Amanda McMillen, “God is a Hoarder”

In 2010, Japanese cleaning consultant Marie Kondo published her book that took the world by storm. The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up taught its readers that objects take up space- not just physical space, but mental and emotional space too. In order to achieve the sought after clutter-free minimalist home, you should pick up every single individual object you own and ask the question “Does this spark joy?” If so, back in the closet it goes - if not, off to Goodwill.

This time of year, I’m thinking a lot about possessions. Every January I get hyper focused on all of my stuff. The closets suddenly feel overflowing with accumulated junk and I have to tackle it ASAP. I Marie-Kondo my way through one closet at a time and determine which of these board games and old sweaters and boxes of craft supplies that haven’t been touched in years “spark joy” and which spark overwhelm and disarray. I’ve gotten pretty good at this over the years and have become ruthless, to the point where I can actually name several items I wish I hadn’t thrown out in these trance-like states of decluttering fury.

In this passage from Isaiah, God says this to the Israelites: “Thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.”

“You are mine” says the Lord. What does it mean to belong to God? It’s different from my unused craft supplies “belonging” to me. It’s not the same as the old plates that I chuck in my goodwill bag “belonging” to me. What does it mean to belong to God?

Artist and textile designer William Morris famously said, “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.” This criteria runs through my mind as I’m sorting the closets of tchotchkes in my home - is it beautiful? Useful? Sentimental? And then eventually I run out of steam, just throw everything back in the closet and promise to tend to it again next year.

Does God use this same criteria, of beauty and usefulness, when talking about those who belong to him? Are you beautiful to God? Well sure, in a sense. When little David was anointed King, God said: “for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart”. Now you might be beautiful on the outside, but if beauty is in the heart - well, let’s just say your beauty might be somewhat marred by your ordinary run of the mill human sin, things like pride and envy and greed.

Are you useful to God? I’m gonna say that might be debatable. If you have young children, or know young children, think about whether or not they are useful for a second… Young children do not typically make the lives of adults easier, that can certainly be said. They are useful at making a house more cluttered, I’m starting to learn. We certainly don’t love children because they are useful.

The Israelites are a good example of being very un-useful. They have spent their entire existence in the Hebrew Bible being a huge thorn in God’s side. God gives them instruction and they immediately turn the other way. They were supposed to worship only him, having no other gods before Him, and immediately Moses finds them worshipping a golden calf. They were supposed to be satisfied with the manna God provided them every day after rescuing them from slavery, but they complained it wasn’t enough and actually wished they were back in slavery. They were told not to murder, or steal, or commit adultery, or lie, or dishonor their parents, and they routinely did all of the above. No matter how often they said they would turn and follow God for real this time, they broke his law, time and time again.

And here they are, after all of their disobedience, in a place of great struggle - at this point in their story, they’ve been exiled from their homeland, their families destroyed, the land, their source of security and hope for the future, also destroyed, their temple of worship and sacrifice destroyed, and God says in that moment: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.”

If their behavior determines their standing with God, then it’s safe to say that the Israelites certainly do not “spark joy”. And yet, God refuses to kick them to the curb.

You belong to God, not because you are useful or beautiful. We are much like the Israelites in that way. We promise to do one thing and we find ourselves in the same habits again and again - as St. Paul put it in Romans “I do not do the thing I wish to do but instead I do the very thing I hate.” Every New Year is a bit of a Groundhog Day, we wake up in another year and find ourselves making eerily similar new years resolutions as the year before.

But God is unapologetically and illogically sentimental about those who belong to him. You see, God is not a minimalist. God does not follow the rule that something must be beautiful or useful to be kept around. As much as this declutterer here hates to say it - God is a hoarder.

Because when you belong to God, you belong to God. Full stop. Perhaps you have a sense of “new year new me” for yourself, ready to be out with the old and in with the new. Ready to get rid of all that is not beautiful or useful in your life. Not so for God. There is no “new year new me” for God. God is and was and forever will be the creator and redeemer of all creation. New year, same God.

And this same God, the God of Israel and the God of you and me, is committed to holding fast to what belongs to him.

Today is Baptism of our Lord Sunday - the Gospel reading for this week in the liturgical calendar is always that of Jesus’ baptism. When we are baptized, the celebrant says the words, “You are sealed by the Holy Spirit in baptism and marked as Christ’s own forever”. That term, being “sealed by the Holy Spirit” refers to a wax seal made on a decree or letter with a signet ring indicating from whom the letter is sent. You are sealed with the signet ring seal of the Holy Spirit - God has claimed you as his. He says, “You are mine”.

In baptism, you are buried with Christ in the waters of baptism, and raised again to new life - as God says through Isaiah - “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;”. You are sealed by the Holy Spirit in baptism and marked as Christ’s own forever.

And since you belong to God, that means everything that we often think belongs to each of us, actually belongs to God. Your home belongs to God. Your sentimental knick- knacks in that home belong to God. Your children belong to God. Your marriage belongs to God. Your job belongs to God. Your dreams and thanksgivings belong to God. Your deepest pain and longing belongs to God. Your cyclical attempts at a “new year new me” belong to God. Your very life belongs to God. God has sealed you and marked you as Christ’s own forever.

In the 1910’s, 100 years before Marie Kondo’s book was written, French sculptor Marcel Duchamp began a series of pieces called “Readymades” which turned the art world upside down. In these pieces, Duchamp took already created items and displayed them as-is to create his works of art. For example, “Bicycle Wheel” is a bicycle wheel fixed atop a kitchen stool. That’s it! This infuriated the art world at the time - it still does! - can a piece of junk existing just as it is really be considered art?

Duchamp decided that in being chosen, a random object can be considered art. It is not the manipulation of the object that makes it art, but simply that it is chosen by the artist. A seemingly random object becomes priceless, and finds itself in the MOMA.

You belong to God not because you do something good for him, but because God has already done everything for you. You are a work of art, not because you were manipulated by God to become one but simply because you were chosen, and therefore loved, by the artist himself. There is nothing more for you to do to earn God’s favor - you already have full belonging in the household of God, and you’re there to stay.

Amen.