July 5, 2009

When I first moved toMexico ten years ago, I became the second of a two person team inhabiting the same home-office. My brand new, more experienced colleague, Jess, would be my roommate and only co-worker for the next year. How's that for an intense work environment? Fairly early on, we had an argument that centered on this? a potato masher.

The organization for which we worked as long-term volunteers, Witness for Peace, paid our rent and paid us $165 a month. It was founded by people of faith who encouraged all to "live simply?that others might simply live." Before arriving, it sounded like a great challenge, but I knew it might be tough to live within those means, so just in case, I was prepared with a little cushion of extra savings I would have to help me get by! Ha!

From the beginning. I just didn't understand Jess and what he was about. Our first week, we had a talk about how we were going to set up our new office and living quarters. He said, "I'm vegetarian, and I hope we can have a vegetarian house. I don't drink Coke products for political reasons and I'm hoping we don't keep them in the house. I don't need a lot to eat?just some beans and tortillas, and a little salt. I don't drink. When we set up our house, I'd like very minimal furniture, just enough to get by. A small table for a desk, a wooden bed and simple folding chairs should do."

It went on, and he ended by saying, "I'm hoping we can work, eat, and live? simply."

I reacted strongly: "Wow! Uh? I like meat. I mean I really like meat. And I want to have it around. I really like soda and I LOVE food. I love big, complicated meals with new and exciting foods, and I like to eat to my heart's and belly's content. I love a good bottle of wine and a tasty beer on a hot day. I love chocolate. I could use a comfy chair after a long day and I want big shelves and cabinets for all my stuff."

Needless to say, this conversation did not go over well. His ascetic lifestyle seemed to me to be a badge of honor; that he was some kind of show off. But, he was patient with me, and listened and compromised and tried to be flexible, but also held his ground where he could to uphold the values he held.

Just a month or two after arriving, we were beginning to get on each other's nerves, and the straw that broke the camel's back was? yes? a potato masher.

We were having going to host a Thanksgiving dinner at our new Spartan house. We decided to make Mashed potatoes, stuffing, among other traditional things that are not usually accessible in southern Mexico. We had just moved into our new place and were setting up our house, so we had to buy a few things to get it ready for a big dinner. We went to the open-air market to pick up what we needed. I picked out a few larger pots, a few plates and utensils. Every time I would see something I thought we could use, he would ask, (earnestly) "do we really need that? Can't we do without it?"

I would relent at most things? then finally came the potato masher. I knew we could really use one for the mashed potatoes, and found a very simple, cheap plastic one for 50 or 60 cents. Maybe it was less. After picking it out, Jess once again asked, "do we really need that?" I had seen him make mashed potatoes the previous week by using the bottom of a cup. "Why buy a masher now when the bottom of a cup worked just fine?"

I said, "it's only 50 cents", and he said, "it's not about how much it costs, it's about whether or not it is critical."

It set us both off. It was sort of a clash of values.

Today's scripture is about Jesus sending us out as his disciples with instructions. He's just experienced rejection in his hometown, and is telling his disciples how they ought to face such rejection.

One important part of his instructions is that the disciples take nothing with them: no money, no bread, no bag?only sandals, a tunic and a staff. Now that's packing light! I don't know about you all, but I tried to pack lightly last night when preparing for our honeymoon, but I did not do quite as well as the disciples.

Why is he sending us out packing light? What is this about? I love the quote from St. Francis of Assisi, "Preach the gospel always; when necessary, use words."

I believe Jesus is calling us to exemplify the love of God in the way we live and with whom we interact.

By sending us out with only a word about God's love and a commitment to put that love into action, it's difficult for anything else to distract or get in the way.

After having some time away from the argument with Jess, through prayer, I began to open myself up to hearing how Jess' commitments might have some merit. It didn't happen right away, but rather over time. I began asking myself why I was so resistant to examining my own life and clinging so tightly to the unnecessary stuff in my life.

Over the next year, on various trips to the countryside, as we met people in extremely poor rural areas, I would lug my massive backpack full of unnecessary crap, and I began to appreciate Jess' commitments. While I and other Americans who would go with us were fussing with our packs full of gadgets and contraptions and layers upon layers of clothing, Jess was already talking with local community members, sharing moments of laughter, playing with kids. He wasn't as distracted by stuff. He was present in the moment.

In his book Walden, Henry David Thoreau recounts his experiences seeking out the simple live by moving to a bare-bones house on a pond called Walden. He says:

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. [?]I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms.

Our life is frittered away by detail. An honest man has hardly need to count more than his ten fingers, or in extreme cases he may add his ten toes and lump the rest. Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand.

Clearing away the unnecessary is a spiritual discipline that Jesus calls us to. By clearing away the unnecessary stuff around us, we bring focus and attention to what is truly important; loving God and neighbor and caring for God's creation. Over time, I began to appreciate, and even admire Jess for his commitments. Not only that, I began to adopt many of his ways of life. I was mistaken about him; he was not engaged in the struggle towards simple living out of some desire to proudly wear a badge of honor. He was merely seeking integrity with his life.

Although I still struggle daily to make the most ethical choices, Jess' example and witness transformed me. Over time, he became one of my most cherished friends.

And by the way, there is no set recipe for simple living. Everyone has a different take on it. The point is NOT arriving to a hallowed place of honorable living. The point is the struggle, or the journey.

My wife lives simply, but not like Jess. She rarely if ever buys herself new clothes or books. She rarely spends much money at all, but when she does, she spends it on gifts for other people. Sometimes she has people in mind that she gives gifts to, but other times she stockpiles gifts to give out to people. She organizes them into bins and boxes.

Whereas some more militant adherents to simple living might say she is surrounding herself with unnecessary stuff, I think it's actually quite beautiful that the only things she ever buys or consumes are small, affordable, simple gifts for others. Although she can be a pack-rat, I think Alli lives a form of simple living that has taught me quite a bit about generosity and thoughtfulness.

Just after arriving to our new house in Mexico ten years ago, on the whiteboard in the office, Jess wrote a quote from Gandhi:

I am but a poor struggling soul yearning to be wholly good, wholly truthful and wholly non-violent in thought, word and deed, but ever failing to reach the ideal which I know to be true. It is a painful climb, but the pain of it is a positive pleasure to me. Each step upwards makes me feel stronger and fit for the next.

Jesus sends us out into the world to preach the gospel, as much by how we live our daily lives as by what we say and how we treat others.

Those who have gone before us and those among us today have pushed us to examine our own lives. May we continue to be open to being transformed to more simple living, and allow the truly important things to take precedence, that we might become beacons of light for others just as Jesus and the disciples were beacons of light for us. Through clearing away the unnecessary, may our daily acts of loving kindness be made visible for all to see as signs of God's love in this world!