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A man who was visiting in the third world was taken to an ice cream shop.

How to be a Busy Christian: Making Choices - Proverbs 16: 1-9; Matthew 6: 25-34­ October 11, 2009 - Cicero United Methodist Church - Everett J. Bassett

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A man who was visiting in the third world was taken to an ice cream shop. His hosts saw it as a great sign of progress that they had three flavors to choose from - but they weren't necessarily happy about it. "When we only had one flavor, and then two, the decisions were easy. Now - three flavors! How's a person to choose?" When the visitor said that there were places in the United States with over fifty flavors, the hosts just shook their heads sympathetically. Poor Americans. So many choices.

I don't think that could ever be true about ice cream. But it might be true about some other areas of life. I've been talking over the last three weeks about busy-ness, and how to be busy and Christian. The first sermon was called 'Maintaining Your P. C" - not your Personal Computer, but your 'Production Capacity', using Steven Covey's language. If you don't keep your spiritual tank filled, you can't live a productive life. The second sermon was about carving out time for prayer - even if it's only a few minutes each day. And the third sermon was about finding grace in the race - by using the free moments in the day for prayer, by loving everyday things, and by appreciating your work, and the work of others. There are ways to stay in touch with God even when life gets hectic.

But it would be deceptive, I think, to talk about how to deal with busy Christian lives without talking about making choices. Setting priorities. Because it's one thing to say Here's some things to do to stay in touch with God in your busy life. It's another thing to ask, Why are you staying so busy? Why are you trying to pack so much in? What's driving you to run so hard? Those are complicated questions. You could say all kinds of things there - fear of failure. Fear of facing your true self. Competitiveness. Upholding an image. A feeling of importance. Love of money. A love of sacrifice. Etcetera.

But inability to choose has to be on that list. We have more choices - more opportunities - than ever before. And that freedom is both a joy and a burden. I've already talked about ice cream. Let's talk about another one of my favorite things ­television. I remember the thrill we had as kids when my parents bought our first TV - it got two channels, and there was no peace in our house. How could you choose what to watch? My sisters and I fought constantly about it, and even if I had the TV to myself, I had a hard time deciding. When a third channel appeared, my father threatened to throw the set out the window, we were in such turmoil. But we loved everything that came on.

Now we have hundreds of channels, and the ability to surf without leaving the comfort of the recliner. And most of the time we end up saying, "There's nothing on." Is that really true? Or is it more accurate to say, "There are so many choices available that my expectations have been raised too high to be satisfied?"

Or, another way to look at it, "If I have fifty flavors of ice cream, and I choose this one, that's 49 flavors that I can't have." "If I choose to watch the vacuum cleaner channel, then how do I know what I'll miss on the steak knife channel, the talk to the dead channel, and the miracle hair growth channel?" We are flooded with choices; and we can still only do one thing at a time. Consumer reports now offer comparisons among 220 new cars, 250 breakfast cereals, 400 VCRs, 40 household soaps, 500 health insurance policies, 350 mutual funds, and 35 showerheads. You would think we would be celebrating such a glut of options. But instead, we are just more anxious.

It used to be that the most relevant sermons talked about the difference between good choices and bad choices. There were some choices that built up a life of happiness and peace and blessing. There were some other choices that led to destruction and despair. Those are still good sermons, because there are certainly a lot of bad choices out there.

But in today's wide-open marketplace - in this unlimited smorgasbord of options we have in 21st century capitalistic America -- the need for another kind of sermon, another kind of Christian skill, has emerged. And that is how to make a decision between good choices, and other good choices. There are just too many good possibilities. Consider charities. I have, sitting on the kitchen shelf, a basket filled with excellent charitable opportunities. They come in the mail. Sharon and I can't possibly give to all of them. And every one of them is worthy. I would be hard pressed to pick one out of the box and argue why I wouldn't send them a check. Except we can't possibly support them all. How do you choose? That's our lives these days.

