Gluttony (13 Nov. 2005)
7 Deadly Sins M7 Gluttony: integrate scripture…
(The sermon can be heard on line at:
http://www.tenth.ca/audio.htm )
When we think of the word “gluttony” perhaps we picture Augustus Gloop, a character in Charlie and the Chocolate factory.
Augustus Gloop was the kid who was always stuffing his face with candy and who was the first kid to discover the golden ticket to Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory. In the words of Ron Dahl’s book Augustus was so enormously fat that he looked like he had been “blown up with a powerful pump” and “his face was like a monstrous ball of dough.”
Or perhaps, we think of decadent ancient Rome, where beautiful houses were built vomitarias, so that people could eat and vomit, eat and vomit…
Or maybe we think of people who use drugs that control hunger (as was featured in a front page article in yesterday’s Vancouver Sun).
We tend to think of gluttony as overeating.
But in the view of medieval theologians gluttony could mean overeating, but also eating too expensively, or eating with too much fussily…
We live in a city with an international reputation for great restaurants. When we go to a small town in Alberta or Saskatchewan and go to what’s considered “the best Chinese restaurant” in town and we think this must be the only Chinese restaurant in town, because it is just “ok.” We can be too fussy.
We live in a time when people will carefully measure out how many calories, fat grams and, carbs they are eating…
Gluttony isn’t just about overeating, but it also about eating too expensively, and too fussily…
We’re doing a series on the 7 deadly Sins today we are addressing what may be considered the least serious of the deadly sins gluttony.
But, if we think about gluttony not only as over eating, but as eating too fussily
and if we think of gluttony as a kind of over-desire and over consumption in general and if we reflect on the fact that in North America, we have 5% of the world’s population, but consume over ¼ of the world’s resources, perhaps gluttony as deadly sin that is more relevant to us.
If you have your Bibles please turn to Isaiah 22.
In this passage, we read God condemning the attitude of his people…
13 But see, there is joy and revelry,
slaughtering of cattle and killing of sheep,
eating of meat and drinking of wine!
"Let us eat and drink," you say,
"for tomorrow we die!"
Isaiah 56:
Come, all you beasts of the field,
come and devour, all you beasts of the forest!
10 Israel's watchmen are blind,
they all lack knowledge;
they are all mute dogs,
they cannot bark;
they lie around and dream,
they love to sleep.
11 They are dogs with mighty appetites;
they never have enough.
They are shepherds who lack understanding;
they all turn to their own way,
each seeks his own gain.
12 "Come," each one cries, "let me get wine!
Let us drink our fill of beer!
And tomorrow will be like today,
or even far better."
In these passages, we see God judging his people for their “over-appetites” and for their attitudes of let’s eat and drink for tomorrow we die…
I’ve mentioned that Cornelius Plantinga Jr. describes sin as the vandalism of shalom (shalom meaning peace, wellness, and wholeness).
Gluttony vandalizes shalom in many ways:
Overeating hurts us physically…
We all know that if a person consistently overeats it takes a toll on a person’s digestive organs, negatively affects their health, and significantly shortens a person’s life span.
The gluttony of overeating can hurt us, but the “gluttony” of under-eating can hurt us too. Over desiring food can hurt us, but over desiring a certain kind of body can also hurt us.
Eating disorders like anorexia nervosa and bulimia: binge eating and purging are relatively recent disorders in Western countries (or countries that have been dominated by the Western standard of beauty). We don’t see any evidence eating these disorders… in the ancient world or in the developing cultures or cultures where it’s attractive to be plump…
These eating disorders seem to be result of an unrealistic standard of beauty put forward by magazines like Cosmo and Elle and gluttony for these kinds of bodies… in some cases these eating disorders are driven by a desire for people to gain attention: hopefully positive attention--based on how they appear and if not positive attention negative attention--as they elicit concern from the people in their lives… it’s negative attention, but still attention… Eating disorders can stem from trying to cope by numbing certain feelings… you can numb feelings by either overeating or under eating… But under eating can be deadly. I read this past week that the recovery time of anorexia is approximately 7 years and with a death rate of 20%--making it the most deadly of any many mental disorder.
Gluttony hurts us, gluttony hurts others…
We have significantly more food in the world than we need to feed the whole world--and yet half the children in the world go to bed hungry.
