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August 5, 2007 - 10th Sunday after Pentecost First
Reading: Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14; 2:18-23 Gospel: Luke 12:13-21 Sermon by Pastor Katherine Douglass Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen. There comes a time in everyone's life, I guess, when you begin to think seriously about the question -What is it all about? What is it all about - this life of mine - this life that I have lived, this work that I have done, these possessions, this money, that I have accumulated over the years. I suppose it's more of a pressing question to those who are older, entering retirement, or living out their post-retirement careers, when you begin to realize that you, too, will face the end of your life, and when you begin to wonder - So what? So what of this life I've lived? But I think that question is one that is important to all of us - whether we're at the point of beginning to think about how our life will unfold - when we think about what we will be when we grow up - will we have a career, a family, or both? will we go to college or vocational school or neither? And we think about this question again as we mature and begin to have things like savings accounts, retirement plans, life insurance policies - when we accumulate possessions - houses, cars, furniture, special things that remind us of special people or places or times. We again ask the question - what does it all mean - this life that I'm living. Just this week I received a letter from a company that oversees my retirement account; and this letter went on and on about how to name your beneficiaries - the people who will inherit the money you have saved after you die. There were about seven different ways to say who gets the bucks when you die -your children, your children and their children, equal shares, not equal shares - on and on. Now, for people who have children and grandchildren, these might be important choices to make. But for me, with no children to consider, these choices are even harder - because there are no easy options. That letter made me stop and think once more about the same question - what does it all add up to in the end - or does it add up to anything? Throughout our lessons for this Sunday, the question is asked again and again - by Ecclesiastes - "I hated all my toil in which I had toiled under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to those who come after me - and who knows whether they will be wise or foolish?" and "What do mortals get from all the toil and strain with which they toil under the sun?" by the Psalmist - "When we look at the wise, they die; fool and dolt perish together and leave their wealth to others" by St. Luke - "God said to the rich man "You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?" It seems as if this question of what our lives add up to is not a modern question at all - it's been asked for thousands of years by people just like you and me. Do our lives after all only equal the things we have done and the things we have gathered? Are we like the rich fool who stores up all his possessions in big barns - and then dies and must face the final judgment - after a life of thinking only of getting more and more for himself - what were all his goods worth then? We know we can't take it with us - that's the oldest saying around - so, if we can't take it with us, then what? What does it all mean? Well, Jesus gives us a clue, when, at the end of the story of this rich man and his barns full of stuff - this man who wanted to relax, eat and drink and enjoy the wealth he had built up for himself - but then dies before he can consume this selfish gain - at the end of that story, Jesus sums it up, saying "So it is for those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God." Jesus answers our questions about what it all means - all this life, all this stuff, all this work - and answering the questions of Ecclesiastes and the Psalmist, too, with this parable of the rich and selfish man. His answer is simple - all this life and all this stuff and all this work mean nothing apart from our relationship with God. It means nothing apart from a rich relationship with God. And what is a rich relationship with God. In Jesus words, what does it mean to be Rich toward God? Well its clear that it means the opposite of storing up treasures for ourselves - it is the opposite of being selfish with our lives, our money, our possessions. I am sure you know people who have worked and saved and built up a small fortune for themselves - or people who have made money in investments - or even poor people whose possessions, few as they are, mean everything to them, and who are always on the lookout for a handout - who are takers and not givers - It doesn't matter really whether these people are rich or poor - it's the attitude towards money and things that we are talking about - The attitude that says - what I've got is the most important thing in the world and holding onto it is the second most important thing and using it for me, me, me (or maybe the people right around me - my family and children) is the third most important thing. I'm talking about the attitude that says "I made it and it's mine and I'm not giving any of it to anyone" the attitude that really believes that somehow you can take it with you - and that the money and the goods and the stuff is somehow the measure of a person. And, I'm afraid all of us suffer from this attitude towards money and things - because we are all really rich here in this country. Most of us are concerned with having enough money to retire on, with having money in the bank and a car in the garage and another check on the way. How much money have we invested in the stock market in the past year? Billions of dollars? Most other people around the world live and work for wages of around 2$ a day. That's about $700 a year. Compared to that standard, all of us are rich people. The question is, are we rich toward God? Is God our God, or have we made money and things into our god? Have we forgotten about God's promises to provide for us and care for us and give us our daily bread in our rush to build bigger and bigger barns to put all our stuff in? Maybe the attitude of being rich towards God begins in seeing and feeling and knowing God's extraordinary richness towards us. God's richness is expressed in God's outpouring of grace in our lives -from providing us this marvelous creation to live in - to giving us our daily bread, sustaining us and giving us everything we have. And most of all, God's extraordinary richness is shown to us in his gift of the lifeblood of his only Son poured out on the cross, so that we might be the inheritors of the riches of eternal life. God’s richness towards us is being poured out every day – through giving us what we need, not just to survive, but to thrive, to help others, to reach out to share this bounty that God has given us God’s rich grace is poured out on us, rich enough to welcome us with open arms. And even today, God's richness toward us is given to us in bread and wine, the body and blood of his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Given to us as food and drink, to forgive our sins and give us a clean slate. Talk about riches. No bank account in the world can hold those riches. No barns are big enough to hold that extravagance of grace. It is something that is beyond what we can ever hope to buy - It is the richness of our God toward us - something that in turn inspires us to be rich toward God.
In Jesus' name,
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