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from their homes. The items aren’t tagged—buyers name the price—and the money raised benefits local chari- ties, including food pantries and soup kitchens.
During the past decade, church member Cindy Gyorgy has watched parishioners jettison thousands of items: furniture, baby supplies, home décor, kitchen gadgets and more. “People feel good about having their stuff go to people who can use it,” said Gyorgy, who co-chaired last summer’s event.
The process of shedding clutter has become a spiritual practice for Gyorgy. Each year the sale makes her pause to consider how much clutter she keeps—and it’s an opportunity for her to discern what she can share with others. Gyorgy said it has helped trans- form the connection she feels toward her possessions. “I use one coffee mug every day of my life, so do I really need a bunch of them?” she said. “I think about things like my hand mixers. I have two of them, and there’s no way I can use them at the same time. It makes me wonder why I have that. “After a while, when you stop and
Mindfulness in
the midst of clutter As you discern which things and behav- iors are cluttering your life, it’s helpful to reflect on the simple ways in which you have “enough” in this present moment.
Enough. These few words are enough. If not these words, this breath. If not this breath, this sitting here. This opening to the life We have refused Again and again Until now. Until now.
David Whyte, “Where Many Rivers Meet”
think about it, it really does surprise you how much stuff we actually have that we don’t really need in our life.”
Denise Lee, a professional orga- nizer in St. Louis, helps spur epipha- nies like this with clients who come to her for help with de-cluttering. Many of them view their decisions to part with possessions as a way to dispose of distractions that get in the way of peace and spiritual development.
“Faith does come up in this pro- cess for a lot of people, and they do see that reducing their clutter will help them build up more gratitude for the things they keep,” said Lee, a member of Bethel Lutheran Church, St. Louis. “It can be a very powerful perspective from which to work.”
The needed thing Although experts say our clutter culture is expanding, people of faith have grappled with this issue since ancient times. Open your Bible to
SHUTTERSTOCK
Exodus 16 and you’ll read about God’s people hoarding more manna in the desert than they needed to get by for the day, said Lisa E. Dahill, an associate professor of worship and Christian spirituality at Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, Ohio. Trusting in God’s provision— and not in our acquisitions—contin- ues to be a source of spiritual struggle for many today, she said. “There is sort of a human need and a disordered desire to hoard,” she said. “I think there is a fear of the uncertainty of the future, and there’s a fear that we still hold today of ‘desert’ experiences. It’s the fear of emptiness and aloneness, and we do things to try to fill in for that fear. That’s one of the reasons we overload our schedules and hoard things.”
Dahill looks to the story of Jesus’ visit with sisters Mary and Martha (Luke 10:38-42) for guidance on what’s needed for the fullest experi- ence of life—and it’s not more stuff for our homes or events on our calen- dars, she said.
Rather than distracting ourselves with busy pursuits—even worthy ones, such as the household tasks that Martha tackled—we can look to Christ for clues on what’s needed and what’s clutter, she said. Jesus com- mended Mary for freeing up space during his visit to simply be present with him—essentially to experience a clutter-free life with God. “It isn’t that Martha is doing something bad,” Dahill said. “But in this case, whatever she was doing was distracting her and keeping her from the one thing that’s needed. This ‘needed thing’ is, in some sense, being an ongoing listener to the love that is at the heart of our lives, the love that makes all things new. “The needed thing is letting our- selves be open for Christ to fill us— and not for us to fill that space with clutter.”
28 The Lutheran •
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