America's Diseases

"Acquisitivitis" - the sickness of extreme desire to always acquire more (of whatever)...
"Affluenza" - the sickness of extreme desire to be affluent or more affluent than others around one

Cornell West in his radio show with Tavis Smiley last week spoke in terms of addiction.  We are addicted to always getting more... the nature of greed is that, no matter how much one has beyond what is enough, one will continue to want "more" because "more" is out there.

We want more money.  We want more things that money can buy.  We want more power.  We want more control over others so we can get more.  We want more of what we want, how we want it and when we want it, and we will do anything necessary to get it, no matter what it costs!

The price for acting on these diseases is great, and not just for those who have the diseases!
Others pay the price, because we will do what we must to get more at someone else's expense!  We will fill our houses with the cheap goods we get from exploited workers in some far off land who have to work long hours for little pay so that we can have what we want at "a good price".  When our houses are full, way beyond any capacity of enough, we buy bigger houses to store more stuff (sound like the Rich Fool in Luke 12 yet?)
If we have to pay more because someone is making a living wage to make what we want, we will go to someone less scrupulous, who will be glad to sell us goods which are cheaper because someone else paid the price so that we might have them.
We will pollute the earth we live on... the water we drink... the air we breath, so that we can get what we want... gasoline (instead of other forms of energy), charcoal for our grills, polystyrene and plastics, clothing that is cheap, fuel that is cheaper than anywhere else in the world... we kill species of plants and animals, we waste our natural resources of trees, water, fish and animals... we pump poisons into our own air, water and into our own lands (and overseas)... we want what we want, and we will do what we have to to get it... there is a very strong sense of entitlement here... not matter what...
The price for acting on these diseases is great to us, too.  Some folks work themselves to death, to get "more", always more.  We neglect the true gifts of family, friends, time off, the quiet pleasures and simple joys that cost nothing in order to make "more", always more... we are destroying the planet we live on... the creation of God... of which we are a part of over which we have been called to be good stewards...

We think it means security, but it is a false security.  It erodes security.  We make enemies out of our exploitation of others and greed.  That makes us less secure.  Instead of coming together to secure a better life for everyone and thereby gaining the respect, admiration and care of others, we use others for what we can get, thinking that what we gain can be secure.  The money we put away is not secure itself, and the truth is that the more we make the more we spend anyway, so that very few have a "nest egg" or "rainy day fund".  Our pensions are certainly not secure and neither are our jobs right now.
We think it means comfort.  It is NOT comfortable for those exploited so that we can have what we want cheaply.  It leaves much of the world uncomfortable, which eventually will affect our comfort zone as well.  It will not be comfortable for long, when one realizes that the comfort one has has been gained off the backs of others who know that.  It is not about comfort... we cannot, when we are in the grip of greed, be comfortable, because we cannot be satisfied with what we have... it's not about what we have and being thankful and grateful for it, but always about getting "more", always more.  There is no comfort allowed in that striving.
We think it means success.  It is a false success.  We cannot savor the success, because we must always strive for "higher", "more" and "better".  There is always more of that out there, and we are not truly a success until we have "it all", or "the highest" or "the best".  Instead of marking success from a community perspective, making sure that all have enough and considering that none of us is a success if all of us are not successes, we make it a very individual, solitary and isolated venture... self-ish... self- centered... self-consumed... and others "be damned".  "I will get it... take care of your own... I'm number one!"  Instead of employers realizing that it is good business to pay people well and treat them well so that they stay and produce, rather than use them up and have to train replacements all the time... instead of showing loyalty to their employees in tough times by taking less profit rather than laying them off, rather than padding their own pockets by bonuses gained by lifting profits by laying off workers... they are short sighted, selfish and unjust.  That is no success at all.  If all do not succeed, it is a failure of our humanity.  Some are incapable of seeing that because the disease goes deeply for them.
We think it means happiness.  Happiness is a fleeting and fickle thing.  We sacrifice a deep, abiding joy in our soul's well-being, relationships and sharing in community, for the tentative and superficial happiness that comes, and goes quickly, from acquisitiveness and affluence.  Seeing others who are unhappy, in need and hopeless because we want what we want should not be the source of our happiness.  The plight of others does affect our joy, if we are not sociopathic by nature, so gaining fleeting happiness in things gotten off the plight of others cannot add to our deep, abiding joy... only to our fickle, fleeting happiness.  And that cannot be sustained.

We sacrifice healthy relationships and the joy in them, healthy bodies, healthy and peaceful minds and souls that are inseparably connected to the God who demands Agape Love (active, committed, unconditional and self-sacrificing love) for our neighbors AS FOR OURSELVES.  We cannot be healthy and be subject to acquisitivitis or affluenza.  We cannot be whole or complete and submit to these diseases.

Enough IS enough.  To combat the greedy, ruthless, mean-spirited, selfish diseases mentioned above, one can realize what is enough and be THANKFUL for what one ALREADY HAS... people (family, friends, co-workers, acquaintances, neighbors), possibilities, opportunities in community and peace within.  One can be satisfied with what one already has... give to those who do not have enough, which will peak their joy... with a grateful heart celebrate the joy of that satisfaction and fullness.  One can let go of the guarded quest to keep what one has at any price, and the fearful striving of needing to always get more at any cost, and be joy-filled... which, by the way, will lead to others around us being more joy-filled and whole, complete and at peace in justice.

We cannot live in acquisitiveness and greed and exhibit the fruit of the Spirit in the world around us:
    LOVE, JOY, PEACE, PATIENCE, KINDNESS, GENEROSITY, FAITHFULNESS,
    GENTLENESS and SELF-CONTROL... Gal. 5
We cannot be selfish, self-centered and self-consumed and "look not only to your own interests, but to
    the interests of others."  Phil. 2
We cannot love God fully or love Neighbor AS ONESELF, and actively work to exclude or exploit
    others for our own gain; doing that, we cannot keep Jesus' commandment.  Matt. 22
We cannot be ruthless, mean-spirited and sociopathic and be faithful to God in the world around us -
    What causes wars, and what causes fightings among you?  Is it not your passions that are at war in your members?  You desire and do not have; so you kill.  And you covet and cannot obtain; so you fight and wage war.  You do not have, because you do not ask.  You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend on your own passions... James 4


Acquisitivitis and Affluenza lead to exploitation, exclusion, the invasion and occupation of foreign lands (whether with our military or corporate colonizers), keeping people down and the SICKNESS UNTO DEATH OF OUR SOULS.

What cost will we continue to pay, in order to have it all?  What cost will others continue to pay for it?
How long do YOU think we can keep doing this?

Pastor Jamie