One of the paths in our society that has wrestled with this concept mightily is feminism. Some of you will remember Helen Gurley Brown's best seller a few decades back, called Having It All. She claimed that the modem woman could have the whole scenario - family, relationships, career, and so on. I certainly can't comment on that from a personal perspective, but my distinct impression is that most women have found that not to be true. You have to make choices. And while we celebrate every step forward toward equal opportunity for women, that image of having it all has been more a source of stress and guilt than one of joy and satisfaction. Nobody can have it all. And one of the reasons we stay so frantically busy is that we can't bear to eliminate anything. And, incidentally, we are teaching our children the same way of life - enrolling them in everything; filling every spare moment, constantly stimulating them so they can keep ahead of the curve; and, whatever we do, keeping them from ever saying those two dreaded words - I'm bored! When I look back on my childhood, some of the best things I ever did, some of my most creative moments, happened when I was bored. (I also got into some trouble, but it was inspired trouble). Now we seem to want to keep our kids too busy, too entertained, too stimulated to ever have that creative possibility that grows out of boredom. Nor can we stand a little quiet boredom ourselves. So we frantically run, and raise children who know how to frantically run.

The price we pay for all of this is stress, and not the good kind. We are more and more anxious and worried, and discontented, the faster we go. But it's not just a problem for 21st century suburban Americans. 2000 years ago, Jesus read the pulse of a huge crowd before him, and saw how worried and unhappy they were, and invited them to think a different way. And 1 believe the invitation is still there. "Do not be anxious about your lives," he said, "what you will eat, or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear ... " And then he pointed to the birds of the air, and the flowers of the field,  and how they simply live in the loving care of God - unfettered by deeper concerns. And for those of us whose lives are a lot more complicated than the birds and the flowers, Jesus still has a formula for inner peace, and it hasn't changed in 2000 years: '"Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these (other) things shall be added to you." For Jesus, there was no question what the formula was - it was living in the reign of God - giving ourselves totally to the grace and love He brought into this world through Jesus Himself. If we keep our sights on Him as our one great priority, then the other things will fall into place. The alternative is anxiety and fear for your life. "Do not be anxious," says Jesus. Seek God's kingdom.

Many of you have wrestled wonderfully with this issue. Here are some quotes from the suggestions you turned in three weeks ago. The question was, "How do you stay spiritually in tune during busy times?" Some answers: '"Prioritize - give up just one thing." Or, "Include God in my daily schedule. In fact, make Him the priority. He desires to be first in our lives." Another person wrote, '"Build a foundation for each day by making the following our priorities: -do daily devotions; review beauty around me that God has created; pray for CUMC daily." All of these are about choices - priorities. And one person wrote, '"You don't find time, you make time." If I could add one thought to that it would be, You make time by making choices.

The ironic thing about having so many choices is that if we try to squeeze them all in, we lose the key that makes it all work. Someone wrote, "The test of faith is not primarily between love and hate, but between two loves - those things we love dearly and that which we must love supremely." Jesus talked about this, I think, when he talked about a man who found a pearl of great price, and then sold everything else so he could hold on to that pearl. That was an act of supreme choice-making. I can picture that man deep in thought as he sold things that he had worked hard for, things that he had invested himself in, things that were like a part of him - and now he delivers them to be sold, because he's got to have the pearl. That's what is supremely important. That's what anchors our life. Jesus called it the Kingdom of God. Christian tradition calls it salvation or grace. More contemplative faiths call it spiritual peace or wellbeing. Whatever we call it, we all know what it is - the assurance deep within that it is well with our souls. That we're in step with God, who gives us our purpose in life.

I believe that's the definition of peace. And peace doesn't come from frantically running. Peace comes from making the fundamental spiritual choice Jesus talked about ­seek ye first God's kingdom, and all things will fall into place. Peace with who you are. Peace in your relationships. Financial peace - that's what the Dave Ramsey seminar is about - I hope more of you will sign up - how to make good choices. Choices that bring us spiritual peace.

Our faith tells us that such peace is offered to us freely from the heart and the hands of God through the love of Jesus Christ. It is a gift. We don't have to work for it; we don't have to compete or qualify for it. It's a gift that Jesus delivered with His very life. At the end of the day, it's not about how fast you ran. It's about whether you ran for the right reason. Jesus gave us the reason. Everything else is just busy-ness.