Complex, structural factors are involved in these inequities, but part of the problem is that the haves are consuming too much… North America contains 5% of the world’s population, but we consume over a ¼ of the world’s resources.
According the Worldwatch Institute the year 2000 marked the first time in the history of the world where more people were overweight than underweight. Canada is generally considered a land of moderation, but according to a CBC news story this past summer nearly 60 percent of Canadians are considered overweight.
When I was in graduate school, I was invited to a breakfast in Washington D.C. where then president Bill Clinton was a host and Mother Teresa was speaking (it was hotel room with a lot of people). I remember that we had sumptuous breakfast of eggs, bacon, hash browns, croissants, I remember mother Teresa declining to eat because it was too rich and too much food to eat, in light of world hunger (I ate breakfast).
Rev. R.W. John Stott is a deeply respected Anglican minister from England, and I understand from a mutual friend that if he’s in a restaurant, and they bring him a big plate of food… he spends half of it back to the kitchen--because he see that as a kind of waste in light of world hunger. I personally don’t do that, but I respect John Stott and his point.
(Now I know Thursday in coming up and Thursday is US Thanksgiving and a number of you will be celebrating--perhaps saying I wish I hadn’t come today… According to many Monks who live austerely, feast days ought to be exceptions, where we feast and eat richer foods with delight, celebration, and thanksgiving.)
Overeating hurts others, under eating can others too. In my own observation, a person who is not eating enough causes more stress for people around who love them those who over-eat.
One father whose daughter was only eating a carrot or diet coke for lunch and only a bit of salad for dinner with low calorie dressing said, said my love for my daughter was lost in the anxiety I had for my daughter.
Gluttony hurts our relationship with God.
Over-eating, over consuming in some area, makes us feeling sluggish… spiritually less alert… leaves ultimately spiritually empty…
Under-eating for the wrong reasons, i.e. for a certain kind of body, for attention, to soothe, will also hinder a person’s relationship with God. Under-eating for the right reasons to create space for God or to identify with the hungry will help our relationship with God, but under eating for the wrong reasons will hurt that relationship.
(BTW And over-desiring food or anything else other than God can hurt our relationship with God….
Is there something in our life if God didn’t provide for us would make us want to turn from him?
Is there is there a prayer that if unanswered would make us want turn from God?)
How do we overcome gluttony?
One way is by recognizing as Paul speaks of in 1 Corinthians that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit and that we were bought with a price and that we belong to God (1 Cor 3).
Our bodies are not are own, they belong to God… being conscious of this will influence the way we treat our bodies.
When you are taking of something that belongs to someone else isn’t true that you take better care of than if you owned it yourself?
We take care of a friend’s dog from time to time. When we have this golden retriever we’re careful to exercise it: we take it swimming to Jericho beach to play ball we run with through the endowment land trails. We’re careful to feed this dog, nutritionally and careful not to overfed or underfeed him. We don’t give the dog chocolate and because chocolate is harmful for dogs.
When we realize our bodies belong to God we will take better care of them: we’ll exercise them, rest them, we’ll tend not under or over eat.
(And by the way, when we recognize that our bodies our God’s we’ll be less behold to Hollywood’s ideals of the perfect body. We will begin as Jesus said that the things that God values and the world values are very different. That our external appearance is far less that what one the inside of us. If our equilibrium (i.e. balancing) weight tends to be more or less, we’ll be less likely to kills ourselves trying to achieve the perfect (and less likely to buy that spray on washboard abs kit before going to the beach).)
Another way to over come gluttony is by learning to fast:
Margaret Funk in her book Tools Matter for the Spiritual Life defines fasting as not overeating and not under eating…
Fasting typically mean to go free from food for period—which not everyone can or should do for physical reasons… E.g. you’re a diabetic or pregnant can’t and should not fast.
But fasting whether in Meg Funk of not overeating and not under eating or not eating for a period of time can bring great clarity make us more open to reality of God…
Fasting in the area of food can help gain avoid gluttony in other areas of our lives…
Dallas Willard, the USC professor and writer on spiritual life, was cited in an article carried in the Vancouver sun. He said the will is a like a muscle. If you for example, you can develop the capacity to say no to food (through fasting), you are more likely to be able to say to no in other areas in your life.
