Sermon Library
“Add a Touch of Spirit”
Rev. Dr. Gregg R. Anderson
December 24, 2007
Service Theme: Christmas Eve Message - 2007
Christmas Eve Message – 2007 December 24, 2007
Add a Touch of Spirit
By Gregg Anderson
One Day in America
According to Time Magazine in an article entitled One Day In America Americans consume in one average day 58,863,993 fresh eggs, 443,650 large fries just at Burger King, 978,030 bags of Orville Redenbacher’s Gourmet Popping Corn, 160,958 bottles of Absolut Vodka, 1,650,000 DVD rentals from Netflix and 7,500 Samsung LCD TVs. The average US household has more televisions than people. They spend an average of 2 and a half hours watching TV each day. Americans spend the same amount of time, 2 and a half hours, on their computer and internet at home. Between working on a computer at work, then at home and then watching television – we spent a lot of time in front of a screen. Not to mention the screen on our telephones, blackberries and the directions on the screen in our cars.
Food and Exercise
We also love to eat every day, but we do not prepare meals and eat together at home as much as we used to. The US has 612,000 fast food cooks, but only 393,730 farm workers. 62% of Americans are considered significantly overweight. 4.9 billion was spent on fitness equipment last year in the US and 17.4 billion on fitness clubs, but 83 percent of American people do not exercise at all on a given day.
Family
The Time magazine article further states that the family day has changed substantially. In 1965 almost 90 percent of the families had a bread-winning father and a stay-at-home mother. That particularly family life style today is less than 20 percent. On the other hand, parents are both working harder and spending more time with their children – especially fathers, who have taken a greater role with their children today than in 1965. We seem to be working harder at everything. When Mom and Dad are standing in the school bleachers, cheering the baseball team, they are simultaneously e-mailing people related to their work. We talk on the cordless phone while we tidy up the house, watch the news while cooking dinner, or more than likely taking dinner out of the take-home box and we whiten our teeth while we sleep. Modern parents multitask about 40 more hours a week than did their counterparts in 1965. Technology has allowed and encouraged us to do a number of things at the same time. Both adults are working more and both caring for children more while also trying to shop more and play more.
Work
Time magazine asked people if they were happy at work each day. Nine in 10 Americans say they are moderately satisfied with their job. Time magazine asked what type of careers made people the happiest. The lowest on the list with 13 percent was garage and service station employees; 19 percent of bartenders were happy; waiters scored higher with 31. 5 percent; truck drivers were higher at 33.5 percent; high school teachers rated happiness at work at 36 percent; psychologists interestingly were only at 37 percent (now that’s gotta make you wonder who you are paying $200 to $300 per 50 minute session); 41 percent of musicians were very happy with what they do (Susan, are you part of the 41 percent?); lawyers are at 43 percent; next are physicians at 43.9 percent; athletes are above lawyers and doctors at 44.8 percent; real estate brokers were above athletes at 45 percent being very happy (this must mean that real estate brokers in Aspen are the happiest people in the world); and do you know what was the absolute top of the list for people being the most content and pleased with their profession? Can you take a guess? Go ahead. Well, most interesting to me is that the very top of the list of a hundred types of vocations with 67 percent - can you believe it, clergy.
Clergy
Now, I would like to personally question all those clergy who responded so positively. Actually, I am very pleased about this demographic. I do know that there are a lot of clergy who are particularly challenged and do drop out for various reasons, but the fact that clergy top the list of the most happy in their profession is most interesting. I would like to consider myself one of those on this list. I do love what I do, but I am also honest in expressing some of the day to day challenges which are presented with being a minister even within this pristine community of Aspen and this picturesque chapel. When I look at the big picture of where I am in Aspen and this chapel, I can’t believe it and am extremely grateful and amazed. When I realize the day to day expectations and challenges, however, I am sometimes overwhelmed and perplexed.
Religion in America and Aspen
Time Magazine states that the vast majority of Americans believe in God and more than 90 percent own a Bible, 50 percent say a prayer almost everyday, but only half can name a single Gospel and 10 percent think Joan of Arc was Noah’s wife. I had to read that statement a couple of times until I realized the connection between Joan of Arc and Noah’s Ark. When I first came to Aspen I realized that church, religion or spirituality was not, shall I say, a high interest in the minds of Aspenites.
