Now that it is winter, each morning by 7:30 there are a dozen or so sparrows outside the kitchen window, sitting on bare rose branches peering into the kitchen watching our every move. They are very sweet the way they cock their heads and eye us. The other day there was an albino sparrow, and always some white-eyes. Of course they are waiting for something. For better or worse, we usually toss out a crust of bread for them on these hard mornings.

It occurred to me last week that they are a bit like the crowds who gathered round Jesus as he roamed the Galilean countryside. They gathered, like these simple birds, for morsels of nourishment. He went up a hill and the crowds followed. He was pressed on all sides and worn down by them. He sailed in a boat around the lake to allow his disciples rest from them. But they walked around the lake edge, and were there when he arrived.

They flocked around him because he was a beautiful speaker, a compelling speaker. And as the gospel reading tells us “He spoke with authority, not as the scribes and teachers of the law”. But every now and then his sayings were hard. Eventually all the crowds left him and Jesus had to ask his disciples “will you also go away?” Today’s reading is a hard reading.

“Not every one who says to me, `Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, `Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, `I never knew you; depart from me.’ Matt 7:21-24.

I don’t know about you but that makes me feel nervous. How many mighty works have I done in his name? Am I even on the page here? There is a dire warning here which we need to analyse and understand. It is important to realize that this comes right at the end of the Sermon on the Mount. He finishes by saying “If anyone hears these words of mine and obeys them he is like a wise man who built his house upon a rock”. The key with this warning therefore is to understand what the Sermon on the Mount is all about.

Damon asked me today to speak about “Consumption and Happiness” (#1). Sir Brian Heap gave a talk on this subject recently and I will use some of his diagrams. I am going to suggest there is a strong link here with today’s readings. I will return to that.

We are a consumer society. But are we a happy society? Are the two related? Of course the advertising industry is based on the premise that if we buy this or that we will be fulfilled – we will be happy. Christians have always been wary of this. Over the centuries there has been a strong tradition of self-denial and frugality in the church. In fact, consumption/consumerism is in some circles thought evil. But we live in a capitalist/consumerist society and the fact is that it is this and this alone that has lifted 300 million Chinese above the poverty line in the past 15 years. No other programme, social or political, could have achieved this miracle of our modern times. Global poverty, after rising relentlessly for the last 1000 years, is now falling rapidly (#2). Global prosperity is rising even faster. All of this is on the back of democratic capitalist consumerism. So it is wrong to dismiss consumption outright. As with all things it is a question of balance, kind and degree.

(#3) In 1776 Thomas Jefferson penned these famous words of the Declaration of Independence:

“all men are created equal, they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”.

There is a threshold of prosperity necessary to achieve basic happiness. This occurs when there is sufficient to eat, access to basic health, basic education and political freedoms. An obvious goal is to lift all peoples safely above the poverty line. Beyond that, wealth seems to have little impact on happiness (#4). In fact Japan which enjoys the highest prosperity amongst all nations has about the lowest happiness index in the Western world. Globally, there is a threshold of about $10,000 per person per year above which wealth has no impact whatsoever.

So, consumption, at the high end, achieves nothing for happiness. In fact, it may detract. Each year, the British organization City and Guilds publishes a happiness index of worker groups. Always at the top are hairdressers followed closely by clergy and beauticians. None of these are known for the size of their salary packages – but they are in the business of making people feel better about themselves. That seems to make them happier at the same time. At the bottom are lawyers, IT specialists and real estate agents – with 5 or more times the income!! No further comment required.

Well then just how much do we consume? Let’s look at some numbers:

Everything comes back to energy. How much energy did it take to make this appliance, or operate it, or warm this house of worship? (#5) On average, humankind uses enough energy to make a million cups of tea per person per day! 90% of that energy comes from fossil fuel. To put this in perspective we burn a million years’ worth of fossil fuel every year to keep our consumer society running. This is a huge imbalance and we know at the most basic level that there is a problem here.

But imbalance is not the only problem. For local communities there has always been a tension between consumption and survival. But today that tension has grown well beyond just local communities. For the first time in our history consumption threatens the entire planet. This rapacious burn of fossil fuel is belching greenhouse gases into the atmosphere causing possibly irreversible damage to the world’s animal and plant life.

