"Answering God's Call in a Hyper-Consumer World"
Nathan Dungan
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Luke 16:19-31
Answering God’s Call in a Hyper-Consumer World
By Nathan Dungan, President and Founder, Share Save Spend®
www.sharesavespend.com
9-26-10
[Description of how cell phones are being used as currency in certain parts of the world and how that will impact our children’s spending habits. Also, describe how finder technology is being embedded into phones so consumer product companies can find and then direct kids to their nearest location.]
What is your earliest money memory? I think this question is important for several reasons of which I will address later in the sermon and at the event this afternoon. My earliest money memory occurred when I was six years old and my parents decided it was time for all the kids to open a savings account at the local bank. At six I couldn’t exactly grasp the idea that leaving my money at the bank was somehow a good thing but my parents worked hard to convince me that it was “all good.” In fact, they even had the banker talk with me about the benefits of opening a savings account. Needless to say I was still skeptical. Anyway, when we got home from that trip to the bank all I can remember is sitting on my bed and staring at my empty piggy bank. My older brother, by four years, was also in the room because we shared a bedroom. Certainly he would have some words of consolation for his younger, slightly confused brother. Just then, he turned to me and shared the following words of wisdom. “Your money is gone!”
To be sure, the topic of money is not exactly dinner table conversation in the majority of American homes. And herein lies the challenge. Too often when it comes to talking about money, especially in today’s economy, we live at the extremes. On one end of the continuum we have silence, which, depending on when you grew up or the degree of comfort your parents had with the topic, was likely the norm. At the other end of the talking about money continuum we have loud voices - sometimes very loud voices. Whatever happened to the sane middle? And to make matters even more challenging, rarely does a young person have the opportunity to learn about money in school. Not in public schools, not in private schools. In fact, there isn’t a business school in America that requires their students to take a course in personal finance. Not one. Make no mistake about it; financial illiteracy is playing a starring role in this Great Recession.
But if only it were as simple as learning about compound interest or credit scores or how a trust works. When it comes to money, it is so much more than a transaction. After interacting with thousands of families over the past twenty years I am convinced that the interaction of money is just as important as the transaction. By interaction I mean our family stories, our values, and our faith tradition. At a recent seminar for parents of teens I shared that, “if you don’t have an intentional, values-based system for talking and teaching about money you will likely default to the one the consumer culture has in place for all of us. And that default system is this: see money, spend money. Not only is the default system extremely well funded but it also operates with laser like efficiency.
Let me put this in perspective with a few sobering statistics.
Ø This year American teens will spend $74 billion dollars on food, gas, electronics, movies and music.
Ø By the time a college student reaches their senior year, they will have on average 4 credit cards and approx. $4,000 of credit card debt in addition to nearly $30k of student loan debt.
Ø And according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the after-tax personal savings rate of young adults 35 and under is negative 16%.
Ø And finally, there are more than 80 million young people under the age of 25 in the U.S. (a demographic larger than Baby Boomers) And they, like us, are subjected to more than 5,000 advertising impressions a day. The goal of the impressions? Shape their financial habits and values for a lifetime.
Our society is working overtime to addict the next generation to spending and the consequences are and will continue to have a deep and lasting impact on our country and the world.
We are paying a big price for this stealth addiction. You can see it every day in our communities as it wreaks havoc on families, as it blinds us from seeing the needs in our communities and the greater world, as it pulls us away from sharing time and money with those who are the least fortunate among us.
This dramatic increase in debt that is now “normal” for so many young adults doesn’t just magically appear when they turn 18, 20 or 25. No, this debt starts much earlier in life. It starts at age 5, or 8 or 10 in the form of spending habits – spending habits that metastasize into significant consumer debt in their 20’s and 30’s.
To be clear, my intent today is not to demonize spending. Quite the contrary. Spending should be joyful. Rather, this is an invitation for all of us to consider how our spending balances with our saving and our sharing.
No matter how you slice it, our ability to be generous is in direct proportion to our current money habits and more broadly our overall financial picture. If we are so distracted by the incessant messages of hyper-consumerism, how will we be able to respond to the needs of the world? And unless we have a values-based process and system to counter the onslaught of consumer messages the future does not look pretty.
Best selling author Dr. David Walsh, one of the nation’s pre-eminent child psychologists and expert in the field of how media impacts children’s development and behavior offers the following; “The people who tell the stories define the culture.” When it comes to shaping financial habits and values in the 21st century, who do YOU think is defining the culture?
The bible is filled with stories about money and values and how important it is to wrestle with the notion of rich and poor. In today’s Gospel from Luke 16, it is fairly clear that the rich man is on the wrong side of this exchange.