2nd. Eat nutritionally physically and spiritually
Tony Campolo tells about a very overweight recently seminary graduate who served a small rural church, where Tony Campolo had also served when he was a grad student. This overweight pastor was deeply warm and deeply loved by the congregation.
One Sunday morning in the middle of the sermon, to the shock of his audience he collapsed to the floor unconscious. He was hospitalized and listed in serious condition. After a battery of tests the doctors revealed his condition: malnourishment. Everyone was shocked. People said he never passes up a chance for seconds at a church supper. He’s always game for cookies or cake. What happened was that his diet was so imbalanced, so that even after he had eaten a lot… his body still craved more food because he wasn’t getting certain essential nutrients.
Ironically, a person can be both overfed but undernourished. You know how we can eat a lot of something and still be hungry? The reason maybe is that our body is still craving some kind of nourishment…
Eat nutritionally in terms of physical food, but also in terms of spiritual food.
Telihard de Chardin said, we are not physical beings having a spiritual experience, we are spiritual beings having a physical experience.
We are spiritual beings and have a hunger that can only be satisfied by a spiritual experience with the living God…
If turn we to other things whether it’s food, fitness, career, a human relationship, children… or spiritual junk food: whether health and wealth Gospel, drugs, or certain new-age spiritualities… for meaning we’ll be left empty.
C.S. Lewis say in the Weight of Glory says our problem is not that our desires are too strong it’s that they (i.e. some desires) are too weak.
He says, “We are half-hearted creatures, fooling around with drink and sex and ambition, when infinite joy is offered us.”
Like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot image what is meant by the offer of a holiday at sea.
We are far too easily pleased… we mistake the water hole for the sea.
Henry Fairlie says gluttony is a grievous sin, because it induces us to find all our contentment in gratifying our appetites.
Gluttony lies by saying we can find our satisfaction by satiating some physical urge…
but it is as we say no to certain urges, that we can find satisfaction for the deepest longings of our soul in coming to our maker…
We can respond to God invitation in the words of Isaiah:
Isaiah 58:
Invitation to the Thirsty
1 "Come, all you who are thirsty,
come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without cost.
2 Why spend money on what is not bread,
and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.
We can say with Jesus (in John 4) I have food to eat that world knows not…
Pray…
(The sermon can be heard on line at:
http://www.tenth.ca/audio.htm )
When we think of the word “gluttony” perhaps we picture Augustus Gloop, a character in Charlie and the Chocolate factory.
Augustus Gloop was the kid who was always stuffing his face with candy and who was the first kid to discover the golden ticket to Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory. In the words of Ron Dahl’s book Augustus was so enormously fat that he looked like he had been “blown up with a powerful pump” and “his face was like a monstrous ball of dough.”
Or perhaps, we think of decadent ancient Rome, where beautiful houses were built vomitarias, so that people could eat and vomit, eat and vomit…
Or maybe we think of people who use drugs that control hunger (as was featured in a front page article in yesterday’s Vancouver Sun).
We tend to think of gluttony as overeating.
But in the view of medieval theologians gluttony could mean overeating, but also eating too expensively, or eating with too much fussily…
We live in a city with an international reputation for great restaurants. When we go to a small town in Alberta or Saskatchewan and go to what’s considered “the best Chinese restaurant” in town and we think this must be the only Chinese restaurant in town, because it is just “ok.” We can be too fussy.
We live in a time when people will carefully measure out how many calories, fat grams and, carbs they are eating…
Gluttony isn’t just about overeating, but it also about eating too expensively, and too fussily…
We’re doing a series on the 7 deadly Sins today we are addressing what may be considered the least serious of the deadly sins gluttony.
But, if we think about gluttony not only as over eating, but as eating too fussily
and if we think of gluttony as a kind of over-desire and over consumption in general and if we reflect on the fact that in North America, we have 5% of the world’s population, but consume over ¼ of the world’s resources, perhaps gluttony as deadly sin that is more relevant to us.
If you have your Bibles please turn to Isaiah 22.
In this passage, we read God condemning the attitude of his people…
13 But see, there is joy and revelry,
slaughtering of cattle and killing of sheep,
eating of meat and drinking of wine!
"Let us eat and drink," you say,
"for tomorrow we die!"
Isaiah 56:
Come, all you beasts of the field,
come and devour, all you beasts of the forest!
