Sermons for the Month
Abandon the Good Life for the Blessed Life
DATE: August 5th, 2007
SERVICE: 10th Sunday after Pentecost
TEXT: Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14, 2:18-23; Luke 12:13-21“To all of you Saints here this morning, grace and peace to you from God our Father, from His Son, Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit. AMEN
I dislike driving by the house that I owned in Wadsworth. That residence was my first venture in home ownership. It was built by students at Wadsworth High School, and was a fairly large, but basic home. I lived there for 14 years and during that time had the basement finished and a deck put on the back. Over the years I replaced wall paper and drapes inside. I added boxes to the back yard for square-foot-gardening and did a lot of work in the front to add trees, bushes and a little rose garden. So, a lot of time, energy and money went into that place, and I'd say that it reflected who I am. Then I sold it and moved to Akron, and while I can't complain about the 10 days it took to sell it or about getting the price I wanted, it's still hard to drive by because the people who live there now do cherish some of what I valued - like my roses! They have changed some things, and let other things go, which, of course, they have every right to do. But, I find it just a bit depressing to see the result. Perhaps some of you have had a similar experience, and in that minor way can identify with the writer of Ecclesiastes who expounds on the vanity of it all. For the author, the human condition is one of sadness and wretchedness. He proclaims that we cannot attain things of lasting value because eventually we are no more and a fool will take our place who did not work for whatever it was we value and will not see it in the same light. Now, that's depressing! But, is it true. Although most of us would not be as extreme as he is, the fact is that there is truth in his words. And, as writer Bill Long notes, sometimes we need to hear that negative word. "It can clear the mental decks; help lead toward reorientation of life; make us slow down long enough to ask ourselves on what we are basing our life anyway." (1) The man who approached Jesus in today's Gospel lesson needed to do just that. Jesus told the parable he did because of a rude man who interrupted him, hoping to get Jesus to take on a "legal case" against his brother. While arbitrating disputes was a role of a rabbi, there also would have been an approved legal structure in that community that this man was avoiding. What probably was happening was that this man wanted the family estate (or farm) to be divided so that he could do what he wished with his share. To do so would decrease the value of the whole, and impact the livelihood of the rest of the family. Both his attitude and his request are filled with self-centeredness and greed. So, Jesus tells the story of the man whose crop is so plentiful that it creates a problem for him. He needs more storage. So, he decides to replace his current granaries with larger ones. His abundance is far greater than what he needs for his own household; some scholars say that he did not want to sell his grain during a good harvest year when the market was flooded and the price was low. So, he plans to hold the grain for the future when he can get a higher price. There's not necessarily anything wrong with that, depending on what he does with the money he eventually makes. But, then he opens his mouth and announces that all he has to do now is sit back and enjoy his good fortune. He believes that his riches will insulate his life; God is not in the equation at all. His focus is on goods rather than God. Jesus calls him foolish because he thinks he can guarantee his own future. This man needed to learn an essential lesson: "Do not attempt to possess things, for things cannot really be possessed. Only make sure you are not possessed by them, lest your god change."(2) And here's an interesting reality to consider. The basic problem Jesus is addressing is not wealth but idolatry and selfishness. This man trusts in his possessions and himself to guarantee his future and his happiness (just look at how many times her refers to himself in his speech), rather than trusting in God. Also, he is not sharing of the excess that he has acquired. Remember a person can be well off and be generous, and a person can be poor and horde what he or she has, and vice-versa. In either case, what our friend from Ecclesiastes said is true, we cannot take it with us; whatever we acquire in this life is left behind for others to appreciate and value, or use and abuse. Possessions do not insulate us from that which is unplanned and beyond our control, including death. And, that stuff - especially if we are stressed to acquire it and keep it - is not the source of contentment, fulfillment or relationship with God, either in this life or the next. In an article titled, "Off the Treadmill", Kenneth H. Carter, Jr. writes about the difference between the "good life" and the "blessed life". (3) He says that when we pursue what our culture labels as the "good life" we are like hamsters on a never-ending wheel of motion, moving at a pace that gets more and more difficult to sustain. Of course, the "good life" is defined by externals - how we look, what we own, who are our friends and significant others, what honors or recognition we receive. It's those things that we must ensure, secure, and worry constantly about keeping. In contrast, Jesus suggests the "blessed life", one that is rich toward God. Jesus makes it clear that we must let go of trusting in the "good life" in order to receive the "blessed life". As St. Augustine once said, "God is always trying to give good things to us, but our hands are too full to receive them." So, Pastor Carter offers these options to battle the call of the "good life". The first one is to live more simply - chose a smaller home with a lower mortgage, is easier to maintain and has less storage for accumulating stuff, drive a vehicle that uses less gas, recycle everything from paper, glass and aluminum to electronics and yard waste, eat locally grown food, think about the true value of and need for something before you buy it. The second option is to enjoy the harvest and share it with others. In other words, be thankful for what you have, but do not give it value or power that it does not have, and use it for the sake of others, and particularly to further God's kingdom. When I meet with people who are getting married I suggest that, as they consider finances, they base their spending (where they live, the type of car they drive, the clothes they buy) on 80percent of their income. Of the other 20 percent, 10 is saved and 10 is given away. I get funny looks, but I can tell you that that's a formula that does as much as anything to create a blessed, and less stressed, life. And, third, be a sign of the blessed life and look for the ways others are doing so. This puts your focus on that which transforms rather than that which tears down. I liked the story that was in the newspaper on Monday about the 13-year-old who gave up having an elaborate bat mitzvah in order to include her grandfather who is a patient at the Visiting Nurse Hospice. The service was held there so that he could be included, and having him there was more important than the trappings of the day. That's a sign of a young person who is living the blessed life. All this reminds me that there are two ways to respond to the words from Ecclesiastes that we began with today. One is to, like the Biblical writer, sees the human condition as futile. The other is to acknowledge that it can be futile if we trust in that which has no true value. But if we are focus on being rich toward God and living a blessed life, then a miracle happens. Our lives are filled with value that makes a difference now, that survives us when we die, and in some way even goes with us. So, I guess you can take it with you, as long as the "it" is the blessed life.
AMEN
(1) Pentecost 10, August 5, 2007, "The Vanity of it All" by Bill Long, www.drbilllong.com
(2) "Possessed by a Thing" by Michael Battle, August 1, 2004, A Globe of Witness, www.thewitness.org
(3) "Off the Treadmill" by Kenneth H. Carter, Jr., "The Christian Century", July 24, 2007, pg. 20.