There is a solution. This huge energy consumption each year is equivalent to just 47 minutes of sunshine on our planet (#5b). God our Creator has given planet Earth a wonderful gift in the form of a molecule called chlorophyll (#6). It is closely related to haemoglobin. Chlorophyll not only converts sunlight into vast quantities of energy but rather miraculously converts carbon dioxide back into oxygen. It reverses what we currently do in our consump-tion. This is God’s natural order for planet Earth and we need to learn how to mimic it.

The problem is that as we get richer we want to get richer still. Every nation on this Earth wishes to increase its GDP. And really, if NZ wishes to have a decent health system, adequate roads, education, housing and welfare then we need to raise our GDP. But along with that there is an inevitable increase in energy demand. The two go hand in hand (#7). To catch up with Denmark we need to lift our GDP by 40% but that also means increasing our energy consumption by 40%. There is no way that we can do this on the immediate horizon.

(#8) Over the past 30 years the percentage of students who say that it is very important to be well off financially has been steadily rising, while the percentage stating it is very important to develop a meaningful philosophy of life has been steadily falling. Over that same time their personal income in real dollars has climbed rapidly. In other words their wealth goals are being realised – but there has been no observable change in their happiness levels, which actually rate quite low. They, and much of the rest of society, are following a false dream: namely that wealth and consumption will increase happiness. Meanwhile the planet languishes and still too many are locked in hopeless poverty. Our footprint is getting voraciously larger but our sense of groundedness is in decline. [Turangawaewae is the Maori word, isn’t it? – a place to stand. But our feet are getting so big…]

Now the Bible has much to say about these issues and for many centuries Christian people in varying degrees have felt compelled to swim against the prevailing currents. We have little time so here are a just few themes:
Stewardship: “go forth and replenish the Earth”
Accountability: “The Mighty One, God the Lord speaks and summons the Earth”
Ownership: “The Earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof”;
Happiness: “in Thy presence is fullness of joy”
Busyness & wealth: “Show me, O LORD, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting is my life. Man is a mere phantom as he goes to and fro: He bustles about, but only in vain; he heaps up wealth, not knowing who will receive it. – Psalm 39: 4-6

Recently I have been reading the book of Jeremiah. I am struck by how much the land and its productivity is linked directly to social justice and faithfulness to God’s law. Not only are there 70 years captivity but 70 years desolation of the land. The promise of return is linked to the promise of flourishing desert places. The theme is a constant one throughout the Old Testament and highlights the insight that moral strength and Godly fear lead to a deep sense of accountability from which flows social, political and agricultural sustainability. We have much to learn from this wise Book.

Now consider the way Jesus lived. He had a small footprint. He challenged the notion of consumption and turned upside down our ideas of happiness. We get a sense of this right from the beginning in his responses to the three temptations. “Man shall not live by bread alone” (Matt 4:4) “Man shall not live by spectacle”. “Man shall not live by political power”.

So on Friday I set myself the task of reading through the gospels to get a feel for Jesus’ footprint, and his insights on consumption and happiness. I realised that this is exactly what the Sermon on the Mount is all about. Do you see the connection then? Today’s gospel reading is the last bit of his Sermon on the Mount. It therefore became clear that Jesus’ dire warnings were about failure to take to heart these injunctions on consumption and happiness.

Listen to that eternal voice on that ancient wind-swept hillside:

“Happy are the poor in spirit. Happy are those that mourn, those who hunger, those who are merciful, the pure in heart, the peace-makers, the persecuted. If any one sue you for your coat, let him have your cloak as well. If any strikes you on the cheek, turn the other. Give in secret with no fanfare. Pray in secret with no flourish. Do not lay up treasure on Earth, but store up treasure in heaven. No man can serve two masters. You cannot serve God and wealth. Do not be anxious saying, what shall we eat, or drink or wear? Consider the lilies of the field – they do not sow, they do not reap yet God clothes them in glory”.

The Sermon on the Mount is all about holding lightly to rights, time, privileges and property. So when Jesus states that “everyone who hears these words of mine and does them is like a wise man who built his house upon the rock” he is saying this: I want you to have a small footprint. I want you to hold lightly to your prosperity. I want you to find your happiness in things other than consumerism. I want you to be nourished by helping others. I want you to live your lives a little more on the edge, trusting in your Heavenly Father for your needs. Your joy is to be found in making peace, in singleness of purpose, and in seeking God’s presence. Everything else is shifting sand.
A sermon by Jeff Tallon at St Alban’s Church 1 June 2008

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