10 Israel's watchmen are blind,
they all lack knowledge;
they are all mute dogs,
they cannot bark;
they lie around and dream,
they love to sleep.
11 They are dogs with mighty appetites;
they never have enough.
They are shepherds who lack understanding;
they all turn to their own way,
each seeks his own gain.
12 "Come," each one cries, "let me get wine!
Let us drink our fill of beer!
And tomorrow will be like today,
or even far better."
In these passages, we see God judging his people for their “over-appetites” and for their attitudes of let’s eat and drink for tomorrow we die…
I’ve mentioned that Cornelius Plantinga Jr. describes sin as the vandalism of shalom (shalom meaning peace, wellness, and wholeness).
Gluttony vandalizes shalom in many ways:
Overeating hurts us physically…
We all know that if a person consistently overeats it takes a toll on a person’s digestive organs, negatively affects their health, and significantly shortens a person’s life span.
The gluttony of overeating can hurt us, but the “gluttony” of under-eating can hurt us too. Over desiring food can hurt us, but over desiring a certain kind of body can also hurt us.
Eating disorders like anorexia nervosa and bulimia: binge eating and purging are relatively recent disorders in Western countries (or countries that have been dominated by the Western standard of beauty). We don’t see any evidence eating these disorders… in the ancient world or in the developing cultures or cultures where it’s attractive to be plump…
These eating disorders seem to be result of an unrealistic standard of beauty put forward by magazines like Cosmo and Elle and gluttony for these kinds of bodies… in some cases these eating disorders are driven by a desire for people to gain attention: hopefully positive attention--based on how they appear and if not positive attention negative attention--as they elicit concern from the people in their lives… it’s negative attention, but still attention… Eating disorders can stem from trying to cope by numbing certain feelings… you can numb feelings by either overeating or under eating… But under eating can be deadly. I read this past week that the recovery time of anorexia is approximately 7 years and with a death rate of 20%--making it the most deadly of any many mental disorder.
Gluttony hurts us, gluttony hurts others…
We have significantly more food in the world than we need to feed the whole world--and yet half the children in the world go to bed hungry.
Complex, structural factors are involved in these inequities, but part of the problem is that the haves are consuming too much… North America contains 5% of the world’s population, but we consume over a ¼ of the world’s resources.
According the Worldwatch Institute the year 2000 marked the first time in the history of the world where more people were overweight than underweight. Canada is generally considered a land of moderation, but according to a CBC news story this past summer nearly 60 percent of Canadians are considered overweight.
When I was in graduate school, I was invited to a breakfast in Washington D.C. where then president Bill Clinton was a host and Mother Teresa was speaking (it was hotel room with a lot of people). I remember that we had sumptuous breakfast of eggs, bacon, hash browns, croissants, I remember mother Teresa declining to eat because it was too rich and too much food to eat, in light of world hunger (I ate breakfast).
Rev. R.W. John Stott is a deeply respected Anglican minister from England, and I understand from a mutual friend that if he’s in a restaurant, and they bring him a big plate of food… he spends half of it back to the kitchen--because he see that as a kind of waste in light of world hunger. I personally don’t do that, but I respect John Stott and his point.
(Now I know Thursday in coming up and Thursday is US Thanksgiving and a number of you will be celebrating--perhaps saying I wish I hadn’t come today… According to many Monks who live austerely, feast days ought to be exceptions, where we feast and eat richer foods with delight, celebration, and thanksgiving.)
Overeating hurts others, under eating can others too. In my own observation, a person who is not eating enough causes more stress for people around who love them those who over-eat.
One father whose daughter was only eating a carrot or diet coke for lunch and only a bit of salad for dinner with low calorie dressing said, said my love for my daughter was lost in the anxiety I had for my daughter.
Gluttony hurts our relationship with God.
Over-eating, over consuming in some area, makes us feeling sluggish… spiritually less alert… leaves ultimately spiritually empty…
Under-eating for the wrong reasons, i.e. for a certain kind of body, for attention, to soothe, will also hinder a person’s relationship with God. Under-eating for the right reasons to create space for God or to identify with the hungry will help our relationship with God, but under eating for the wrong reasons will hurt that relationship.
(BTW And over-desiring food or anything else other than God can hurt our relationship with God….
Is there something in our life if God didn’t provide for us would make us want to turn from him?
