July 31, 2016
11th Sunday After Pentecost Year C

“Then he told them a parable: “The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, ‘What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’ Then he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.” Luke 12:16-21

“Jesus doesn’t warn against money, wealth, or material abundance. He warns against greed, about the insatiable feeling of never having enough. And the parable he tells illustrates this. The farmer’s problem isn’t that he’s had a great harvest, or that he’s rich, or that he wants to plan for the future. The farmer’s problem is that his good fortune has curved his vision so that everything he sees starts and ends with himself. Listen again to the conversation he has with, not a spouse or friend or parent or neighbor, but only with himself: “I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’” Do you see what I mean? It is an absolutely egocentric conversation, even including a conversation with himself inside the conversation he is already having with himself! This is why he is a fool. He has fallen prey to the notion that life, and particularly the good life, consists of possessions, precisely the thing Jesus warns against. What, then, does the good life consist of? Read the rest of what Jesus says across the gospels and it becomes pretty clear: relationships — relationships with each other and with God.” (David Lose, working preacher website, What Money Can and Can’t Do, July 29, 2013)

What is the secret to life? I do not have an answer for that. I do have an answer, though, for the question “What is the secret to life with
G-d?” The secret to a life that is rich in and with G-d is the relationship you (and I) have with G-d. The richness of our lives is not defined by money, stuff or power – it is defined instead by the richness of our relationship with G-d. Think about it for a second. Money is fleeting because although you may accumulate a lot of it in this life, it will do nothing for you in the life to come. Stuff may bring you comfort in this life, but it will only be left on this earth for moths and rust to consume it. And power may feel good now, but you might as well leave it to your Harley Davidson, because earthly power has no place in the kingdom of G-d.

The biggest “beef” Jesus has in this story is the fact that the man is driven by greed. Jesus does not speak against money, or wealth, or accumulating stuff. He just thinks that focusing all of your attention on those things is wrong – especially if it keeps you from sharing what you have. What Jesus wants us to hoard is not stuff. Jesus wants us to hoard relationships, and not hoard them but collect them, nourish them, feed them, and care for them. That is how we live a life that is rich in G-d.

Pastor Dave

July 30, 2016 – Words From Merton
It Is A Risky Thing To Pray

“And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” Matthew 6:5-8

“If we really want prayer, we’ll have to give it time. We must slow down to a human tempo and we’ll begin to have time to listen. And as soon as we listen to what’s going on, things will begin to take shape by themselves. It is a risky thing to pray, and the danger is that our very prayers get between G-d and us. The great thing in prayer is not to pray, but to go directly to G-d. If saying your prayers is an obstacle to prayer, cut it out.” Thomas Merton (The Pocket Thomas Merton, p. 84)

I have written so much on prayer in the last two years that I feel as if I am repeating myself, yet prayer is something we need to address time and time again. I like how Thomas Merton says that we need to be careful not to let our “prayers” become an obstacle to prayer. In other words, we need to understand that our prayers can become too rote, too routine, too forced and/or too predictable. When they do, they can become an obstacle to a true conversation with G-d. And, my friends, that is what prayer needs to be. When the disciples went to Jesus and asked him “teach us to pray”, Jesus did give them a formula, like in Luke 11:2-5. But within that formula are places where we can ad lib. For example,

“‘Father, hallowed be Your name…” we can extrapolate on how we try each and every day to keep the name of G-d holy.
“Your kingdom come…” we can expound on where and how we are working to bring G-d’s kingdom to the places where we see trouble.

And when we pray “Give us each day our daily bread…” it is an opportunity to shamelessly tell G-d how, what and when we need things today, tomorrow and forever.

And, if your prayers have reached a stalemate, then sit in silence and let G-d speak to you.

Pastor Dave