Thou Shalt Not Hoard

I always have to look up the seven deadly sins. Funny how they’re hard to remember. I can remember most of them, but I rarely get the whole list accurately. I would point out that the list of seven has been modified from time to time over the centuries. And it does not come from Scripture, but is a construct of the church. I was thinking about the seven deadly sins this week because I was trying to remember if "hoarding" was one of them. It isn’t. Nonetheless hoarding does seem to be something that faithful Christians should try to avoid. Thou shalt not hoard. The dictionary defines hoarding as "accumulating [something] for future use in a hidden or carefully guarded place". Defined that way hoarding doesn’t sound all bad. In fact it almost sounds positive… prudent… the opposite of prodigal or profligate. Surely God would not judge us for guarding our future.

But, no. Hoarding is not a positive term or a commendable practice. It is rooted in fear and greed. And even more importantly, it is indifferent to community. Throughout Scripture, the people of God are described as just that: a people, a community. It is as a community that God cares for and loves us, from the Exodus to the present day. God brought a people out of Egypt and led them to the promised land. As Christians, we are called, as a connected group of people, to be the Body of Christ. As individuals, our personal relationships with God are profoundly important. A yearning for personal salvation or a personally redeeming relationship with God must be part of the foundation upon which a faithful life is built. But "accepting Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior" is not the culmination of the Christian life. Nor is it the end of God’s hope for each of us. Personal salvation is not the end of God’s work in us, nor the end of our work as faithful Christians. God seeks the world’s transformation. And it is only as a community that we are transformed into God’s vision for us and it is only as a community that we may be God’s agents working for the transformation of the world. We must always be looking beyond ourselves to the needs of the broader community.

Which is the problem with hoarding. Acquiring just for myself, generally a good bit more than I really need, and then hiding, guarding, fending off others. That’s the sin of hoarding. Hoarding is not just about having things; it is about keeping others from having things. When any individual hoards anything, he or she separates himself or herself from the community and therefore weakens the community, making all of us less as the people of God.

Remember this morning’s reading from Deuteronomy. "If there is among you anyone in need, a member of your community in any of your towns within the land that the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hard-hearted or tight-fisted towards your needy neighbor…. Be careful that you do not entertain a mean thought, thinking, ‘The seventh year, the year of remission, is near,’ and therefore view your needy neighbor with hostility." In other words, do not hoard from your neighbor. Do not hoard for your own future. Hiding, guarding what you have from others, severing community.

Every seventh year the fields were left fallow. This was by God’s command. It was for the long-term health of the soil and therefore was a means to help ensure the future, the flourishing of God’s people, as a people, in the land the Lord their God had given them. But it meant, of course, that some portion of the fields produced no harvest in a given year. The writer of Deuteronomy reminds the people of God that this year of remission is not an excuse to hoard. Thou shalt not hoard. It is one of God’s commandments, even if it didn’t make the top ten or the church’s formal list of seven deadly sins. Thou shalt not hoard. As Deuteronomy says, "Since there will never cease to be some in need on the earth, I therefore [in the name of God] command you, ‘Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your land.’"

I expect every one of us, in some measure of another, knows what hoarding feels like. Anyone with siblings has probably been on one side or the other of the practice of hoarding. Acquiring. Clinging. Hiding whatever it is from others. Guarding, protecting. Hoarding always has those two parts. It’s not just having something ourselves. It’s a reluctance for others to have it. We hoard all sorts of things. Toys from our siblings. Money. Time for personal pleasures. Privacy. A special experience. Sometimes we hoard friends, keeping them from others. I wonder if sometimes we might hoard the liberties and opportunities of our nation, wanting them only for ourselves. A position of power. A particular role or privilege. All sorts of talents and possessions.

The way to recognize hoarding in our lives is to look to those things that we guard in secrecy. I think we all hoard money to some degree or another. Why else would we treat it with such compulsive secrecy? Think about what you guard from others in your life. What you hoard secretly. What you defensively protect. What asset you have that you really don’t want others to know about… that you don’t want to share. What is it that you hoard?

The opposite of hoarding is generosity. Not sacrifice or privation or extreme self-denial. God does not want anyone to starve, during the year of remission or any other time. The opposite of hoarding is generosity. Thou shalt be generous. "It is good to be generous," the psalmist says today. And in Second Corinthians, Paul talks a lot about generosity. The context for this morning’s reading from Second Corinthians is complex. Basically, Paul is soliciting donations from the Corinthians to aid the church in Jerusalem. The need is real. But Paul may well have had other pastoral agendas as well… He is teaching the newer Gentile Christians of their responsibility for the broader Christian community, including the original Jewish Christians of Jerusalem. Being a Christian means being a part of a broader interdependent community. Paul is also publicly celebrating the generous spirit of the Christians in Macedonia. And he is teaching theologically about Christ’s generosity.

In the midst of this, two things come through from Paul loud and clear. First: the need to be mindful of others… the need to be mindful of balancing abundance and need within the Christian community. Paul is not calling the Corinthians to sacrifice. He is not demanding that they ignore their own needs or unreasonably deny themselves. He is reminding them that they are part of a community. And being part of a Christian community means being a part of the community’s overall well-being. "I do not mean that there should be relief for others and pressure on you, but it is a question of a fair balance between your present abundance and their need, so that [perhaps in some other time] their abundance may be for your need…" Don’t hoard. Hoarding destroys the community. Remember you are part of a community.

And the second point is a very basic one. Be generous. Regardless of other’s need. Regardless of anything else. Be generous. I recently attended a diocesan workshop for clergy on "Talking about money." A wide range of topics was covered. Much of the focus ended up on the role of clergy in major capital campaigns. But one comment really stuck with me. Like most people, I don’t really like talking about money, mine or yours. But we were reminded to overcome that reluctance, especially as church leaders. Because part of my job, part of the job of all lay and ordained church leaders, is to help others become generous people. To provide the opportunity, the incentive, the expectation that Christians be generous people. To help you become generous people.

Be generous. With all of your assets, not just the financial ones. Be generous. It is a wonderful opportunity and privilege. Generosity is a sharing in the life and ministry of Christ. The Macedonians begged for the privilege of sharing in this ministry, for the privilege of sharing in Christ’s ministry of generosity. Paul says, "For you know the generous act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich." Christ generously brought God’s presence to earth. Christ generously shared the riches of heaven itself with those of us who are dust. When we are generous we share in that ministry of Christ. We bring God’s presence to earth. We bring heaven into the streets and rooms and activities of our daily lives. Be generous. With all that you have. Be generous. Amen.