August 1 Sermon: Rich With God
Rich with God
Sunday August 1, 2010
Holy Covenant UMC
Rev. Kate Hurst Floyd
Luke 12:13-21
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I’ve recently discovered Costco. I had never been until about a year ago, and now, I’m afraid, I’m hooked. Have you been there? Costco is a warehouse that contains pretty much everything you could want to buy—food, electronics, clothing items, furniture, pharmaceuticals—at a deep discount and in bulk. You can get your printer ink, 2 for 1; replacement heads for your electric toothbrush, an electric toothbrush if you don’t have one already; 20 avocados in one container; vitamins in gallon size bottles; even flat screen TV’s.
In short, Costco represents everything that is wrong with America:
An over-abundance of stuff, deep discounted products that make consumers happy but blind to the workers and the conditions that lead to a year’s supply of socks being 5 bucks, cheap processed hot dogs at check-out and the desire to consume more and more. It’s hard to get out of there without buying twice as much as you went in for.
And yet just as I’m horrified, I admit that I love it, too. I’m not proud of this. I am, proud, however of how much toilet paper I have stored away in my closet.
What is it about stuff that makes us feel so secure?
This is at the heart of the parable Jesus is telling us this morning.
There’s a man who loves stuff. His stuff, his hard work, his possessions. And he gets a bad rap in Scripture, because the truth is, he’s not a bad guy. He’s not that different than we are…he’s worked long and hard in his life, he’s been successful at his job, and so he creates his own kind of savings account, a retirement plan…putting his earnings, his grain, into silos so that he has them for a rainy day. This is sensible advice that many a financial planner would give us today.
And yet, Jesus calls him foolish. He doesn’t call him bad, but he does call him a fool.
He says “Why do you store up your treasures on earth when you could be storing them up in heaven? You should be rich with God, not rich with stuff, sitting there in silos.”
It’s hard not to think about storing up treasures on earth when you’re wandering through Costco. Or carrying loads of toilet paper up to your apartment. Some might argue that toilet paper is not a treasure…but try telling that to someone who has just run out. Toilet paper seems quite valuable in that moment. Accumulating stuff can make you feel really secure.
And this is what’s going on with the man in our parable: It’s not his earning and saving that are so foolish here. It’s the mindset that he’s in because of it. And not just his mind set, but the way his soul is set. There’s this wonderfully odd and poignant scene in the parable, where the rich man has a conversation with his soul. He looks around at all his savings, all his stuff piled up, and he says to himself: “Soul, you have ample goods stored up for many years; eat, drink, relax, and be merry”.
He’s trying to convince his soul that all they need is to look at all their stuff and then have a really good time. But his soul argues right back. For God says to him, you are foolish if you think this is all the soul desires—lots of stuff and relaxation. God says I am calling you right now, this very night, and what are you doing to follow me better? You’re looking at your stuff and praising yourself, instead of praising me and looking around to a world that is in need. The things you have prepared, God says, whose will they be?
We would all do well to have conversations with our souls more often. The foolish thing about this man is that he seeks security with his stuff and ignores the world around him. And when we ignore the world around us, and only think about our own needs, we end up ignoring God. And this, friends, is really foolish.
Now, we don’t all have a toilet paper stockpiling problem like I do, but we all live in a culture that’s saturated with stuff. And whether we like to admit it, the stuff can consume us and make us feel secure. We seek more things thinking they will make us happier, better, save us from our current lives: If I buy this cute pair of shoes, I will exude to the world that I am hip and with it, and maybe I’ll feel more self-confident on the inside; If I buy this TV, I’ll be able to watch my favorite shows, my 400 channels on a screen the size of my wall, and maybe I’ll feel less alone if I surround myself with images and voices; If I buy 10 more books, maybe people will think I’m smart.
We want stuff to save us, but it doesn’t. God saves us. Stuff won’t make us more secure, or more connected others, or confident in our own skin.
