Stuff - The stuff inside and the stuff outside

Today is the second day of my vacation and I've done a pretty good job of decluttering and deep cleaning my kitchen. Anybody want some circa 1970 plastic thermal glasses? I remember taking them from my mom's estate five years ago. Since then they have been moved from an apartment to a house and have sat unused in a kitchen cabinet. Not worth anything on Ebay so off to charity or freecycle.

Mostly what I've done today is think about the lectionary Gospel lessons from the past two Sundays. The stories in Luke 12: 32-40 and Luke 12: 49-56. Since I don't have to preach on Sunday, I don't have to write a sermon for Sunday, reflection on what I have shared with my congregation and how that applies to my life is the order of the day.

These have been very personal texts to me since my family has accumulated so much stuff in the past five years. I am almost embarrassed to say that we bought our house in order to fit furniture we inherited from family. My house is much too big for my family (a husband and two cats), and as scripture reminds us in very subtle and real ways, the more you have the more you are responsible for, for to whom much has been given, much is required. I'm beginning to see the wonders of simplicity, not just for the benefit of less to be responsible for but for the benefit of ones mental sanity.

Ultimately I realize that most of this stuff is that stuff. Now the really big questions, does it enrich my life? Does it help or hinder my relationship with God? So as I scrub and sort and toss these are primary questions.

Dealing with the stuff we have accumulated through life that stuff can choke out God in our lives if we let. And like an astute parishioner said to me leaving church, a parishioner that does not have the clutter or hoarding problem that is often found in many who survived the Great Depression, "I have stuff (in my heart) to deal with," and so do I - which I openly admit.

And so this pastor who is on vacation is so grateful so have been spending time thinking about the past two weeks as I've been dealing with all the material stuff that has accumulated in my house. Some of that stuff is also connected to the stuff in my heart that I have to deal with, but knowing that God has a solution...a deeper relationship and connection with the Holy makes this decluttering all the easier.