Coltan.

You may never have heard of it. But you have some, if you own a cell phone.
I've got some right here in my phone, and I'm not very happy about it.

Until the 1990s, coltan was a dull metallic ore that had little commercial
value, but today it is a key component of the one billion cell phones in use
today. It's what is called a "conflict commodity," because wars are being fought
over deposits of coltan in Africa.

It's true: People are killing over coltan, and we are footing the bill for
the fighting with our cell phone purchases.

Our endless demand for phones and other consumer luxuries is fueling violent
warfare in developing countries -- so says a study from the Worldwatch
Institute, a research organization based in Washington. Most of this violence is
directed against civilians, and the details are horrifying. Fighters are hacking
off arms and legs to terrorize local populations ... they are turning young
boys into child soldiers and girls into sex slaves ... they are employing child
and slave labor to extract the resources. According to Worldwatch, more than
5 million people were killed in resource-driven conflicts during the 1990s.
(Worldwatch Institute Press Release, "From War Zones to Shopping Malls,"
October 17, 2002, Worldwatch Institute Website - The Anatomy of Resource Wars,
http://www.worldwatch.org/pubs/paper/162

There is a truly deadly link between consumer demand and the resource wars
being waged today throughout the third world. Coltan is just one of the
conflict commodities that is fueling warfare, alongside diamonds and tropical woods
and other rare materials. "Your cell phone probably doesn't look too guilty
about it, but it could be responsible for some indiscriminate killing," writes
Kevin Clarke in U.S. Catholic. "That's true also of your laptop, while your
engagement ring could be helping to fuel mayhem in Sierra Leone and Liberia."
(Kevin Clarke, "Wouldn't you just kill for that cell phone?" U.S. Catholic,
February 2003, www.uscatholic.org/2003/02/mn0302.htm)

It's enough to make you want to sell everything you have, and give to the
poor. Which leads us straight to today's Scripture lesson from Mark.

As Jesus is setting out on a journey, a man runs up and kneels before him.
He asks Jesus, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" (Mark
10:17).

Jesus reviews the commandments of God with him: Don't murder, commit
adultery, steal, bear false witness, defraud ... etcetera, etcetera. The man goes
through his mental checklist, and responds with enthusiasm, "Teacher, I have
kept all these since my youth" (v. 20).

The man is clearly on the right track, and Jesus looks at him with love and
says, "You lack one thing: go, sell what you own, and give the money to the
poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me" (v. 21).

What a blow this is to the rich man, and to many of us as well. We have to
wonder what Jesus is getting at. Perhaps he believes that his disciples need
to travel light, or he senses that wealth entangles people too tightly with the
temptations of the world. Maybe Jesus wants to see if the man is able to
sacrifice himself and devote himself completely to helping others. Or it could
be that Jesus knows that money is often connected to violence and injustice, as
is true with the wealth that drives warfare over coltan and diamonds and
tropical woods today.

Although he's speaking in the first century, Jesus understands about
" conflict commodities."

Tragically, the rich man cannot bring himself to go, sell what he owns, and
give the money to the poor. And so he goes away grieving, because he has many
possessions (v. 22).

There's a lot to ponder in this text, and most of it makes us extremely
uncomfortable. On one level, it reminds us that our wealth does not exist in a
vacuum, but it has an impact on people around the world, especially in our global
economy. Our earth does not have an unlimited supply of resources, so the
hoarding of resources by one group can lead to deprivation in another group. On
a very simple level, Jesus is calling on the rich man -- and on each of us --
to share the wealth.

We don't hear this from the pulpit very often, do we? Bruce Douglass, a
member of the faculty of the Department of Government at Georgetown, regularly
offers talks at churches and has the opportunity to hear a variety of preachers.
" Generally the clergy I hear on Sunday mornings are skilled preachers," he
says. "If I were to fault them, however, I would say that I hear too little
from their pulpits that might have the effect of expanding the moral horizons of
the people they serve. One hardly ever hears, for example, anything about the
plight of the victims of globalization. Nor is there much talk about race
relations, even though everybody knows that we have hardly solved that problem.
Moreover, even on matters that are mainly of personal concern -- such as the
way we use our money -- there is rarely any suggestion from the pulpit that we
need to rethink the way we live." (Professor Bruce Douglass, personal
communication, March 17, 2003)

Rethinking the way we live -- what a critically important sermon subject!
While preachers may shy away from this touchy topic, Jesus is bold enough to lay
down a challenge: "go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor,
and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me."

Jesus clearly wants us to share the wealth, but it is not because he is
focused on instituting a new earthly economic system. Instead, he wants us to
break our addiction to material things so that we will be free to focus our
passion on spiritual things. If we give generously to the poor, according to Jesus,
we help both the poor and ourselves -- we help the poor to have the basic
necessities of life, and we help ourselves to gain a life of discipleship.

To break our attachment to our possessions and give to the poor is not a
win-lose proposition. It's truly win-win, if we are interested in helping others
and experiencing everlasting life. This is a good point for us all to keep in
mind as we ponder our pledge to the church during this fall stewardship
season. A pledge is a win-win proposition, because it gives us the satisfaction of
helping others, and also the joy of knowing abundant life in God -- an
abundant life that begins today and will continue throughout eternity. When Nancy
and I make payments toward our pledge each week, we have no sense of loss, but
only of gain. We love what this church is doing through its mission giving,
and we couldn't be happier with the programs that are provided for ourselves
and for our children. This kind of giving is truly win-win.

On another level, the words of Jesus remind us that "conflict commodities"
are not simply coltan and diamonds. Now it's certainly true that we should
control our consumption of cell phones and laptops and jewelry, and not make
frivolous purchases that can increase the demand for resources and stimulate
warfare. But maybe Jesus has a broader view of this issue -- perhaps he sees that
ALL of our commodities can cause conflicts for us.

Think about it. How many of your valuable commodities have caused problems
for you, causing you to focus more on your own lifestyle than on the life of
discipleship?

Jesus says to us, "How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the
kingdom of God!" (v. 23). We know what he's talking about. How hard it is
for the comfortable owner of a Lexus to feel a connection to a poor soul
walking to work in the rain. How hard it is for the proud owner of a new house to
feel the embarrassment of a family being evicted from their home. How hard it
is for the member of a country club to find the money, after paying his club
dues, to give a tithe to the church. How hard it is for the busy businesswoman
to find time on her laptop calendar to tutor a child, or go on a mission
trip, or serve dinner in a soup kitchen. And yet, Jesus expects us to make the
time, and he bases his judgment of us not on our accumulation of worldly
possessions, but on whether we feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, welcome
the stranger, clothe the naked, care for the sick, and visit those in prison
(Matthew 25:34-40).

Think of your commodities, all the commercial things that make your life
pleasant and productive. Are they causing any conflicts for you? There is still
another reason that Nancy and I like to write our check to the church: It is a
way of breaking the grip that wealth can have on us. It's a way of saying,
" No, we really don't need the luxury items that this money could buy. We'd
rather have it go to the church, and be used for God's purposes."

Jesus never says that it is impossible for the rich to enter the kingdom of
heaven, simply that it is extremely difficult, and that it is going to happen
only with God's help (v. 27). So let's shift our gaze away from the
commodities that can cause so much terrible conflict, both within ourselves and around
the world, and focus instead on the generosity and sacrifice that mark a life
of Christian discipleship.

If we do, we won't come to the end of life feeling conflicted, or
experiencing shock and grief because of our attachment to earthly possessions. We'll be
free to enjoy a gift more precious than diamonds or coltan or tropical woods.

We'll find ourselves experiencing what the rich man originally wanted:
Eternal life with God. Amen.

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