A BARGAIN BASEMENT FAITH

There was a Herberger’s department store in Wausau, which is where I spent most of my childhood (not at Herberger’s, as if I slept there…but in Wausau).  I am, and always have been, a shopper.  And even at that young age there was nothing I enjoyed more than riding my bike to Herberger’s, walking through those big glass doors, past the perfume counter and the lingerie, past the suits and the shoes, and down the stairs to the bargain basement. There was something there that I was interested in, although I cannot now recall what it was.  Something kept me coming back time and time again to the bargain basement of Herberger’s.

As I look around, and reflect on that shopping aspect of my life today, I am aware that the culture around us has become a kind of bargain basement culture.  If we want to buy something – anything at all – we will surf the Internet, consult eBay, travel to the big cities of Green Bay or Appleton, and yes, even go to that so-called Superstore in order to find the best deals.  The Wal-Mart phenomenon is indicative of the bargain basement culture we have manufactured (and yes, Wal-Mart is a creation of our design – we gave birth to it, whether we like to admit it or not).  We have become a culture of shoppers who will try to wiggle by as frugally as possible, continually seeking more bang for our buck.

We do the same thing with human resources, making many who serve us and our society (teachers, social workers, nurses and elder-caregivers), live on the lower end of the financial ladder.  We want, and need these services, but would rather get by on the cheap than invest in those who give care to us and to our children.  This also feeds our bargain basement culture by creating more and more working poor who have no choice but to shop at Wal-Mart or Dollar General.

Have you ever bought something that was really precious to you?  Have you ever paid more for something because you valued it, wanted it so badly that it did not matter how long and wide the bottom line was drawn?  Jesus told a story once about a merchant who sold everything he had just to buy one pearl.  He said the Kingdom of God is like this – so valuable, so precious, so fantastic that nothing else we have in our possession matters.

You see, I think that sometimes we confuse our bargain basement culture, and our bargain basement lives, with our faith life.  We want to get by on the cheap.  We are willing to have a lesser quality faith life because it will not cost us as much; it will not demand much of us.  How do we feel about God?  Are we interested in God’s will?  Do we really want God’s Kingdom to come and live in our lives and in our world, as we pray in the Lord’s Prayer?  What are we willing to sacrifice in order to buy that pearl of great price?  Or would we rather have lives full of junk we don’t need?

We might be turned off by the extravagance of great cathedrals built to honor God.  We may be repulsed by the opulence of mega-churches.  And yet somehow there is a sense when we visit such places that some of the people within (I know, certainly not all of the people, for hypocrisy can be found wherever human beings hang out together), understand that God is indeed the most important item in their lives; and that God’s voice, God’s Wisdom, God’s P.O.V. is the most valuable thing they could ever want or need – their pearl of great price.

I can only hope and pray that we would so orient ourselves so that what God’s desires for us, for Hope, for our selves and our families, for city, state, and country, and for our world, matters more to us than anything else; so that we would literally invest ourselves in the process of inviting God’s kingdom to come, right here, and right now, in every discussion we have, and in every choice we make.