Somehow, this subjective demographic became a challenge for me. I was never zealous, but I just wanted people in Aspen to realize that spirituality was an innate and essential part of being human for all people, even people in Aspen. It turns out that this Aspen Chapel had the same purpose and when they were desperate for some leadership almost 30 years ago, we got together and I am most grateful. I am even more grateful that people’s interest in spirituality in Aspen has definitely increased in 30 years.
Aspen Times
Just yesterday the Aspen Times Weekly newspaper came out with a cover article entitled “Churches of Aspen: A Christmas Look at How We Worship.” This has really never happened before. It certainly never happened 30 years ago. I am very grateful for this and am grateful to the reporter, Carolyn Sackariason who began her section on the Aspen Chapel with these words, “If there’s any place of worship that embodies the Aspen Idea, then it’s the Aspen Chapel, where every walk of life and faith is not only welcome but encouraged. Building on postwar Aspen’s bedrock principle of nurturing the mind, body and spirit, the Aspen Chapel was founded nearly 40 years ago as a ‘testament to remind people in Aspen that there is foremost a spiritual dimension to our existence.’ As an interfaith chapel, personal connections are made every day with people of various faiths and beliefs” I am grateful that this chapel is seen as connecting with Aspen and so many people at the Chapel have touched other people in Aspen in various ways.
Our Daily Purpose in Aspen
I want you to realize on this magical and mystical night of Christmas Eve that you are ultimately a spiritual person, more than a physical or material person. You are much more than a person who merely consumes eggs, large fries, popcorn, vodka, DVD’s and TV’s. You are more that what you eat and how you exercise or do not exercise. You are more than what you do at work or do at home. You are more than average. I guess there really is no such thing as an average person. Everyone is unique and special. We are creative human beings who are capable of great things and also capable of making mistakes. Times have changed, they always do, but throughout each day we have been loved and cared for by the creator, source, wisdom and intention of this universe whom most of us call God.
Tonight we celebrate the incarnation of God through the life and teachings of Jesus. Jesus’ most important message as recorded in the Gospels is to love God and our neighbor as ourself. I hope that we can keep celebrating Christmas and remember that it is, after all, about Christ and what he has shown us and taught us.
From George Carlin
The “philosopher” George Carlin said about Americans, “The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings, but shorter tempers, wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degress, but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness. We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom. We’ve learned how to make a living, but not a life. We’ve added years to life not life to years. We’ve been to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space, but not inner space. We’ve done larger things, but not better things. We’ve learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers, but communicate less personally. These are times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. So, remember to give time to love, give time to speak, give time to listen and give time to share the precious thoughts in your heart. And always remember life is not measured by number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.”
Add a Touch of Spirit to Your Day
I began this message with quoting the Time Magazine’s article, “One Day in America.” I conclude by encouraging every one in America or at least in Aspen to include in your day some soul or spirit time, even it if is a few minutes. What is needed in our American average day is a touch of spirit each and every day. Perhaps take time to read a little from your own selected book on spirituality, even one which brings to light the teachings of Jesus for today, meditate a little and make a call or write a note to someone you know who needs a call or a note. In keeping with the average American, I encourage this book which I just alluded to, Religious Literacy; which is subtitled right on the cover What Every American Needs To Know- And Doesn’t. It looks very good.
Americans are more interested in spirituality today than they were 30 years ago, but the average American is not learning more about it. So, I encourage you to include in your average day and amidst your multi-tasking a time and space for your soul and spirit. Even if it is 5 minutes or 10 minutes, it simply becomes your touch of spirit for the day. Jesus said “If you have the faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there, and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.’” We celebrate Christmas because Jesus has changed our lives. May that truth become part of our day to day average American lives. Amen.
Gregg Anderson
Aspen Chapel
0077 Meadowood Dr.
Aspen, CO 81611
http://www.aspenchapel.org