Is there is there a prayer that if unanswered would make us want turn from God?)
How do we overcome gluttony?
One way is by recognizing as Paul speaks of in 1 Corinthians that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit and that we were bought with a price and that we belong to God (1 Cor 3).
Our bodies are not are own, they belong to God… being conscious of this will influence the way we treat our bodies.
When you are taking of something that belongs to someone else isn’t true that you take better care of than if you owned it yourself?
We take care of a friend’s dog from time to time. When we have this golden retriever we’re careful to exercise it: we take it swimming to Jericho beach to play ball we run with through the endowment land trails. We’re careful to feed this dog, nutritionally and careful not to overfed or underfeed him. We don’t give the dog chocolate and because chocolate is harmful for dogs.
When we realize our bodies belong to God we will take better care of them: we’ll exercise them, rest them, we’ll tend not under or over eat.
(And by the way, when we recognize that our bodies our God’s we’ll be less behold to Hollywood’s ideals of the perfect body. We will begin as Jesus said that the things that God values and the world values are very different. That our external appearance is far less that what one the inside of us. If our equilibrium (i.e. balancing) weight tends to be more or less, we’ll be less likely to kills ourselves trying to achieve the perfect (and less likely to buy that spray on washboard abs kit before going to the beach).)
Another way to over come gluttony is by learning to fast:
Margaret Funk in her book Tools Matter for the Spiritual Life defines fasting as not overeating and not under eating…
Fasting typically mean to go free from food for period—which not everyone can or should do for physical reasons… E.g. you’re a diabetic or pregnant can’t and should not fast.
But fasting whether in Meg Funk of not overeating and not under eating or not eating for a period of time can bring great clarity make us more open to reality of God…
Fasting in the area of food can help gain avoid gluttony in other areas of our lives…
Dallas Willard, the USC professor and writer on spiritual life, was cited in an article carried in the Vancouver sun. He said the will is a like a muscle. If you for example, you can develop the capacity to say no to food (through fasting), you are more likely to be able to say to no in other areas in your life.
2nd. Eat nutritionally physically and spiritually
Tony Campolo tells about a very overweight recently seminary graduate who served a small rural church, where Tony Campolo had also served when he was a grad student. This overweight pastor was deeply warm and deeply loved by the congregation.
One Sunday morning in the middle of the sermon, to the shock of his audience he collapsed to the floor unconscious. He was hospitalized and listed in serious condition. After a battery of tests the doctors revealed his condition: malnourishment. Everyone was shocked. People said he never passes up a chance for seconds at a church supper. He’s always game for cookies or cake. What happened was that his diet was so imbalanced, so that even after he had eaten a lot… his body still craved more food because he wasn’t getting certain essential nutrients.
Ironically, a person can be both overfed but undernourished. You know how we can eat a lot of something and still be hungry? The reason maybe is that our body is still craving some kind of nourishment…
Eat nutritionally in terms of physical food, but also in terms of spiritual food.
Telihard de Chardin said, we are not physical beings having a spiritual experience, we are spiritual beings having a physical experience.
We are spiritual beings and have a hunger that can only be satisfied by a spiritual experience with the living God…
If turn we to other things whether it’s food, fitness, career, a human relationship, children… or spiritual junk food: whether health and wealth Gospel, drugs, or certain new-age spiritualities… for meaning we’ll be left empty.
C.S. Lewis say in the Weight of Glory says our problem is not that our desires are too strong it’s that they (i.e. some desires) are too weak.
He says, “We are half-hearted creatures, fooling around with drink and sex and ambition, when infinite joy is offered us.”
Like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot image what is meant by the offer of a holiday at sea.
We are far too easily pleased… we mistake the water hole for the sea.
Henry Fairlie says gluttony is a grievous sin, because it induces us to find all our contentment in gratifying our appetites.
Gluttony lies by saying we can find our satisfaction by satiating some physical urge…
but it is as we say no to certain urges, that we can find satisfaction for the deepest longings of our soul in coming to our maker…
We can respond to God invitation in the words of Isaiah:
Isaiah 58:
Invitation to the Thirsty
1 "Come, all you who are thirsty,
come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without cost.
2 Why spend money on what is not bread,
and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.
We can say with Jesus (in John 4) I have food to eat that world knows not…
Pray…
posted by Shigematsu at 6:14 PM
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