at the First Congregational Church of Stoughton

United Church of Christ

In our scripture lesson this morning, the prophet Isaiah asks a question, a question as relevant in our the 21st century as it was some 2,600 years ago: "Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?"

It is an especially pertinent question during the season of Lent, when we are called to look deep into our hearts, to reassess our lives, and to be honest with ourselves about how we have separated from God, and God’s people, and God’s purpose for our lives.

And part of that introspection is to look honestly at where we are focusing our attention and how we are spending our time – or more, to the point, how we are spending our lives.

"Spending our lives" -- it's an interesting phrase when you think about it. When we spend money, we exchange it for something else we think of equal value. Can we say the same thing about what we get in return for the precious moments of our lives – moments we will never get back?

Consider the following:

A government report finds that Americans spend more time watching TV, listening to the radio, surfing the Internet and reading newspapers than anything else except breathing.¹ Most of that time is spent watching an average of 4 1/2 hours of television a day, far more time than we spend on any other medium.² About 13 hours each week is spent surfing the Web, and that does not include e-mailing.³

Watching TV and surfing the web – is that how we want to be spending our lives?

Another study has shown that, between grocery store television screens, digitally delivered movie libraries and cell phone video clips, the average American is exposed to 61 minutes of TV ads and promotions a day.⁴ Watching ads -- Is that how we want to be spending our lives?

Add to that this week’s news that the 8.8-magnitude earthquake in Chile not only tragically killed at least 800 people and left a half a million homeless, but it may have also shortened our lifespans. A NASA research scientist says the earth’s axis shifted as a result of the earthquake, reducing the length of each day by approximately half a second a year.⁵

So… if you kept track of the way you spend every minute of your day, every day of your week, every week of the year -- what would you come up with? Would you be satisfied with the way you are spending your life?

Through the prophet Isaiah, God challenges us: "Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?"

But God’s challenge is also accompanied by a gracious summons to a different way of being, what your pew bible describes as “an invitation to abundant life.” God says, “Come!.. Come to me; listen, so that you may live.”

God is calling us to refocus our priorities, to redirect our precious resource of time, to change the way we are spending our lives. But it’s not so easy to do, is it? Most of the time, we are focused on our daily needs. We are busy, involved, often unaware of our spiritual life as we go about our jobs, the demands of life and our various interests. There are so many other invitations out there -- things shouting for our attention, imploring us to spend our lives on them, promising us satisfaction and fulfillment and a better life. And so, we continue on our life-spending sprees, not even realizing that we are running on empty, thirsting for the Spirit and hungering for something greater.

A pastor⁶ tells the story of one woman who didn’t realize how she was spending her life until a medical crisis all but took it. After suffering a stroke accompanied by a heart attack, she lay in the hospital in a comatose state for almost a week before giving any sign of recovery. Several weeks later, when she was finally able to speak, she told a story so astonishing her son⁷ had trouble believing it.

The woman said Jesus had come to her as she lay in her hospital bed, unable to move or speak, and told her it was time for her to take an assessment of her life. He asked her to place everything she had ever done in her life in one of two piles. The first pile was for those things that she now could see had real meaning, and a second pile for those things she now could see had been a waste of her time and life.

Though she was a person of enormous skill and accomplishment, the woman was astonished to discover that her pile of meaningfully-spent time was quite small while her pile of wastefully-spent time was huge. Once her inventory was complete, Jesus came again, and this time, swept both piles away. Then he said to her, "I'm giving you more life. How will you spend it?"

When the woman told her son about the dream, he rationalized it away as simply the effects of the massive doses of drugs his mother had been given during her comatose state. Jesus coming to her in a coma? He was dubious; his mother had only a nominal faith and went to church only on the holidays or when the grandchildren sang in the choir.

But as the weeks turned to months and his mother returned to health, the son began to reconsider his swift conclusion. She was no longer the frenetic woman she had once been, distracted by a thousand different things. Rather, she was focused only on those few things that were truly important to her, which now included worship, Bible study, prayer, and a ministry of visitation to the sick -- things she would not have spent her time on in her previous life.

When asked about the change, the woman would openly talk about Jesus' visit when she was in that hospital bed and the gift of new life that he had given her there. Transformed, she was no longer nominally religious, but truly committed to Jesus Christ – a disciple! -- and she spent the rest of her days embracing the gift of new life she knew Jesus had given her.

If Jesus asked you to place the moments of your life into two piles, would your wasteful pile be bigger than your meaningful one? What might you need to sweep away in order embrace God's love and offer of life? Where do your commitments to Christ need to be made or renewed, so that you can know the new life that comes in him?

"Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread and your labor for that which does not satisfy?" This third Sunday of Lent is a good time to look at how we are spending our lives, on what activities we are exchanging the precious moments God has given to us. And it’s a perfect time to respond to Jesus’ gracious and love-filled invitation: "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.⁸;Amen.

¹ http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,236706,00.html
² Ibid.
³ http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/consumer&id=7186413
⁴ http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/27/business/media/27adco.html
⁵ http://www.asylum.com/2010/03/02/concepcion-chile-quake-nasa-says-chilean-earthquake-shortened-your-life/
⁶ Rev. Fred R. Anderson, whose March 11, 2007 sermon “The Eternal Question,” serves as an inspiration for mine. http://www.mapc.com/html/07_sermons/sermondisplay.asp?sermonDate=3/11/2007&sermonTime=300
⁷ I have changed the gender of the child to ease its telling.
⁸ John 6:35.