But it’s not about being rich – that is not the issue. It’s about not paying attention to what going on in the world and more specifically the needs of the world – that would be Lazarus. The Forbes list came out this week and the top two individuals on the list – Bill Gates and Warren Buffett – are both giving all of their money away!
Jesus frequently used parables to boldly and directly challenge our money habits and behavior, to interrupt our daily rhythm and prod us to think more broadly about what God is calling us to do…and be. Earlier in the Gospel of Luke we find Jesus in a similar public forum, addressing a large crowd and speaking directly to the issue. From Luke 8:5
‘A sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell on the path and was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up. 6Some fell on the rock; and as it grew up, it withered for lack of moisture. 7Some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew with it and choked it. 8Some fell into good soil, and when it grew, it produced a hundredfold.’ As he said this, he called out, ‘Let anyone with ears to hear listen!’
11 ‘Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. 12The ones on the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. 13The ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe only for a while and in a time of testing fall away. 14As for what fell among the thorns, these are the ones who hear; but as they go on their way, they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. 15But as for that in the good soil, these are the ones who, when they hear the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patient endurance.
So, if Jesus were here today, I wonder what His reaction would be to the growing gap between the rich and poor or the annual launch of the holiday shopping upcoming also known as Black Friday and Cyber Monday. What might His reaction be to the myriad of mediums we have for purchasing more stuff?
Our culture is working overtime to addict young people to spending and the social, economic and spiritual implications are almost beyond comprehension because we have never been here before. That is, no generation has ever experienced the tsunami of marketing and advertising messages like young people in America.
Bottom line, if we (and that includes the church) aren’t intentional about teaching and linking financial habits and values as part of our faith journey, the culture of greed and materialism will fill the void. And it won’t ask for our permission.
I realize the information I am sharing today is a lot to process in a short period of time and might even border on depressing. But before you think there is no hope let me share the story of Muhammed Yunus.
Muhammed Yunus, a past recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize and a native of Bangladesh, made his first micro loan in 1976. It was $27 to 43 villagers near the University where he was teaching to help them start their own businesses. He said he asked himself, “If you can make so many people happy with such a small amount of money shouldn’t you do more of it.” By the way – all the villagers who were the recipients of his generosity repaid him in full.
“But as for that in the good soil, these are the ones who, when they hear the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart and bear fruit with patient endurance.”
Patient endurance. Step by step. Little by little we make our way in the world pursuing what God is truly calling us to do…and be. And the research supports us on this one. That is, people who focus less on spending and more on saving and sharing are both happier and healthier.
Some years ago, I heard a prominent scholar on stewardship share a very memorable phrase. He said, “Hope, without a plan, is denial.” The point being that merely hoping that hyper-consumerism will somehow magically improve without intervention is naïve at best. Hope doesn’t mean much unless there is some kind of action plan attached to the intention.
The choices we make with our money can change the world!
I am pleased to share that the Central States Synod is stepping up their efforts and providing leadership on this front. In fact, this weekend I am leading training events in St. Louis and one later this afternoon here at Advent, to help congregations and families be more proactive in addressing these issues. The goal is simple: to help youth and adults think about, talk about and then do money in ways that honor their values and their faith journey
If we don’t take it upon ourselves to teach the next generation about gratitude and patience and sacrificing for things we believe in then who will? How will they know the joy of developing and maintaining healthy money habits if we don’t challenge them at a young age to share generously, save wisely and spend appropriately? Mother Teresa said: “do not wait for the leaders, do it alone, person-to-person.”
Last year l participated in an international family investment conference in NYC. After I finished speaking, I was chatting with a gentleman who shared the following story about his son. “Back in 2005 my wife and I read your book and decided to implement the Share Save Spend allowance with our 8 year-old son David. Shortly after Hurricane Katrina, David learned about an appeal at our church to help the people on the Gulf Coast. At that point, I think he had around $60 dollars in his bank of which $15 was earmarked for Sharing. The next week David asked us if it was okay to give his “share money” to the Katrina Fund at church.
Of course we agreed. On the way home from church we asked him how it felt to know he was helping others in need. David, a boy of few words, said ‘yeah…it was pretty cool.’ When we got home, David told us to come to his room because he wanted to show us something. (And this is where the father became very emotional in telling me the story). What David wanted to show us is that all of his money, Share, Save and Spend – was gone. So we asked him, ‘why did you give all your money to the Katrina fund’ and David said, “Because I have so much and they lost everything.”
But as for that in the good soil, these are the ones who, when they hear the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart and bear fruit with patient endurance.”
Amen.