We would all do well to have conversations with our souls more often. Soul, are you really truly happy? Is being isolated or buried in stuff making life any easier or better? Is another pair of shoes giving you the connection you want? Too often we’re either consumed with getting stuff, or obsessing about the stuff we don’t have. I confess that I find myself doing it—if I only had 100 extra dollars a month, I could have x, I would save for y, I could eat out more or buy a new chair for my living room…
It’s a lot of head and soul-space that we spend on trying to feel secure through consumption. And it’s not making us any happier. Now, let me be clear, Jesus isn’t telling us that our basic needs shouldn’t be met. But most of us have a really distorted idea of what our basic needs are and how they function to keep us secure.
What if when we thought about our own resources and our own stuff, we reframed the question and thought about what it would mean to be rich with God? To be connected to God’s children and all of creation through a sharing of resources. What if we asked our own souls the question: The things we have prepared, whose will they be?
**
We here at Holy Covenant are a church community who knows what it means to be rich with God and to share what we have with others. On behalf of the church, I want to say thank you for your abundant generosity and the many ways you give to this community. You give of your time, your gifts, your passions, and also your financial resources to make this community a place of love and welcome. A place where we and those we haven’t even met yet can seek God, love all people, and change the world.
Last fall we had a stewardship campaign, where we made our pledges for 2010—making a commitment to give a certain dollar amount to this church to aid the ministries here. Our theme for the campaign was “Giving generously, changing lives”. And through your generous giving, lives have been changed. We’ve:
*Celebrated 20 years of being a Reconciling Congregation, a place of welcome to people of all sexual orientations and gender identities. Through your giving, we had a float and a presence in the pride parade, celebrated with a prom fundraiser, and been a witness of welcome to those here and those who are just learning about us.
*Hired Rebecca as our minister of spiritual formation, which will allow us to more deeply engage how we are being spiritually formed as a congregation….small groups in the fall, enlivened worship in the morning and evening,
*created a nursery—families with children are re-engaging
*DD guests are able to eat and to share, participate in art classes and find community
The list is abundant—I could go on and on. Lives are changing because of your giving.
We’ll be mailing out a detailed mid-year financial report this week. You can see the specific numbers of our current revenues and spending, our budgetary history over the last 3 years, our membership and worship attendance numbers, and where you’re giving has gone. Please know that the finances of this church are always an open record and you are welcome to see our full budget anytime—you can be in touch with Nick Taylor, Linda Effinger-Quinde, or me and we’ll be happy to get your our detailed number list and answer questions.
There is really good news contained in this detailed report—our pledged giving is even higher than we anticipated half way through the year and our spending is on target. In the midst of a recession, of economic difficulties, of job loss, you have continued to give. Our dollar amounts themselves aren’t as high as they were in past years, when we weren’t in a recession. But our generosity is abundant, it is magnified, more people than ever are giving…and lives are changing. Thank you, thank you, thank you. If you weren’t here in the fall to pledge but would like to now, there are forms in the notebooks and I can answer questions.
As Christians, we don’t give simply because the church needs more revenue. We give because giving changes lives. And while we focus on how our giving changes the lives of others, the more we give, the more we realize how our lives are changed. This, this is why we give…we give because in our generosity we answer the question that God puts before us: how is it with your soul? What makes you secure? What saves you?
When our answer is giving generously instead of storing up, we will find security. We will feel secure because we’ll strip away the false notion that what we own belongs solely to us, and release into the sweet freedom of knowing that we are all connected as a human family. What a relief to let go of the mantra that buying more will make us more secure.
We’ll be saved by the abundant generosity of a God who calls us to give joyfully and to find security, not in shoes and TV’s, but in real connection with others.
And what better way to live into our richness with God than to come to this communion table with one another. For Jesus, our savior, teaches us what it truly means to give and give abundantly. Through the gift of grace at this table, our lives are truly changed.
When Jesus shares that final meal with his Disciples, he takes bread, blesses, breaks, and gives. He chooses, gives thanks, multiplies and shares with abandon.
Jesus gives and gives and gives, and we receive. We receive new life, we share that love with others, and our lives are changed. Through this abundant generosity, we are rich with God. May we be like Jesus–take what we have, give it, bless it, break it and share it. For in this abundant giving, we will be rich, we will be secure, and we will say soul, you are truly in love with God. And it feels better that any mound of toilet paper or cute shoes or electronics we could ever acquire. For we will be changing lives and saving our own, through the one whose way is love.
Amen.
Tags: Kate
