Yesterday in church one of the questions I raised in my sermon was what motivates people to be willing to sacrifice or change significant aspects of their lifestyles in order to live more faithfully regarding a cause. One of the stories I told was about an article I read in Sunset magazine within the past year about a family of four in Mill Valley who were no longer producing garbage. They moved from a 3000 square foot home into a 1400 square foot home and kept only those things that they used and touched regularly. They sold or gave away everything that wasn’t used regularly. They each have a limited number of clothing items and shoes. What transfixed me about their story, however, was that they grocery shop in such a way that they do not buy food that comes in packages. The mother goes to a bakery each week and buys several loaves of fresh bread and puts them into a pillow case and takes them home and puts them in the freezer. Even that makes my head spin.
Taking the time to go to a separate bakery, having the forethought to take a pillow case along, being willing to freeze bread outside of a plastic bag, and doing it on a regular basis just blows me away. Now you can see why I asked the question, “Don’t you wonder what motivates people to commit themselves to changing their lifestyles? Don’t you wonder what motivates people to be willing to sacrifice for something about which they feel strongly?” When you consider all of the causes and movements in the world that we hear about and then don’t do anything about, it is remarkable when something stops us in our tracks and we begin to change our lives.
During the Civil Rights Movement I was a young child so it has only been as I became an adult and learned a great deal more about what occurred that I have wondered what prompted certain people to stand arm in arm with those who were fighting for equality. As a pastor, I am especially intrigued by how many clergy stood by and watched or refused to join in because they knew they might lose their jobs or even worse. You cannot imagine how much time I have spent wondering if I would have been willing to put my life on the line for something in which I believe so deeply – the value of every human life equally. When I think about that question I automatically bring myself into the present moment and wonder what deeply held convictions I carry and how much I am willing to sacrifice in order to be faithful to those convictions.
While you would never look at me and say I am a tree hugging nature loving earthy kind of person, I do hold a deep love for our planet and I feel great concern about the damage we are doing constantly. Global warming is not a theory but a daily reality. The problem is that we are all geared toward consumption and to alter our lives means HUGE changes. If I feel so strongly about wanting to participate in the healing of our planet rather than its destruction, why have I not changed my lifestyle significantly? Am I waiting for catastrophe? Am I waiting until I absolutely have to?
Most of us who live in America and are middle to upper middle class live in homes that are far larger than our need. We overconsume every possible resource. Perhaps we get caught up in thinking that our individual lives don’t matter much in the big picture. Last week I heard a story about when Reno, Nevada, was having a water shortage and they asked the inhabitants of the city to conserve water. The residents did such a great job of conservation that the city then voted to build SIX new casinos. The residents were so angry that they decided they would stop conserving water since in the end it produced such horrible results. While I understand the emotion, I don’t understand the logic. Water is scarce. We all need to conserve. The residents of Reno got swept up in a political battle that needs to be fought on a different level.
At the end of the day we have to ask ourselves whether we did the best we are able to do in each of the areas to which we are committed. We really have no idea the impact we can make as one person or as one family until we do our very best. Today is the first day of the rest of our lives in which we can commit to doing our very best.