Buckle up Trinity Church, because we’re going to talk about money. A subject much avoided at family reunions and church and all polite company. It’s a touchy subject because some of us have more of it than others, we have gotten it different ways, and we have different attitudes toward it that we might not be that keen on changing. We might feel pretty satisfied with making money and building our barns and securing our future and measuring our worth through our money.
But as
much as we don’t like talking about money, Jesus liked talking about It and our
Gospel writer Luke liked talking about it and we might not actually be as happy
with our money and our own attitudes toward it, we just don’t want to change or
be challenged or we don’t know how to start being different about money. We
might be afraid of what we’ll see if we look into it more deeply.
The Gospel doesn’t say that money is
bad or that we’re bad if we have it.
Most of the time we could probably take a closer look at how we got it
and who helped us along the way, to understand how it came to us or might come
to us more easily and others with more difficulty. Money isn’t inherently bad
or good but money is a tool that can be used any number of ways, to harm or to
help or simultaneously both.
We like money because it is so flexible to help us acquire what
we want and what we think we need. And
yet we find that having more money doesn’t make us any happier. It doesn’t fulfill our deeper need for
meaning and connection.
If you’re like me, you read the
Gospel and it’s easy to identify with the rich man. Who wouldn’t want to lay aside a little bit
more money for a rainy day, to get a storage unit at least until you can sort
through mom’s things, to build a bigger church, or to add a second bathroom on
to the house? It is very easy to dream
about more, especially because our culture serves it up to us all the time and
we are encouraged to want what our neighbors have.
We Christians are invited to be
different than those around us. We are
invited to see the world from another view.
Taking into account God’s perspective, remember the story of God
creating the heavens and the earth and the light and the darkness and the water
and the land and the fish and the creeping things and the birds of the air and
the animals that walked upon the earth.
God looked around and said there was something missing, someone to have
a conversation with, someone to have a relationship. God created humankind in God’s image, to relate
to, to share with.
One thing that is missing for this rich man is someone to relate
to. He has only himself to talk to. He doesn’t consider who else might need some
of what he has in the barn. He thinks a
bigger barn is going to do it, because clearly something is lacking. Sometimes we have a God shaped void in our
lives, a spiritual void, a need for relationship, and we try to fill it with
absolutely anything else, food, videogames, internet, money, work, alcohol,
anything! But that void cannot be filled
with any of that. We have deeper needs than our physical comforts. Money can
give you comfort, on the outside. But
why go to Jesus, why go to church, why seek a relationship with God? Because physical comfort doesn’t cut it, only
goes so far. Our souls long for
something more than more barns. We can
try to fill it with bigger barns or bigger churches or more food or whiter
teeth, but we will still be asking the question, “Why do I feel so empty? What is the meaning of life? How can I find life that is lasting? How can I live with myself when I have so
much and others do not even have the basics?
How can I live with myself when I am out of proper relationship with my
siblings, with the earth, with God?
As Christians we look to God and the
stories of our faith to figure out who we are and what are some clues about how
to approach that void. We look to God whose
own creativity made all this good earth, our home, and who realized that only
in relationship would God’s needs be fulfilled, yes, with frustration, with
challenge, etc. God could build bigger
barns and acquire more but that wasn’t working.
God needed someone to share it with, someone to discuss the greater
meaning of it all with, so here we are, made in God’s image with the same need.
Look at Jesus. He could have filled his life with things he
wanted, but he knew that was fruitless.
He would never be satisfied. That
was his first temptation. Make some bread, make yourself powerful, give
yourself anything you want. He wouldn’t
do it because he knew that would never satisfy his soul, never give him peace,
never give him life. And thankfully he
didn’t just spend his life making himself richer, because he instead did the
opposite and gave his entire life away until his very last breath which
breathed life into all of us and gave us all the gift of eternal life.
Having received eternal life,
relationship with Jesus, what do we do with that kind of power? Do we waste it doing the opposite of Jesus
and building bigger barns, wishing we had more, obsessing over money, taking
care of our physical comforts. No. We are invited to examine our own fears and
our own hopes, to put our trust not in money or buildings, but in Jesus, and to
take up our cross, leave everything behind and follow him to giving away all of
ourselves for the life of the world.
We begin by asking where all this
came from. The rich man might say he
worked hard and earned it, that he
deserved it, was entitled to it. We, as
Christians would say that God made this earth, gave rain and helped the seeds
to grow. We contributed part and
possibly our parents or grandparents contributed something. Some of us would say that privileges and
rules may have given us advantages to collect what we needed and more. And we would remember that our faith helps us
find deeper meanings when we ask the deeper questions. We remember that this all came from God for
the purpose of blessing all the families of the earth. WE remember God’s purpose of looking out for
the forgotten, for those who are hungry and thirsty and imprisoned. And we remember why God is sharing with us,
so that we would not store up, but so that our cup would run over and others
would also receive that blessing. If we
truly believe that God’s love is enough, we will be generous and share it, we
will look for ways to live that outpouring.
The snow gathers on Mt. Hood and
remains for a while. The spring melts
the snow slowly through the summer, watering all this land below, water crops
and animals, flowing through the streams and rivers, filling the reservoirs and
watersheds so that we can drink water, have life all summer. The water flows to the sea where it
evaporates and forms clouds and rains again, eventually snows again, to start
the cycle all over again. Imagine if any
point on this cycle were stopped. Life
would cease.
When we look to this Gospel we know
that though this man has planned for his future, his future is not secure when
he puts his trust in material possessions to save him or give his life meaning
or give him any kind of peace. He is not
truly living. So we get to examine our
own attitudes toward money. How much
trust do we put in money? How do we use
our money? How do we trust it to keep us
secure? How much do we give it away to
give life to others? What are the voids
in our lives, where are we feeling separated from others? How much do we look to our money to assign
ourselves or others worth? How much do
we associate with people of lower economic means? Knowing that money can’t buy us love or dignity, self worth, hope, or
acceptance. What would it mean to live in a different way, knowing that and
behaving as though it is true, because it is?
Blessed are the poor, open to
connection, needing other people’s help, fostering relationship. Blessed are the poor in spirit, afraid they
aren’t worth anything, turning to God for meaning and purpose and help, turning
to their neighbor for relationship.
So, it’s the perfect day to
celebrate giving everything away and sharing God’s blessings, because we’re
here with our friends from Zarephath Kitchen and Pantry. Every week they give themselves away, they
give food away, and they build relationships with people in the community and
volunteers. Many many years ago Joan
Rittel and Lois Fitzsimmons heard God’s call to give away what you have and
they heard the need of the neighbors of Trinity and they started Zarephath
Pantry. Over the years many things
changed. Zarephath has become it’s own
nonprofit, although we are linked in that we share a parking lot and dumpster,
we share volunteers, and we gather food here at Trinity. 10 years ago, Trinity
began the process of transferring the house two doors down to Zarephath, making
a loan to Zarephath, but never collecting any money, just forgiving $10,000 of
the loan each year to maintain our relationship and continue the mission of
giving ourselves away. In June that 10
years came to a completion and the house now belongs to Zarephath completely. The property was transferred thanks to Shar’s
work as a realtor. Some things have
changed, but some never do. God is
good. God is generous. God is helping us to give ourselves
away. God is feeding hungry people and
affecting lives in our neighborhood. And
Trinity and Zarephath will always work together on this mission, thanks be to
God.
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