disaster.  If you don’t follow it, ruin is likely.  These seven teachings of Jesus all have this risk and reward built into them.  Failing is the risk of ruin; living them is our freedom and salvation.

The teaching of masters and slaves, God and wealth, is like the first two, but different. This is getting more difficult.  This is a not a beginner level.  The first and the second riddles (find the treasures of heaven and light of the body) are challenging.  But with the question of devotion, who we are going to serve, we are venturing toward a higher level, call it, “intermediate.”

In May, I sent our interns a little piece I wrote called “the top ten things that guide me in church finance.”  They asked for it.  Think David Letterman Top Ten only there was no parody.  I wasn’t joking.

The most important guide, number one thing, about church finance was: never worry about money.  Never worry about money.  What I hoped Beth and Ryon would see was that money is  never the point, the focus; if it is, you lose what is important: freedom. Never worry about money.

In my farewell reception before we moved to Metuchen, an elder church spoke to this.  He said, “when you came here you said, ‘never worry about money;’ I didn’t believe you.”  This was my dear friend Phil.  Phil said, “I thought you were nuts and not very financially savvy.  But over the years I have come to see what this means.”  And then he explained it.  You find the right path; you do the right thing; but you never waste energy on worry about money.  The money comes.

This made me very happy.  It is not often in ministry when you get to hear this or see this kind of affirmation.  And what this affirms is the teaching we have of Jesus about masters.  Not worrying about money is a leap you make.  Phil was describing the path of freedom from greed.  The leap.

Although just a beginning, this leap is necessary.  I can promise you that every stewardship sermon, letter, talk, illustration I will ever offer comes from this basic truth: stewardship is about finding freedom from greed.

Not worrying about money is just the first step toward that freedom.  There are more; nine more for pastors.  Without the leap the rest is never right.  Losing the fear of money is just the beginning, but it is the beginning.

After this comes a greater and greater devotion to freedom.  Because greed is much more than money.  Greed is possession and after possession it is expectation and after this, control. At its deepest level greed can become our security or trust.

Greed reaches all of these.  If you devote yourself to freedom and loving God, serving God, you can navigate through all of these levels unto more and more freedom.  Money is really just the easiest.

This particular step toward heaven is more challenging than the ones that came before.  The greater challenge is the temptation to reduce greed to money.  It is easy to reduce greed or wealth to money.  We reduce it when we say, “well, I don’t have to worry about wealth because I am not wealthy”; or “I am doing good here because I don’t care for things.”  Which is great and true and nice.  But in this reduction, we fail to see the reach of greed.

We might not be wealthy but we may very well struggle with possession or control of others.  We might not be a greedy person in terms of money, but we might be with emotions or power or prestige.  Every expectation we have has an element of control and greed.  We might be kind and compassionate, but if our financial security is in danger, all bets are off. You see how the fear of money, money as greed, is just a basic level here.  Greed reaches deep into everyone.

I had a chance to tell my friend, Phil, that he was living his insight about money long before his testimonial.  I reminded him of his advice to young couples.  Phil is a wealth manager and many of his clients are young doctors.  He sets up a financial plan for them with an eye toward retiring well.  After he sets up the plan, he gives them a direction.  He says, “now, this all comes down to you being nice to him; and you being nice to her.  This financial plan is ruined if you don’t love each other and treat each other with respect.”

Phil was talking about the financial disaster that often comes with divorce.  Many a financial plan has been brought to ruin with divorce.  It is true.  But his advice speaks to the challenge Jesus is presenting here.  Getting the money right, navigating money, is really very simple.  Navigating love, what it means to trust a spouse and nurture a marriage without the tyranny of expectations? That is hard.  I told him, “that was a good sermon you gave to many.”

My article in the newspaper was not as good as Phil’s advice.  It didn’t take; it didn’t have effect.  It didn’t because the relationship was already broken.  The trust of the community in the firefighters was fractured.  Was it broken beyond repair?  I hope not.  What will it take to heal it?  Not sure.  But the temptation of greed broke a trust.  I know that for sure.

I began the piece by saying, don’t kick puppies, don’t be mean to children, and don’t criticize firefighters.  If you do, you will poke the bear. If it were just about money, I am not sure my article would have had great impact. Yet, when it reached the level of security, job security, then the gloves came off.

What really upset people in the article was a matter of security. The temptation of greed at its most basic is money. Yet greed can also become our security, job security.  That is what really poked the bear in my article.  This is when greed is very powerful.

I poked the bear then, and I trust I’ll do the same here if I began to delve too deeply into what gives us security.  Security is sacred.  Right now, there are a lot of people reimaging their security, what it means to feel secure.  Right now possessions are far less important and control is nebulous.  I know if I push too hard right now the sense of insecurity will come all too clear.

Right now, we are deeply connected to each other in ways we have not been since the great depression. It is not a coincidence that social security came out of the depression.

You can’t serve God and wealth; a slave cannot serve two masters.  This is a timeless challenge, a perennial risk and reward of life.  Yet, of the seven riddles Jesus offers this one might be the most timely, the most relevant, and, the most difficult.

It is one thing for a pastor in a meeting about replacing a roof to say, “we can’t worry about money.”  It is another to turn to folks living paycheck to paycheck when there is no potential of paycheck for months to come and say, “you can’t worry about money.”  I get that.  Yet, worry never helps; it is not a good guide, ever.

Worry never leads to freedom.  This is a tough message right now with all that is happening.

Wealth is always a tenuous security.  And yet this is very tempting.

Greed is so much more than money, but you have to start there to find freedom.

Following Jesus is not easy, but it is the way unto eternal life.  Let’s keep with him.  Amen.